Bringing the Drama

Now that I have an iPhone, I had to retire the most awesome phone in the world. Unfortunately, this means all my texts are now locked to that phone, and I won’t be able to pull them up on my new phone. It’s kind of sad, because I have texts that are almost two years old. I have texts from friends after the Saints won the Super Bowl, or right after I let them know I got engaged. I have texts announcing the birth of a kid, a friend launching into “the journey” speech, and friends who were at a music movie viewing with beer. I will be able to save the pictures people have sent me though, so pictures of my friend Bill being suffocated by Darth Vader, or my friend Jacob meeting Pierre Thomas will be preserved.

:aiaiai: – Brandi, 8:30 pm, 2/7/2010 (Right after Tracy Porter’s Pick 6)

“A neutron walks into a bar and asks the barkeep ‘how much for a beer?’ The barkeep looks at him and says ‘for you…no charge’” – Trey, 11:28 am, 8/30/2010 (this has nothing to do with a moment to remember, it just makes me laugh)

I haven’t saved many outgoing messages. However, samplings are below:

“Three effing Neal effing Casal songs”, 10:41 pm, 3/19/2009 (on the way back from the Ryan Adams show in Mobile to my friend David)

“I ran a HALF MARATHON! I am alive!” 9:50 am, 10/31/2009 (after running the HALF MARATHON to twitter and FB)

“Hey, I got engaged last night. This is real.” 10/6/2010 (I sent the same text announcement to everyone I did not have time to call)

So I finally got my Verizon iPhone last week and have just about fallen in love. I love being able to check email with a touch of a button. I love being able to play Words with Friends. I love the sound effects from Angry Birds. I love auto-tuning my voice. I also love voice command on it, even though it has misunderstood me a couple of times. I installed a Google app for voice searching things, and figured out how to show the results on a map. I used that feature to find the Subway on Friday where I ate lunch with my future FIL. I’m sure all of these things are applicable for any smartphone, but I happen to have the iPhone, so there you go.

I can send texts so much faster now! The downside of having a full keyboard is that there’s no way I can text without looking at it. I’ve tried and failed. I miss that ability. I did however download a speech to text app that works like a champ, but getting what it outputs to a text needs to be done looking at the phone.

Also of course, PHONE CALLS! For some reason I think the iPhone sounds much better than my 6 year old flip phone. Go figure. I thought it’d be weird holding it up to my ear, but it’s not bad at all. I’m still learning how to end calls faster and all that, but I’m getting there.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t use my PC as much at home anymore, because I can check email and all with my phone. A quick few clicks on my phone and I’m ready for bed. Right on.

I’ve been addicted to checking network speeds on it. I check the network speed wherever I am multiple times a day. Last week I was checking 5 or 6 times a day. Lately I’ve cut back to 2 times a day. I’m getting on average about 1 Mbps, which seems to jive with the speeds I was seeing in articles comparing Verizon and AT&T. I have not noticed any effects of the slower speed on my phone. I’ve watched Netflix on 3G. AWESOME! Incidentally, I have had two instances where I could have used the ability to use voice and data at the same time, but neither time was it a major deal. So far so good.

So the data plans and all that for Verizon came out, and I decided to get one. I woke up Thursday morning at 1:55 am to pre order my iPhone. As late as the night before, I was still hesitant about paying for a data plan. I realized though that I would use it a lot, and I have been waiting YEARS, so I took the plunge.

I thought the Verizon website would be slow, because Ticketmaster’s site crawls when thousands of people are trying to buy tickets. I was not sure how Verizon’s would handle hundreds of thousands, but I was pleasantly surprised with a smooth experience. The little button on my profile appeared right after 2 am, ‘Order iPhone’. The past couple of weeks it’s said ‘Order Droid X’, but I knew better. I tried getting everything filled out as soon as possible just in case of a server overload, but that never came. I doublechecked everything I typed before I hit submit. I was shocked at how easy everything was. I was also surprised that I did not have to change my calling plan, all I had to add was the data plan. I thought from the FAQ that people would have to upgrade to a new voice plan. Not for me, not last night, so I’m still rolling with a plan that was phased out 3 years ago. I waited for a confirmation email, which did not come by 2:20, so I went to bed. I checked my email before I left for work at 5:30 and the confirmation email had arrived.

I got home Thursday night and saw I received a shipping confirmation email! OMG! Unfortunately, the tracking number has not been found in UPS’ system, so I have no idea if it’s going to be sent out. The wait and anticipation is reaching an exciting conclusion.

I’ve had a cell phone for almost ten years. My first phone was light blue, because the other color was black and I did not want a phone like everyone else’s. When I went to renew my contract the first time, I got one of the first camera phones. The second time I renewed my contract, I ended up getting a phone that would be the best phone ever. One of the last normal things before Katrina was receiving my E815 in the mail and playing with it on the way to my sister’s birthday dinner. My phone has been so awesome, I kept it despite smaller phones coming out. It’s a big phone compared to other flip phones, and I am one of the only people I know who still has a phone with an antenna. I would read about new phones and see how they did not have the same great reception as my phone, and I did not want to feel like I was settling. It was so bad that when my phone died a couple of years ago, I bought a replacement of the exact model off eBay. I’ve been eligible for an upgrade since the summer of 2007.

When the iPhone came out, I thought it was awesome. It was only on AT&T though, and I was not leaving Verizon. That and I could not get my head around paying $30 a month for data. When the Droids came out they were cool, I still didn’t want to pay for a data plan. I like my cheap cell phone bill. I know I WANT a smartphone, but I don’t NEED a smartphone. I don’t need a smartphone to post on Twitter and I call people to go into the map for me when I’m lost. I can even text without looking at the phone!

Now that the iPhone will be available on Verizon though, I have been swayed. The phone I have been waiting years for is now going to be a reality. I’ve been googling almost daily for updates and watched a live blog of the Verizon announcement. To say I’m excited may be an understatement. I saw this commercial late last week, and was stoked. I am one of those customers who never stopped believing.