Using the iPhone, unstable.

I haven’t really been able to reap the benefits of 2.0 (2.0.2 rather) because (for reasons I have yet to identify) my iPhone (not an iPhone 3G, no GPS) kept crashing, almost immediately-after removing it from it’s dock!

When a premier phone is reduced to waiting through one-hour backups and syncs, simply to “Restore” from an older (hopefully more stable) backup… instead of getting totally stressed-out and upset, I try to be glad that I didn’t wait in a ridiculously long line to get the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone was revolutionary before web-apps, when it was “just” email, web, and the expected “Apple ease-of-use.” Stability wasn’t an issue—I didn’t know that the phone could crash! I was happy with the phone, then… before ever “purchasing” a “free” application from the App Store. Why can’t I go back?

Forgetting the $60-something spent on the new apps… imagine buying a 6-speed manual transmission sports-car—and never using the fifth and sixth gear. Chances are, that same car manufacturer (at some point) produced 4-speed manual cars…

“Who needs anything more?”

I do.

I removed my favorite game, Aurora Feint. It is unstable. I removed Graffitio and several other apps, downloaded THQ’s “de Blob,” and everything seems to be okay, for now. de Blob is fun.

Tangentially: Jaiku is back. Unlimited invites, so if you want a Jaiku invite, comment. I’ll use your provided email (unless otherwise specified). Not sure how long “unlimited” will last.

Keeping the iPhone Stable…

Unfortunately, the only way I can keep my iPhone stable and crash-free is by leaving it on its cradle, docked to my computer. It’s as if a crash-countdown clock initiates whenever I decide to pick it up and make a call or run an application.

The phone was great before multiple home screens and web app icons… the phone was good before 2.0—and the phone seems to work just fine without extraneous applications installed… but now that they’re here (and money has been spent), going back just doesn’t seem reasonable.

If Apple doesn’t figure this out and stabilize the iPhone, manufacturers like Nokia might steal market shares, especially with ANDROID around the corner. The promise of a device with the iPhone’s power and usability with far-fewer restrictions could convince me…

As things are right now, I’m not signing another two-year contract to buy a GPS-and-3G version of the same crap-pile of aluminum and glass. It doesn’t feel good knowing that I trust my (free) Sanyo RL-4920 more than a once-$600 phone.

The Best Toy, Ever.

During a semi-successful trip to Best Buy (was there mainly to look at TVs for Kristen’s new place), I had an opportunity to play around with some of the new(ish) computers on display… I haven’t done this in a while, and I must say, I’m impressed.

The notebook computers I saw (mainly ASUS, HP, Sony and Toshiba) were thin, light and affordable. The screens look great. The system specs seem good enough (though I don’t know about Vista…), and manufacturers are finally including almost-enough RAM to satisfy “normal usage!” One thing is clear: companies are taking the time (and spending good money) to make sure these computers look fantastic. The cases, colors, and shape… superb!

It used to be, if you wanted a good-lookin’ notebook, you’d have to buy Sony… incredibly overpriced with tons of other issues. I’m glad that good design and good (external) looks has become a trend.

 

The best toy ever? In my opinion… the best toy ever is the Internet. We play with it… of course, it’s used for work and other stuff… like military stuff… but we spend so much of our lives on it, our other “toys” have to be able to access it. Smaller notebook computers make the Internet more accessible. Devices like the Amazon Kindle use the Internet in beautiful ways. Some phones like T-Mobile’s Sidekick simply access it.

While I was looking at the ASUS Eee PC 900, a worthy observation was made: computers are getting smaller, and mobile phones are getting bigger—to function more like computers. Further evidence of this trend is the invention of the phone-computer, the HTC Shift. Why are consumers going for this trend? I think it’s for access to the Internet.

The Internet is truly changing the world and changing life. That’s all fine and dandy (insert Carlin line here… I miss him), but I’m more interested in how the Internet has changed your life. And I guess (at some point), I’ll write about how it’s changed mine.

iPhone, BlackBerry, Carriers… Oh My! (Part One)

My iPhone hasn’t been working great.

But for the first time ever, I have a phone that seems to have almost-everything that I’d want a phone to have (I don’t have the 3G yet)… but one of the most important functions of the phone is failing—every application crashes (back to a home screen) before fully loading!

Essentially, after a while, I can’t use the phone.

When the phone gets to this fatal-crash-cycle, I reformat… magically, it works fine, yay… for a while. Then it’s back to the crashing. Reformat. Repeat.

Forgetting the crappy-battery-life-issue for a moment, this is just ridiculous! The iPhone… the most technically-advanced, superior phone in the world… and yet, my Sanyo RL-4920 is outperforming it in almost every way.

Will locking-myself-into-ANOTHER-two-year-agreement-and-shelling-out-cash-for-ANOTHER-iPhone (this time, “3G” shiny, magical “3G!”) solve the problem?

More importantly… what if it doesn’t?!

 

 

 

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[ To be continued... to talk about my BlackBerry experiences! In the meantime, please drop a comment and let me know what you think... of the subject matter, the style, the layout, the iPhone. Got problems of your own? Share 'em with us! Got tips, suggestions or links? Got a blog of your own that you want me to link (assuming the content is relevant)? Got Tumblr? I got tumblr. Got Plurk? Join us! ]

iPhone Battery Life

I posted “my iPhone battery life still kinda stinks” at Plurk the other day

and I got a response from MarinesEtwas. [Here is the original post.] There’s a lot of really cool software for the iPhone and a substantial feature set—I’ve been using the device since just after its first release and it’s worlds-apart from what it once was.

Users new to the phone might be bombarded and overwhelmed if they’re not used to widgets and web apps… and saving battery-life isn’t always straight-forward and simple!

I’m going to try out some “battery saving tricks” this weekend and I’ll let y’all know how it goes. If you’re having serious issues with your phone, please let me know. We can hit up the microblogging community and get answers really fast.

These are my quick-tips:

1. Turn off WiFi if you don’t need it.
2. From “Settings,” go to “Fetch New Data” and “fetch” (instead of “push”) everything you don’t really need right away.
3. Turn off Bluetooth when you don’t need it.
4. Reduce “Brightness” as much as possible.

Some or all of those tips might seem like “no brainers,” but I hope it helps anyway. Let me know what you do to save battery life!

Bradtastic Theory Redux

I decided to “reset” this blog about one week ago, right after using the WordPress application for iPhone. I’ve wanted something that fit in-between bradtastic.com and my tumblr. At the same-time, however, I wanted something that could help centralize the many site-services I’m using: del.icio.us, Pownce, etc…

So this is my new personal, “social” site… essentially, my book-writing and thought-pieces will still be elsewhere, photos and links will still end up on my tumblelog, and I’ll use this site to talk about both and to explain what I’m up to.

 

In addition,

with the release of the iPhone 3G comes a wave of new iPhone users. iPhone users make-up a new social-network; for the first time in a long time, people are brought together by a shared-interest in a technology, and the platform is something pretty-darn cool!

However, the iPhone isn’t perfect, and its user-base is extremely varied. Some people are going to have issues with the device… because it can do so much!

 

Bottom line: I want to share cool stuff, explain why I’m sharing it, and make friends with other iPhone enthusiasts. I’m still doing my other stuff… this is all extra, sugar-coated goodness!