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Last IFA an iPhone Saved My Life
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 4:20 AM on September 8, 2008
That avalanche of TVs, fridges, iPod docks, and iPod dock fridges that some people like to call IFA 2008 but I call Satan's Hell on Earth, agonised to its end this week. About bloody time. To me, the star of this fair wasn't the Sony ZX1, the Samsung X360 or even Addy's bags, but one now-ancient gadget that saved my life not one, but two times at the show: my good old trusty iPhone.
It all started the first day, during the Sony press conference liveblog. Expecting Wi-Fi around the fair like last year, I opened my laptop and searched for networks to start posting the news as they were announced with text and images, like we usually do. Then it was the first time I realised this IFA was going to suck big time, starting right there: the T-Mobile Wi-Fi network, the one we usually connect to in the show, wasn't available at Sony's hall.
Fuck.
OK. No worries. There's another one, completely open, labelled Sony Event. "Great," I thought, "they are giving us Wi-Fi to work". I tried to connect. Nothing. There was no connection to the internet. Tried to connect again. Nada. Suddenly, the big screen in front of me lighted up:
Bloggers, you have Wi-Fi available. So feel free to blog the event live.
"No we don't, you son of Sir Howard!" Tried again and again and again. Restarted the computer. Some smelly frenchman next to me was getting amused by my desperation, giving me stupid advice about how to connect. I wanted to punch him. On the crotch. As the place was getting full and the event was about to start, I started to panic. I saw people trying to connect like me, also frustrated. It smelt pretty bad. And it wasn't the frenchman. I needed to start blogging in one minute. "OK, last try." No dice.
My only internet device was the iPhone, with its screen keyboard, the one that some people think is useless to actually type. The trick about the iPhone keyboard is that you don't have to try to be precise. Just try to hit the correct letters more or less, and let the prediction do all the work. However, even while I'm a good iPhone typer, doing updates over the slow GPRS, waiting for all our editing system to reload every time I saved, was going to be impossible.
Thankfully, Kit was in Lisbon awake and working. I fired up my AIM client and wrote to him "EMERGNCTT!" Shit. This spelled "d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r-!" Actually, it spelled "desastre!" because I had my spanish keyboard turned on. After I changed the keyboard to US English, I started to write at full speed on the iPhone, with Kit copying and pasting from his AIM screen to the post in Giz's editing system, saving instantly.
The whole process was only adding a couple of seconds of delay to the liveblog, so we were good. And the pictures? Straight from the iPhone camera and sent over email whenever I had a pause to take them. I would just start the camera, shoot, send via email, get immediately out, and keep liveblogging via AIM while Mail was uploading the photo. Even the pictures were looking great because I was right next to the well-lit stage. No need for fancy stabilisers. I just held my breath and that was it. We did the same with the Philips press conference and, at the end, everything worked out perfectly.
I know that many other smartphones would have been able to do the same, but this time it was my good old iPhone, with the broken screen, and Jones on the background. The same iPhone that I hated and blamed for taking the worst pictures at the best rock concert ever saved my life at IFA 2008. I guess there's always a yin to every yang. [All IFA 2008 Coverage]
This just in case you didn't get the headline reference:
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Bloomy
Posted September 8, 2008 10:56 AM
Maybe you should have used Palringo then you could have typed, taken snapshots, and even put in a little audio without having to switch between apps!
Bloomy
Posted September 8, 2008 12:47 PM
Maybe you should have used Palringo then you could have typed, taken snapshots, and even put in a little audio without having to switch between apps!
Unknown2U
Posted 4:38 AM 8/9/08
Another post from Jesus about the iPhone. Man, you really do love that thing. That's kewl though. It's good to have a passion.
Unknown2U
Mandatory_Field
Posted 4:35 AM 8/9/08
So who's going to comment on the "Addy's bags" line? Curves? Bueller? Anyone?....
Mandatory_Field
hatboysam
Posted 4:34 AM 8/9/08
A JAILBROKEN iPhone saved your life, not just any iPhone,
unless there was AIM for the iPhone last year and I missed it, I don't have one.
hatboysam
originalgermy
Posted 4:34 AM 8/9/08
I love the video! Classic.
originalgermy
MilktruckHeist
Posted 4:30 AM 8/9/08
Is that Rick Rubin playing bass?
MilktruckHeist
Vivara
Posted 4:58 AM 8/9/08
More like 'iPhone without unlock or volume buttons, to the rescue!'
Ed.
Vivara
DustyButt
Posted 4:53 AM 8/9/08
There are at least 10 other devices that have allowed tethering for years now.
If you used one of those you wouldn't have been in a jam to begin with.
The iPhone isn't all that.
DustyButt
Technogen
Posted 4:50 AM 8/9/08
I love this song btw, but yeah kinda nice that you could do that but wtf was up with their WiFi?
Technogen
Nathan Drake
Posted 4:47 AM 8/9/08
@hatboysam: Just FYI, there are AIM apps in the app store ;)
This link will take you to a free AIM app in iTunes.
[phobos.apple.com]
That's just one. There are a few more.
Nathan Drake
Student.Driver
Posted 4:43 AM 8/9/08
Or, just kick off Bluetooth PAN and use your laptop, er, oh dear...
Anybody think Apple will fix (or rather, complete) their BT implementation on the iPhone? That's really the main thing that bugs me and keeps me from even taking it seriously at this point.
Student.Driver
Jesus Diaz
Posted 5:18 AM 8/9/08
@originalgermy: Yeah, the whole post was really an excuse to put that song up (not really, but it feels like it). So frikkin' good. BTW,
SourceAnother trivia bit: Addy discovered it to me in the first mix tape (CD) she gave me.
Jesus Diaz
Jesus Diaz
Posted 5:13 AM 8/9/08
@The.Opethian: if you had clicked the link on the concert you would have seen that you are just being the same as the people who said the same things when I trashed the iPhone back then.
I guess some people will never learn.
Jesus Diaz
ALT
Posted 5:12 AM 8/9/08
@The.Opethian: Hold on now... There is a batman logo on the screen. The excuse is watertight as far as I am concerned.
ALT
The.Opethian
Posted 5:07 AM 8/9/08
I don't see the point of this post, but I guess Apple must be sending a lot of goodies to Jesus Diaz for him to post something like this, another Apple iPhone is teh Holy Grail. The solution stated here was something that any decent smartphone can do, without being shackled to iTunes and all. But it was the iPhone so let's blog about it.
The.Opethian
Matt
Posted 5:05 AM 8/9/08
@Nathan Drake:
"unless there was AIM for the iPhone last year and I missed it"
Now do try and concentrate just a bit. Anyway, it wasn't exactly a plain iPhone. It was a jail-broken iPhone with a 'Kit in Lisbon' backend.
Matt
Endeavour
Posted 5:01 AM 8/9/08
@DustyButt:
And record 640x480 video too.
Endeavour
Leonard Nimrod
Posted 5:00 AM 8/9/08
@DustyButt: But do the carriers allow tethering? That is the issue. You've been able to get tethering on the iPhone for about a year now.
Leonard Nimrod
ichi1
Posted 5:00 AM 8/9/08
Lol I would just fired up the Sony Eric p1i with 3g and connect to my powerbook , embarassment saved, stupid typing on a fake keyboard avoided.
ichi1
PlayerX
Posted 5:32 AM 8/9/08
I'm thinking of getting an iPhone in a coupla weeks, as my contract with my current mobile provider ends shortly.
Does anyone know if the iPhone can work as an iPod Touch once I'm done with it as a phone, or will it just be a nice, shiny brick?
PlayerX
Travis Hudson
Posted 5:22 AM 8/9/08
"Saved My Life"? Get a grip. It's a live blog, not a Bruce Willis movie.
I highly doubt Nick Denton would pull a 5th Element move and kill you from across the world for waiting 30 minutes to post the enthralling news from the Sony IFA presser.
This is one hell of a stretch to utilize that feature tag.
Travis Hudson
G-Ram
Posted 5:38 AM 8/9/08
@Jesus Diaz: I got the reference Jesus. Immediately.
I started singing the song in my head right away, and of course I was instantly transported back 5 years, to memories of cruising around through the streets of Vice City. Great song, Fever was one of my favorite stations.
G-Ram
generall
Posted 6:11 AM 8/9/08
Wow. All of this time explaining how an iPhone saved live blogging, when it actually made your situation worse without you even realizing it.
"I know that many other smartphones would have been able to do the same, but this time it was my good old iPhone..."
Yeah, and many other smartphones would be able to do BETTER too. If you had nearly any other smartphone, BlackBerry to mention one, you would have been able to tether your net connection and would have been blogging at ease. Unfortunately, because of your iPhone, you were rerstricted to using its interface, agreeably inferior to the laptop you carried.
Seems like the tone of the article should have been "The lack of Wi-Fi for my laptop, and only carrying my iPhone, made my laptop a dead brick for the remainder of the show. Yay. If only SOME other smartphone could have saved the day."
generall
shenanigans
Posted 6:09 AM 8/9/08
The star of the show WAS Addy's bags. Fun bags to be exact. And you know this yourself to Jesus.
shenanigans
Tirko™
Posted 6:08 AM 8/9/08
vice city?
brother I was dropping this 12" back in '93 in front 800 rolling rave-kids.
and it was very old then.
ah memories.
;)
Tirko™
Tirko™
Posted 6:06 AM 8/9/08
you gotta get up, you gotta get you gotta get down, zeus.
Not a problem that you couldn't fix.
You did it.... in the mix.
I have my frustrations with my iPhone. All too often. even more than old RAZR frustrations of 3 years ago...
But time and again... (for now).... the pros HEAVILY outweigh the cons.
wake.
up.
trouble. down. the. drain.
Tirko™
faunaman
Posted 6:36 AM 8/9/08
you should have kicked the frog, err frenchman, in the balls on my behalf. They are so fucking arrogant they make me throw up. Or maybe you should have set his car on fire (in case he was homesick....)
Gabachos, vuestras mejores criadas serían españolas pero nuestras mejores putas son francesas
faunaman
cowpop
Posted 6:35 AM 8/9/08
Man I'm glad I don't have to put up with that shit! I'd get annoyed with fidgeting with anything small during a ceremony lol.
cowpop
dieman
Posted 6:23 AM 8/9/08
My blackberry would have happily let me connect to my providers data network and continue on as if nothing happened. Why can't the iphone do this?
dieman
smokeonit
Posted 6:53 AM 8/9/08
including the geo-location via WPS, since GPS don;'t work inside;-) !!!
smokeonit
smokeonit
Posted 6:52 AM 8/9/08
@Endeavour:
with qik you could have done a live video feed from the event with the iphone 3G/2G via EDGE/3G or wifi in superb quality!
smokeonit
smokeonit
Posted 6:51 AM 8/9/08
why didn't you use the iphone as a modem for the macbook pro???
netshare and your ready to use it with 2G or 3G, depending on iphone, speeds...;-)
or if jailbroken there's free apps that do the same as netshare...
or did you fail to buy netshare when it was avail. @ the app store???
smokeonit
rcast1986
Posted 6:43 AM 8/9/08
Haha, would have loved to see your battery meter after that.
*shudders*
rcast1986
sonicwinder
Posted 7:31 AM 8/9/08
holy crap, I didn't know Jack Nicholson played the bass!
ps, I used my jailbroke iPhone as a modem for my laptop over 3G last weekend. It was great! Hell of a lot easier browsing and typing on a notebook. And it was actually faster than any other 3G phone I've ever used like this. I guess because the wifi transfer was faster than the USB transfer that the other phones used.
sonicwinder
danielsmi
Posted 7:30 AM 8/9/08
You should have used palringo IM app instead of AIM. It allows you to take pictures and audio messages and IM them to someone instead of having to exit AIM take a pic and then email it. Plus it works with Gtalk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, etc!
Palringo>*
danielsmi
krisve
Posted 7:26 AM 8/9/08
One thing people dont seem to remember is that IFA was in a different country than Jesus lives in, so he had to use GPRS to blog, tethering with GPRS would be horrible, and wouldnt really help much at all!
krisve
KarinDiscoGirl
Posted 8:08 AM 8/9/08
P.S. I also freaking LOVE the picture.
KarinDiscoGirl
KarinDiscoGirl
Posted 8:07 AM 8/9/08
Y'all are all being silly. Jesus just loves his little iPhone, that's all the post was about. He was happy that it was something he could use to make sure he did his job correctly; that sounds pretty good to me. Sir, I am glad you appreciate your gadget.
KarinDiscoGirl
Curves
Posted 8:28 AM 8/9/08
@Mandatory_Field: Its Sunday, cut me some slack..besides Shenanigans took care of it.
To those who say this didnt save the life of our brave blogger Jesus, please remember that he is Spanish and probably would have blown out an artery or had an embolism if he hadnt been able to connect. At the very least, it saved the Jesus from kicking le ass of the smelly French guy, though Jesus was in no danger if he had done that....I mean its a French guy.
Curves
Jackson the Narcisisst
Posted 8:42 AM 8/9/08
Really like throwing that 'bloody' into posts now, eh?
Picked up the vernacular that fast?
Jackson the Narcisisst
strider_mt2k
Posted 8:22 PM 8/9/08
When you choose style over substance you should accept that your life will NEED saving.
A lot.
Personally I'd use tech tools for a tech job, but I'm nutty that way.
strider_mt2k
ps61318
Posted 11:51 PM 8/9/08
@danielsmi: If they ever come out with Palringo for the Palm, I may be interested.
Wake when it's time.
ps61318
joeri
Posted 1:24 AM 9/9/08
Cant you use the iPhone as a modem to your computer?
( Are you sure you are a gizmo man? )
[www.google.com]
joeri
Rogbog4299
Posted 10:57 AM 8/9/08
IFA 2008 but I call Satan's Hell on Earth. I agree with that! What in the world was going on there anyway? The talk and the talk were on this Sony ZX1 but neither produced I like you, like my good old trusty iPhone.
Rogbog4299
crutkas
Posted 4:31 AM 8/9/08
Running Windows Mobile, you could have used Internet Connection Sharing and just tethered.
crutkas
KirstenCrispinus
Posted 4:52 AM 8/9/08
Bluetooth PAN... on the iPhone.... Hilarious!.... sounds like it's time to switch to WinMo, tether with 3G and you don't even know you're not on wi-fi.
KirstenCrispinus