What cool things can you do with an iphone?

[Nvidiaguy07]

Im trying to decide between the iphone 3GS and the Blackberry bold. I was previously sold on the G1 until i found out it has no 3.5mm jack which for me is a deal breaker.


Right now my major deciding factors are:
-really prefer using blackberry keyboard but when sideways, i can deal with the on screen keyboard (i heard you cant text with sideways keyboard)
-i know iphone battery life sucks, Bold is rumored to be slightly worse than the curve (which i currently have and is awesome)
-tethering - i dont plan on paying extra for it but maybe once or twice a month i would like to have this feature, i know both can tether but for 1)i heard iphone cant tether over bluetooth, and 2)since ATT will be coming out with a tethering plan, i heard theyll be cracking down on people tethering without buying the plan, which makes me lean towards the Bold.
-apps and cool features - as much as the Bold is a solid device i just dont think its going to be fun enough. In a lot of ways i think of my phone as a toy and i feel like im gonna get bored with the Bold quickly and really doesnt do much that my curve doesnt. (besides 3G, better specs, and nicer screen)
-i friggin hate using itunes - do i have to use itunes alot with my iphone or is there anyway i can just drag which songs or videos i want into a folder in windows?


So this is what it comes down to for me, the apps and features. I know of some of the cool things people can do with their iphones but not many. The people i know who do have the iphone havent even jailbroken it yet and just have a couple dumb games. Ive heard that with the iphone you can use it as a media remote, install some emulators to play NES and genesis. Plus iphone games are awesome i hear. I know of a few other things but cant think of them right now. So those are the kind of things im concerned about. So if you can list anything that someone who doesnt own an iphone might like.


Lastly, does anyone know if the rumors about a physical keyboard on the next iphone are true? Im guessing no one really knows thou, but besides these 2 phones what else is coming out soon that can be used with ATT that looks good. I really liked the G1 but not having a headphone jack really sucks. Is there a new version of that phone coming out anytime soon?

 

[pm]

The iPhone can't tether over bluetooth - although you can over WiFi (or USB) if it's jailbroken.

I personally don't think the iPhone battery life "sucks". I know people do, but basically cell phones for me come down to two camps: those that need to be charged every night, and those that need to be charged once a week. If it's a once-a-week phone, then it's battery life is great. If it needs to be charged more often than once a week, then I'll end up charging it every night and it's battery life is ok. Personally, I save terms like "sucks" for when it dies on me after less than a day. I've never had many issues with iPhone battery life - although I carry a battery backup (a $20 Duracell mobile charger) on long plane flights.

If you jailbreak, you could theoretically drag and drop songs... but the way Apple organizes music on the iPhone doesn't lend itself to this... although I've done this with movies before and got it working (as I recall it wasn't easy... I think I had to edit an XML file too). Beyond iTunes, there's MediaMonkey, and Winamp (with the ml_ipod plugin). For Linux, GtkPod and Amarok work.

As far as cool things on the iPhone that a Bold wouldn't have. Basically apps and a larger screen for movies. Games on the iPhone (and Touch) have gotten pretty impressive in my humble opinion. Games like Sims 3, Peggle, and Fieldrunners feel like you are playing them on a game player and not a phone. The new Real Racing is excellent. Plenty of decent games are free, but the ones that cost money are pretty cheap - usually $1-5. The last time that I flew to Europe I pretty much played Treasures of Montezuma (a Bejeweled clone) for the a large portion of the flight - literally for 5 hours straight... had a bit of a headache afterwards though.

The Bold is an excellent phone - if you type a lot and do a lot of email on the phone, I would definitely recommend it over an iPhone - but if you want to have a phone for entertainment, the iPhone is hands-down way better primarily because the app store has 50,000 titles now and a lot of them are very good.

 

[gorcorps]

Just a couple things I didn't see pm touch on:

-The new iPhone doesn't have a physical keyboard, and they probably never will
-you can't do widescreen text and email right now, but the 3.0 update in a week will allow this

 

[Rottie]

I am curious why did you sold G1? I thought G1 is good and there are 1.5 upgrade for G1 this month.
I dont know how to use iTunes to sync with my new iPhone 3G I probably will return it back to get 3GS.

 

[QueBert]

there are endless cool and useful things you can do with a jailbroken phone. I have something like 120 apps installed. Here are some I use

Winterboard for themes
5 icon dock - lets you have 5 icons in the bottom dock instead of 4. Sounds small, but very useful to me.
Pocket touch - lets you control music by swiping the screen. Up/down for volume, left/right for previous/next track. double tap for play/pause. A lot of people complain the iPhone sucks with no physical buttons to control media. PT makes it easier than any device with buttons I've used.
5icon - adds a 5th icon per row. Lets you go from 16 to 20 icons on each screen. You can add a 5th column too, but I find 25 icons per page too cluttered.
XBMC remote - controls my XBMC like a remote, very cool.
XBMC Music Server - Where ever I'm at I have access to all my music on my PC. Takes maybe 4 seconds to start streaming the song and it's playing. Pretty quick, has the same interface the built in media player does. And you don't have to use your storage on music if you don't want to. Basically I have zero mp3's on my iPhone, but I can listen to any of my 35,000 songs anywhere I'm at.

I got dozens more, both my iPhone and my Touch are Jailbroken and modded like crazy. And any missing features people bitch about when it comes it iPhones have been added by apps from Cydia. And I would even say my iPhone can do more than any other smartphone I've owned or used.

 

[Cobalt]

I have the Bold and an iPhone and carry them simultaneously (1 personal 1 work) and the Bold is garbage. I highly advise to stay away. The phone is cool, great interface, awesome keyboard, but it is an epic failure at being a phone. Numerous call drops, poor reception. It can't trade off from 3G to Edge well which causes all the problems and there is no way to turn 3G off. I wanted to love the phone, but it fails so hard.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: cobalt
I have the Bold and an iPhone and carry them simultaneously (1 personal 1 work) and the Bold is garbage. I highly advise to stay away. The phone is cool, great interface, awesome keyboard, but it is an epic failure at being a phone. Numerous call drops, poor reception. It can't trade off from 3G to Edge well which causes all the problems and there is no way to turn 3G off. I wanted to love the phone, but it fails so hard.

Woah there spanky lets not let all the FUD out at once...

- The Bold, if an early model, is in great need of a Firmware update, just as any early iPhone.
- You CAN set the bold into 2G mode, 2G/3G mixed mode OR 3G only.

You can thank me later.

 

[her209]

Does anyone know if the GPS functionality still works even if you don't have internet (data) connectivity?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: her209
Does anyone know if the GPS functionality still works even if you don't have internet (data) connectivity?

There are no device based map apps available currently. All require data for mapping.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Originally posted by: Rottie
I am curious why did you sold G1? I thought G1 is good and there are 1.5 upgrade for G1 this month.
I dont know how to use iTunes to sync with my new iPhone 3G I probably will return it back to get 3GS.

I didnt sell the G1, i was saying that i was sold on its features and was going to buy it until i found out it had no headphone jack

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Originally posted by: QueBert
there are endless cool and useful things you can do with a jailbroken phone. I have something like 120 apps installed. Here are some I use

Winterboard for themes
5 icon dock - lets you have 5 icons in the bottom dock instead of 4. Sounds small, but very useful to me.
Pocket touch - lets you control music by swiping the screen. Up/down for volume, left/right for previous/next track. double tap for play/pause. A lot of people complain the iPhone sucks with no physical buttons to control media. PT makes it easier than any device with buttons I've used.
5icon - adds a 5th icon per row. Lets you go from 16 to 20 icons on each screen. You can add a 5th column too, but I find 25 icons per page too cluttered.
XBMC remote - controls my XBMC like a remote, very cool.
XBMC Music Server - Where ever I'm at I have access to all my music on my PC. Takes maybe 4 seconds to start streaming the song and it's playing. Pretty quick, has the same interface the built in media player does. And you don't have to use your storage on music if you don't want to. Basically I have zero mp3's on my iPhone, but I can listen to any of my 35,000 songs anywhere I'm at.

I got dozens more, both my iPhone and my Touch are Jailbroken and modded like crazy. And any missing features people bitch about when it comes it iPhones have been added by apps from Cydia. And I would even say my iPhone can do more than any other smartphone I've owned or used.

all that stuff sounds friggin awesome. Thats the kind of stuff that makes me want an iphone. I just wonder if ill be able to get used to the keyboard though...

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: Nvidiaguy07
Right now my major deciding factors are:
-really prefer using blackberry keyboard but when sideways, i can deal with the on screen keyboard (i heard you cant text with sideways keyboard)
-i know iphone battery life sucks, Bold is rumored to be slightly worse than the curve (which i currently have and is awesome)
-tethering - i dont plan on paying extra for it but maybe once or twice a month i would like to have this feature, i know both can tether but for 1)i heard iphone cant tether over bluetooth, and 2)since ATT will be coming out with a tethering plan, i heard theyll be cracking down on people tethering without buying the plan, which makes me lean towards the Bold.
-apps and cool features - as much as the Bold is a solid device i just dont think its going to be fun enough. In a lot of ways i think of my phone as a toy and i feel like im gonna get bored with the Bold quickly and really doesnt do much that my curve doesnt. (besides 3G, better specs, and nicer screen)
-i friggin hate using itunes - do i have to use itunes alot with my iphone or is there anyway i can just drag which songs or videos i want into a folder in windows?


So this is what it comes down to for me, the apps and features. I know of some of the cool things people can do with their iphones but not many. The people i know who do have the iphone havent even jailbroken it yet and just have a couple dumb games. Ive heard that with the iphone you can use it as a media remote, install some emulators to play NES and genesis. Plus iphone games are awesome i hear. I know of a few other things but cant think of them right now. So those are the kind of things im concerned about. So if you can list anything that someone who doesnt own an iphone might like.


Lastly, does anyone know if the rumors about a physical keyboard on the next iphone are true? Im guessing no one really knows thou, but besides these 2 phones what else is coming out soon that can be used with ATT that looks good. I really liked the G1 but not having a headphone jack really sucks. Is there a new version of that phone coming out anytime soon?

I was skeptical of the on screen keyboard on the iphone but I like it better than the physical keyboard on my centro. Word correction is pretty good and its easy to type on, even with huge fingers like mine.

As for battery life, its far from horrible. I can charge my iphone every couple days and still have plenty of battery life. I consider that pretty good. I do not charge it nightly and have never had it even get to 1/2 battery life on me. Personally, I think the battery life is pretty good, and I have unlimited data on my iphone so I'm constantly using it. (its hacked on the tmobile network though)

Tethering--not an issue with me. I can check my mail and surf the web and play games on my iphone already so why would i need to tether it to a laptop?

apps-- there's an app for everything

itunes.. um. it works and is easy to use. Why hate it? it just plain works well.

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little tempted to pick up a 3GS. I have an AT&T Tilt currently and it has a couple issues with it. Personally, for me... the battery life is atrocious. I've had 80%+ battery life, talked on the phone for half an hour (or so) and ended up with 50% or less on my battery. This was over 3G with nothing else running on the phone. Sometimes I like to use my phone to play music, but it doesn't have a native 3.5mm jack, so I have to use an awkward adapter and an even more awkward adapter if I don't want to kill the battery while I listen to music (it'll only last maybe 4-5 hours!)

Although the talk of tethering turns me off of the phone. I do tether via bluetooth sometimes, although it isn't necessary as I've usually done it via USB to ensure the phone doesn't have the battery life leeched from it. So this requires me to hack my phone to tether easily? How difficult of a process is it to hack the phone?

Oh and I know there was talk of iTunes earlier... but is it necessary to have iTunes to update the phone? I remember reading about OS 3.0 and how the update was available through iTunes, so I'm not sure if that's Apple's preferred or only method of delivery.

Hmm, if I could try one of the phones for a day or two and return it if I didn't like it, then I'd be able to make a good decision. It's kinda hard when you use a device as more than just a phone .

 

[Cobalt]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: cobalt
I have the Bold and an iPhone and carry them simultaneously (1 personal 1 work) and the Bold is garbage. I highly advise to stay away. The phone is cool, great interface, awesome keyboard, but it is an epic failure at being a phone. Numerous call drops, poor reception. It can't trade off from 3G to Edge well which causes all the problems and there is no way to turn 3G off. I wanted to love the phone, but it fails so hard.

Woah there spanky lets not let all the FUD out at once...

- The Bold, if an early model, is in great need of a Firmware update, just as any early iPhone.
- You CAN set the bold into 2G mode, 2G/3G mixed mode OR 3G only.

You can thank me later.

Actually you can do neither of those things on the AT&T US Bold. Only on the Canadian/International versions. So if he is getting an AT&T Bold he needs to stay away, I work for AT&T and this has been confirmed to me by numerous Blackberry reps. Pretty stupid, I know.

EDIT: Of course you can download new firmware updates, but for some reason they locked out changing from 3G to 2G and so forth on the US model. Maybe an AT&T request I don't know. I was told that even a firmware revision would not unlock this, something to do with the hardware. That's why the phone drops so many calls because it cannot handle the hand off from 3G to 2G. Most ridiculous thing I have ever heard as aside from the call issues I absolutely love the phone, it is an amazing device. Unfortuantely because of the aforementioned problems I will be trading it in for a Nokia E71x. This is my business device.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Nvidiaguy07

Originally posted by: QueBert
there are endless cool and useful things you can do with a jailbroken phone. I have something like 120 apps installed. Here are some I use

Winterboard for themes
5 icon dock - lets you have 5 icons in the bottom dock instead of 4. Sounds small, but very useful to me.
Pocket touch - lets you control music by swiping the screen. Up/down for volume, left/right for previous/next track. double tap for play/pause. A lot of people complain the iPhone sucks with no physical buttons to control media. PT makes it easier than any device with buttons I've used.
5icon - adds a 5th icon per row. Lets you go from 16 to 20 icons on each screen. You can add a 5th column too, but I find 25 icons per page too cluttered.
XBMC remote - controls my XBMC like a remote, very cool.
XBMC Music Server - Where ever I'm at I have access to all my music on my PC. Takes maybe 4 seconds to start streaming the song and it's playing. Pretty quick, has the same interface the built in media player does. And you don't have to use your storage on music if you don't want to. Basically I have zero mp3's on my iPhone, but I can listen to any of my 35,000 songs anywhere I'm at.

I got dozens more, both my iPhone and my Touch are Jailbroken and modded like crazy. And any missing features people bitch about when it comes it iPhones have been added by apps from Cydia. And I would even say my iPhone can do more than any other smartphone I've owned or used.

all that stuff sounds friggin awesome. Thats the kind of stuff that makes me want an iphone. I just wonder if ill be able to get used to the keyboard though...

I have fat fingers, and the keyboard works great for me once I got use to it. I like physical keyboards, but I don't like sliders, flip phones or ones with smaller screens. So to get a big screen without a slider or a flip, there aren't any non virtual keyboard phones that fit my criteria. I don't use the keyboard too much, but I have no problem banging out a email or posting a message on ATOT with it. I wouldn't trade my iPhone or Touch for the world. I have tried just about every phone at one point or another. But a lot of people never get use to the keyboard, I guess I learned to use it because I loved everything else so much.