I'm In Love

It has been noted in the past that I am somewhat of a geek when it comes to technology. Up until now, there was a lone champion for my technological affections - my Raymarine E series multi-function radar/chart plotter. This unit is the combination of several key pieces of navigation equipment - GPS, Chartplotter, Radar, electronic gyro compass, weather station, engine room video, DSC emergency beacon, and the list goes on. All of this is fine and good, but what really blows me away is the easy to use interface, and most importantly the ability to layer this information. I can be looking at the chartplotter - basically similar to a paper chart, and overlay aerial photographs, radar image, Doppler weather radar from a shore based system, or show a video image of the engine room (to confirm that we are indeed still afloat). The radar has a function to track targets on the scope and determine relative bearing, relative speed and collision avoidance. Think Top Gun with the radar image of all those fighters being tracked, only it is on my family cruising boat. Pretty darn handy when cruising through Block Island Sound in a dense July fog (Honey, can you see the bow of the boat?) Very, VERY cool technology. Raymarine E Series website. In fact, I love this technology so much I bought 2 of them - you have to have redundancy, right?

But now, I must confess to a new love. Not one that replaces my Raymarine, but joins it at the top of the list - my wonderful new iPhone. This little compact wonder has more functions than can be listed, but the primary functions for me are cell phone, Safari web browser, Imap email... and the ability to read PDF files (Ebooks!!). The fact that it is also a full blown iPod for audio, video and the like are an added bonus.

What really shocks me is the user interface. Having used several mobile phones such as the Motorola Razr, several Nokias before that, along with Windows pc's, tablet PC's, and Mac desktops, I can't believe how beautiful and functional the iPhone is. I am sure everyone has seen the commercials, but it is hard to appreciate it until it is in your hand and anticipating what you are trying to do. The scrolling of pages - contacts, emails, web pages- is very dynamic and tactile. The screen is crisp and easy to read, and pinching to zoom in or out is so natural on the screen that you don't have to think about it. I never believed that a 3 1/2 inch screen would be all that functional to browse websites but I was wrong - it's wonderful. And I don't mean it can browse mobile phone websites, but the usual websites I am used to on my pc (sans Flash player). The iMap email allows me to clear my inbox, so it is not full when I return home. I have tied this into Google Apps, which I will blog about another day. And get this - the AT&T data subsription costs $20 per month for unlimited data/internet.

The PDF reader built into Safari on the iPhone works beautifully, so my next to do will be dig into some ebooks. There are already some iPhone hacks out there to read text/html ebooks, so it will be interesting to see how this accelerates, especially as iTunes comes online with true ebooks. Tim O'Reilly wrote a blog post on iPhone as an non-dedicated ebook reader: O'Reilly on iPhone as a reader.

There is some trepidation in the industry that Apple may not sell 10 MILLION of these in 2008 as hoped, but my SINGLE iPhone has found a welcome home.

But here is the dilemma: since my iPhone can access Maps, live weather radar, aerial photographs and weather forecasts through the Safari web browser- and I can call the Coast Guard for help, will my Raymarine may get jealous?