Get your epithets ready: I’m a fan-boy, I’ve “drunk the Kool-Aid,” I’m a sellout. Lob whatever insult you wish, but I’ll stick to my guns: The Apple iPhone might be the only thing a world traveler needs to pack to stay in touch from the world’s most remote corners.
How remote? How about the Chobe River in Botswana? You can get there from here, but it’ll take a very long flight from Washington Dulles International Airport, with stops in either London or Dakar, Senegal, to get to Johannesburg. From there, it’s a 90-minute flight to Livingstone, Zambia, and then another 90 minutes or so to get to (and cross) the Kazungula Ferry point on the border between Zambia and Botswana.
On the Chobe, I was as connected to the world’s cellular data network as I would be in downtown Silver Spring. That’s partly a function of Botswana’s wireless network, but also testimony to the 3G data power of the iPhone 3GS. It’s an amazing tool for sucking down data.
Then again, just about any 3G-data-capable cellular suffices for the e-mail thing. What pushes the iPhone 3GS over the top, in my view, is its Swiss-Army-knife-like versatility. It’s not just a phone. It’s a 3.2 megapixel camera. No, it didn’t do the job that my Nikon D40x did when we were on camera safari. But in a pinch, or in spots where toting a big digital single-lens reflex camera wasn’t practical, the iPhone’s camera - which also offers video recording on the 3GS model - was more than adequate.
So far, I’ve got my e-mail, and a camera in a pinch. What else? Oh, yes, the Internet, especially for browsing a link that comes in an e-mail. Tap into Wi-Fi at a local hotel, and the browsing experience is rather good. Other cell phones have browsing options, but the Apple implementation of the Safari Web browser works very well - even when literally on safari!
As I’ve written here before, it’s the other features of the iPhone 3GS that push it into the stratosphere of hand-held devices. There’s the whole range of iPod functions: music and video player, podcast player and so forth. These can come in very handy on long flights, to be sure. Having the iPhone version of Amazon’s Kindle book-reader software was another plus, since it gave me a minilibrary of books to read at night, if I so desired.
The interconnection of applications on the iPhone is still another plus: Get an e-mail with a phone number, click on the link and, presto, you’re making the call. Turn on the international assist feature and calling home is supereasy - the iPhone software figures out the needed dialing codes and steps.
I didn’t need to worry about an alarm clock while traveling. The iPhone’s Clock program, coupled with some of the wilder ringtones on my device, got me up (usually) very quickly. The clock program has a world time feature, so with just a couple of taps on the screen, I always knew what time it was back home.
Battery life for the iPhone 3GS is a bit variable: Battery life will take a hit with high-demand tasks such as downloading a bunch of e-mails. I could easily recharge via a USB hookup to my computer, so little time was lost. If I was traveling without a computer, there’s a pocket-size charger that connects to the USB cable, and there are several battery-backup power options on the market for use in a pinch: British Airways even sold one onboard my flights via its duty-free catalog.
Even though I toted not one, but two, portable computers with me, by the end of my trip, I truly believed I could exist happily with just the iPhone 3GS. I would have been even happier if I had had a compatible external keyboard with me, but that’s a subject for another day.
In the meantime, I have to agree with the editors of the British edition of Stuff magazine, which I picked up to read on the flight home: The iPhone 3GS “is not just a phone, it’s a computer.” A computer that fits in your shirt pocket and gets 3G e-mail on the Chobe River.
• E-mail mkellner@ washingtontimes.com.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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