iPhone

This post has been a long time coming. Lately I’ve been feeling a bit over twitter, made more so because of the platforms that I use to tweet, because they essentially suck.

The one that I probably use the most is Twitter for iPhone. A few months ago it was updated with some rather significant changes. I understand why Twitter has updated the apps and web with wanting to streamline usage. Any official twitter app essentially has the same interface. Even though this makes it easier to switch between the various applications, I still prefer the old version of Twitter for iPhone.

Reasons for why I dislike it:

1. You can no longer swipe across a tweet and get quick reply, retweet, favourite, etc buttons. I loved this. Now, you have to go into a tweet and wait for it to load, because it does take a little bit to load now, before you can perform any actions. Although, I did just download the update today and swiped across a tweet because I still want to do it, and it did it! I was all, “WHAT?” so it looks like they have put back a few things they had removed.

2. People show up in your timeline with what they put as their “name”, not their @ name. Some people write some pretty weird things in there. So now I don’t know who half the people showing up in my timeline are.

3. The progress bar when sending a tweet has disappeared. This was a great indicator of whether a tweet would send or not. Now it’s not there and you kind of can’t tell if the tweet has failed to send or not. And let’s be honest, this actually happens quite a lot.

4. Direct messages now appear under “me” instead of a similar button appearing like mentions (sidenote: what is with ‘mentions’ now known as ‘connect’?) So now you have to go into “me” and then click on DMs. Slightly annoying.

5. Switching accounts is so much harder to do nowadays. In the old version it was as simple as hitting “settings” at the top left and you could go change accounts. Now you have to go into “me”, scroll down, then hit “switch accounts” in order to select which account you want. It is no longer intuitive and actually annoying, because it does not allow for quick changing between accounts.

6. No longer saying whether someone follows you or not when you look at their profile. It’s a pretty handy feature because I don’t want to look like a twat when talking to someone who doesn’t follow me, especially when I’m private.

7. Swiping to get back to your timeline. Yes, just hitting the ‘connect or ‘home ‘ button does that. But this is what I got used to. I don’t like change. Why fix something I it’s not broken? Also, sometimes I’ll look like a twat trying to get the swipe working, kind of like trying to use the swipe on a Mac touchpad when you’re actually using a mouse. And windows.

8. Not saying which account you are one. Where there is now the twitter bird at the top used to be which account you were tweeting from. It’s a bit frustrating trying to determine which account I left the app on instead of just seeing it at the top.

So does anyone know of an app which is like the old version, free, and allows for multiple accounts?

I have always been anti-apple. Always Windows and usually the top of whatever I needed (Dad always knew which.)

That was until last year. I started to use Apple computers, albeit with Windows and they were so nice. I still don’t like the OS, but I can no longer deny the beauty of an apple computer.

That feeling has grown. I had never owned an Apple iPod until last year either. Having had many problems with other mp3 players I decided to go with what was thought of as the best brand.

Yeah… it lasted a good 12 months and then completely crapped itself.

However, I was still convinced to buy another. They do make one 0f the best mp3 players, even if they may not last that long.

As soon as I saw the new touch nano, I fell in love with it. I had to have one. So I did. This time investing in an extended warranty. So if it is to shit itself like my last one, I get a full replacement, basically no questions asked.

Now that is awesome.

So the new touch nano is so tiny. Barely bigger than a postage stamp, seriously. Whenever I stick it in my bag, I can never find it. I have taken to clipping it to my shirt now, because it is basically a massive clip. No more need for those pesky arm bands when you want to get out and do a bit of exercise with music. Whoever thought of doing that deserves a gold star. Or an apple… #seewhatIdidthere

The touch screen is exactly like an iPod touch or iPhone, so smooth and easy. But is it just the basics of an iPod. Strictly music, with the bells and whistles that now come with an mp3 player – radio, pedometer, clock…

The albums, songs, artists etc are now icons on the screen and during play, pause, repeat and shuffle are just merely a touch away. Sliding to the right takes you back, very handy.

There are only three buttons. The main button, which turns the pod on and off and the up and down volume buttons.

Another handy trick is when placing two fingers in opposite corners you can rotate the screen to whichever way you want/need to look at it.

You probably do need to see it to understand how awesome it is, but I would recommend it if you are in the market for a new mp3 player. Once again, apple has redesigned the mp3 market. Or, at least in my opinion they have.

Having just praised apple on their mp3 players, I will do it again with their phones.

My last phone was a Panasonic VS2. I had that puppy for four and a half years. It served me well.

Then it died.

It didn’t take much for me to decide on what phone I would get. I hadn’t liked any other phone that had come onto the market since I bought my trusty old Panasonic, but playing with Dad’s iPhone, I could see the benefits in having one for work purposes (I am now a journalist with an iPhone. Keeping that stereotype alive then, aren’t I?)

I was just going to get a 3GS, but then, when I finally had saved up enough money, the iPhone 4 was released. So I decided to just go for broke and get one. Despite some of the bad press it has had.

I have had no problems with it. It is just fantastic and a much needed upgrade from my previous phone. I honestly don’t know what I would do now if I did not have it.

Yes, it is now an extension of myself, I barely go anywhere without it. There have been jokes about me getting too attached to it. I know where to draw the line though, I hope.

I guess you could say I am now officially an “Apple fan girl”. Except I will not wait in a ridiculous line to get my hands on their newest product. I’d rather be patient and give it a couple weeks. It would just be a waste of my time otherwise. I got livin’ to do!

And if someone were to throw an iPhone 4 off a bridge. I would not jump off as well to save it. I might be an apple fan now, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.