I’ve had my iPhone now for well over a month now and I still think it is a great mobile phone, an amazing all round device. There are hundreds of reasons why this device is so phenomenal, but sometimes it’s those tiny, insignificant features that just blow you over the edge. Here I am going to tell you about some of those little features I have discovered on my iPhone.

Back in the days when I actually sent a lot of text messages, it was easy to lose track of what was said earlier on. If the person took a long time to reply, it was easy to forget what you even said to them in the first place. And sometimes its easy to forget what you just read, and are currently replying to. The iPhone’s chat like, threaded text messaging is a simple feature that I would have loved on earlier phones a few years ago. Now I can read past sent messages, read the message I am replying to, even go back and read conversations from a few days ago, without having to exit anything. It is all right there in front of me.

All of the phones I have used in the past, you have a very limited contacts manager. You are limited by the number of contacts you can store, and the number of phone numbers and other details you can associate with a contact. Most of the newer mobile phones probably aren’t as restrictive as ones from a few years ago but the iPhone being my first “modern phone” I wouldn’t really know. Anyway, being virtually limitless to the number of contacts and the number of numbers associated with them is great. I myself can include all 3 of my mobile phone numbers along with all my other contact details. This makes a perfect contact book!

One day I went plugged in the headphones to listen to some music (the iPhone is a music player as well :D) but then I remembered that the last time I use the phone, I had the volume up full so I could hear through the external speaker. I quickly went to pause the music so I wouldn’t break my eardrums and then went to change the volume down. To my surprise, the volume was down. I thought this was weird and unplugged them and the volume bar change. I really love how the iPhone has two different volume meters for the headphones and the speaker. It may not seem like much, but it is greatly appreciated feature!

Coverflow. The best way of listening to music the way it was intended! I have always been an album person, choosing to listen to an album over a single song. Coverflow allows me to do this is a visually pleasing way, which resembled how you would find an album in your CD collection, except its automatically put in alphabetical order. Flicking through looking at all the album art makes choosing what to listen to more enjoyable, and easy.

Sometimes when I am feeling adventurous and just want to dive into my music collection on my iPhone, the improved way shuffle is handled, in comparison to the way it is handled on other devices (iPod Nano/Classic.) On those devices I would be required to either go through a bunch of menus, or play the first song and select shuffle mode afterwards. Being able to choose to shuffle in any of the lists, whether it is by album, artist, or even all song, just one tap of a button starts the playlist playing in a random order. So much more friendly!

And that is my little list of features that I have found in the iPhone that are useful and really make me that much more happier that I own this revolutionary device. I know some of these features aren’t necessarily iPhone specific (well not for long anyway :D) and some are on other phones or media players, but having them in my iPhone makes me a happy camper. It’s amazing how something so little and somewhat insignificant can make a fair bit of difference.

With the supposed announcement of the new iPods, I have decided to rant about those stupid earbud headphones that come with the devices. As you can tell from the word “stupid,” I dislike them.

First off, you see them everywhere, especially the iPod ones. Okay, I’m fine with that, as long as your music isn’t full blast at such a volume that I, and anyone else in the facinity, can hear your music. If you can’t hear your music, maybe you should get your ears tested and send away for a bloody hearing aid. The whole point of headphones of any kind is that you can hear you music and it doesn’t disturb anyone else. If you want the world to hear what you are listening to, get fucking speakers you stupid cunt!

I also hate seeing people that have one bud in and the other one hanging down. I feel like coming along with a pair of scissors and cutting the hanging one off, why shouldn’t I, it doesn’t look you you’re using it. Having it like that does not make you look cool, you actually look like a complete retard because you don’t know how to use them as intended. I myself cannot do that because all my music is stereo and doesn’t sound “complete” without both buds in my ears, but I suppose the kids these days still rip their music in monaural.

I also don’t get why people share buds too. You see teenagers sitting down beside one another, each with a bud in their ear. I don’t think this is very heigenic. I would say there are hundreds or germs on these buds and having someone elses ear germs in your ear is discusting. Hey but who cares right, my germs are your germs and vice versa. Why don’t people get a $20 cable that splits the jack so two people can put headphones into this device. Also it can be a bit annoying, especailly when two people take up the challenge of walking like this. This can be annoying for anyone else sharing the hallway because we have to conjoined people trying to take up the hallway, just so they can listen to the same songs. This is another time I feel like pulling the scissors out. Why don’t you get your own damn MP3 player?!

I also have a few personal problems with these headphones. One is the fact that they fall out of ones ears pretty easy. Another is the length of the iPod headphones and a lot of other branded headphones, the cords are just too short. Every so often I will go into the bathroom with the iPod in my pocket. Sometimes the headphones get ripped out of the jack, other times the headphones lift the iPod out of my pocket and throw it onto the floor half a metre away from me. This is really frustrating!

I don’t see why you don’t see more of the old style headphones. They are also a lot more comfortable to wear. They may be bigger but they are less annoying and generally sound better in my opinion. Also I would feel better paying for the bigger headphones because I would feel like I am getting more for what I am paying for. Those little earbuds seem like a huge rip off if you buy a brand name one. I would swap bud headphones for the big ones any day!