You know I’ve had a few mobile phones, but I’m not like a lot of people who “just have to have the latest model”. I tend to keep my phone until well out of the contract period, in fact sometimes years after. I’m OK with that. The phone always did what I wanted it to do. I could make and receive calls, send text messages, etc.
Last year I needed a new phone. Natalie had an iPhone which she was really happy with so I decided on the same one. I particularly like the look of it. The love the simplistic design, that flat square look … well I know that it has rounded corners, but it’s not bumpy and lumpy like some other phones. I love the stainless steel frame around the edge and I love the shiny black back. In fact I love the look of it so much I decided not to have a cover. You know, generally we get covers for things because we want them to stay looking as good as when they were purchased. Well I figure that I love the look of my phone so much, that I want to … well look at it. I don’t want to cover it up. So I’ve decided not to have any cover on it. I’ll cover it up if and when it becomes too scratched that I don’t like the look of it any more, and in the meantime, I’ll just enjoy it as it is!
So what do I do with my phone that I never did with my other phones. As we know technology just keeps changing. In fact change is so rapid it takes real effort to keep up with it.
Well I use my phone for what a phone was originally used for … to take and make phone calls. Nothing unique about that. But I also use my phone to get my email. This is a great feature. Now I’m not a slave to my email, but sometimes when I’m out of the office for an extended period of time I can get my email and answer anything that can’t wait until I get back to the office. This was great when I was overseas earlier this year. I could shoot an answer back to a client, and they would never have known that I wasn’t sitting at my desk. Cool stuff! I love it. Worried about having email in more than one place? See my blog on Google Mail.
I also use my phone the same way as many other people would use their phones. I will use it as a calculator, a camera, to send text messages, as an alarm, and as a calendar.
Can you believe there are over 425,000 apps (Applications) available for the iPhone? That’s a huge number!
I have the Kindle app and I download Kindle books. The iPhone fits just nicely into the palm of the hand making the downloaded books super easy to read. I use many apps on the iPhone. I have one for the weather. You know the weather doesn’t play a hugh part in my life. After all, the weather is, what the weather is … and we can’t change it. But it is nice to know that if I am travelling what the weather is likely to be where I am going to be. Currently I have weather information for Gold Coast (my home town), Singapore (my son lives there) Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco and various places around the Caribbean. Earlier this year I travelled to those places and it’s just handy to know what the weather will be like. If you travel a lot for business (or for pleasure) you can just change the cities to suit where ever you are going.
There are apps for maps so if you don’t have a Satellite Navigator with you you can use the maps app to get directions for where you have to go. There are apps to Hail a Cab, Find Concerts, Sporting Events, Plays and Festivals, Reserve a Table, and there is even one called G-Park that you tap “Park Me” when you park your car and when you’re ready to get back to your car, it will give you turn-by-turn directions back to your car. How cool is that!
But I found a great use for my iPhone when Natalie and I recently attended a three day seminar. The first day I was writing notes as fast as I could, but I couldn’t keep up … so of course missed half the note taking. I’d seen people using their MacIntosh keyboard with their iPad to type information and I suddenly thought …. would my keypad connect up with my iPhone. The iPhone has a “Notes” program which is good for jotting down information. I’ve used it for notes to myself like a reminder to email a file to someone, a list of goods to collect from the stationery store, etc. Why can’t I use this for taking notes at the seminar. The iPad had a mini virtual keyboard which is great for short notes, or creating short emails, etc. but not suitable for taking notes at a seminar. Presto … the next day of the seminar I had my keyboard at hand and we connected it via Bluetooth to my iPhone. I opened up the Notes file and happily began taking my notes. If you attend many seminar, workshops or meetings where you want to take notes, this is a great idea. And even if you don’t have a MacIntosh computer you can purchase a small Apple keyboard to use with your iPhone.
How do you take notes at a seminar or meeting?
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