iPhone headphone fix

The most annoying thing about the first generation iPhone that I have is the headphone jack. It's recessed, which most headphones can't be plugged into the iPhone. The Apple earbuds, of course, fit. The problem with the earbuds is that they don't fit in my ear so they're not very useful to me.

My Etymotic ER-6i's, however, fit and sound way better than Apple's but they are among the many headphones that don't fit in the iPhone. This week when my Etymotics developed a short in the cord, I decided to try transplanting the earpieces onto the Apple wire. It worked!

Now I have some comfortable headphones that I can use with my iPhone, plus it also works as a hands-free headset and remote control for the iPod functions on the phone. Sweet.

Traveling without a laptop

As good technology addicted people, Christine and I rarely go on a trip without bringing at least one notebook computer. (Frequently we'll each bring one.) On our weekend trip to Colorado Springs, our notebook obsession was replaced by my iPhone. With my iPhone, we could browse the web, check email, and even use Google Maps to get directions or find a Starbucks at 6AM.

Yeah, I'm just justifying my iPhone purchase. :) I will also justify it next week when I can post photos and blogs from my phone when I'm in New Mexico.

iPhone

I've been needing a new phone ever since I ran my Motorola SLVR through the wash last year. I finally caved last week and preemptively spent Bush's economic stimulus check on an Apple iPhone. If nothing else, it will drastically improve my texting ability. I think that makes me one of the cool kids now.

It's a pretty cool device. I don't like that I'm now paying more for my cell service (since I have to get a data plan), but I must say it's pretty nice to hop on the web with my phone to look something up on the fly. The web browser is decent, and the touch screen has some nice features (like zooming in and out of web pages).

There are certain things Apple does very well. Interface design is one. Packaging is another. Documentation, not so much. There's plenty of stuff online so it's not that big a deal, and I guess it saves some trees.

The iPhone isn't without it's flaws. It is suprisingly not a good iPod. Yeah it plays music and all, but the interface isn't as nice as an actual iPod and I miss being able to surf through tracks without looking at the device. Since the iPhone has a touch screen, there is no click wheel and no tactile feedback. Without the wheel, it's also much more difficult to fast forward through a long (2+ hour) track without jumping all over the place in time.

My biggest pet peeve at this point is the headphone jack. In typical Apple form-over-function fashion, they recessed the headphone jack to make for a cleaner look. Sounds good in theory, but now none of my headphones will actually fit into the recessed port. I wish those damn white ear buds fit my ears, so I could just use them and be done with it. My second (minor) pet peave is that the line-out adapter I built doesn't work with the iPhone. I think I can make some modifications to make it work, but I need to do some experimentation.