iPhone 4 revolutionizes my life in a mere 5 days

i'm rather slow to adopt new technology -- i didn't get a cell phone until feb 2006, and up until last week, i still had a $20 cheap, camera-less GoPhone from bestbuy. i had never been able to share cell phone pictures, download ringtones, or anything like that.

i decided to get w/ the times, so 5 days ago i bought an iPhone 4 for $80 (cosmetic refurbished, but it looks perfectly fine).

i've already found it to be really useful:

1. FaceTime - i was able to video chat w/ one of my best friends who is currently in law school in indiana. he was in his campus' library and i was able to see it. likewise, i showed him around my boston apartment! (below is not my friend.)
2. Mobile Internet - while at costco, i was curious how good of a deal a certain product was. i knew how much i usually pay for a similar product, but was unsure of the # of servings it contains. using google, i found it within 1 page click, which allowed me to discover how good of a deal it was at costco.
3. Subway/Bus times - instead of driving my car, i take public transportation to/from work each day. it's almost 3 hours total. i only have to wait less than 10 minutes for any subway/bus. but, boston's vehicles now all have GPS, so thanks to an app, i can track them! today's temperature was 1 degree outside. so, saving me a few minutes of waiting outside is very useful!
4. Sleeping - there's an app that monitors your matress' vibrations to detect how soundly you are sleeping. it wakes you up when you are in your lightest sleep within a 30-minute window that you tell it ahead of time. wake up more restful! here's my 1st stats from night 1 of using it:
   
5. Gym - for the past 7 years, i've logged my workouts. during the past yr, i would handwrite my workouts, then would transcribe them online to my private blog during my peak times, this would require 15 extra minutes each day. i found a great app -- Gym Buddy -- which is perfect for logging weights very quickly. it literally takes me less than 4 seconds to log any exercise. the app records histories of everything you could want, and it even includes stopwatches! this saves me SOO much time.
   
6. PDFs - i have copied PDF slides of a textbook and of course letctures to the iPhone, which allows me to read them during my commute. realistically, i'll probably just stick to hardcopies on this one, but it's still very handy to have this as a backup for times that i don't have the hardcopies on me!
7. my todo-list on the go! - i use google tasks from multiple computers. it's good to always have access to it while at a computer. now, i can take it with me anywhere! because the list loads as a webpage, i can even load it before leaving my apartment, go offline while outside, and still view the pre-loaded page. of course, i can contribute to the list anytime i want, too. this is very helpful to me.
8. graphical search - you can take a picture of something that you are unsure about, and google will do an image search for you! this is incredibly useful, although i haven't used it yet.
9. barcode reading - you can scan barcodes of anything, and it'll search for that product. if it's food, you can view the nutritional info. if it's a product like shampoo, you can see others' prices and info. haven't used it yet. definitely will.
10. outings - there are a myriad of apps to use for going out, obviously. from yelp, FoodSpotting, Ubranspoon, google maps, google places (hotpot), etc. this will come in handy for when we want to be slightly more unprepared and whimsical.

after just having the iPhone for 5 days, i pretty much believe that it's the most powerful mainstream computer that exists. when i say powerful, i mean not so much its computational abilities, but its degree and variety of utility. sure, a modern laptop has a faster processor, but you can't take it everywhere so easily. moreover, it can't do everything an iphone can -- from its webcam (which as i said, can be used for things such as scanning barcodes to taking pics to live video streaming) to having built-in gps and calling abilities, the doors are obviously open for a somewhat unlimited range of utility -- hence the plethora of apps.

it's obviously a superset of an iPod too. i could ramble on for a while.

basically, i'm sold. i've set ground rules for my usage of it, for i refuse to let it interfere with my normal-day living. yet, i appreciate its power and ability to assist in my daily life, and i plan to use it well.