The most obvious use for them is near the Buy button on Amazon, is the “Save to Wishlist” button; this is great if you are not quite ready to buy something, but want to save it somewhere conveniently for later. You can then access that wishlist next time you hit Amazon, or even from your phone via one of their apps. Ok, nothing revolutionary here, but still very handy, especially when you start considering Amazon Prime (I’ll get into that later).

Another great feature of Wishlists – privacy options. Last year I began using a private wishlist for my Christmas shopping – and dumped gift ideas there until I could figure out my shopping plan. I have started one for this year as well.. I just haven’t quite started the shopping part of it. Of course, public is the other side of this coin.  For instance.. if you wanted to make shopping easier for other people at the holidays, you could just dump all the things you want on a wishlist – kind of like being a kid again.

“But what if the thing I want is not on Amazon?” you might ask. No problem – Amazon now has an extension for Chrome, which adds a little button into the browser. If you are on any site, looking at any product, you can click the button, and add that item to your wishlist. I don’t care if its a fridge at HomeDepot.com or a coat at Backcountry.com – you can add them. And I should mention, you can add these things to your private lists too – for instance your “Xmas 2011 shopping”  list. Nice.

What was that thing about Prime? Oh, how I love Amazon Prime. Pay one $80 annual fee, get free 2-day shipping on almost anything you want, and just $3.99 for overnight. And that’s just the tip of an ever-enlarging iceberg. You also get access to Amazon Instant Streaming - thousands of movies and TV shows, free. For instance, Kim and I just streamed Horrible Bosses through our TV (in HD). FIOS wanted $7 for the rental, and Amazon was charging $3.. but it ended up being free, courtesy of Prime. Love it.

As you can imagine, the shipping deal suddenly has you buying many, many things from Amazon. You’ll kill a few less cardboard trees if you use the Wishlist and pile things up. If you feel like being responsible, at least. I keep forgetting to buy napkins at the grocery store, and joked last night that I am going to have to end up “Priming” them. And.. sadly I probably will.

At some other time, I’ll go into the beauty of Amazon’s mobile shopping apps. Combine an app with wishlists and Prime, and you are an online shopping maniac pro.

Other news.. the batter is suddenly better. It lasted a full day at work and only lost about 20% of its life – unlike the whole of last week where it drained about 60% during the workday – without any use. I don’t know how/why this change is happening, as I havent changed my use of it since last week. Maybe its not switching networks as often this week? AT&T is a bit fishy here at my desk. As I mentioned before, it even dropped one of the first calls I’ve received on it, while sitting at my desk.

OS 3.0 has the big promise of “push” – which basically means the phone can notify me of alerts from 3rd party applications – instead of just email/SMS. The big thing here is that IM clients like AIM or Gtalk might be able to “stay alive” now – instead of this whole “sign off when the phone goes to sleep” thing which is so vexing. Since I don’t use AIM outside of work – I don’t plan to install that app, despite it being free. The only way to really get Google Talk is via an app called BeeJive, which is raved about. unaminously. The new version is finally out, and supports “push” – meaning I might be able to have a full conversation on Google Talk again. The app is $10 – which pisses me off. IM is free and I already have this pricey data plan – its really irritating to have to pay more to get access. This phone could really be a money pit for unwise people.

The camera still sucks. I tried to take a picture this morning as my car hit 55,555 miles.. I was 0 for 6. No flash makes it impossible for the camera to take a “fast” picture – so it tries to keep its shutter open longer for more light. Well, that causes blurry photos – especially in the car. Annoying. This camera has annoyed me on many occasions, though its nice that it finally has something of a “quick launch”.

Another test of the iPhone’s “superiority” came up this morning – an internet sensation – the legendary Woot Off. Woot.com holds these now and then, essentially a massive barrage of one-deal-after-another – and you never know what’s next. The goal is to get the fabled “Bag of Crap” – which, for a couple bucks, could land you a big screen TV, or quite literally a bag of useless crap. Its always a fun gamble though. Anyway, the iPhone has some “deal trackers” – that could alert me of a new item. Its something I always wanted to see on the Blackberry.. but does not exist. So – does it work?

In a word – no. Again, no background apps allowed, so the “tracker” shuts down when the phone does. No alerts while the phone is sleeping – and like so many other things, you have to re-load it once you wake up the phone. The more promising of the couple apps actually crashes everytime I wake up the phone and reload it. Lovely. If I did happen to see something I wanted, the “purchase” experience would likely be pretty decent via the Safari browser.. but the chances of seeing something are pretty slim, due to this stupid “disconnect” situation that the phone surrounds itself in.

Install was a breeze – Apple has that aspect very well covered. I plugged the phone into my PC, Itunes loaded and did its thing. Blackberry OS installs are nowhere near this easy.

Improvements for me, a Blackberry user.. you can now set the “home button” to perform one of a limited number of canned actions on double click – luckily, Camera is one of these actions. Thats really nice. Still tough, though. I find the camera VERY shakey – maybe due to the weight of the phone? No real noticeable improvements to the camera with 3.0, which is a shame.

Push has some potential to resolve some of my biggest gripes – that being the “disconnect”. Ages old Blackberries have the ability to let you know if you have IM messages and other notifications. Iphone, “to save battery”, is severely crippled in this aspect. When it goes to sleep, the only way to get notified of a message is via Push or a native app. Since there is no native IM app..  things like Gtalk cannot stay connected while the phone is sleeping. To send an IM, you have to wake up the device, log back into IM, and then go. Beejive is supposed to be releasing a new client soon, with Push notifications for your IMs. That’s a good thing – but you have to PAY for it. Grr.

Typing – its a bit easier on the landscape keyboard, but that’s still only available in certain applications. And when it is – you have very little screen left to view the application itself. It is still futile to try typing without looking though.

Getting really tired of typing my Itunes password for every download or app upgrade.

Search – best part is that searches MP3s.. making songs easy to find. Not that I use it as my Ipod very much. I do like the Ipod interface though – the scrolling beats the crap out of the scroll wheel.

I’ll say this again.. the technology in the device is fantastic. Its really a shame to see just how backwards RIM’s devices are – RIM is really relying on their basic functionality to get users, but I can see why so many people are buying iPhones too. The iPhone can, and does, SO much more than the Blackberry.. however, as a toy, as an internet device.. but not so much as a mobile communication device. This is the corner that RIM seems to think is their bread and butter.. but really – if Apple were to release something that made messaging more convenient – it would litteraly destroy RIM as things stand right now.

New BB’s and new BB software CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH. Fortunately for RIM, Apple is very content with what they have going – but for the regular consumer – I don’t see a BB competing with the $99 iPhone. For the power users / crackberry / must.. have.. email.. person, I still don’t see the iPhone as  a replacement. Since I am still in that category.. I really like alot about the iPhone, but still have my issues. Right now I can see it as an awesome device to take on the road, or keep on the coffee table. Like I said before.. I’ll take it over a netbook anyday.

duck fat fries duck fat fries duck fat fries duck fat fries duck fat fries

mmmm