My iPhone and I

My sister emailed today to say she’s considering getting an iPhone and wondered what kind of cover I have for mine. Seems her daughter (my niece) has something called an “Otter Box” for her iPhone, which apparently she drops regularly and needs some kind of super protection. I didn’t even know there were covers for iPhones, let alone a wide selection. I thought about lying and saying something like “Yeah, the Otter Box looks good, but I went with the Squirrel Pack because I always drop my iPhone on grass or carpet,” but decided to tell the truth – my pocket.

I got my iPhone about 3½ years ago, as a present from my wife for my 60^th birthday. I really didn’t need or want a cell phone, let alone an iPhone, but my wife thought that I should at least make an attempt at entering the 21^st century. For most of the first year, I used my iPhone primarily as a paperweight. But as I learned more of its functions, especially email, internet, GPS, and weather, I began using it more. At some point I even began using the phone function, though only when on trips. I’m now – three years in – using not only the phone and email and internet and GPS but also a host of apps. But no games, and definitely no texting – I’m practical, not insane.

My current usage at the end of this month is 28 of 450 available minutes (I assume that’s phone). There’s something called N&W of which I’ve used 0 of 5,000. And I’ve only used 1 of my unlimited M2Ms (whatever they are). And 0 of 4,182 ROs (and whatever those are, I lose 390 of them in two weeks, though that leaves me with 3,792, of which I’ll probably use another 0, if only because I don’t know what ROs are or how to use them if I wanted to).

So you can see that I really don’t have a need for an iPhone cover, Otter or Squirrel.

My iPhone

When I turned 60 a couple of years ago, my wife went out on a very thin limb and bought me an iPhone 3G, thus making me the last human on Earth to own a cell phone. I’d never had any use for a cell phone (discounting telemarketers and wrong numbers, I receive about two phone calls a week and make about the same). But I had been following the hype of the iPhone and was somewhat curious about all the bells and whistles (not actual bells and whistles, of course; I don’t know when actual bells and whistles stopped being included in appliances) that the iPhone promised – the internet, email, gps, camera, video, radio, iPod, and oh the billions of apps. I was dubious when I unwrapped the package and saw what it was. Not only do I not have much need of a phone, but my history with all technologies is a sad trail of confusion, contusions, and creative cursing. I dropped the phone while taking it out of the box, bouncing it off the floor. But I gave the iPhone a chance. The gift was well-meaning and intended to bring me at least into the late 20^th century, if not the early 21^st. And two years later, I use my iPhone regularly. I check the weather several times a day. I surf the internet, read newspapers, listen to radio, check my email, read books, try to find myself with gps, find restaurants, etc. with my four pages of apps. I’m still learning, and have a ways to go. (I don’t text message and never will. What’s the purpose?) But the one thing I still rarely use on my iPhone is the phone function itself. I happened today for the first time in two years to go into my usage summary for the current billing cycle (halfway through the month), and this is what I found:

Anytime Minutes	39 of 450
Night & Weekend	74 of 5000
Rollover Minutes	0 of 4257

Anybody want to buy some minutes? As I said, I don’t have a big need for a phone. I’m glad I have it. But my fascination is with the convergence of all the technologies into one gadget. And I’m considering looking into the iPhone4 (hey, it has video). But it’s a slippery slope. The iPhone5 – or whatever – is sure to be just months away. Maybe they’ll phone me when it comes out. Or text.