early birthday surprise

so i promised last week that i would share the latest addition to our technology family. let me preface this by sharing a little background information. i made the switch to a smart phone--a blackberry--a couple of years ago. once my contract was up, i switched networks to join justin on his plan and save some money. at that point, i got an android that was free with the new contract. it was just out on the market and had very few reviews, but we decided to go with it. a few months later, it was starting to act up and we went online to see if there were any suggestions. instead, we were met with tons of bad reviews and other frustrated owners who declared it a "lemon." justin has worked with it over the past few months, wiping it clean each time and loading on new software. and it would work for a while..and then start having bugs again. stalling out with applications, freezing up while i was trying to make a call, not letting me answer a call because it would freeze up, and just recently, letting me call others but they couldn't hear me (though i could hear them.) very nerve-wracking when i'm relying on that phone to coordinate davis's sitters or if i needed to make an emergency call. we called and talked to sprint, trying to find any possible way to get an upgrade or get out of  my contract cheaply...but no luck. we were stuck.

so here we are. my brother and sister-in-law upgraded to iPhones before the holidays, and i was immediately drawn to my brother's iPhone 4s for the camera. 8 mp, quick shutter, and an easy way to take, post and share photos with family. yes, we have our own cameras that we try to carry around with us--but it doesn't always happen and we certainly don't have the immediate option to upload photos straight to facebook or twitter. and honestly, my previous phone's camera took forever to capture a photo, which was hard with a toddler who is constantly on the move.

so my birthday is coming up and we had done our research about options for switching me over to a new network with an iPhone (4 or 4s, though justin knew my feelings about the camera on the 4s.) i had hoped we might be able to do it after my birthday, using some of the money i might get for my birthday to do it. between paying the early termination fee for the current phone, starting up the new contract and paying for the iPhone, it was going to be an expensive process and i had kinda accepted that it might not happen anytime soon.

and then, after davis's bedtime last wednesday night, justin picks up our small camera with video and starts filming....(umm...please don't pay attention to the state of our living room behind us. that was before our nightly "toy pick up.")


i love that he was so creative to do it this way, as it is not in our nature. we're the kind of couple that tells the other one, "hey honey, i'm buying this as my christmas present from you." not exactly exciting, but it works :) he had it all set up for me, with applications loaded, contacts synchronized, and ready to go. and to my complete relief...it just works. i can have tons of applications open and running, and it doesn't affect it at all. i am in LOVE with the instagram app and have used it over the weekend, capturing all the little moments that usually pass me by. you can keep up with my photos as they post to my twitter feed (over on the right hand of the blog) and i'm thinking about actually using twitter more often now, too.

i went running last night with it, getting to use a new c25k app that easily told me my mileage and how many minutes per mile i was doing using the GPS in the phone (12 and a half minutes a mile, in case you were wondering--not too shabby considering a lot of it was still walking.) no lags in the music, everything working together so seamlessly--plus i could even view my route on a map afterward. and don't even get me started about the apps that we've downloaded to keep davis entertained while we're waiting at a restaurant or he gets antsy while running errands.

so in short--the iPhone is exactly what i expected it to be. simple to use, features that fit easily into our technology-friendly lives, and a reliable phone that lets me make calls and be heard without any worries :)