It's taken a month or so to write this but, I'm finally the "proud" owner of an iPhone. We'll get to the "proud" bit in a sec. After years of bagging them out, calling them all names under the sun, but in particular, the "JesusPhone", I finally succumbed. The reasoning behind it? Well, my previous phone, an iMate (HTC) JamIn, finally broke my patience. First up, I was always frustrated by how little of the phone I actually used. It was there to;

1. Make calls
2. Check emails (always in a pretty shitty format)
3. Play "Bubble Breaker"
4. Sometimes update Twitter, via the Twitter Web client

That was about it. Initially I used it to play music (stuck a 2gb SD card in it with MP3s), but after I got my iPod just over 2 years ago, it became pretty redundant pretty quickly. However, not looking for any particularly greener grass, as a phone, it did OK mostly. But then the external speaker went on it (the second JamIn that I have owned that this happened to). So I could only have it on vibrate... hard when you're in another room from it to hear it ringing. But then the downward spiral quickly came - it started to reboot, usually during a call, whenever it's battery got below about 60%. Then it became 70%... then eventually 85%. One night on the taxi ride from the airport it rebooted 19 times in a row - it would just boot up, then immediately crash. It was rebooting during client calls. It wasn't pretty. It almost got smashed a few times... but with no other alternative, I sucked it up and stayed with it. Eventually, I decided to upgrade.

When looking for a new phone, I genuinely wanted to stay on Windows mobile - but when comparing features and potential, the Windows-based phones just started to look a little bit weak for my liking. First up, I wanted internal storage for music. I have close to 200gb of music, and any given day I want to listen to a variety of music. I also didn't want to be forced to use a memory card (e.g. SD card) to load music onto - I'd much prefer internal storage. The iPhone I got has 32gb. Of the Windows Phones on the market, I think the biggest I could get was 4gb (and then expansion to 32gb via card). Because I also had an iPod, I wanted something I could sync with iTunes (as much as I think iTunes is a piece of shit software) - it didn't seem that any Windows Phone could do this (at least not that I could see)

Since getting my iPhone though, I've realised the true value of it (which didn't influence my purchase); the variety and usefulness of apps. Certainly, I thought when getting the iPhone, "Well, if something goes wrong with it, I know there's certainly a massive user base and I'll get support" - but I didn't recognise that the huge user base would also produce such amazing tools and software for the phone. After a month of using the iPhone, it's now pretty much indispensable for me (and I'm as surprised about that as anyone). Frequently now I won't turn the laptop on during the weekend - I can do it all from my iPhone. What I'm now using it for dwarfs the list above, but here's some of my more frequent uses;

1. Make calls (obviously)
2. Read and write emails, both on my work and personal accounts
3. Check the Weather, using this awesome app from Oz Weather
4. Check and update Twitter, via TweetDeck for iPhone
5. Check and update Facebook
6. Use it as an iPod (although I still carry my other one in the bag for the extended library)
7. Use it as a camera
8. Use it as a video camera (this has been great to capture the kids on short notice)
9. Read the news, via the great ABC News app
10. Used maps when I've been in other cities, or out in the 'burbs
11. Use Dictionary.com for "Word of the day"
12. Use it as a guitar tuner (a few times now - very handy)
13. Checked my plan usage via two Optus related apps
14. Played DoodleJump (a very addictive game)
15. Played Paper Toss (a very addictive game)
16. Played Firemint's Real Racing (just this alone - look at it - what an amazing game... for a PHONE! And, built in Melbourne as well!)

I think that list will do for the moment. I've also used the web client to surf and other apps here and there, but the above list is the more frequently used actions. I feel I'm getting real value from my phone now... and in turn it's becoming more and more part of my daily routine. For example, I'll check emails on the phone in the morning prior to turning on the laptop, to know whether or not I need to deal with anything on the way into work or not.

Finally, it's important for me to state; this doesn't change my view/love/addiction for Microsoft products. Hell, my whole career is based around Microsoft technology, and just because I've got an iPhone doesn't mean I'm going to pack it all in and go and work in the Apple store. It didn't happen when I got a Gmail account 6 or 7 years ago, nor when I got my first iPod 2 years ago. For me, it's all about productivity and what works for me.