"Stand in the place where you live, now face north. Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before." -R.E.M.

iWant an iPhone

06/08/2007 07:08 PM Filed in: Apple

iPhone

My phone is terrible. There — I said it. You know why? It makes phone calls. That's it. I can call people and talk about the weather, Paris Hilton's jail time, or how terrible the Dallas Mavericks did in the playoffs this year; but when the call is over I have no reason to do anything with my phone but put it back in my pocket.

It didn't always used to be this way. A few months ago I had a Motorola Q. I loved the functionality: it had a full keyboard making text messaging and emailing a breeze, it had email built into it, I could surf the web on it, and it would sync contacts and calendars with my computer. All of this made it much easier to keep up with work and school.

But for all of its usefulness it had several drawbacks: the email client was clunky, the web browser was like the "baby internet" and there were lots of pages it couldn't view. Since it wasn't made to work with Macintosh computers I had to sync it with a slow third-party application and couldn't enjoy all the syncing functionality. It was horrible with media (music, video) and it's tiny screen was hardly optimal for viewing it anyway.

The worst part? It had a Windows Mobile operating system. Translation? It crashed all the time and Verizon had to replace it three times over a six month period because the software kept completely failing. There's nothing more frustrating than having your phone crap out on you in the middle of a call for no reason and then finding that the whole thing has inexplicably and irreparably crashed.

In March my phone was lost on a ski trip to Colorado and I decided to just get a cheapie for the time being because the Q was expensive to replace and, in my opinion, not worth it because of it's horrible reliability. What I didn't realize at the time is that I would miss the email and syncing features like a redneck misses his hog hunting (yeah, so that won't make sense unless you live in East Texas).

In January Steve Jobs announced an evolutionary new device from, you guessed it, Apple. I've written about the iPhone before, but now it's coming out in 20 days and I'm starting to get the bug. I feel like I've been in cell phone hell for the last year and now I see the possible light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, this phone is so amazing that instead of trying to explain what it does I've just posted a video for you to take a look at (you'll need QuickTime; also, this video barely scratches the surface. For more, check out Apple's website). The problem? Well, it's expensive. Sure, I would use it for work and school and even recreation, but it still costs a lot of money.

The solution? Ebay. Emily and I have accumulated a bunch of stuff that we don't use anymore, and I'll probably even be selling some smaller electronics and DVDs that I still use occasionally. All of this will be a fundraising project to hopefully buy an iPhone that I will love and cherish for the next two years until the new iPhone comes out and I have to get that one. It's the circle of life.

With a little eBay luck and a shot at tracking down an iPhone on the 29 (supplies are limited), I may just be an early adopter with all of the joys and frustrations that come with it.

I love technology.

***Important: joshcrain.com will be accepting donations from anyone who chooses to help us out with the purchase of a new iPhone. Thanks for your support.