The iPhone 4 was yesterday rumored still to be due for imminent release in (gasp!) WHITE. This is as unexciting to me as the fall of Justin Bieber from YouTube's Most Watched. Now, I have a regular iPhone 4 - ok, yes, Hank has one but I've "borrowed" it on a semi-permanent basis - and it astonishes me that the new release can cause so much excitement. If you ask i-aficionados if The Four is a good phone, you'll be met with comments like "yeah, the camera is awesome... so great to have my ipod in my phone... love the apps" but nobody seems to have noticed that it's a terrible PHONE; for example, you can't make a call to someone who has just texted you without writing down their number and re-entering it manually into your phone. Or, if you already have the texter's name saved as a contact you can exit the messaging app, go into the contacts section of the"phone" app (really, is "phone" an app on a phone, Apple people?) and dial the contact up there. Meanwhile, calls continue to drop out and my phone regularly self-silences its ringer while just hanging out in my pocket.
The iPhone used to be really fast - until everyone got one. Now, I guess, air traffic is an issue because I sense the phone fighting to own its bandwidth from time to time. The GPS is, however, superbly accurate and generally fast - except when it is really, really slow (usually when we are late and really, really lost). I do like how well the GPS interacts with the NextbusDC.com app and tells me where the nearest bus stop is to my current location for any given route, and even knows how long I'd have to wait for the bus. Great for rainy days. I also like the voice activated searching on Google. It amuses me how literal, almost Germanic, your pronunciation has to be to get certain words understood:
Me speaking to Google app: "Urban Spoon"
Google app: Results for How to Stain
Me: What?! Ok, "Urrrban Spoon"
Google app: Results for Urban City
Me: Urban Spoon, damn you! "Urrrrban Spoooooona"
Google app: Results for Urban Spoon
Hank (laughing): Why don't you just use the actual Urban Spoon app?
Me: Oh right, it has that?
In addition to the joy of not being able to talk to people easily on your black iPhone, the white plastic apparently could further interfere with the phone's antenna. So to those people who are no doubt going to camp out overnight for a white slice of the Apple the minute the phone becomes available, folks I wish you every happiness. May your new phone gain you many admiring glances. Just don't bother asking anyone for their number.
Thank you to the thousands who have written to me complaining about my misinterpretation of the wonderful connectivity between the iPhone 4 messaging app and the iPhone 4 phone app. It transpires (and I thank Chris A. of Milton Keynes, England for this insight) you CAN call anyone who has texted you, without ever leaving the messaging app. You must simply scroll interminably to the top of the message chain, using one's finger, Chris, in a gesture not dissimilar to flipping the bird. No-one likes a smart ass, particularly one who reads the manual. Now, I had better get on with preparing for my defamation lawsuit - Apple are soooooo litigious!
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