Katelyn M. Thompson’s Blog

It’s official! Verizon has announced it will be selling the iPhone 4! I’ve been asked by a few people if I will be converting. I’m not sure yet. Ask me when I’m eligible for an upgrade in 7 months and I’m shopping for a new phone.

In the meantime, in between time, everyone has been comparing the two phones. Is an iPhone4 on Verizon the same as an iPhone4 on AT&T? Well, I’m not sure anyone can really answer that fully yet, until the phone has been tested in the wild, but I enjoyed Mashable’s take on comparing the two phones (see below). They’ve also documented some of the differences between the two networks.

via @Mashable

I am 18-24. I never had a smartphone. I spend most of my time on Twitter [Twidroyd]. I prefer Swype to a physical keyboard. I’ve spent $0 on Android apps. I have 90 apps (everything under the apps button). I’ve never made a purchase or payment on my phone. I play Solitare and Jewels.

Mobclix shows how I measure up:

via @KatieMartell

Great! You don’t have to advertise your mobile site to me on your website, just take me to it when I’m on my mobile phone!

While checking out the Staples Center website I came across this indicator on the top right of their site. Really?! Isn’t it kind of a given that you have a mobile site? And why do you need to indicate this to people on your main website? Shouldn’t your technology be good enough that you can notice that I’m on a mobile device and just bring me to your mobile site? It’s not like I’m going to visit your site from my computer.

Well, now my post could end here. A simple gripe about how people just don’t get mobile sites. But, I’m going to take it one step further, and expand upon the implementation of mobile site. I actually visited the mobile site from my computer, just to see what it was like. (Now, as a note, I kind of feel bad picking on the Staples Center but #1, the Lakers play there and #2, it just happens to be the one site that I’ve visited recently like this. I’m sure there are many, many others out there.)

Here is the header from www.StaplesCenter.com.

And now the landing page for mobile.StaplesCenter.com

Why is this a problem?

Since getting my Droid back in February, I’ve been using my PC less and less. (Note: I’ll be getting a Mac very soon and hopefully I’ll be using it more since it’ll be AWESOME!) Perhaps I’m expecting too much from mobile sites, but I expect to be able to do pretty much everything I can do on the “normal” site, just faster and easier and with less clutter. Actually, designing web sites optimized for mobile could actually be a good direction for designers to head. But I digress. Why should I have to suffer with reduced functionality and features just because I’m using a “phone”? It just doesn’t seem fair.

Now I could understand this approach 4 years ago when people were accessing the Internet from their Moto RAZRs with small screens and slow networks. But today’s phones are much more powerful than computers were just a few years ago.

One other thing about mobile sites that annoying me just as much as reduced functionality is the inability to zoom! Why must you fix the width to my phone? Sometimes I need to see the words a little bit bigger. WordPress Blogs (including my own) and Mashable are two sites that come to mind.

Do you have any sites that you use that are like this? Any other gripes you have about navigating the Web on your phones?

Remember back in the day when you used to watch Saved By the Bell? Or, maybe just this morning? I do. Who hasn’t reminisced about the brick of a “car phone” Zack used to have? The only people I know who don’t reminisce about it are the people who actually had one themselves! Now you can be one of those people, assuming you now have an iPhone!

It’s more than just a case! It charges and provides speakers for an iPhone or iPod. No details from RetroCells about pricing, but it comes in white or black.

Also, don’t be fooled by the Windows screen image, it’s apparently thrown in for humor. Obviously these guys are not hard core Appleboys.

via @theresa_mccabe

WARNING: This video contains very vulgar language!

I couldn’t help but share this video here, because it showcases the love that some people have with the iPhones. I may or may not be one of those people if I had enough money to continually purchase these and also afford the insane AT&T plan that goes with it. But, I’m happy with my Droid, and can’t wait until I get a phone that supports video chat. But alas, I must wait about a year and 3 months until I’m eligible for an upgrade.

via Kat

A great iPhone case available from Case-Mate. It’s not waterproof, it could be flammable, but its cheap and won’t scratch your iPhone while protecting it. Unfortunately, they’re out of stock. But for only $0.99 it could be yours!

via SwissMiss

For those of you who do not like the iPhone because it doesn’t have a “real” keyboard, I present to you the iTwinge from Mobile Mechatronics. For just $29.99 (+5.00 shipping & handling) this can be yours! (It isn’t available until November, but you can pre-order today!)

I, however, will continue to be jealous of people with iPhones and await the day that I will get my hands on one, with no iTwinge between us.

via Appletell

I used to hate depositing checks. Having to fill out that silly form and then bring it to the bank or put it in the envelop at the ATM. Then, they got rid of the envelops and I could just slide the check into the ATM and see the check on the screen. I no longer dreaded putting money into my bank account.

Then I saw this demonstration, the ability to deposit money into your account with the iPhone. It’s sooo cool! I have no idea what happens behind the scenes to make it work, but I don’t really care. BoA, when are you going to get this???

I appoligize for the infomercial style. Skip to 1 minute in for the start of it and 1:40 for the start of the deposit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAjn-REhBSI]

via SwissMiss

Oh no, you’ve just left for a long weekend and you forgot your cell-phone charger. Maybe your friend has the same phone as you? Nope. Maybe you can just leave your phone off for most of the weekend to converse battery power? Well, in the future [or just the EU], everyone will have the same chargers, microUSB. And good, because my GPS can be powered by that too!

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via Gadgetell