Got my first smart phone...

[The Chief]

My daughter, her husband and their two teens are are all on the cell phone plan with me (cheaper that way) but our phones were getting kinda raggedy and the contract was up, so we went shopping Saturday afternoon.

Turns out Verizon was giving away the iPhone 4 with a 2 year contract.  So, we got one for me and one for each of the teens.  Mom and dad wanted the iPhone 5, but it was out of stock, so they will be shipped to them next week.

Anyway, this is the very first Apple product I have ever owned.  First quick impression?  Very solid but also very heavy for a phone.  Has a built in GPS, camera, wi-fi and Bluetooth (of course - they all have that).  The interface seems to work very well.

Much easier to navigate than the old early Android phone I had.  But I know Android can be much better than that phone was, as I have the latest Android (Jelly Bean) on my Nook Tablet, and it works like a charm.

We got a 6 gb shared data plan, and intend to beat the teens senseless if they run over the limit.  They mostly text, anyway, and that's unlimited.

Looks like I'll need an Apple Account (no problem, it's free) and iTunes to manage it.  Itunes may be a problem, as there appears to be no Linux version.     There may be a Linux equivalent, haven't searched yet.
Any suggestions?

[turk101]

Not much on the Linux front.....I have a son and soon to be daughter in law that have the new I phones....I have to admit that they are cool....they asked me about using it on their linux install...no luck yet....good luck...

[joechimp]

Nice deal Chief. Free is always good.

However 6GB for 5 people is going to be interesting. I would be interested to see how that works out.

Good luck and you did good. 

[OldGuy]

For a friend we added vbox and WinXP so he could use his iTunes acct.  Wasn't able to find anyother way to do it.  Lucky he had his install disks and sticker for XP.

[joechimp]

For a friend we added vbox and WinXP so he could use his iTunes acct.  Wasn't able to find anyother way to do it.  Lucky he had his install disks and sticker for XP.

Not quite sure what your post means in the context of this thread. 

[T6]

is it a 4 or 4s?

one tool that i really like is to install is this one

https://itunes.apple.com/app/linterna-led-hd/id384134949?mt=8

it exist for android devices too

in the iphone is easy to touch the lens cover, so a case protecting that area is welcome, especially knowing that the camera on the iphone is one of the best and have a clean lens makes better pictures

the gps in it is a-gps, assisted as it almost any other phone, only few nokia and lg models have real gps, making them independent from cellphone towers to be accurate

about itunes, you need it to add or remove songs to it, you can download images from it without itunes, i think digikam can open the mtp protocol in it but never tested it

i would have itunes installed, for those situations where ios does weird things and you have to restore it or if it refuses to boot and becomes a brick or you have to enter into rescue mode

[OldGuy]

For a friend we added vbox and WinXP so he could use his iTunes acct.  Wasn't able to find anyother way to do it.  Lucky he had his install disks and sticker for XP.

Not quite sure what your post means in the context of this thread. 

The chief reference about using iTunes.  With PCLinuxOS the only way I found was to use virtual box and XP.

[joechimp]

For a friend we added vbox and WinXP so he could use his iTunes acct.  Wasn't able to find anyother way to do it.  Lucky he had his install disks and sticker for XP.

Not quite sure what your post means in the context of this thread. 

The chief reference about using iTunes.  With PCLinuxOS the only way I found was to use virtual box and XP.

Apparently I missed that.    Just thought it was about phones.  Sorry

[The Chief]

Nice deal Chief. Free is always good.

However 6GB for 5 people is going to be interesting. I would be interested to see how that works out.

Good luck and you did good. 

Using the Verizon Usage Calculator, and being generous with how much we would do, it only recommended the 2 gB plan, so we went big, just in case (only another $20).  None of us are into streaming video or music, which is where most of the bandwidth goes.

[The Chief]

is it a 4 or 4s?

Just a 4, but still seems to have plenty of bells and whistles.  I doubt there will ever be any music on mine, and maybe only a few photos (of the grand kids, to show off).

I found Dropbox and installed it, so I have all the important stuff on it now. 

Looking for a calendar solution as I did with my Nook.  Finally found one there, but can't seek to locate anything similar for iOS.   In explanation - I use Sunbird on my primary computer, and keep the calendar file in Dropbox.  This allows me to access the same calendar from any machine that has Sunbird or some other iCal compatible program (if I can point it at a local folder rather than a  remote server).

[joechimp]

Nice deal Chief. Free is always good.

However 6GB for 5 people is going to be interesting. I would be interested to see how that works out.

Good luck and you did good. 

Using the Verizon Usage Calculator, and being generous with how much we would do, it only recommended the 2 gB plan, so we went big, just in case (only another $20).  None of us are into streaming video or music, which is where most of the bandwidth goes.

Ah , that makes a big difference. I thought with two young ones involved it would be tough to keep it down. But you did say they have been warned. 

[T6]

"Just a 4, but still seems to have plenty of bells and whistles.  I doubt there will ever be any music on mine, and maybe only a few photos (of the grand kids, to show off)."

the main difference between 4 and 4s is the camera, in 4s is considerably better, also the cpu, dual core at 800 mhz vs the single core at 800mhz in the iphone 4, still plenty enough for most tasks

don't forget to buy a case for it and if you see it start to heat up no matter what you do, take it to service to get a new one(once it starts overheating it is probable it is not a software issue)

in the iphone 4 the home button(round button square in the middle) is a bit fragile, it tends to stuck or becomes very hard to press so as most users recommend, do not press it much because once it breaks the phone has to be replaced(while on warranty) because outside you can change it with a generic part but you have to disassemble the entire phone to get there

one advice i give to almost everyone having a cellhpne is not to remove the sim card, this is specially true with the microsim in the iphone, it damages rather quick, the sim tray is hard to insert and tends to damage the sim card, after 10 or 15 times you can have problems getting a connection to make calls

[The Chief]

For a friend we added vbox and WinXP so he could use his iTunes acct.  Wasn't able to find anyother way to do it.  Lucky he had his install disks and sticker for XP.

Not quite sure what your post means in the context of this thread. 

The chief reference about using iTunes.  With PCLinuxOS the only way I found was to use virtual box and XP.

Begins to look like I don't need iTunes for anything.  iOS 5 (and above) which I have (now updated to iOS 6), can update over the air right on the phone, no computer needed.  And, when I  plug it into PCLOS, it shows up as a storage device, so I can move whatever I want onto it.   And then there's Dropbox...  So forget iTunes...  Clementine will do fine...

[The Chief]

Ah , that makes a big difference. I thought with two young ones involved it would be tough to keep it down. But you did say they have been warned. 

They've been stuck with plain phones (not smart phones, no internet) for awhile now - should be second nature to them to stick to texting.

And Verizon says we can adjust the data limit up or down at any time, with the only effect being a change in the monthly charge.

[ka9yhd]

I picked up a Nokia N9 with MeeGo............. And 6 days to go for the launch of Jolla.

It will be interesting to see what Jolla does with MeeGo.

Jolla is all of the N9 developers that left Nokia and formed their own company.