iPhone Extras
iPhone Extras Add Custom and Flair – Personalize Yours!
Taking the plunge and buying my most precious iPhone was only the beginning. It really has become an extension of myself. On the day I brought it home – I realized that hey – this thing is slippery. And my quest for the perfect iPhone case began.
The variety is pretty wide but I like to shop at Amazon.com
My favorite brand when it comes to cases for the phone and the iPod Touch is iSkin. I have used their cases in the past and found them to be durable and nice looking as well. Most reviews at Amazon seem to agree with the exception of the Fuze which many people did not like.
I ended settling for the iSkin Revo2 for 3G
iSkin Revo2 Case for 3G iPhone
Recently another iSkin case hit the market. This one is called the Solo
Once I took care of the case, my list of iPhone extras that I still needed included a car charger. I haven’t yet made my decision on this one. With my iPod Touch I had a Kensington charger/FM transmitter that allowed me to play music through my car speakers via FM radio channel while my device charged on the go. Lo and behold there are not many of these on the market for the Apple phone. Why? Because of interference with the 3G/Edge network. All of the buzzing, popping, and crackling would make the sound unbearable. Unless you switched the phone into airplane mode – but then you would not be able to make and receive calls.
The solution seems to be to get a regular car charger and an audio cable that hooks directly from the headphone jack into the audio inputs in the car radio. That is – if your car has audio inputs. Mine does – but my car is old and the inputs are in such a spot that a cup of coffee or two may have spilled on them over the years. I will have to head down to Radio Shack and pick up the cables, cross my fingers and hope that they will work. Then I will buy my car charger.
A few final items on my list of iPhone accessories are a clock radio will dock and charge the device such as those from iHome, and just a regular old dock that will plug into a wall outlet. I a have even seen models that will charge several Apple iPods at once. Not a bad family charging solution.
What are your favorite iPhone extras?
Me.com and MobileMe.com
Apparently it’s both. I posed the question before – me.com or mobileme.com? and today Apple announced that there .mac service is now me.com. But in reality both websites get you to the same place. At least for now.
So Steve Jobs unveiled the 3G iPhone today as expected. My first impression is always “Wow” when it comes to the latest and the greatest Apple devices. And the new iPhone is perfect if you use Apple Mac laptops or iMacs at home or work. The ease of integration is such a big factor. The most useful features of the new iPhone are the push sync features of iCal, AddressBook, and Mail. What could be better? And the ability to sync all your media seamlessly makes it even more attractive. Of course, these features will also be available to “old” iPhone owners for free and to iPod Touch owners for a $9.99 fee.
On top of all the new features of the 3G iPod (including, obviously, the fast 3G data network) the best news was the price of the iPhone itself was being dropped to $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. It seems really fantastic.
But once the initial excitement wore off, a bit of reality set in. And I realized that as much as I love Apple, the iPhone may still not be the right device for me. Why? Well, here are my reasons:
- First, the state I live in has a “hands-free” rule. The one feature that I use most on my current phone is voice dial via my bluetooth headset. Nothing was said today at WWDC about voice dial for iPhone. I would sorely miss the ability to make a call without having to navigate the phone. Is it enough to keep me from switching to iPhone. Not by itself but there are other issues.
- Coverage. AT&T claims to have my area covered. But I know from others that dropped calls on the ATT Wireless network are not uncommon on local roads. Could be a potential source of frustration.
- Insurance. Currently my carrier is Verizon Wireless, which has the best coverage in this area. Verizon wireless offers optional insurance through Asurion on all of it’s phones including smartphones. While I do take care of the devices I own, accidents do happen – and insurance provides peace of mind. In contrast, ATT Wireless does not offer insurance on the iPhone.
- Cost. The price of the new iPhone is definitely more affordable than the old one. But once you add the activation fee, taxes and surcharges, additional text plans, and the voice and data plan itself the monthly charges start to add up. On top of that you will need to spend at least $99 for the me.com or mobileme.com service ($149 for a family plan). I know that any plan on any carrier that has a data plan will have charges that are comparable so this may not be such a big factor if you compare apples to apples. Also, if you use an iPod Touch as PDA, you may still incur the charge for mobileme.com because it seems that you can use this service to push changes through when you are connected via wi-fi. Also, if you are in a contract with another carrier, then you will need to weigh in early termination fees (etf’s) as well.
All in all, I can’t wait to see the new 3G iPhone. And once all the frenzy has died down and the reviews are in, then I will take another look. The biggest pro to me is that it just works with Apple Mac laptops. Any other smartphone has sync issues or requires third party software to play nice. The learning curve, time involved, and frustration factors may be just enough to make me to go the iPhone route.