Iphone 3G

Well this past Monday I headed over to the Irvine Spectrum with Jamie. She was going to go shopping while I went over to the Apple store to see what the line looked like for the new Iphone 3G. All the local AT&T stores were sold out of phones since they launched on Friday, and said they weren't sure when they would get more in.

Walking up to the store the line didn't look too bad so I told Jamie to go do her thing and I'd call her with any updates. The line was only about 8 people outside, but still pondered if the phone was worth waiting in line for. Its not like Apple is going to discontinue the phone in a week and it won't be available, but there is always that voice in every guys head that tells you that you need the latest and greatest NOW!

After an hour of talking to the others in line about their current Iphones an Apple employee greeted me and I was under way. The whole time in line one employee kept giving updates on which models they still had and how many, and I think I may of squeezed out of there with one of the last 8GB phones. Good thing cuz I don't know if I could wait till the next day when they would get more in stock! What if the UPS truck crashed on the way there, and it delayed me in getting my phone till Wednesday!

All jokes aside, I'm glad that I was able to get the phone, and so far I am happy with it. My only gripe is that the battery life isn't that great. Coming from a plain flip phone where you could go without a charge for 8 days to this, it will take some getting used to. Today was my first time using it all day, started off with a full charge at 8am and the battery finally went out on me around 7pm today. This was with average use, text messages, AIM, some web browsing, email checking etc. I know that I will get more battery life out of the phone once I get over the honeymoon stage and stop picking it up every 3 minutes to check out what other applications I can download. I bought a car charge and plan on bringing an extra USB cable with me to work so that if need be I can just give it a quick charge. Here are a few quick tips that I've come across on the web and from friends to help prolong battery life:

1. Lower screen brightness
2. Turn off Wi-Fi unless you are using it.
3. Turn off Location
4. Stop picking up your iphone to see if someone sent you a text message. Its the 21st century, it will beep when someone wants to talk to you. It hasn't beeped because your friends are tired of texting you back on your new phone.

The new application tool is pretty sweet. Here is a snapshot (taken and sent with the iphone, hold down the Home button and press the sleep key).

Remote - Nice application you use with your home computer and Itunes. Turns your Iphone into a remote control for your ITunes. Only downside is that you have to have a WiFi connection for it to work.
AIM - Puts your AOL Instant Messenger right on your Iphone.
BoxOffice - Type in your zipcode and it gives you a listing of all the theaters in your area, and what movies are playing and when. You can also search by movie, and it will list what time it is playing at all your local theaters.
Restaurants - Has a list of about 20 or so popular food chains and tell you the nutritional facts on their full menu.
Scratch - While listening to any song in your Ipod you can scratch the song like a DJ.
PangeaVR - Has some really cool 3D images from around the world.
BofA - Look at all your Bank of America accounts, transfer funds, bill pay, etc.