Since the iPhone is a little computer, I wanted to see if it could stand the podcamp test as a replacement for my powerbook going to and fro PodCamp Montreal.

Does anyone have directions to the hotel?

I really liked the GPS on the phone. It saved us. Though maybe it gave us the long route, we will never know, but it navigated us directly to the hotel. No one had thought of printing directions to the hotel! :)

We all piled into a Ford Flex and I know I assumed someone else would have printed out the directions. If not, we can always use the iPhone.  As long as the battery worked. The 3G network drains the battery too fast for usability but good thing I had my car charger with me. In my luggage in the trunk. One of my trip mates, Connie Crosby, let me use hers.

It was a little bit of a pain of having to constanly pinch the screen to zoom in and out but what can you do with a small screen? :) Despite that I was surprised that the GPS feature on the iPhone MOVED along with us as we drove through the streets of Montreal.

Excellent life saver on the road and off as we ventured our way to restos and cafes and such.

Uploading to Flickr

I use an app called FlickUp and although it’s ok, it doesn’t title your photos properly but you do have the option of editing via the flickr website. It just took too long for me to upload my measly 48 photos. Of course usability will slow down as the computer shrinks and the keyboard disappears.

Blogging

I didn’t bother blogging. At conferences, I’m too tired after networking, socializing, eating, partying, etc. Who’s got the patience to write a good blog post at 2 a.m. on an iPhone keyboard? That’s why I’m writing this now a day later.

Twitter

I’ve made many friends in the podcasting scene here in Canada and we’re all Twitter buddies. So much so that before, during and after the conference (all conferences, actually), a lot of them are live twittering and having conversations with each other during the sessions. It really added to the experience.

For instance, during a session about academia and social media, University professors not in attendance were chiming in through Twitter. And we, in the car, driving home, were still receiving the information without having to be in the room.

This PodCamp was a conversion experience for me as I was never a fan of people live twittering. In the car, my group was discussing what was being said as well as live tweeting for those on our Twitter lists who weren’t attending PodCamp Montreal.

Uploading photos via Twitter

The best part was using Twitteriffic and Twitterlator to take photos throughout our journey home and posting them on Twitter for our fellow attendees back in Montreal (and en route to other home towns).

Stick to the Edge network

So I’m satsifed with the performance and usability of the iPhone in particular with its GPS feature and Twitter apps. I also like the fact that I can take photos- I know, the camera isn’t the greatest but it saves me the trouble of carrying around another device. If you can stand it, use the Edge network to save on battery life. I can’t believe how much more battery time you get by simply using the Edge network or turning off the cellphone part altogether.

Quick web look up and portable portfolio

My iPhone came in handy a few times while I was networking and needed to check out my new friend’s site. As well as showing them my illustration work.

Apple, WTF?!

Mobile technology today rocks despite its shortcomings. I’m sure other mobile devices are better than the iPhone in certain areas (like video and the absence of an SD card slot). In fact, one of my trip mates needed to email a file on her MacBook during our road trip. If only there was a way to put that file from the Mac to the iPhone. Apple, WTF?!

Brent Morris, of the Closet Geek Show, came up with the solution: copy to usb stick, then to my laptop, then take sd card from my [Nokia] n800 to laptop, copy to sd, put in Jay’s palm, email from it. No one had a USB stick and I wonder if the iPhone can act as one. Does anyone know?