MY FAVOURITE LESSON
It’s no secret that I like gadgets – and up until now it’ always been a BlackBerry device. But following on from the various Macs I have when Apple released the iPhone 3G here in Italy I jumped at the chance of getting one and thought I’d be a paradise, I wasn’t, I missed the BlackBerry that I had become accustomed to, the battery life that lasted me all day, the multitasking and the speed of the e-mail and messaging services not to mention the reliability. I left my iPhone on my desk to collect dust for such a long time, but would occasionally use it as a calculator lol. It wasn’t until my presence on Twitter and forever hearing and noticing that most of my colleagues supported an iPhone – after a while I found I was quite curious to understand why they raved so much about the iPhone, I wondered if there was perhaps something I was missing so I dusted down my iPhone and gave a it a second try. The first thing I did notice after a long time of not using it was the vast amount of apps, this is very much the down side with the BlackBerry some of the popular apps that the iPhone has aren’t available on the BlackBerry or aren’t as good as and sometimes the BlackBerry folks miss out completely. This was really the only thing that hit me initially – I tried to use the same programmes I have running on the BB, wifi and 3G , push notifications you name it everything that I use on the BB, guess what??? The iPhone’s battery was flat by lunchtime whereas the BlackBerry would get me through the day – how ever would I survive on the iPhone? I actually bought a battery booster which gives you 3 extra full charges, not cheap and seeing as Apple doesn’t give away iPhones it really is a let down.
That said after the initial Keynote at the beginning of the year with mention of the new iPhone os and then with the recent one earlier this month announcing the latest iPhone4, excites me and that much to get another one, what you say after moaning about the other ha ha. The things I complained about multitasking and battery life will be a leap forward and many other added new features one of which is FaceTime. If I abandon my BlackBerry completely then it will mean that Apple have put their finger on the button if not I will continue to use both devices as I do now, some things a BlackBerry does better and viceversa.
A growing number of teachers now use smart phones whether BlackBerry, iPhone or something else. Personally I find for social networking I couldn’t live without my gadgets, I can be on the go and be updating my Twitter account answering tweets, messages and emails, chatting on Skype and/or booking lessons for students – I would never have the freedom and extra time if I had to do this stuck sitting in front of a computer.
Do you use a smart phone? Are you passionate about the BlackBerry? Are you tempted by the iPhone4? Have you already pre-ordered it? I know a lot of my colleagues who do use smart phones but there are many of you who I don’t know. Leave a comment with your preferences of what and why you use them or if you hope to get one in the near future – finally, how can education benefit from this forever growing technology?
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