My company requires me, as the holder of a certain rank, to have a smartphone so that I’m always reachable. When the requirement began, I chose a Blackberry, but I got sick of it and never even kept it charged anymore.
I heard you can view PDFs on an iPhone (which is important in my job), and I wanted an easier sexting solution, so I returned the Blackberry to IT and got an iPhone 4 instead. (Yes, I know the 5 is imminent, but I don’t care.)
So here I am. I don’t know anything about the iPhone. Hell, I don’t even know anything about cell phones, including that Blackberry I had. I haven’t read the iPhone instructions. But I have some questions nonetheless.
Do I really have to use iTunes with this? No MediaMonkey? Nothing? I don’t want to install iTunes on my home PC, but if I’m going to try this as an MP3 player I’ll have to use files from there.
I’d read that cell phones use earphones with a 2.5-mm plug, but the iPhone seems to have a 3.5-mm jack. If I buy good earbuds with a mic, will the mic work through this 3.5-mm jack?
I do need to download an “app” to view PDFs, right? What’s the best one?
There are camera lenses on both sides. One is bigger than the other. Is the bigger one better?
Looking at games on the Web, some are said to be “universal.” Does “universal” just mean “both iPhone and iPad”?
iTunes isn’t that bad and it doesn’t invade your system the way RealPlayer and its ilk used to. Just make sure that you don’t allow it to organise your media files or copy them into its library folder and you shouldn’t be too bothered by it. You’d only have to deal with it when you want to copy music to your iPhone.
I’d read that cell phones use earphones with a 2.5-mm plug, but the iPhone seems to have a 3.5-mm jack. If I buy good earbuds with a mic, will the mic work through this 3.5-mm jack?
More than likely, but the iPhone is so ubiquitous that it will probably say whether or not the headphones are compatible on the packaging.
I do need to download an “app” to view PDFs, right? What’s the best one?
Nope. One of the great things about iOS (and OS X) is that PDF support is built right in. Now, whether or not the built-in support is sufficient for your needs (I don’t think it remembers where you left off in a PDF, for example) is up to you. GoodReader is the app that I used to use on my Touch - it’s pretty good. iBooks isn’t bad either but it’s probably a little bit heavy.
There are camera lenses on both sides. One is bigger than the other. Is the bigger one better?
The one on the back is better. The one on the front is mostly for FaceTime.
Looking at games on the Web, some are said to be “universal.” Does “universal” just mean “both iPhone and iPad”?
I believe so. There are probably some workaround solutions but Apple wants you to use itunes and so the iphone doesn’t natively support other programs.
Most if not all smartphones use 3.5 mm jacks now. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work but I really haven’t tried it since I don’t like using earphone w/mic.
The front facing camera is for video chatting. The one on the back is for taking normal photos.
Keep in mind that when iOS 5 comes out any minute now, your need to use iTunes will be greatly reduced. You’ll probably still need an iTunes account, but most of what you need to do with it (app purchases, OS updates, etc) can be done in-phone.
I have no personal experience, but Foobar2000 (aka God’s media player) with the foo_dop plugin should sync to your iPhone. It’s kind of a shit MP3 player, by the way.
It should. It will probably say in the product description. I use the thinksound ts02+mic with my iPhone and they work great. Also had no problems with some Meelectronics models.
Get Sharepod can corrupt your itunes library if you use it on too old/new itunes. never update itunes to the latest and greatest if you have a version that it is known to work with.
It was Meelectronics earphones I wanted to use, so great to hear.
I use foobar as my desktop player, so I’ll try it for syncing. I’ve read too many iTunes horror stories here to risk my library to it.
I’m very happy with my Sansa Fuze as an MP3 player and don’t anticipate giving it up, but I might as well try out convergence just to be fair.
I will say this about my iPhone experience so far: sometimes it’s like reading one of those glossy magazines where most pages are ads. No wonder Apple has become the most valuable company; this thing’s the most monetized gadget ever.
I like the e-mail and calendar apps much better than the Blackberry equivalents, though, and they’re the main reason why my company paid for this thing.
My only real problem with iTunes, after I got over most of the shit, is the Bonjour crap. If I know that I’m not using iTunes I go into Task Manager and terminate the 4 pieces of shit that constantly interrupt my games trying to call home. I haven’t just disabled them completely because I don’t feel like going in and re-enabling them when I do need them. Kind of bass ackwards, I know. But I’m used to it now.
Occasionally they will re-enable themselves of course.
My regular IEMs are Meelectronics M6, which were rated as a great value on head-fi.org when they cost $50+ but now can be had for $22 at Amazon. The M6-P are identical but have a mic.
I had a run with those, but never quite got accustomed to the fit, and two pairs in a row were defective. Pretty excellent sound for the price, though.
I use Comply foam tips for the fit — my right ear pushes out all silicone tips, big or small. Bummer about the defective units; I hate having to return things.
I love the Complys — they’re memory foam and give you a lot of soundproofing in addition to a good fit. Only downside is that they get gunky and discolored from your ears and have to be replaced every so often. Just make sure you get the right ones for your phones — see the Comply Web site.
I also tried the Sony Hybrid silicone tips, which layer two densities of silicone one inside the other. They sounded good, but the noise reduction wasn’t as strong, and I still had to push the right one in all the time.
