About 2 weeks ago I picked up the new iPhone 3GS. You know, the one all over TV right now. I don’t make a cent telling anyone to run out and buy one but I’ll say it anyways… run out and buy one! I wanted to throw together a quick post summarizing what makes this little contraption so great.
After only having it about 24 hours I recall wondering how I ever lived without it… Now that I’ve had it for about two weeks I can’t remember what it was like to have anything else. Nothing comes close.
I’ve had several smart phones… Treo’s, Blackjacks, and others. Windows mobile, Palm OS, generic operating systems – you name it I’ve probably tried it.
I feel like I’ve finally gotten through the gauntlet of bug-ridden and glitchy phones and have reached my prize at the end of the long tunnel of abuse. It’s the iPhone 3GS. And it’s fantastic, here’s 10 reasons why it’s so great along with a few direct references of how it can benefit internet marketers:
10. Email
I like being able to get my email on the go. I’m also a big Google fan (no surprise to my long time subscribers) so of course I use Gmail. The iPhone embraces “PUSH” technology which means you get your email when you want it… and with the new speed, you can get your full emails quick. When I say “full” emails I mean including any and all attachments, and of course with all embedded images appearing without a hitch. And oh yeah, speaking of speed…
9. Never Before Seen Speed On A Mobile
Browsing the internet on this phone compared to what most of us are used to is like watching a Suzuki GSX-R superbike take on an ‘87 Dodge Shadow (both of which I’ve once owned at different points in my young life. In case you’re confused, the GSX-R would smoke the Shadow any day. No competition…).
8. When I Feel Like Rockin’ Out To MJ And Some “Thriller” . . . I Just Say So!
The voice control on this thing is pretty freakin’ cool. I hold it up and say “call John Smith mobile” or “call John Smith work” and it dials the right number. This is great for when you’re driving but what sets it apart from other voice controlled phones I’ve had is that you can also fire up your tunes with the voice control and even ask for specific songs, songs by a certain artist, or for an album you have in mind. “Play songs by Michael Jackson” or “Play song Thriller” or “play Michael Jackson greatest hits album” are all examples of voice commands your iPhone will understand.
7. The Camera Rocks.
No cell phone takes pictures like this. Plus, the new iPhone 3GS takes great videos too. Throw in the massive amount of available storage and you can snap photos and shoot videos until your heart’s content. There’s options to upload videos right to YouTube straight from your iPhone immediately after shooting. There’s apps in the works that will support real-time streaming too… Think “UStream” from anywhere there’s a signal… (super cool).
8. The Storage Is Worth Mentioning Twice…
You get a lot of storage space… For many people it will be far more than you’ll ever need but if you’re really into music, or possibly even watching videos and movies on your phone, you’ll have the space available to support your mutlimedia cravings. I got the 32 gb version and I literally put thousands of songs on it and still haven’t filled it up even halfway!
7. Unparalleled Web Surfing…
One of the most upsetting things about my other phones was the limited web browsing capabilities. I like checking stats on the go, logging into a membership site now and then and browsing around, you know… the usual internet marketing related stuff… With my other phones web browsing basically sucked. With this phone I can even log in to Clickbank! The way you can drag the screen and zoom in and out makes it easier than ever to get full web access in the palm of your hand.
Let me put it this way… I rarely take stuff back to the store once I buy unless there’s a pretty major issue. I picked up one of those portable little “NetBooks” and a WiFi adapter about a week before I got my new iPhone because I wanted something great for web browsing on the go and easy to tote around. The iPhone was so great for surfing the internet I took the NetBook back a few days after I got my iPhone and cancelled the WiFi access plan because frankly, the iPhone serves the surfin’ purpose good enough to nullify my need for a “Netbook.”
6. Throw Away Your iPod or Any Other MP3 Player For That Matter…
You won’t need it anymore! Just plug in your headphones, sync with iTunes on your computer, and jam to your favorite music any time you want right on your phone. The great part of all this is when you want to put down the air guitar and get back down to your IM business it’s quite simple to setup an “Internet Marketing” playlist and drag n’ drop all your favorite interviews, podcasts, and other how-to audio files into it – so you can multi-task and listen to your favorite internet marketers sharing great lessons anywhere headphones are permitted.
5. iTunes Gives You Any Music, Any Place, Any Time.
Ok, so this has little to do with “IM” but darn it it’s pretty convenient to be able to preview and buy any song or album you can think of within seconds. The podcast search feature will also allow you to check out business related podcasts and etc if you just absolutely refuse to let loose and check out some good tunes.
4. An App For Every Occassion.
Games, organization, helpful tools, heck there’s even a flashlight in there! The “there’s an app for that…” commercials hold true. Sometimes when I’m bored I surf the app store and find cool gizmos I can have installed and running in a snap. I found an app to check my bank accounts, pay people via PayPal and check my PayPal balances, and I got lots of games for screwing around when I’m stuck some place where having a really cool phone comes in handy.
3. Apple Plays Nice With Google.
Being a big fan of Google products such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Reader, Bookmarks, and more you could imagine my pleasure when I saw how nice the iPhone works with these solutions. I had my contacts, email, and calendar all syncing in real time in seconds. That’s something I never got with my Treo. Best of all it only took me a few minutes to figure out how to set it all up so that everything played nice and syncs automatically. I remember trying to get my Treo to work with Gmail, Google Calendar, and etc. It was a major operation and wasn’t very user friendly as compared to the easiness of the iPhone.
2. The Social Networking Is Outta Control.
Social networking is an important traffic source and tool in any internet business. Social networking helps you make key connections, find JV partners, and more. With the iPhone it’s never been easier to take full advantage of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and more thanks to all the great apps that are available.
TweetDeck lets me check out DM’s, @replies, and make new posts on Twitter. The Facebook app lets me upload photos, check out friend’s profiles, and do nearly everything you can do on the actual Facebook site! The MySpace app is great (although I rarely use MySpace these days) and the YouTube app provides endless entertainment while still offering the ability to do very basic account maintenance.
1. It’s An All In One Package & It Just Looks Sexy…
It fits in my pocket nice and it does everything I’ve mentioned here in this post in one tight little package. It’s way smarter than carrying around a video camera, digital camera, MP3 player, cell phone, and net book. It’s a must have in my mind.
I think it’s important to give full disclosure and at the time of typing up this post I only have two gripes about the iPhone. Number one: MMS picture messaging still isn’t supported. Supposedly this new version of the iPhone is capable but the AT&T network is not yet ready to allow picture messaging with the iPhone. Once this kink gets ironed out the iPhone will be one step closer to perfection.
My second and final complaint is that data tethering isn’t offered yet and that’s really not an iPhone problem, it’s another AT&T problem. So in reality, my two gripes aren’t really with the phone, they’re with AT&T. Get your stuff together AT&T! We want pictures and data tethering dammit!
That’s my iPhone review in a nutshell. Bottomline… if you’re looking for a new phone look no further. Everyone deserves an iPhone 3GS.
). I check the PFG forums daily and regularly answer questions from my members & participate in the ongoing convo’s.
