I bought the iPhone 3Gs several months ago because my old style Blackberry finally quit and I wanted a new phone. I could have got an inexpensive pay as you go plan but I wanted a new “toy”.
Friends had shown me their new “toys” and the phone aspect was the least. There were things called iPhone APPs that were programs that did rather interesting things; useful maybe but mostly entertaining. The 3Gs has a GPS function that is quite good. So with the GPS, there are applications that can use this information to: help you navigate to your destination just like the GPS units mounted on the car dash board or find the closes sushi bar. And then there is the CAMERA with a fairly good resolution, almost a much as my first digital camera on which I took many images that I have sold. And then there are dozens and dozens of photo manipulation programs that allow me to fix, crop, add interesting features to all those images that I am now collecting.
And there are 100’s of new APPs being added each day. There are now over 75,000 APPs and the prediction is 100,000 by the end of the year and 300,000 by the end of 2010. This is truely mind boggling. This will be an APP for anything, and everything. Granted, alot of the APPS are games to while the time away, some with pictures of models in clothes (or not), News papers, Radio.
Skype is now available on the iPhone in Canada but it must use the WiFi connection and cannot use the telphone carrier connection but this will soon be allowd. See the AT&T decision in the US. This means calls will be free to other Skype phone and very cheap to land lines. You have to pay data charges however but that is much cheaper than regular cell phone calls.
The prices charged for these APPS so cheap that it is almost free. Some APPs are really free, some $0.99, some $1.99, some $2.99. Some really expensive APPS, like full fledged GPS systems from TOM TOM are close to $100.
I found a new APP that looks interesting. It is called OCARINA. You know the little round thing that has been around for years than you blow on and coverholes with your fingers and like magic you are a musician. Well on this APP you blow on the microphone on the iPhone and press 4 circles on the iPhone display and bingo, you get a note that sounds like a real Ocarina. The practice piece is Amazing Grace and the fingering is not too difficult. If you see some person blowing on the bottom of their iPhone , they are not trying to eat the phone but likely they are trying to play Amazing Grace or something a bit more melodic.
Now here is where it gets really interesting. You can select an option that allows you to listen to others who are playing their iPhone Ocarina. Some are beginners and quite dreadful but some are quite adventuresome and the tunes are recognizable and very well done. As the users are selected randomly their location on the globe is displayed. As I am typing I am listening to someone in China give a try on Oh come all ye faithful. Now someone in Moscow is playing.
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