Why would anyone buy an iPhone?

It takes me a long time to decide to buy something that is really expensive - unless it is scrapbook items then I go momentarily insane. I swear there is a subliminal message beamed to me from the overhead lighting in places like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and all the scrapbook shops everywhere. Surely, it can't be my fault that I spend money in these places.

Three years I flipped and flopped about a PDA. Glorified address book is what I thought of it. I didn't want to spend over $200 on something that would not be useful. The deciding factor in purchasing a PDA was a Quicken software I could install on a PDA and keep our business expenses up to date. All I was supposed to do was enter the items then sync with my computer when I got home. I got really excited about that and purchased a Sony Clie and the Pocket Quicken. My excitement fizzled to frustration the first time I synced three months of expenses. This was in 2003 and we had work up the wazoo and hardly were home.

When I did finally get home to catch up on paperwork I found my expense entries were all over the place in my Quicken stuff on the computer. I spent over a week playing hide and seek with my stuff. The Clie went on the shelf and it sits there still.

Last year, when I first heard about the iPhone and saw the demo I had to have one. No flipping or flopping, no hemming or hawing. I had to have one. The selling point for me was the map feature and getting business listings with address and phone numbers right there.

I broached the subject with my husband and he didn't even hesitate. "Get one" is what he said. So when they became available, I bought one. Needless to say, it is not on the shelf collecting dust.

We were on the Interstate near Perry, GA when Joe had a tire blow out. He called the dispatch office for a tire repair place near where we were. While he was on the phone I used the map feature on my iPhone and entered "Tire repair Perry, GA". Several items came up and I told Joe what I had found. He relayed the information to dispatch and they gave the go ahead to contact the service closest to where we were.

The result was this. We waited about 1 & 1/2 hours at the exit ramp before the service truck came. When he arrived he got to work. 30 minutes later we were back on the road.

That was my first attempt at using the maps feature to get us help on the road. The second one was when I had a breakdown in Louisiana and had to be towed to a shop. My back truck had a problem to begin with so switching trucks was out of the question. Now my front trucks transmission quit and I was, effectively "dead in the water".

Using my iPhone to find a wrecker in the area we were in resulted in this. I think it was Crestview, LA where this took place. The shop I was towed to fixed the problem with my back truck so I could switch them out and finish the trip.

The next event took place west of Tulsa on I-44. We were deadheading to Tulsa, almost made it when a tire blew on our trailer. The fender got mangled and the remote control box that worked the hydraulics on the trailer was destroyed. My iPhone came to the rescue yet again.


When we needed to find a hotel and knew about where we were shutting down for the night I would get a selection, look in the Corporate Lodging Book to see which were in their account and called for a room reservation.

When we needed to find a delivery location or a pick up location that our GPS didn't have, search the maps feature. This phone came in so handy and became an indispensable tool in our work. So much so that Joe said he wanted one, too.

When I bought my first iPhone I also purchased "The Invisible Shield" for it. I can be clumsy. I've dropped phones from heights of 10' or more and watched them fly apart right before my eyes. I thought $20 would be a good price to pay for protection. Good thing I did, too. In December of last year I dropped my iPhone and cracked the glass. I thought I had just destroyed this really expensive phone. The Invisible Shield has held the glass in place and protected it. I could still make calls, search the map, take pictures, get my emails...everything except sync. I had broken it in such a way that it quit syncing in May. It worked from December to May though.

When the new iPhone was coming out I had to have this one replaced. I really need one that will sync all my stuff. The calendar, especially, since I have to prove to my CPA how many days we were out on the road each month.

My advice to anyone that has the iPhone. Go to http://www.Zagg.com and check them out. Buy it. You will be really glad you did. They sell these covers for all kinds of cell phones, not just the iPhone.

The new iPhone...I'm having some trouble with it. My phone does not always ring and I miss calls when I don't have my Jawbone in my ear. I have had to update my calendar on my iPhone, in my Mac, and my .Mac account. I've had to adjust each one so they all have the same information. What a pain in the butt. I'm so glad I keep a handwritten "Day Book" with me or I would have been in real doo doo.

This thing sucks the power too. With my old iPhone I could go 2 & 1/2 days before recharging the battery if I did not use the maps or internet. Now I have to charge it every day. I've turned off the "Push" stuff. That seems to be the biggest battery drain. Well, it will take me a while to learn my way around this phone. It sure doesn't work like the old one.