TIA Tuesday - The Smarter-Than-Me Phone

Last Friday, I joined the crowd and purchased my first iPhone. I've been living the past four years with my oft-hated beloved LG Chocolate 3. It's survived torrential downpours, more drops than one can count, nights out on the town, trips to the beach, and travels far and wide. Which is why it looks like this:

Dents. Mirror surface completely scratched off. Cracked screen. Broken wheel. Loose hinges.

Well-loved? Abused? Your call.

I fought the smart phone craze for years. I loathe the idea of constantly being connected and contactable. I hate people worrying when I haven't responded to an email they sent an hour ago. I love using the atlas in the backseat of my car when I get lost! I even recently learned how to tweet photos from my dumb phone. Who needs an upgrade?

It was time. My job and lifestyle require a little more connectivity than the dumb phone can provide. And let's face it: the iPhone is cool.

So, four years later, here we are. One more step towards making 2011 the Year of Polar Opposites. Going from the dumbest ever Nam phone back to my American dumb phone and on to the iPhone 4S.

These are the things that blow my mind (and are generally normal to most people these days):
- all my text messages (or iMessages, as the kids call 'em these days) are in a stream and I can look back on conversations easily
- visual voice mail!!! Who thought of that? I shall like to hug them.
- built in compass & crazy map capabilities
- taking photos on my phone that are of equal quality to my point & shoot digital camera
- Pandora wherever I go
- the Reminders app. Whoa.

And let's not forget Sassy Siri, the iPhone 4S's pride and joy. She's so funny that you'll have to wait until tomorrow's post to hear more.

Goodness gracious am I glad I gave myself a 4 1/2 month buffer between returning from Nam and diving into the iPhone. Culture shock all over again!