Of all the things I thought I could one
day be addicted to such as food, sex, alcohol, porn or television, I would
never have guessed as little as 20 years ago that I’d be addicted to my Smartphone.
In fact, I would have been happy to be addicted to sex and porn but sadly that
just never happened. I do like eating however...but who doesn’t?
The particular phone that has propelled
me to addictive status is my iPhone 4. I love my iPhone and everything I can do
with it. There’s really only one thing I don’t enjoy about my iPhone and that’s
the crazy user fees charged by Bell to use my phone to its full potential. My
service plan isn’t even top of the line yet the monthly charges Bell Mobility
gouges from its customers is beyond ridiculous, bordering on theft. To be
blunt, we get bent over and reamed hard by mobile phone companies in Canada.
Yet nothing ever gets done about it. I envy my brother and his plan with
AT&T in the U.S.
But bitching about “Ma Bell” can wait
for another day, this is about my addiction. To be honest, my obsession isn’t
so much about the actual phone but what it allows me to do.
The main thing I really like is how well
the phone communicates with my iMac, either through iTunes or iCloud. I love
the fact that I can add new contacts or calendar appointments on one and the
other will automatically be updated with the new information. I haven’t figured
out how to have my Notes and Reminders sync through iCloud yet but that’s not
nearly as important as my other items.
One thing a phone must have for me to be
happy above all other gadgets, apps and tools is the ability to actually make a
phone call and have it sound good. I mean, it is a phone after all. This phone
despite being almost two generations old (iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released
this year) has great reception in areas where in the past I’ve had issues with
other phones. Of course the Bell 3G coverage has improved in some areas but I
still have major issues getting a signal in a few locations that are heavy
tourist areas where you’d think Bell would have improved their coverage by now.
Oops, there I go bitching about Bell again.
The Bluetooth integration works well and
allows for easy hands free calling in my car. This is a must today with all of
the new laws targeting distracted drivers in Ontario. On a recent trip to
Florida it seemed every car I passed the driver was either talking or texting
on their phone while driving. It’s a bloody disgrace. I’m 100% in favour of the
new laws in Ontario but every day I still see people (mostly women) talking
with their mobile phone to their ear and weaving all over the road. Hopefully
they’ll get caught and fined and maybe learn a lesson before they kill someone.
I really like having internet access
anywhere I go. I can browse the web and check email anyplace I can get a
signal. Plus in locations with Wi-Fi hotspots I can use the wireless internet
capabilities which helps save on my data plan usage.
But of course the best part of my iPhone
is without a doubt the Apps I can use. Without my Smartphone I wouldn’t be
nearly as active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google+. That’s not to say
that I spend every waking hour tweeting or posting photos but they’re fun time
wasters. I never thought I’d use Twitter as much as I do in my day to day life
but it’s a great tool for keeping informed on news, sports and entertainment.
Plus I can also follow the Tweets of some of my favourite actors and reality
stars. Plus, as it turns out, I tend to complain and post things I normally
might not say in day to day life. Twitter has sort of become my alter ego.
Instagram is a great way to share quick photos taken with your camera on the
phone with others. Plus there are a lot of hot ladies who think posting photos
of themselves wearing very little may be a ticket to fame and perhaps a
modeling career. Who am I to try and discourage them?
Other Apps that I really enjoy or make
use of regularly include GasBuddy (to check local gas prices), Distant Suns
(for stargazing), iBird Canada (handy birding field guide), Find Friends (to
find out where my brother is at that moment in Florida), flyby (tells me the
times that the Space Station will go over my location) and lots of other cool
Apps like NASA, Kijiji, Mobile Photos, Flixster, YellowPages, Quake Watch,
AppBox Lite and Coin Flip for those times I can’t decide on something. I have only recently started using Foursquare so the verdict is still out on that one.
Sports Apps are also very handy since I
am a fan of sports in general. Among my most used are Score Mobile, NHL Game
Center, TSN Mobile, MLB At Bat and CBC Hockey. I also have a Rules of Golf App
put out by The R&A (The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews). You
never know when I might need a ruling while out on the course.
And finally, the biggest time wasting
Apps ever created are the Games. I don’t play them nearly as much as I used to
but when I’m bored or waiting for my car to have work done on it, it’s nice to
have something to help pass the time. Games located on my iPhone include three
versions of Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Zombie Gunship, Tetris, Skee-Ball, Tiger
Woods Golf 12, Sprinkle, Field Goal and Scrabble. I can safely say you’ll never
find me playing any of those farming games.
So there you go...my one big addiction
which seems to rule my life. I feel lost with when my phone isn’t nearby and
will panic if I can’t recall where I set it down. I’ve never had the shakes yet
but we’ve never been separated for any real length of time. If I lost my iPhone,
I wonder if I could call the police and have them form a search party for me. I
know it’s not a child but it’s the closest I’ve come to loving an inanimate
object.
