I got my new iPhone! woo hoo! It's purty!
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I got my new iPhone! woo hoo! It's purty!
I really went back & forth. I got the Droid Bionic for two basic reasons:
1. You can't change the battery in the IPhone. It has to go back to Apple to maintain warranty.
2. I get 4G with the Bionic. The IPhone only gets 3G.
3. (OK, I lied) I wonder about Apple as a going concern now that Steve Jobs is gone. He took the company from bankruptcy to here. Granted, Apple's technology is probably laid out for the next two years, but then what?
The sound clarity is awesome both on the phone & with the Bluetooth. I wanted a good mapping function so when I'm on my bike at BFE, I can see what's really "down that road." I even pulled up my own address and there was a picture of my house. Spooky. I have zero sense of direction, so I'll be using it a lot. It has Google (not Bing, which I think sux) and responds to voice searches as well as typed.
I also wanted to be able to access the web. This phone can also act as a wi-fi hotspot, although I understand it really sucks out the battery juice. I got the extended battery so I should be good all day. I read books on a kindle & don't think I'll ever watch a movie on my phone.
I sat down with the owner's manual & within a couple of hours, I was completely up to speed, had everything arranged, my calendar put in (you can put your calender on gmail and it transfers to the phone - too cool). I'm NOT a techie, so the phone must be pretty simple.;)
There are third-party services that do this. I use one called faxaway.com. It's quite inexpensive. I'm sure there are many more out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by jessmarimba
Yay, Badger! Have fun with the new gardget!
If you get stuck on how to do something, just google it. There are some great tips for iphone site and more out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
This is so true. I've learned more about my iphone from just googling things than I would ever have guessed! Put in your exact question and there is a good chance that someone, somewhere has already asked it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irulan
I have an HTC Inspire and I really like it. I mainly chose android over iphone due to price, but I have yet to find anything that i could do on an iphone that I can't do on the android. I also like that I can carry a spare battery in my purse so that if I was ever in a pinch and drained my battery, I have a backup.
I made the same switch. There are some things that were easier on my iPhone, and some things that are easier on my Inspire. My Inspire, however, is a far better PHONE than my iPhone was...Quote:
Originally Posted by trista
Have fun with it!Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
I had a Samsung Optimus (android) prior to the iPhone, and I have to say I liked it much better.
The iPhone speaker volume sucks when you are driving, basically have to wear a headset. Call quality isn't that great and I get a lot of 'call failed' or calls dropping, though that may be AT&T more than the iPhone. the phone itself is slow when trying to start apps or do something within the app, and Skype is practically useless as the camera is on the back of the phone. The only way for the other caller to see you is to turn the phone around, and then you can't see them! Oh and the quality of the pictures that the camera takes also sucks compared to the Samsung. And my last complaint, maybe someone else has figured it out? I can't find anyway to save a picture from an email via the browser onto the phone. The only pictures I can store on the phone are either taken with the phone or synced via iTunes. :confused:
For browser or email photos, if I hold my finger on it for a second (like I would to copy/paste) a menu pops up from the bottom of the screen and one of the options is "save image." It saves to your camera roll. I don't know if it has changed in the newer iphones but that works on 3GS.Quote:
Originally Posted by pumpkinpony
Also I know on the 4G you can take photos of yourself with the front of the phone somehow so I would figure Skype would work correctly on those? Who knows.
Yep, I've Skyped with the front camera on the iPhone 4. Worked fine. But I think the 3s only had a rear camera and that would be a problem ;)
ETA: I must add that I have an older version of Skype (3.0.1) on my phone. I deliberately haven't updated because the reviews on the updated versions have been so awful.
Ha, i'm posting this from my iPhone now. The keyboard is MUCH better than the samsung one, and the address book is better, too. Don't have to have multiple entries for landline, cell, etc
Um doesn't CA law allow only handsfree anyway?Quote:
Originally Posted by pumpkinpony
My iphone takes great photos, mostly
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-c...6/IMG_0277.jpg
I think she just meant that you can't just put the phone on speakerphone and set it in your lap. Which is technically handsfree, but doesn't work with the iphone unless you have a really really quiet car and really really good hearing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irulan
I could be wrong, but that's how I deal with phone calls in handsfree states, and it's a poor solution.
Most phones don't work well on speaker when you put them in your lap.Quote:
Originally Posted by jessmarimba
It's a poor excuse for hands free as you have to your fingers on the keypad etc unless there is a total voice command app I don't know about.
What is it with the flagrant violation of hands free cell phone laws? Just because they don't do a great job of enforcing them doesn't mean you should blow them off. You can pick up a cheap bluetooth hands free visor set for $45 at places. There is very little that cant' wait for a return call.
... also please remember that hands free or not might be the law, but even hands free you're more impaired by talking on the phone than you are by being drunk ... seriously, is there a single person on this board who hasn't been run off the road while running or cycling, by someone driving while on the phone???
I'm just not spending $45 for a bluetooth that I only need maybe 5 days a year. As far as I'm aware, CA is the only place I go for work that doesn't allow handheld phones. I don't have that money to spare. Unless its the client for a property I'm en route to, its just better not to answer.
But all iphones (besides possibly the original one) have voice commands to call people, so no, you wouldn't need to dial with the keypad.
I wonder if that is a newer ios? I just tried on mine, if I hold my finger on the image I get Open, Open in New Page, or Copy. If I try copy, I don't see any way to Paste in the camera roll. oh well...Quote:
Originally Posted by jessmarimba
edit: went to check something, if I select "open" it just scrolls to the next picture.
^ that. I used to have a blackberry for work, and I would drop it down in the hand slot in the door and it worked great on speaker. The iPhone, not so much. There are several states now with handsfree laws - here. I do have a bluetooth headset, I just don't always remember to turn it on so now I usually hit answer, speaker, and just tell someone to wait a minute while I get the bluetooth going.Quote:
Originally Posted by jessmarimba
When you drive a car, DRIVE!!
It's not about yakking on the phone.
It's not about putting your make up on.
It's not about reading your morning paper.
It's not about playing with the radio station...
It's not about eating your brekkie.
Each second you are distracted, you travel 88 feet at 60MPH. Enough to crash.
Several years ago, in Irvine California, on quiet Sunday morning, on a 4 lane road with very light traffic, a car (I think it was high end BMW) was involved in a crash. Wrapped around a tree. Driver was dead at the scene. No skid mark. No broken pieces of car on the road leading up to the crash scene. It was determined that the driver was going at very high speed and was talking on the phone. He was distracted and veered off the road and bulls-eyed into a big oak tree.
I take my driving very seriously. Maintain my situational awareness around me at all times. You should too. no ear phone/buds... I've seen distracted drivers run a stale red light. Yes on one occasion, it collided and totaled the SUV.
Oregon also has hands-free only law. Hands free should be banned too. I'm bit sensitive. My sister and my twin nephews were just a year old babies when their car was rear ended. It is amazing they survived at all. Nothing was left of their car. My sister was waiting at a red light when they got rear ended by someone going near 60MPH is what I understood.
Research shows that just talking on a cell, with or without hands free, is a distraction = drunk driving. So, I don't "get" why hands free is OK? Is the phone lobby that powerful in Washington?Quote:
Originally Posted by smilingcat
hmmmm....I will play the devil's advocate here. What separates this from talking to someone in the car? That can be at least as serious a distraction, especially for people who are accustomed to driving solo...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogmama
I'm not sure they've scientifically identified what the difference is, only that there is one, and multiple studies have confirmed it. Theories include the passenger having some awareness of road conditions and shutting up or even alerting the driver; or psychological factors that say the driver isn't "removing" her consciousness from inside the car.
There are specific behaviors that are stereotypical of people driving on the phone, and most of them relate to tunnel vision. I don't encourage anyone to talk while driving, but if you do it and you're not aware of the tunnel vision you get, you might just give it a try on a flat, straight, untrafficked piece of road. Start talking to someone. (Dial hands free or while you're stopped.) Make sure they know you're doing an experiment and that they're prepared for you to drop the phone at any second. Now make sure you're seeing with your whole eyes. Keep your eyes on the road and (while talking to the person about something ELSE), identify everything in your peripheral vision and predict what it's going to do and/or where hazards might be coming from.
Betcha can't do it. I sure can't. That's why you'll usually see people on the phone "attaching" themselves to other vehicles - either by tailgating or by shadowing someone's blind spot. They can only really see one thing while they're talking and driving, so they attach themselves to another vehicle and do whatever the other driver does.
It can be tough sometimes trying to shake a phone addict when you're driving the car they're attached to!
I'll add that I think it's the tunnel vision that makes phone addicts especially dangerous to us cyclists and runners, because it exacerbates target fixation. As a motorcyclist and bicyclist, I'm well aware of target fixation (both in myself and in other drivers), but it wasn't until I started running (facing traffic) that I really became aware of how enormous a problem it is and how ill-educated most drivers are about it. When a driver can only see one thing (tunnel vision), and then that thing becomes YOU (because they're suddenly looking at something they're not used to seeing on the road) and then they AIM for you (because tunnel vision plus target fixation means they can literally only drive in the direction they can see in - BTDT myself [not on the phone], totalled my moto but luckily only got some bruises and didn't hurt the other driver) - that's how cyclists and little kids walking to school die. Right? You read all the time how somebody got run over on the shoulder or even on the sidewalk, and the police report says "it's unknown why the driver left the roadway," when in fact it's perfectly obvious why the driver left the roadway. Target fixation. Not necessarily involving a phone, but phones seriously exacerbate it.
This is drifty, but it's important. Please. Seriously. You're not just endangering yourselves - but your own safety is valuable, too, and we'd miss you.
http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/16/3/128.short
If you don't want to click on it - here is the gist
Moreover, in-vehicle conversations do not interfere with driving as much as cell-phone conversations do, because drivers are better able to synchronize the processing demands of driving with in-vehicle conversations than with cell-phone conversations.
and another
http://cellphonefreedriving.ca/media...istraction.pdf
when controlling for driving difficulty and time
on task, cell phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments (i.e., more accidents and
less responsive driving behavior) than legally intoxicated drivers. These data also call into
question driving regulations that prohibit hand-held cell phones and permit hands-free cell
phones, because no significant differences were found in the impairments to driving caused by
these two modes of cellular communication.
and finally
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=506599 (click on the PSU PDF)
People sometimes ask why cell phone conversation is
risky, in that conversation with passengers in the car does
not seem to cause accidents. We believe passengers
moderate their speech based on their observation of
current driving conditions. For example, most people
would stop talking to a driver who is passing a truck on a
two-lane mountain road after dark
Here's the thing... in that split second you have to diddle with it to answer it, hit the right buttons for speaker, tell your person to hold on, and then turn on the blue tooth.... you aren't looking at the road. What if a toddler darted out in front of you at that very split second? Someone braked for a turn that didn't have their signal on? I'm not picking on you. I'm commenting on the millions of drivers who think they are safe enough glancing at the phone for just a split second. I see them every day.Quote:
Originally Posted by pumpkinpony
Sure. I've done it. I admit it. My state passed a law last year for hand held cell phone use as a primary offense, and you know what... I follow it. I don't have a hands free so I have disciplined myself to not answer the phone. It's amazing, there are places to pull over everywhere when you aren't on the freeway, where you can stop your car and see who called, and return the call right away if necessary. If your employer expects you to be available in the car and won't provide a bluetooth setup, shame on them.
I'm convinced my city could solve their budget crisis if they'd just park a traffic cop at a couple of major intersections and write $124 tickets all day.
So let me ask again, why do people so flagrantly ignore the laws?
Interesting discussion, for sure. For the record, my bluetooth is wired in my car so all I have to do to answer a call is for my thumb to hit a button on my steering wheel...which is easy to do by feel. I also rarely initiate calls when driving and NEVER in city traffic. If I do want to start a call, my thumb just hits another button and I say the name of the person I am calling - so there isn't much there to distract outside of the conversation itself. I've had enough happen in my life that I KNOW things do happen and can certainly happen to me.
Thanks for the links. I hadn't heard of this research before and will check it out.
I upgraded to a Droid Bionic about a month ago. Took it to San Fran & was hoping the navigation would help with the public transportation. It is AWESOME. It found where I was at, I would type in where I wanted to go and it would give me multiple choices depending on when I wanted to leave. It told me what buses to take, what transfers I'd have to do and how long the total trip would be.
Since then, I found out that I can use it for a shopping list. OK, so I'm anal, but I DO grocery shop with a list. I don't even have to type it. I just put a name to the list and then speak each item. It displays it on the screen, I accept it and go onto the next. In the store, I can check off things as I get them. So much better than my scribbled up 5X7 tablets!
Oh, and it also makes phone calls :D