BradPace.com

Now that I have had a bit over a week with my new iPhone I figured it was time to write a bit about it. First of all I upgraded from a 2G so it was a big change. Here is what I love about it.

• GPS/Digital Compass – My 2G didn’t have GPS. I love the GPS features on the 3GS. And the digital compass on the map is very slick. I purchased the Geocaching app from Groundspeak and it ROCKS! It almost makes geocaching too easy. We found a couple of caches within a half mile of our fathers and sons campout last weekend. No more typing in the coordinates. Plus I will be using the compass app. Anyone want my scout compass?
• Voice Commands – I have some mixed results with voice commands. Sometimes it works and at other times it doesn’t. But I am learning how to get better results (and I swear the iPhone is getting better as well). But the feature is SOOOO cool. And I have used it in the car. If I had a dashboard mount for the phone it would be even better.
• Landscape keyboard – I love that you can use this in email and texting now. My big fingers need all the help they can get and I probably can type 2x as fast in landscape mode.
• Speed is BIG! – I love the increased speed and notice the difference. Both at boot up and on all the apps. If I cant have multi-tasking apps at least it makes it quick to switch back and forth.
• Push notifications – I bit the bullet and paid for BeejiveIM (when it was on sale) and I love it. It has push capability and it works great. I like this app much better than Palringo (which is what I used before. I also tried fring and didn’t really like that app). That is the only app I have that used Push notifications (other than email).
• Improved camera and video – The photos are much better with the new improved camera. I take a lot of photos with my iPhone. I played with video but have not really had much to video yet. But I am sure this will replace my Flip.

Overall it has been well worth the upgrade. And with 32 GB I have lots of memory to play with. It’s nice to have more music and podcasts.

Other apps that I use and love:

• Scriptures – This app was pricy but worth it. It is the best version of the LDS scriptures. Plus it includes a bunch of other content like the Hymns, Manuals, Resources, General Conference and more. Search works great and so does bookmarking. I love following along in Sunday School with the Teachers manual. I do use it in church and because all the content is in the app it is very fast.
• Evernote – I still use this great app and it is only getting better. I cut and paste tons of stuff into it to save for later. Their tagging system works well. You can store just about anything in Evernote.
• Content Apps – I love apps that provide easy access to data. Like the LifeHack app, USA Today, Digg, WebMag, LDS radio, NY Times and others. My new favorite content app is the iStake app from Avikey. It integrates with LDS.org and provides my ward directory and the ward directories of all the wards in my stake. I don’t know how many times I tried to look up people in my area and did not have their contact info. It’s worth the $10 and works great. Also I love tying knots and love the knot guide app (a must for any scoutmaster).
• Photo Apps – I love the apps that do fun things with my photos. My kids and I have spent hours messing with photos on the iPhone. The most entertaining is the Face Melter app. We have ended in tears laughing so hard. My kids love it! I recently added the OldBooth app that allows you to put your face on different old photos. I just started using Animoto to take my photos and build mini-video slide shows. It is so easy and the videos are very cool. Plus with the new version you can download the movies. (It’s kind of lame you can only do 30 second movies without paying). And yes I use my company’s app FamCam to easily send any photos to my family members. I also use Photogene to improve the photos I take. Adjust the curves and to do all kinds of other tweeks to the photos.
• Web Apps – I still use some web apps on the iPhone. Like the Yahoo movie web app. And if you have not visited on NBC.com on your iPhone you are missing out. They have tons of content that streams. It works perfectly. Someone at work just showed me this just today.
• And let’s not forget GAMES! I love puzzle games like VaultBreaker, BrainTeaser, Sodoku, touchPhysics, and Chess. But my favorite puzzle games are Enigmo, cubicMan, and Peggle. Other fun games are Knights, Ignite, Air Hockey, CannonGame, iFish, Crazy Tanks, Oregon Trail, and the Tap Tap games.
• Other apps I use regularly are Kindle, Facebook, Twitterrific, i.TV, Yammer, Guitar Toolkit, and The Weather Channel.