So my mobile number was transferred on Friday afternoon.  I had to turn the iPhone on and off to get the number working which wasn’t totally obvious, but all is fine now.

Applications downloaded so far include Social Media applications – HootSuite (I’m using the Lite version at the moment), LinkedIn and facebook.

I’ve downloaded Skype so, since my business line is on Skype, I will be able to get my business calls wherever I am.

I’ve also downloaded FStream and set it up so that I can listen to BBC 5 Live radio wherever I am.  I was amazed to discover that BBC don’t have a radio application for the iPhone.  Using FStream is the recommended alternative and works fine, though is a bit fiddly to set up.

So am I still impressed?  My only real complaint would be the 3G service (or rather lack of) in this area.  I was hoping to be able to catch up with my Social Media when out walking the dog over the local fields, but the 3G service or even ‘Edge’ service is a bit flaky round here.  Having said that, it will still be useful when waiting for the children at their various clubs round the county.

I do like the way that the apps give a snapshot view of site.  For example, the LinkedIn app allows me to nominate contacts as ‘favourites’ so that I can just see the updates from my favourites.  Status updates are displayed separately from profile updates.  This means that I can quickly browser the updates to see what my contacts are doing.  I can comment on the updates or just get an overview of what my contacts are doing.

The safari internet browser works well – I will build up a set of favourites over time.  Zooming in and out on the pages is easer and the screen makes the text very easy to use.

I’m very impressed with the keyboard on the iPhone.  I find it very easy to type, though I would say that my husband who has thick fingers does find it more difficult.  I would recommend that you try one out before buying if you have any doubt.

So all is still good with the iPhone4 – just a case of building on those applications now.

I’ve been out today and treated myself to an iphone4.  I thought I would like it – but I’m actually really impressed!

Why an iphone4 and why now? 

Since the beginning of the year, I thought I should get a ‘smart phone’ to improve the way that I use Social Media as well as keeping in better touch with people when I am out and about training.  Once I heard that the iphone 4 would be released in July, it didn’t seem worth getting an old version (though I’m aware the iphone4 will probably be out of date next year).  Ever since July, I have been researching which carrier to go with – and to be honest waiting for stock.  I also decided not to get it before going away to Portugal as I didn’t want to pay European roaming charges and the idea of the holiday was to get away from the PC! 

So on the first working day back, I went over to my local Car Phone Warehouse in Wantage and spoke to George.  I can’t praise him highly enough!  I like to go into these stores and ‘play dumb’ whilst having a fair bit of knowledge already just to see how much the sales agents really know.  Well George was able to offer all the options, answer all my questions and perhaps more importantly did not try to sell me anything extra.  I had to ask for the phone covers to protect the screen.  By the way, you have to get the bumpers from the  iPhone 4 Case Programme app from the App Store.

We decided to go with Vodafone.  The choice was O2 or Vodafone for this area – both were equally good. I decided to go with Vodafone as the process of swapping my mobile number from my old phone would be slightly quicker.  Oh yes, and George put that process in place too.  Apparently it will take a few days – so the jury is out – but much easier than trying to do it myself.  I have gone for a 24th month contract for 600 mins.  Did think about a 18mth contract but you only get 300 mins for the same price – it’s a toss up.

So – I arrived home with my new iphone in my hot, sweaty hand!  The bit that has taken the longest is upgrading my itunes on my desktop.  Probably more to do with me trying to do other things at the same time than a problem with itunes to be fair.  Once this was upgraded, I plugged in the iphone and it took me through the registration process and has synced my outlook contacts automatically.  So now all my outlook contacts and accounts are on my iphone – pretty cool. 

Since the number isn’t working yet, I don’t have any internet access so I’ve connected to my wireless router.  The entry of a couple of passwords has got my email working.  It even has automatically routed through my RocketSeed account to get the headers and footers put on.  I have to admit that I thought I would have to change more settings to get that working. 

So now its onwards and upwards, I’ve lost the phone temporarily to my son who wants to download games - but I will be searching for useful apps and will let you know how I get on.  Do you have any suggestions for apps that I should check out?