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My Blackberry Tour
I have had my Blackberry for four days now. I like it for the most part. It is no iPhone though. My iPod Touch is much more user friendly and easier to use, but the Blackberry is easily the best phone I have had, and can get. It is really nice to have access to the internet and apps without having to look for a wifi hotspot. The Wife got a pink Curve, and she really likes it. I think it feels kinda cheap. I was glad when my Tour came, and it didn’t feel as cheap. It’s pretty solid. The keyboard a little tough to get use to. I am use to my iPod Touch keyboard correcting my misstakes. One of my fingers covers three keys on the Blackberry keyboard. I was mistyping things all the time at firt. I am getting better and faster now. Like anything, it just takes some time to get use to.
There are a lot of Blackberry apps. Probably not as many as there is for the iPhone, but still enough. The bad thing is there isn’t one simple place where you can find all the apps. I have downloaded a few app stores, but they never seem to have the app I am looking for. Google seems to be the best place to search for apps.
I like the fact that I can use the GPS for free now. Previously I had to use Verizon’s program and had to pay $10 a month or $3 a day. I have tested a few turn by turn apps and have settled on amAze. It seems to be the most user friendly one to use.
I will be happy to use my Blackberry for the next two years. Who knows what phones will be like then. With any luck by then I might be able to get an iPhone, or maybe something even better.
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Pocket Universe For the iPhone
I love laying outside and staring at the stars. It’s amazing how small we are, and how minor our problems are when you look at the size of the universe. I use to be real good at spotting a bunch of different constellations. I forgot most of them now. I pretty much can only find Ursa Major in the summer and Orion in the winter. Yesterday I discovered the iPhone app Pocket Universe. It’s pretty much a pocket planetarium, and very cool. It uses your location, time, and date to show you what the sky should look like. For the iPhone 3GS, is uses the compass feature and even adjusts based on what direction you are facing. In town where I am at, it’s hard to see many stars. There is just too much light pollution. At the end of the month we are heading to the lakes camping. I can’t wait to put this app to work then. It will be cool to be able to locate planets, and constellations, and other objects in the solar system.
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iPhone or Palm Pre
Every time Apple announces a new iPhone it pisses me off that AT&T doesn’t have coverage here, so I can’t get one. There is one way I could get one. I can order one and use my home address as the billing address, but then use my Mom’s or Brother’s address as the primary place of use. From what I hear that would work as long as I don’t go over the “off-net usage allowance”, which would be no problem because I really don’t talk on the phone much. The downside is I would have to get a different number, and it would be long distance to anybody local, but I could get around that using my Google Voice account. The main downside though is the price. I would have to pay $70 for the Wife’s phone on Verizon, and then another $70 or so for my phone, and I don’t even know if it would be worth it since I wont be on 3G, so it will be slow. It’s probably always going to be cheaper for us both to be on the same carrier, and she talks a lot more and needs Verizon’s coverage.
I am due for a new phone, and really want one, but I think I am going to wait six months to get one. The Palm Pre is the other phone I am thinking about. Right now I would have to switch to Sprint to get it. There are rumors that Verizon might be getting it which would be cool. If the Pre lives up to it’s hype and gets lots of good apps, it will probably be my next phone. If not, I might have to use the iPhone work around.
I don’t think anybody likes their cell carriers very much. I love Verizon’s coverage, I just wish they would get the phones I want. An iPhone is highly unlikely because I don’t think Apple will make a CDMA phone. A Palm Pre is very likely going to be on Verizon eventually. I just wish I knew what the chances are that AT&T would get coverage here anytime soon.
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My Favorite iPod Touch/iPhone Apps
I have had my iPod Touch since November and haven’t talked much about it. I got the 32 GB version because I thought it would replace my current iPod. I would have gotten a bigger one if they made one. It would be nice to fit all my music one device. I hate weeding out stuff, but oh well.
The truth is I don’t use my Touch as an iPod very often. The interface on my old iPod is just better. I can control it without removing it from my pocket. I didn’t think that would be a big deal, but it is. I pretty much only listen to my Touch when my other iPod battery is low. I still love my Touch though. I bring it everywhere just to see where I can get WiFi. WiFi is beginning to be everywhere. Most restaurants have it, the Mall has it, and I even found a gas station that has it. I will now drive out of the way just so I can get some internets while I am getting gas. I don’t have a ton of apps on it yet, but I thought I would share some of my favorites.
Must haves – These ones are super popular that most people should know about and everybody should have.
- Google Earth – Just ‘cus it’s cool.
- Pandora – To discover new music.
- Slacker – A lot like Pandora.
- Iheartradio – To listen to radio stations all over.
- Facebook – I find the app easier to use than the site.
- Twitterriffic – There may be better Twitter apps, but this one just works.
Weather – The Touch has a weather app build in, but I like these two for more detailed information.
- The Weather Channel
- AccuWeather
Games – There are tons of games. Here are some of my favorites.
- Topple – One of my first games I bought. I think it is free now.
- Sudoku – Sometimes I get board enough to play Sudoku.
- Labyrinth – Pretty fun game, and much easier than the wooden version.
- Tap Tap Revenge – Fun game to rock out to, just wish it had more songs.
- Adventure – One of my all time favorite games. If you didn’t play it on the 2600 you won’t understand.
- Yahtzee – It’s, well, Yahtzee.
- TapDefense – It’s Desktop Tower Defense for your palm.
- PenguinLite – How can catapulting Penguins not be fun?
Video Watching – The Touch comes with a YouTube app, but these two are cool too.
- Joost – View what Joost has to offer.
- Ustream – Watch Ustream videos.
Misc – Other cool apps.
- Stanza – This is an awesome app if you want to read books on your Touch. You can download and read tons of books for free, or for fee.
- VNC- Because it’s just cool controlling your computer from your iPod.
- Mint – I never used the site until the app came out. It’s nice to get a quick glance at all my banking accounts on my Touch.
- USA Today – I nice app to catch up on the news with.
- Remote – Great for remotely controlling iTunes.
That’s just a few of my favorite apps. Maybe I do have quite a few apps.
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Play Adventure on your iPhone/iPod Touch
Back in 1984 I discovered a simple, but awesome game for my Atari 2600. It was simply called Adventure. To this day I still play the game from time to time on emulators. There isn’t much to the game. You just wonder around looking for the trophy to bring back to your castle while avoiding being eaten by the dragons. The coolest thing about the game was that on the hardest level, everything was always found in different places. Back in 1984 that was a cool thing. Every time you played the game it was different. Well, today I just discovered that the game is also available for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I already downloaded it and played it. It’s so cool to play one of my favorite game on my iPod. Now I am off to find what other childhood memories I can relive on my iPod.
