Help! I'm Addicted to My IPhone

Long gone are the days when I can leave the house without at least one gadget in my possession. Leaving the house without my iPhone, getting in my car without my Garmin GPS or not being able to keep up on the status of my Facebook friends has become a phobia for me. There are five services I can't go without accessing for longer then a day, actually more like an hour, my iPhone 3GS, Facebook, Texting, Trillian and my Garmin GPS. Without these modern devices, I feel naked and lost. How sad my addiction has become.

The iPhone:

Whether you have the first iPhone or you rushed out to get the new iPhone 4, you've already taken a huge step to making sure you are constantly connected. Apple brought the world of music, internet and cellphones together and made one of the most fantastic gadgets around, the iPhone. With the iPhone you can receive text messages, get on the internet, chat on Instant Message programs, play games, manage your finances, pay bills, stay connected with your Facebook friends and oh yeah, make phone calls.

Cellphones have ceased to be electronics to make and receive phone calls, they've become stylish portable computers. The iPhone is a mix of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a MP3 player and a cellphone. Instead of having to carry around all three, you have the ease of having all the major electronics together. I can access my checking account and create a personal budget on my iPhone. I pay for my bills and even manage my car insurance.

The iPhone does have its limitations, however, the biggest being that it is only available on the AT&T wireless network. Smart phones like the Droid and Blackberries are available on multiple networks, which is handy for those that don't have the best AT&T coverage. If you don't have access to the AT&T network or prefer not to use it, Apple has the iTouch which is just the iPhone without cellular options.

Another downfall is the insurance options provided from AT&T. Unlike their other phones, you cannot opt-in to get coverage from AT&T and are forced to receive repairs and replacements from Apple. Your options for repair are limited and normally require the customer to send the broken iPhone back to Apple and go without until its repaired and returned.

The iPhone is available at major retailers like Best Buy at a cost of $199 for the iPhone 4. It is also available from AT&T either on their website or their stores at a cost of $199 for the iPhone 4 and $149 for the iPhone 3GS.

Text Messaging:

Text Messaging is one of my favorite features of any cellphone I've had. It keeps me in contact with my friends without actually talking on the phone, really handy when you're in class. Hearing a voice is overrated and this handy way of communicating has made it more simple to chat with a lot of people all at once. It helps me to be extremely social while still being anti-social at the same time. What a convenience.

With over 5400 messages last month, $30 a month to AT&T is a small price to pay for unlimited texting features for my whole family. I text more then I talk and it has become a great asset to keep up with those in my life. AT&T also offers an unlimited plan for a single cellphone for $20 a month, 1500 messages a month for $15, and 200 messages a month for $5.

One of the drawbacks of texting is you lose the personal feel to communicating. It's hard to determine the tone a person is using when in text. Some of your friends may prefer to receive a text or they may want to know you're not just a robot with the ability to use your thumbs and want to hear your voice.

Facebook:

Facebook is the mega Social Networking site with more then 500 million users. The site started out as a networking site for Harvard students and then progressed to being open to High School and College students anywhere. Now the site is available to anyone over the age of 13 and one of the major outlets to keep people networking with their family, friends, classmates and people they work with.

Facebook is my major communication tool and for me it has a more adult feel than Myspace and not quite as needy as Twitter. I can chat on a messaging program, send email, keep updated on my friends and family, and keep them updated on my life. Facebook has an option to upload photos, videos, share links, blog and play games, all with your friends and family.

Facebook is free to use which is probably its best features. Some of the applications have an option to spend real money to get certain benefits, but most games are completely free and have a large arrange of free features that keep most of its applications entertaining.

Facebook apps are a huge plus for the service but may also be one of its most annoying aspects. Signing onto Facebook and my news feed is full of updates about how many potatoes a person found on Farmville or there is a hit being put out on me, can get pretty annoying. Luckily, Facebook has implemented several privacy and blocking features to keep your news feed full of actual news from your friends, family and favorite pages.

Trillian:

There was a time when I had most major Instant Messaging programs like AIM, Yahoo Messenger and MSN Message. In order to be on all of them, since my friends couldn't all agree on just one to use, I would have to load up three different applications and manage all their messages on my task bar. This filled the task bar up pretty quickly and bogged my computer down. That's when I discovered Trillian by Cerulean Studios.

Trillian is an Instant Messaging program made for the PC, Mac, iPhone, BlackBerry and for free using just your internet browser. You open one application, add all your Instant Messaging services information and you can log into multiple accounts with just one program. The Trillian service uses a basic setup for an Astra account that manages all your sign in information and is accessible from every device you sign in with, which means if you have Trillian on multiple devices you don't have to setup all your account information on each device.

Trillian is available in a free version and the Pro version. The free version has the basic drawbacks like ads and limited tech support while the Pro version takes all that away and gives you a chance to support Trillian creatures for $15.

Trillian can be downloaded at https://www.trillian.im/.

Garmin Nuvi 265WT GPS:

Traveling on a monthly basis to a big city like Chicago, makes me in need of a GPS system, especially one that has up-to-date status on traffic alerts. The Garmin univ 265WT GPS provides free lifetime traffic alerts, has voice recognition, turn-by-turn driving instruction and a 4.3" display. This gadget is a must have for travelers.

My Garmin has come in handy when routes are block, I'm in an unfamiliar place, finding food, clothing and figuring out how to get to a place the fastest, easiest route. The slim Nuvi series takes up less room then hard to fit maps and can be updated every time Garmin releases a new map.

Garmin's website offers fun downloads for your Nuvi which include new voices for the navigation, different designs for the directional arrow and pictures to download to your GPS. A long trip from Ohio to Chicago becomes a little more entertaining when your directional arrow becomes a ghost and a haunted voice is guiding your way.

The only concern I have with my Garmin and the Garmin's I've had before, is updating the map. Routes change, streets are added, new businesses start and some disappear. Garmin offers Lifetime updates to their nuMaps for $119 which isn't much cheaper then purchasing a new GPS for $179. The Lifetime version is handy as long as your Garmin GPS last for longer then 2 years and is definitely worth the investment.

Garmin Nuvi 265WT GPS can be purchased at Best Buy for $179.99.

Sources:

Best Buy. "Best Buy."
Facebook. "Facebook."
Trillian. "Trillian."
AT&T Wireless. "AT&T Wireless."
Apple. "Apple iPhone."
Garmin. "Garmin."