Friday, June 13, 2008

Why I Don't Have an iPhone ... Yet

I've been an avid Palm Pilot owner for the last 8 years. Every couple years, after I wear out another Palm, I replace it with a newer one. The buzz around the iPhone has me very interested (after all, it has 2 of the 4 sensors that I suggested back in 2005.) There are still some important things I use my phone for that the iPhone can't do … yet. Once the iPhone has these things, I'll consider upgrading:


  1. To-do list - more than anything else, I use my phone to keep track of what tasks I want to accomplish each day. The iPhone comes with no to-do application. Boo! (Perhaps OmniFocus for iPhone will solve this one for me)

  2. Offline scriptures - I regularly read the scriptures where there is no wi-fi connection and no phone connection. With Safari on the iPhone, I might be able to install raw HTML files for the scriptures

  3. Password tracking - I have too many passwords to keep in my head. I currently use an antiquated Palm application to do the job. Certainly there will be something like this for the iPhone, but I haven't seen it yet

  4. PMTxl - track my checking account. Now that my wife and I use Mvelopes to track our personal finances, I don't use the Palm anymore. (By the way, Mvelopes is the best personal finance program I've ever seen. It perfectly matches my mental model of flowing water budgeting).



It's been intriguing to look over my old PDA Wishlist and compare it to the iPhone. Only the FM transmitter, thermometer, barometer and bar code scanner are still missing. Give the industry a couple more years and some of them will be available.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 13, 2008

    I've got a scriptures app that will be released in early July when Apple opens up the 3rd party applications.

    iPhone and iPod Touch Scriptures App

    ReplyDelete
  2. mndrixJune 14, 2008

    Michael, that's great! Will it include the footnotes, bible dictionary and topical guide? What do you anticipate charging for the app? I'm very interested.

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  3. JJ HendricksJune 14, 2008

    Interesting to see what you think of the iphone and the apps you think are important. I am going to check out that Mvelopes site. I don't really like my finance tracking service much.

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  4. Travis HendricksJune 16, 2008

    The one feature I like about the iPhone, the accelerometer, is the only feature they appear not to care that much about. It's the one thing that no other phone really has and all they use it for is simple screen tilting.

    I am waiting for Google's phones myself. Then I will make my next phone decision.

    I think the newly released (or will be soon) App Store will help you with a few of the features you are missing now mndrix.

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  5. mndrixJune 16, 2008

    tanookitravis, I agree that the accelerometer is under utilized. Some of the applications shown in the WWDC 2008 key note make good use of the accelerometer (I'm looking at you Super Monkey Ball).

    One other thing the iPhone does which I haven't seen from any other comparable phone is offering location-based services. The new iPhone has a GPS unit in it so it knows where you are fairly accurately. OmniFocus's plan to offer location-based to-do lists is one cool application I've seen using that technology.

    In the end, your approach is probably the best one. Wait for Android to come out and see what it offers compared to the iPhone.

    Thanks for the comments.

    ReplyDelete