apple iphone 4s

I had an upgrade available with Verizon.

So, a discount on a new phone. And with this new iPhone 4s out, I was curious. I read things. I solicitied opinions. Was it worth tossing my Motorola Droid X aside and go with the iPhone.

Yep.

What a world of difference!

I’ve had the phone since Sunday. I think I got a bit lucky, actually. I called a Verizon person I knew, who unfortunately wasn’t working at his place (which was in Binghamton, where I needed to go to pick up a suit… ya know, for the job search, interviews etc.) Alas, it didn’t matter because he knew his store didn’t have any left.

Shocker!

He did note that I should call the Oneonta (which is much closer to me) store to see. I did that. But apparently the person I talked to wasn’t supposed to tell me whether they had any in stock or not. I guess it makes sense. After all, if he tells someone they have the iPhone in the store, then that person comes in and the phones are gone… well, ya know.

So I said to the guy, “Look, if I come in and you are out, that’s my fault. But I want to know I have a fighting chance if I come over.”

He whispers that they have a few.

Now I had to make the choice. Go with the iPhone or stick with the Droid and wait for something else down the line. Ahhh, what the heck.

Shower up, get dressed and head over. I find the guy I had talked to on the phone, he asked what I wanted (16gig, black phone) and he went to the back and came out with one.

The last one.

Sweet!

Forty-five minutes later, I was walking out with an iPhone 4s in hand — starting my journey into the world of the iPhone.

Boy was it different.

I didn’t get the chance to mess with it too much as I had to bolt to Binghamton to grab my suit. But I messed around with it that night. I looked at apps. I downloaded a few. I played with a few others and saw how the phone worked.

My first impression?

Awesome. Better operating system. Sharper image. The camera? Oh my. This camera is absolutely amazing. As someone who is a photographer, I wanted a phone camera where the images were sharp and came out nice. When I am going to do serious shooting, nothing will beat my Canon 7D. But when I am with friends or just tooling around, the iPhone will be a very nice piece of equipment to have.

In fact, I started a slight 365 project on my Tumblr account the day I got the iPhone — My first 365 days with the iPhone! I don’t know if I’ll complete it and if I don’t, no biggie. But I will be putting my images from the iPhone on my Tumblr account as it’s quick to upload there. Most of the images will be done with Instagram.

I still have thoughts of doing a true Project 365 (well, it will be 366 because 2012 is a Leap Year) starting Jan. 1, so who knows if this project will fully go on as I don’t know if I’ll be working on two of these projects at one time.

If you are on Tumblr, feel free to follow me to check out the photos I’ll be posting.

Here’s one thing I’ve really found out about the iPhone — it’s so much better than my Droid X was for doing social networking things and games.

I’m hoping I can connect with a few people through this post and, in some cases, learn some things.

Take, for example, Instagram.

I’m really loving this app. It’s almost worth switching to the iPhone to have this. The ability to mess around with photos taken on the iPhone and post some really cool stuff is wild.

But it’s hard to connect with people, it seems.

It will search your Twitter and Facebook accounts and your contacts list. That’s good. But it apparently doesn’t tell you that you are being followed or if you follow someone etc. I’ve talked to a few people who I followed who hadn’t even realized it. One who I needed to request to follow!

That doesn’t take away from the app. I love it. But there could be some cool things to have to make it a little more user friendly. Possibly a search for topic, too. It doesn’t appear you can search for direct subjects, rather just people.

If you are on Instagram (name: hoohaa29), feel free to follow me. I check my followers and will follow back as well. I like finding new people and see how they use the program. It’s really wild.

I’m really starting to dig some of the other programs, too. Some of the other camera apps are really nice. They give you the chance to do some cool things with processing on the phone.

There are some cool foodie apps, too, such as Foodspotting and Epicurious. There’s apps such as Untappd, which help you rank and talk about beers.

Way too cool.

Though some of these apps are available on my former smartphone, the Motorola Droid X. I did love that phone. It was great for me for nearly two years.

There were things about it that really bothered me. Like, for example, it shut off at odd times all on its own. In the middle of phone calls even. I’d hate to be on an important call and have it turn off. Then it took a long time to start back up. The browser was decent but choppy. And many times the apps and such would go all haywire and require them to be forced closed. The thing that turned me though is that there’s no real checks and balances with their apps. I’ve read a bunch about the Droid’s marketplace having some bad stuff. And that’s not just the Droid X — that could happen to any phone operating the Droid system. So, it was time.

But this iPhone. Amazing.

The screen is crisp. The camera is awesome. The internet moves quick. It’s everything I read about it.

It’s funny because a Twitter friend noted that I needed to get it. And, if I didn’t like it, she’d buy it off me.

She doesn’t need to worry about that.

I’m keeping it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!