Let me just dust this thing off, excuse me. I hope to soon look at my Google Reader feeds without being gripped by a paralysing guilt assuaged only by pretending blogging is actually all fake.
My mother has left, which means no more half-assed compliments, so consider yourselves spared. I thank you for bearing with me while I whined about not being sufficiently rewarded for my troubles by my mother, since it seems that I'm still six years old and craving my Mom's validation. I swear, I'm not this needy in real life, really. No, really.
Changing topics entirely, I need your advice on things media. The Dude has made my life by telling me that I can shop for my very own special gadget - iPhone, iPod Touch, or Blackberry tomorrow evening. It will be an early birthday present, but as we're trying to rack up air miles in time for our US trip in July, this is a quick way to accumulate them. I'm very gadget-adoring, and had you been here a few weeks ago when I was setting up my BIL's iPod Touch you would have felt you were witnessing an unnatural union between woman and machine.
Despite this love, I'm in three minds as to which one I want. It's me, so I will research the hell out of this mother before making up my mind anyway, but I know you are clever, tech-savvy ladies with opinions. I don't use my mobile enough to warrant a monthly contract of £35, or whatever ridiculous sum they want for a monthly iPhone contract. There is a pay as you go option which is much more feasible for my kind of usage, but now I'm worried what would happen if I moved to the US. Anyone have any idea if you can just take these things when you move to another continent and carry on as normal?
I know the Touch doesn't have the phone element, and though I don't use my mobile enough, I'm wondering if I'll miss that part in not getting the iPhone. Basically, I think I want to know if the only difference between the iPhone and iPod Touch is the actual phone part. Otherwise, can you still use the apps to the same extent? I am madly, enrapturously in love with the notion of using magical, amazing apps standing in the middle of the street. I don't want to get a Touch and discover that half the apps aren't applicable.
I've saved the Blackberry for last because the extent of my knowledge about them is that people call them Crackberries. Oh, and that Debbie Whatsherfacegreekname from E! got carpal tunnel from hers. I said that like it was a communicable disease and not a hell of her own making. The iPhone/Touch is just so damn purdy, and I'm finding it very difficult to resist its siren song.
To save this post from the tragic whingeing of the spoiled middle class, I'd like to know what you people are up to media-wise. What are you watching? Listening to? Reading? We have spent weeks trying to catch up on DVRd TV, I've managed to forget that music exists, and it's taken me 3 weeks to read 20 pages of Cold Mountain. Obviously I need a wee gadget to distract me from the important things even more.
13 comments:
I had a Touch for about 10 minutes before I realized that I wanted a Phone. The problem with the Touch is that to get on the web, you need to be in a wireless node. With the Phone, it's faster with wireless, but possible over the phone signal. Get the Phone!
Can't help on the moving to the states piece, though.
I don't know that I'll be much help -- Verizon gives me such a nice discount for being a University employee that I wouldn't want to go to AT & T to have an iPhone. Blackberrys don't have all of the cool apps, but you can get the web access, email, and music that way. Of course I have no idea about convertibility to the US, though.
I have a Touch and I love it. It's so pretty and now I actually know what day it is and when I have a meeting and I can put my shopping list on it and listen to music and let Eliza watch Mama Mirabelle on it, and and and...
That said, it definitely has the limitation Magpie mentioned. It doesn't bother me because a. there are so many apps you don't even need wireless for (we have no wireless at home because we cannot get our act together) and b. when I do need wireless it's very easy to find (hello, new coffee shop with free access just down the street from me!).
If the stand-in-the-middle-of-the-street thing matters, though, yeah, get the Phone.
I think Blackberries are not nearly as pretty, and our sitter has a new one and has complained it's actually not that intuitive to figure out — it's trying to be an iTouch, only it's not.
Whatever you get, you might want to think about getting it on ebay if you can — I got the biggest size for the price of the mid-size version, which, AWESOME!
Ah...nope, useless sorry. Wait. Do they come in red? Get the prettiest one.
H loves his iPhone with a deep and unnatural passion. He also seriously gets off on being able to whip it out (ah ha ha ha) in public and say things like 'actually, Marlowe wrote Edward II' and 'the film starts at 8:15, and there's a good chinese restaurant just round the corner'. He smiles pityingly and shakes his head at the owners of Crackberries.
Me, I just think All Things Mac are purdy.
I say go for the most advanced- and in this case that sounds like the iphone. I think most new phones are able to be international- but I would check when you buy.
But I am also a mac gal and would just geek out at being able to have my mac mail at my fingers...sigh
As for media- well I am watching EVERYTHING! Just watched Glee and loved it. Also- do you guys have Fringe (tv show) up there?
p.s. word verification is "flone"- which makes me wonder if it is some new kind of phone/flute combination...hmmm
That Canadian Boy I Married has a Crackberry for work. It's fiddly, but fun. I've never used an iPhone or iTouch except at the Apple Stores, but dayum, they are purty, purty little things. The coolest part? If you're playing a game that requires shaking of dice or driving, you can just shake/turn the thing and the game does it's thing. It's so cool. Plus, touch screens kind of turn me on.
I'm watching back episodes of Rescue Me after finally finishing watching Buffy (for the first time). Oh, and Dollhouse should be on over there now - you should watch it.
The nice thing about Touch/iPhone, is that you now have everything in one device. So if you look up a number via your touch, now you don't need to sift through your bag and find your phone (which I would find all shades of annoying). Actually, what I really groove on is having my music right there, and if someone needs to reach me, my music is interrupted to tell me that my daughter is sick, please come get her. That has actually happened. There are some Apps that are search/phone (restaurants, taxis, etc.) and obviously, you wouldn't be able to use the phone part. May or may not bug.
From what I understand, ATT/iPhone are going to divorce this year or next, meaning you can buy your phone from any ol' place and I gather, the contract as well. (Maybe?) So if/when you move to the states, point might be moot. I think you need to get a 2 year contract when you buy one; not sure about international transferability, but I'd be shocked and amazed if you didn't google a few of those terms and wind up with answers on a message board somewhere.
I was veeeeeeery skeptical of the iTouch when I played with Millie's out in CA last summer. She said the apps are great but the Internet was slow. I bought one anyway this fall because I needed an iPod and wanted to be able to have a slightly larger screen for watching movies. And now I can't live without it. I love it, I love it, I love it so hardcore. And the new iTouches have faster internet.
You can only use the Internet if you're near wireless, which I am about 80% of the time. I use it around the house rather than returning to the computer. I can be in bed, roll over and check email, and then go to sleep. Every once in a while, I am stuck in the car for 4+ hours and I miss being able to check on something or send a quick email. I just got email for my phone for $5 extra dollars a month and that has filled that gap.
I know very little about these gadgets.
I know that the iPhone looks cool, but it has seriously uncool DRM that locks down the files you load in there, legitimately bought of course. Moving the songs to another apparatus later on may be hard or impossible.
The other gadgets may have the same drawback, they probably do.
My iPhone rules.
My previous cell phone was the cheapest you can get, didn't even have a camera or anything. I think I used it about 7 minutes a month.
Now I have an iPhone and I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE it. I love it more than my dishwasher and I have a well documented unhealthy attraction to my dishwasher.
I think I'd hate an iTouch, one more thing to carry around, and I've never used a Blackberry. iPhone has been totally worth the money IMO.
Really late to this but I lurrve my i-phone to bits. Only disadvantage is that it is fiddly to try and comment on blog posts hilt on a bus.
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