STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Why I decided it was time to invest in the iPhone
- The prices of different iPhones
- Comparisons between different iPhones and different phone companies
- What an iPhone includes with the initial purchase
- Different apps and programs to get once you have the iPhone
- Apps: The greatest, the newest, and the most popular apps out there
Up until the iPhone 5 I had a Blackberry. I felt like each time I pulled it out to make a phone call or reply to a text a new person would say, “you still have a Blackberry?”
I sat back and watched while the iPhone slowly took over my friends, classmates, my entire school and finally the world. There were three determining factors that made me decide to spend the money on the iPhone.
1. Music. I hated going on runs and having to carry my phone and iPod separately. One extra thing does become a lot when it comes to running.
2. The apps. My friends were constantly on their iPhones playing with apps or talking about apps. Regardless of their popularity, a lot of apps are actually helpful too.
3. Internet Speed. I don’t know if it is just Verizon or most phones, but with the Blackberry I would have to wait minutes for websites to load. With the iPhone, those minutes have turned into milliseconds.
Although a lot of people have the iPhone already, there are some people that need some convincing that this device is essential for all. For those that do have it, you can keep reading to learn things you never knew about the phone!
PRICE:
Usually the first question that comes to mind when thinking about a new phone is “how much is it going to cost me?” The iPhone 5 starts at $199 for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon and goes up $100 as the gigabytes double. I personally think the lowest amount, 16 GB, is plenty. More GB might be necessary if you are planning on putting thousands of songs on your phone and taking lots of videos and pictures.
How does this price compare relative to other phones? Basically the same as any other smartphone. The Droid RAZR, another popular phone, starts at the same price and goes up.
Basic phones are normally at the highest $99 and go down from there, but so do older versions of the iPhone. The iPhone 4s starts $99 for all three cellular companies and the iPhone 4 starts at just $1 for AT&T and FREE for Verizon and Sprint. That’s right, I said FREE. I took a snapshot of the website just for proof!
From the AT&T website
From the Verizon Wireless website
From the Sprint website
These prices all include a 2-year contract though. So if your contract were not up, you would unfortunately have to pay more.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PHONES
iPhones:
How do you tell which iPhone to get between the 4, 4s and now 5?
I would explain it, but there is a direct link to the exact differences between all the phones down to the detail! This will explain it better than I can. iPhone Comparisons!
As a quick overview, as the newer iPhones come out, the processor gets faster, the camera gets better quality, the battery life gets longer and more apps become available.
iPhone v Other Phones:
Junior business major at California Polytechnic State University, Ryan Hakes, says the iPhone was an easy choice over other phones.
“The iPhone has better accessibility to maps, games, and applications for everyday use,” he says. “I can’t think of anything I would change about it.”
Arguably the best two phones on the market are Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone. If you are accustomed to having a Mac, iPad, iPod or other Apple products, the iPhone may be an easy choice. If you are used to Google docs, Gmail, Google Plus and more, than the Android may be a better choice. If none of that matters, then I made a small chart of differences in the phones that may make your decision more clear.
| iPhone | Android | |
| Advantages | *Has iOS which means it doesn’t allow third parties to run on the phone which means it can’t get viruses | *Includes Google maps and Google navigation |
| *Has Facetime which allows you to connect to others with Apple products | *Is available for all 4 mobile cellular services | |
| *Has Siri which can navigate and operate the phone with the touch of a button | *Has more availability in programming and third party apps | |
| Disadvantages | *Is not available to T-Mobile | *Does not have all the same apps available that the iPhone does |
For some, including myself, the advantages and disadvantages sort of blur together. Maybe you want Facetime to connect with friends, but you also want more third party apps. One solution is to just play with both phones until you get a feel for what you like. After messing around with my brother’s Android and my best friend’s iPhone, I found the iPhone was much simpler and easier to navigate.
Cal Poly senior history major, Derek Koehler, was indecisive between the iPhone and the Android for a while.
“I would’ve traded my iPhone 4 in for an Android any day. In fact I did for a few months. I liked the bigger screen and the accessibility for homebrew applications,” he said. “But now that I have the iPhone 5 with the bigger screen, I think I’m set.”
Orange Coast College sophomore Chase Lawrence says he has never expressed an interest in the Android.
“The Androids are so slow going from app to app and the layout is just not a good setup,” he says. “The iPhone is way better and the reliability I have with Apple is much better than the Droid.”
What You Get When You Buy an iPhone
Below is a picture of the apps that come with the phone when you purchase it.
Home screen
Derek didn’t need to find and download his favorite app; it came pre-programmed in the phone as you can see above.
“My favorite app is “Reminders” because I can write something down, like a song to download or a friend to call that I know I’ll forget later, and it will send me notifications of the reminder,” he says.
Besides the apps that come with the phone, here are some of the apps I use on a daily basis.
My personal arrangement of apps. All phones vary!
In the top left corner is the utilities box, which also came with the phone and consists of Contacts, Calculator, Compass and Voice Memos. The rest are just fun apps I enjoy using.
- Instagram edits photos with over 30 cool effects. Chase says Instagram is his favorite app on the iPhone.
“I like seeing people through the life of pictures, not through posts on Facebook,” he says.”I think Instagram is a very inventive app and it revolutionized how people share pictures.”
- Pic Stitch takes multiple photos and makes a collage in the arrangement of your choice.
- Flashlight takes the phone’s flash and brightens it, turning it into a flashlight. I use this walking around at night a lot.
- Pandora plays music from stations you can personalize through a genre, artist or song. Ryan says he couldn’t live without the Pandora app.
“It’s my favorite app,” he says. “I need to be able to stream music and I can use it for any mood I’m in.”
- PS (Photoshop) Express crops, rotates, brightens, sharpens, and does many more things to pictures you want to edit. It also has 10 different programmed effects that are different than Instagram for more variety. It can upload anything you edit instantly to email, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and more.
- Converter is not an app I expect everyone to have, but I do a lot of cooking so it helps me convert cups to tablespoons to ounces and so on. It can convert basically any measurement and can help if you are in any major or career with math and sciences.
- AroundMe is one of my personal favorites. All you do is click on one of the categories in the pictures below and it gives you a list of related places, starting with the closest to the location of your choice. Whichever restaurant, chiropractor or gas station you click on, it takes you to a map with directions to that place.
Not only are all the apps you just saw cool, fun and useful, but they’re all FREE!
While I find most apps I want are free, I also don’t have a lot of apps that are for playing games. Derek, however, finds games that pass time are worth buying.
“I only buy apps that are quick to use,” he says. “The last app I bought was a blackjack app that I can open, play a few hands while waiting for a bus, then close whenever I want and the app remembers where I left off immediately.”
Opposite of Derek is Chase, who feels apps aren’t worth the money.
“Most apps I’ve bought are games, but no game is really worth buying,” he says.
App-licious
Chase, Derek and Ryan all came up with different apps they would recommend to others.
Chase recommends “ESPN Sports Center” for all sports fans.
“I like being able to see not only my favorite teams’ scores, but all the scores from different leagues,” he says. “I also like how when one of my favorite teams is playing, they send me updates on what’s going on with the game and stats of the players as well.”
Derek recommends “Twitterrific” to anyone who likes to write or get out their thoughts.
“I use it as a funny diary of my life so when I read it later I can remember quotes or events in my life,” he says. “Twitterrific makes it easy because I can post from anywhere, anytime.”
Ryan recommends that everyone has their bank on their phone. His personal bank is Chase so he uses the “Chase Mobile” app.
“I like having Chase Bank on my phone so I can check my balances whenever I want,” he says.
Cool Sites to Check Out
There are thousands of apps out there, so instead of scrolling through all of them or going through trial and error, here is a website of “The Best iPhone Apps.” This site is great for finding the top apps for any category from music to health & fitness to travel and more!
If you are a tech geek or just love finding new apps, Time magazine writer Chris Gayomali talks about new apps he finds each week! His range of apps varies so at least one week is bound to catch your eye! Check out his App of the Week blogs!
The final touch after this blog has successfully convinced you to get an iPhone is to customize it and spice it up! There are tons of awesome iPhone cases to buy now. For instance, my iPhone 5 case is clear and my best friend’s iPhone case is a penguin and stands up on two legs. You can find really cool iPhone cases on Amazon, original iPhone cases that hold credit cards or have holiday prints on Speck, and you can customize your own on Zazzle!
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