Well, it finally happened. I have migrated my mobile phone experience from a Windows-based smartphone (T-Mobile Dash) to Apple’s iPhone 3GS. Partly because my Dash was over 2 years old and acting up a bit, partly because I turned 50 last month and my husband surprised me with a trip to the AT&T store, and partly because I just wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. One thing you may not know about me is that I’ve been a Microsoft fangirl from way back, so making the switch to an Apple mobile device was something I’ve resisted up until now. Overall, I’m really having a fun time with my new iPhone. It’s definitely different. The whole touchscreen thing is new to me and I’m slowly getting used to it. At first I really missed having buttons, but now…not so much. I was also worried about not knowing how the AT&T cell service in my area would be compared to the awesome T-Mobile cell service was, but fear not… it’s just as great.
The first thing I noticed was that it is physically bigger than the Dash. That’s OK. The feature that has put me over-the-top in love with the iPhone from the very beginning is the screen size (aka workspace). Holy Moly! Where have you been all my life?!?!
Something I discovered that you can easily do is to add a new desktop icon to your favorite websites, thus completely customizing your iPhone to access the sites you most commonly visit. While you’re on any webpage in the browser on your iPhone, click on the plus sign and select Add To Home Screen. OMG!
And can I just go on the record to say that the web browsing experience is FAR superior to that on my T-Mobile Dash. Since this is not a Dash-bashing post, I’ll simply say that my iPhone will not strictly be a mobile tool for me to get my email anymore. It’s so much more. Plus, I do understand that there’s a new T-Mobile Dash on the market, however… the call of the iPhone was too strong for me to ignore. Dang it! I just wanted one, OK!!?
The other thing I love is the application store. I feel like someone handed me a credit card and told me to shop-till-I drop. There are free apps a-plenty to choose from. While I’m not a big fan of using iTunes, I’ll suck it up as I walk down each virtual aisle and get to pick and choose what bling I want to get for my new toy business tool. Finding new applications is fun, but a bit time-consuming. I have always been a huge fan of “top 10″ and “Best of” types of articles, so Mashable has become my new BFF when looking for iPhone application lists. I’m having a lot of fun exploring the applications for social networking, too. These make it really easy to interact with the various social networks away from my computer.
Since this is my first iPhone blog post here, I’d like to share an application that has me as excited as my puppy gets when he thinks I have a treat in my hands — the Facebook for iPhone 3.0. All I can say is WOW! I’m in Facebook Business Page heaven. Forget about looking at my Facebook profile, it’s the integration with Pages that has me seeing stars. Just days before it became available, I read an article about the new version of this application and couldn’t wait until it was approved. While there are some missing features that people are wanting, I’m quite happy with the new functionality to work with the Facebook Pages I’m an admin for.
Other social networking applications I’ve installed and are exploring are TwitterFon, Nambu, LinkedIn, and Wordpress (Thank you, Mashable!). I’m also exploring various ways to work with my ping.fm account, including something I just found called Pingle.
In upcoming blog posts I’ll be exploring more of these social applicatons and more, then sharing my experiences with you.
What about you? Any iPhone users out there that have an application you’ve discovered that makes you all giddy or gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside? I’d love to hear from you!
Written by Andrea Kalli
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Andrea Kalli is the owner of Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC, the Productivity Club, and the Small Business Podcast Directory. Her focus is on Internet and Social Media Marketing, Creating Wordpress Websites and Blogs, Keyword Research and SEO, Product Launch Support, Content Management and Repurposing, and Audio and Video Editing.
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If Verizon offered the iPhone I would have gone with that instead of the Blackberry. But, I’m not willing to give up Verizon service. I am jealous of some of the apps the iPhone has, though.