It took me quite a while to upgrade from my Treo 750 to an iPhone. Despite being a lifelong Mac enthusiast, I had the same concerns that I think many people share - battery life, lack of tactile keyboard, lack of video camera. But having finally took the plunge, it didn't take long to fall in love with this thing. And in the last week, I've been using three things that really blow me away from a technology angle:
1) Google Mobile App with voice recognition
Despite the promise of an all-hearing all-understanding computer as shown in Star Trek, I have never understood the real need for voice activation software. Until Google proved me wrong. All I need to do now is say "Indian restaurants near Bellevile New Jersey" and I have a list. My concern about the Apple keyboard is slowly diminishing as in many cases, I no longer need one. Best of all, I don't even have to push buttons. The act of lifting the phone to and from my ear triggers the onboard accelerometer that starts and stops the voice app. Just beautiful.
File this under "I'm not sure if I'll ever really need it, but wow, that's amazing". Snaptell has built in image recognition that allows you to take a quick photo of any book, CD or video game, and instantly get the best online prices to buy it. While I have yet to use the buy functionality, it's become a game to see if I can take a picture of a book it CAN'T recognize, and so far, I haven't been able to. No idea how it works, but Arthur C Clarke's famous comment about any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic is getting closer and closer
3) Google Maps with Street View
I've occasionally used street view on my desktop google maps, but I've never really seen the need. By the time I go off somewhere, I figure I'll find it. But standing on a street and being able to see the specific doorway you are supposed to be looking for - it takes things to a whole new level. But that's not why I got blown away. I happened to hit the "my location" button while here at home, and it brought up a picture of my own house - and right there on the sidewalk is my son on his Big Wheels bike and my wife sitting on the front steps (see above). Wow - is there some kind of club for people who find themselves on Google Maps
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Scara, nice crib. Glad you weren't ticked by the experience of being filmed though. It is a tad intrusive/trippy no? This guy wasn't as sanguine - http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/001238.html
With the snaptell thing, do you need to capture the bar code? Pretty impressive.
There are also some phones. like my sister's nokia that have a service that you put the phone next to a speaker with a song is playing and it tell you the tittle, artist etc.
Pretty strange and creepy the house photo thing.
The song identifier is available for the iPhone as a free ap called Shazam. Works pretty well but it is stumpable.
The light saber app is pretty cool