The Wisdom of LiveJournal and Smartphones

[marcusmarcusrc]

I figure it is about time for me to join the world of the smartphone enabled, and before leaping into it, I thought I'd check the collective wisdom:

Given that I am a mac-user and a Verizon customer, are there any good reasons not to go with the default of an iPhone5 and a verizon plan?


I'd probably get the 32 GB (16 GB would probably be sufficient, but historically I keep phones and laptops for 4 or more years, and the extra memory might be valuable in a few years), 4 GB plan (though I have little idea how much I'd actually use), black phone.

My plans for the phone (listed here both to inform any advice for what phone I should buy, but also for app recommendations) include:

mapping functions (google maps over apple maps?)
zipcar/bikeshare functions
next bus apps
email checking
list making (eg, books I want to read, movies I want to watch, things I need to do) (I hear evernote is good?)
taking photos
making phone calls
price-comparisons/reviews in stores (some day I'll post thoughts on smart-phones and reducing market distortions)
checking wikipedia to answer random questions

... maybe game playing? I went cold turkey on playing kongregate games in January, because it was just too easy to lose hours to them. I've divided the time gained between a number of things - reading (I should post some book reviews some day), sleep, house-stuff (cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc.), socializing, and, sadly, more web-surfing... But hypothetically, waiting for buses, standing in grocery lines, etc. are good times for game playing.

...maybe reading e-books? I have an e-ink kindle, which I use when I can't get a book out from the library/get too impatient for the next book in a series, and one thing I like about it is that it isn't back-lit, and I spend too many hours staring at computer screens as it is. But I recognize that having a book-reading-device on me at all times might be nice.

...maybe music? though I don't really like wearing ear-buds. I do have a nice iTunes library, though. And probably not movies/TV, since I'd want the bigger screen from my laptop.

...maybe calendaring, though mostly I use my work computer for that because I have to use Outlook for meeting scheduling, and once I've done that, might as well put everything else in there too.

What other smart-phone functions am I missing? And apologies for oversharing here. But hey, isn't oversharing what livejournal is for?


Thanks for your thoughts.

Comments

[katestine.livejournal.com]

I had an Incredible and now I have an iPhone and I'd never go back. I found with my Droid phone, there were all sorts of settings I didn't know about that could change the phone: I prefer the iPhone's simplicity, bc when I'm fiddling with my phone, I want to be playing a game, not futzing with the settings.

That said, if anyone still offers unlimited data plans, that's the way to go. I don't know how much data I use per month, but you should poll your friends/colleagues. I bet if you regularly use your phone as a GPS or to stream Pandora/Sirius, that'll gobble data.

I use the Kindle and Nook apps for reading books on the iPhone and the former is just fine. Assuming your library uses Overdrive, you can get books from libraries on the iPhone. (I do.)

I use the iPhone-native Notepad app for making lists.

My iPhone was a hand-me-down from my sister, so I didn't choose 32Gb. My music collection is about that size, so I can't really store it all on my iPhone, which is part of why I still keep my iTouch around.

My biggest piece of advice is get a case. And maybe AppleCare. And probably a screen protector.

[jadia.livejournal.com]

Sprint still offers unlimited data...it's part of why I decided to stick with them. Also, they are cheaper than the other carriers. But...less service, less 4G.

[marcusmarcusrc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I won't be streaming Pandora, but I might have an occasional week where I'm traveling and will want to be using GPS and yelp and stuff a lot... Also, I hear you on settings-futzing. I'm usually good within a given piece of software, and even have reasonable programming chops for someone who isn't actually a computer scientist, but my ability to handle systems is mediocre - I spent hours trying to figure out how to install NetCDF on my macbook, and failed, and had a lot of trouble with the R graphical interface too.

I'd heard that getting a case is a no-brainer - I'll have to look at screen protectors and apple care.

Oh, and library e-books would be a win. I couldn't get my first-gen Kindle to download the two e-books I've borrowed (though maybe part of the problem is that I didn't have wireless back then... I'll be getting a wireless router to support my new smartphone, so maybe that would fix that).

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

You can use a LOT of text and maps on a few gig a month, some music, or not very much video.

R is actually on my list to learn more about, but then I don't.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have the lowest data plan on my Droid and don't use all of it even when travelling. I stream Pandora a lot, but stream no movies.

[katestine.livejournal.com]

Did you try pushing it from Amazon? It's really annoying that the library makes you stop by Amazon to get your book.