Slow day at work, so here’s a couple thoughts on the goings-on of the day.

First up, Alonzo Mourning has officially retired.

Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear.

Raps fans have a hatred for Zo that I believe is only topped by their hatred for Vince Carter. To recap, Carter was traded to New Jersey for Zo - who was unhappy in New Jersey and wanted out - as well as the Williams Brothers and two draft picks. It also cost them highly touted Jerome Moiso (waived), who was just about to find his groove with the Raps!! Um, just kidding about the last part.

(What was the biggest shame was that Alvin Williams was too hurt to play and Jerome Williams had been traded a year earlier. I mean, all they had to do then was trade for one more Williams and they could have had a lineup of five Williamses on the floor, and that would have been the greatest moment in Raptors history. Alas.)

That trade looks pretty bad as it is but what made it worse (the worst trade in the NBA this decade, in fact) was that Mourning refused to play in Toronto. In fact I don’t know if he ever actually came to Toronto. He wanted to be traded, yes, just not here.

So, you’d think, if you were the Raptors, you’d confirm with him that he’d play before pulling the trigger, especially since he was the only player of value in the trade coming this way.

But, no, that didn’t happen. Actually, rumour has it, it did: Sir Rob Babcock did indeed ask - and Zo confirmed he wouldn’t play - but BABCOCK STILL MADE THE TRADE.

Now, you’d think at this point, the Raps would play hardball and force Mourning to report, and if he didn’t not pay him, as is their right under the collective bargaining agreement.

But, no. They let him sit out - in Miami - and never even tried to make him join the team. In fact as I recall he never even had to take a physical to prove he could play, and thus couldn’t even be fined for not playing.

Now, you’d think, OK, here’s a guy that won’t play for us, he wants to play somewhere else so he’ll accept a bargain buyout and we’ll go our separate ways.

But, no. The Raptors offered to buy him out FOR THE FULL VALUE OF THE CONTRACT. He never played a game for the Raps, still collected his ENTIRE paycheque from us, and then went on to help the Heat win a title.

So, you can understand why Raps fans don’t like the guy. There was no reason for him to act like such a prima-donna; especially mere months after saying he wanted to play with Jason Kidd in Jersey, he could have rehabbed his image by coming to TO, teaming with Jalen Rose and mentoring Chris Bosh and (ahem) Rafael Araujo. Instead he acted like a prick and never even showed up.

And if - as he claimed - it wasn’t about the money, but rather about going somewhere to win a title - he would have simply accepted a minimum buyout to be set free. But he took the full amount! It was nothing but highway robbery.

Still, as big of a jerk as he was to the city of Toronto… the blame really is on Babcock here. First of all, this was a terrible trade, even with Mourning; he could have done better. Second, Babcock enabled the situation. He didn’t force Mourning to report when he could have. He waived the physical. He paid the ridiculous buyout.

Why would he ever, in a million years, do this? I don’t know. I understand he was blinded by the fool’s gold of the draft picks and made the trade despite Zo’s refusal to play. But at the least, you don’t pay the guy FULL AMOUNT and allow him to go help another team! The purpose of a buyout from the team’s perspective is to save a little money. If you’re going to pay him the full amount anyway, you may as well keep him on your team so he can’t help someone else!

Anyway, the point of this tirade was to suggest that it be Babcock, not Mourning, that deserves the brunt of your hatred. Yep, Mourning was an ass for refusing to report. But Babcock was a much bigger ass for A) making the trade in the first place and B) not taking a harder stance with Zo.

Also, SI Grades the Raps

This afternoon also saw this rather harsh grade - and harsh reality - of the Raptors season from Steve Aschburner of SI.com:

Toronto Raptors: It’s not easy to earn a grade this harsh. You would need to underachieve dramatically, abruptly fire your recent Coach of the Year (Sam Mitchell), have a showy offseason move (trading for Jermaine O’Neal) blow up in your face, turn your lone superstar into a cranky finger-pointer who might want out, cope badly with a key injury (Jose Calderon), run off a string of losses and drown in trade rumors a month before the NBA deadline. Ladies and gentlemen, your … Toronto … Raptors! Grade: F

Good times. My grades from a week ago were a smudge higher, but really, I can’t disagree with him at all. Although, he also forgot to mention “trot out the worst collection of swingmen in the NBA every game,” as well as “bring in two guys who washed out of the NBA years ago (Adams and Solomon) as your only off-season free agent pickups.”

Oh, hey, and guess what the only other team to get an “F” was? That’s right, the Clippers. Remember when everyone thought we’d be Phoenix North? Turns out we’re Clippers North.

Yep… really good times.

Remember when Young MC rapped, “well you got no money and you got no car, then you got no woman, and there you are”?

Well we got no swingmen and we got no D, so we got no winning, and here we are.

Here we are.

Tags: Alonzo Mourning, Toronto Raptors

Allow me to be the 617th person to use that headline. I’m also far from the first person on the Internet to wonder about this, but… what’s the story with Jermaine O’Neal’s injury?? The guy has now missed six games, two full weeks, because of a “bruised knee.” What’s more disturbing is that it was his “good knee,” the right one.

What is most disturbing is that he hasn’t been seen since! He’s never been on the bench with the team. I don’t understand this. On the road I understand. Obviously there’s no point making the road trip if you’re not gonna play and flying can have an adverse effect on joints. I get that.

But why isn’t he with the team at the home games? Doug Smith and others maintain it’s because he’s in the locker room getting “treatment” on the knee because that’s when the trainers have the most free time. Now, I’m no doctor and I’ve obviously never been connected with a pro sports team. But this strikes me as pure BS.

First of all, it’s a bruised knee. What possible treatment could there be other than ice and/or heat, and some stretching? He’s not undergoing surgery every game, is he?

Second, how many members of the training staff could it possibly take to administer this treatment? Is he the bionic man, does he need a team of experts examining it and giving him a tune-up every day? You’re telling me that our crack staff are so busy the other 21 hours of the day that they can’t help him stretch?

Third, other injured players on other teams don’t make this excuse (not unless it’s a serious thing like a surgery). I’d never heard it before, except with the Raptors (I remember it happened last year with Bosh). Why do the Raptors consider this an acceptable practice, for team members to not be with the team?

Finally, even if it does take 10 guys and the only time these trainers are available is game-time… how long can it take? Can he not come on the bench after halftime? Not only that, but after six games, shouldn’t it just be a “rest” thing?

This defies explanation to me. Other players sit on the bench when they’re hurt. Jose tried to play the other night against Memphis; he even warmed up pre-game. He decided he couldn’t play, so he went back in, showered, and sat with the team after the first quarter.

Not only that, but shouldn’t the guy WANT to be with his teammates? Shouldn’t the team go out of the way to give him treatment another time so the team can stay together?

I’m done with the “he’s getting treatment” excuse. It’s one of these choices:

• The injury is worse than a simple bruise: This is the most likely one, and it’s some sort of strain or sprain that requires actual treatment. Which is fine, but why are they hiding it?
• The injury isn’t what’s described at all: In other words, it’s not a right knee bruise, and it’s actually a problem with the surgically repaired left knee, or perhaps even the ankle he injured earlier. Is it possible he’s in a walking boot and they’re hiding it? It seems unlikely, but more possible every day we don’t see him.
• There is no injury, and they’re aggressively trying to trade him and they’re holding him out because they don’t want him to aggravate anything. At first, I thought this must be the case, but the more time that goes on the more unlikely it is. If there was gonna be a trade it would have happened by now, no?
• O’Neal can’t be bothered to come to the gym, or, in the most unlikely scenario, JO simply quit on the team. And he’s either requested a trade or just won’t come back to the team. I don’t believe this is the case, JO strikes me as having too much pride to do this sort of stunt, and that would mean all his rhetoric about being a team and sticking together earlier this year as PR crap. And I don’t believe that Jermaine is like that.

I’m sure in the end it’ll amount to nothing and he’ll be back - rusty - and we’ll forget about it. But I for one find his absence very strange, and stranger every day he’s out. Why doesn’t the team just admit it, “the injury was a little worse than we thought and we’re letting him hang at home to rest.”

You know, I’m beginning to wonder if this entire Raptors medical staff doesn’t deserve some investigation. Let’s take a look at O’Neal, first of all. He came in relatively healthy, was just getting going when he suffered a nearly-horrendous fall against the Nets. It apparently wasn’t as bad as it looked since he walked off under his own power, but I think we can all agree - it was still bad.

Yet he played two days later. No one would have faulted him for sitting that one out, in fact most everyone was shocked he played. But apparently he got cleared, so he came out - and after limping around for a quarter favouring the knee, he sprained his ankle.

So the question is: Why was he allowed to play when any sane person could clearly see he needed a couple days off?

Next, Jose Calderon goes down with a hamstring injury a couple of days later. Hamstrings are funny; they hurt like a mofo when you first pull it, and after that it doesn’t feel bad at all - just a general tightness. But try running on it, and you feel it something fierce. It generally takes about 10-12 days to bounce back from, in my experience (both having pulled my hamstring a couple times and watching a lot of sports).

Yet Jose came back after about a week. Clearly he should have been kept out longer, because he was awful for about three full weeks!

And it was the same thing yesterday. It had been nine days. They said he was ready to go, but two minutes into the game anyone watching could see he wasn’t ready; he played about 20 and now he’s out tonight too.

Why is this continuing to happen? How is it possible O’Neal was allowed to come back one game after his knee nearly collapsed, but has now missed two weeks because of a bruise? Why did Jose’s hamstring take more than a month to heal the first time, and he was then allowed to come back too soon the next time?

And why we’re on the topic… why the hell did it take Jawai two months to be cleared to play??

Do we really have the worst medical staff in the league or does it just seem like it?

All I know is, two weeks is a long time to miss for a bruise.

Tags: Jermaine O'Neal, Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors

Quick correction to my last post about Vince Carter. I somehow neglected to include Game 6 of the 2007 Playoffs, which was, until the November 21st game, the best game between these two teams since the trade. Perhaps the end was too painful and I blocked it out. Carter had another average game, 6-19 for 21 points in the Nets’ one-point win.

Anyway, I’ve updated my spreadsheet and here are Carter’s stats against Toronto, including Game 6 and this past weekend’s games:

44.6% FG, 36% 3FG, 68.5% FT, 6.5 R, 4.5 A, 23.7 PTS in 23 total games. New Jersey with a 13-10 record.

And his total stats as a Net, through Monday’s game:
45% FG, 36.9% 3FG, 80.4% FT, 5.9 R, 4.7 A, 24.2 PTS. 317 games played.

So, again, virtually identical. I think I’ve made my point here, though I’m sure I’ll be forced to bring it up again when the Nets come to town in January… but Carter’s no different against the Raps than he is against anyone else.

Of course, in the one stat that really matters, he’s got 3 more wins against the Raps than we have against him - and I hope that we can get one more this year.

Tags: Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter

Since it’s Raptors-Nets tonight, that’s prompted the usual “Vince really likes to kick Raptor ass!” statements around the Web. The one that’s got me riled up right now is on Yahoo Sports. It features such gems as:

“There are few players who treat the Raptors as poorly as the one who led them further than they’ve ever gone,” and “Carter has been a thorn in the side of the Raptors ever since he was traded away from Toronto in 2004.”

Just for kicks, since I looked at Vince’s numbers against the Raps in Toronto last month, decided to take a look at the Raptors-Nets box scores in Jersey over the past four seasons. Game results are at the end of the post, and here’s the tally.

Now, if you’ll recall his stats as Net:
45% FG, 37% 3PT, 81% from the line, 5.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 24.4 points per game.

And his stats in Toronto against the Raptors (11 games):
45% FG, 36% 3PT, 68% FT, 7.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 24.5 points per game - almost identical.

So, here’s his stats in New Jersey against the Raptors (9 games):
50% FG, 36% 3PT, 66.7% FT, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 25.6 points per game.

In other words… WAIT FOR IT…. ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME.

Here’s the overall stats in 20 games against the Raps:

47.4% FG, 35.6% 3PT, 65.6% FT, 6.5R, 4.7A, 25 points.

So, field goal percentage up slightly, 3-point and free throw down slightly, rebounds and points up slightly, assists the same. Really, is a half-point more against us than against everyone else “sticking it” to us?

And really, it’s just downright lazy on your part. I did this research in about an hour this afternoon. It’s all out there on the Web, and if I can do it, so can you. Especially the reporters - you know who you are, the ones who look down on us mere bloggers. This is your job, for God’s sake, to get the facts right. So do the research.

Of course, now you don’t have to since I’ve done it for you! In return, I am asking, if not outright begging: people, please stop saying Vince Carter brings his A game against Toronto every time they play. The stats clearly indicate he brings the same game he brings against every other team - which, as you know, is inconsistent but pretty darn good overall - and there’s no evidence to suggest he goes out of his way to play better against us or stick it to us or whatever.

I mean, look at it this way. In 20 games, he’s averaging 25 points per. He’s had:

Six games within five points of the average (between 20-30 points).
Seven games of more than five above the average (31 or more).
Seven games of more than five below the average (19 or less).

In other words, a little up and down, but, well, that’s Vince’s entire career, right?

Yes, he’s had some great performances against us, and of course, those are memorable. The talking heads remember them because they make the highlight reels, of course, as fans, those are incredibly painful losses. But you can’t forget that he’s had great performances against a lot of teams; sure, it doesn’t break their hearts the same way it does ours, but they’re no less impressive.

Not only that, but he’s had some outright bad performances against us! If you’re going to recall the great ones (the 42 point game, the 37-point game and the two 39-point games, all victories), please, don’t forget about the bad ones (the two 15-point games, the 12 point game, and the 7-point game, all losses).

So, newsmen, talking heads and bloggers, stop sayingthat Vince is gonna stick it to us “again.” Write that Vince is going to be Vince - maybe good, maybe great, maybe average - just like every other damn time he’s played us.

(And hey - doesn’t it look like he’s about due to drop an egg against us? Say maybe a 6-17, 16 point, 3 free throw night? I think it’s time.)

As for those game-by-game results:

February 22, 2005: Toronto 100, NJ 82
Carter: 8-25 FG, 0-3 3PT, 6-10 FT, 7R, 4A, 22PTS

December 3, 2005: Toronto 95, NJ 82
Carter: 4-11 FG, 2-6 3PT, 5-7 FT, 1R, 3A, 15PTS

March 4, 2006: NJ 105, Toronto 100 (OT)
Carter: 12-26 FG, 0-3 3PT, 7-13 FT, 7R, 4A, 31PTS

November 1, 2006: NJ 102, Toronto 92
Carter: 10-16 FG, 1-4 3PT, 4-4 FT, 11R, 6A, 25PTS

January 9, 2007: NJ 101, Toronto 86
Carter: 12-23 FG, 2-4 3PT, 6-8 FT, 5R, 7A, 32PTS

April 27, 2007: NJ 102, Toronto 89 (Playoffs Game 3)
Carter: 15-23 FG, 2-4 3PT, 5-6 FT, 2R, 5A, 37PTS

April 29, 2007: NJ 102, Toronto 81 (Playoffs Game 4)
Carter: 9-15 FG, 5-8 3PT, 4-9 FT, 7R, 7A, 27PTS

November 2, 2007: Toronto 106, NJ 69
Carter: 2-6 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-4 FT, 5R, 3A, 7PTS

April 5, 2008: NJ 99-90
Carter: 12-21 FG, 1-5 3PT, 7-8 FT, 7R, 5A, 32PTS

Tags: Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter

First of all, a quick note: Now that the Raptors season is here this blog will be shifting more into full-on Raptors mode. I’ll still be making other posts about the usual crap, but not quite as many; and for these non-Raptors, non-NBA posts, I’ll just be putting excerpts up on the home page, with a link to the full post, leaving the home page Raptors-centric. OK? OK.

Now, on the good stuff… I picked up Fallout 3 on Wednesday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Fallout 3, XBox 360

So it seems the early word is that a number of Raps games (possibly as many as 23, though no confirmations yet) will be on the new “TSN2″ sports channel.

This channel can is currently only available on about half the cable providers in Canada, and only if you have a digital box.

I’m not going to go into a rant here - because I already ranted about this with the Raps games on Raptors TV two years ago. The same points stand - when you are building a market, you need to make your product available to as many people as possible and anything less is unacceptable. Actually this may be worse since I think most, if not all, cable networks could potentially get Raptors TV - although again you needed a digital box - and while it didn’t help in building the brand, it didn’t hurt the existing fans, most of whom would shell out for Raptors TV.

In this case, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are willing to shell out the extra dough for TSN2, if your cable provider doesn’t carry it, you’re outta luck.

And the worst thing of all - is that the station isn’t available on Rogers, the ONLY cable provider (unless you want satellite) in Toronto. Meaning the TORONTO Raptors have made the brilliant decision to suddenly remove games from the TV schedule in their own home town.

No, I’m not kidding. You’d think it was a joke, it’s such a boneheaded thing to do… but it’s not.

Just who the heck is making these decisions over there? Yikes.

Word is they’re working on getting it on Rogers, but why would Rogers care? The relatively small number of Raptors fans isn’t a blip to them. And even if they do, I doubt they’ll carry the HD version of the channel.

It’s an absolute disgrace that A) Rogers would not carry this channel; B) TSN would relegate the only NBA team in the entire country to some second-tier channel; and C) that MLSE would allow this to actually happen. I’m sorry, you don’t have some sort of power or words in the contract stating that the games can’t be relegated like this? You DEMAND that the games be shown nationally, ignoring whether or not most of the nation actually GETS the channel the games are on? Shame on all of you. You all suck, and I extend not one, but two, middle fingers at you all. And a nasty look. So there.

On TJ Ford
This originally started as a much longer piece but then it went on too long when a writer is getting bored writing something, you know it’s probably not very good. The point was I hope the crowd doesn’t boo TJ Ford when the Pacers come to town (Dec. 11 for those who want to know).

No, I didn’t like the way Ford handled things last year, and yes, I agree that Calderon is the better PG For this team.

But the thing is, Ford lost his job due to injury, when the unwritten sports rule is that you don’t lose your job to injury. He handled it poorly, sulking until he got his job back, although he never quit and always played hard (he just didn’t play the right way).

And then he was traded and it looks like both the Pacers and Raptors are (or at least should be) better for it.

So what is there to boo about? That he sulked for a half-dozen games? Come on. I don’t know about you, but I try not to lose sight of the fact that these guys are human beings too, and like all human beings, their emotions sometimes get the better of them. I don’t honestly think it would have made an ounce of difference either way in the final results of last season. Maybe they’d have won that game in March - was it against Orlando? - where he forced something like 8 shots in 11 possessions… but they still would have lost in round one. The problems with last year’s team ran much deeper than the Calderon/Ford debate.

Anyway, my point is, I think Ford is a good guy and a good player, and he’s worked his way back through a couple of serious injuries, was a major part of the second-most successful Raptors season ever (2006-2007) and he deservers better than boos. Not a standing O or anything, but at least the polite applause you give any respected opponent. So please don’t boo him.

PS Please still boo Vince Carter. And don’t ever stop.

On the election, or, “How to Waste $300 million in 60 days”
So, nothing changes except Stephane Dion is probably going to lose the Liberal leadership. Did we really need this election to tell us that? Heck, all we needed were the debates - where he could barely hold his own - to tell us he’d be a terrible leader. What was the point?

We have got to change the willy-nilly way we call elections here in Canada. Why can’t we stick to a regular schedule? At a time when the economy is struggling we just threw $300 million dollars away.

What a colossal waste.

On BC and Andrea Bargnani
I love how some people are ripping Bryan Colangelo for defending Andrea Bargnani, as if he’s got some blind devotion to him because he was Colangelo’s #1 pick, “Bryan’s guy.”

Because, apparently, it’s acceptable for a GM to rip his players in public.

Seriously. Do you ever, in a million years, think Colangelo is going to say “Yep, made a mistake with that Bargnani pick!” Of course not! He’s not an idiot - it’s clear, in hindsight, to anyone with eyes that Brandon Roy would have been perfect for this team and that LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay will likely have better careers than Bargnani. But BC isn’t going to admit that - he’d never throw one of his own players under the bus.

And it’s not because Bargnani is “Bryan’s guy.” It’s just because that’s the way a good GM operates.

It also doesn’t mean “Bryan won’t trade him because he’s Bryan’s guy.” Really, you think BC slagging Bargnani is going to make Bargnani valuable trade bait? All that does is decrease his value!

And hey, you know what, TJ Ford was a “Bryan’s guy” too - remember, he brought Ford in with the idea that this would be a Bosh-Ford-Bargnani triumvirate. Well that didn’t work so he swapped Ford for O’Neal and it’s now clearly a Bosh-Calderon-O’Neal triumvirate. If he was willing to trade Ford, he’ll be willing to trade Bargnani if the right deal comes along.

Colangelo has a brilliant basketball mind, and he knows more about basketball than me and every single Raptors fan out there. He’s smarter than all of us and if the opportunity arises, he’s pretty adept at turning negatives into positives.

On Stephon Marbury
He has a tattoo of his sneaker logo on his head. ‘Nuff said.

On the Wizards
Man, the Wiz caught a break that Antawn Jamison’s knee is OK. Imagine if they lost Gilbert Arenas, Brendon Haywood and Jamison? As it is, I think they’re in trouble - they could be in a big hole by January, when Arenas comes back, and even then, Haywood isn’t expected back for six months.

But let’s not forget that they were missing Arenas most of last year and still leapfrogged the Raps in the standings at the end - because Jamison is always solid and Caron Butler is really freakin’ good. You can never completely count a team out, no matter how many injuries they’ve got.

On the Tampa Bay Rays

Kudos to this good young team for making it to the big show. They’ve got a solid line-up that’s played well all season; they deserve it. But kudos also to the Sox for at least making it interesting! I checked the score Thursday night and it was 7-0. Turned off the TV and started reading.

Little while later I checked Sportacular on my iPhone. 7-4 now. Hmm.

Few minutes later, I check again. 7-6 in the bottom of eight! And since Sportacular is awesome enough to give me up-to-the minute details including count, I can see Coco Crisp is batting, with a runner on second, with a 3-2 count and two outs.

I could not turn the TV on fast enough! What a finish. It’s rare that I actually care about baseball but that finish, as well as game 6, were great. Game seven was a little less exciting - not enough scoring, too many runners stranded - but nevertheless, it was a good series.

I think Tampa’s got enough to win it - in six games.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, MLSE, TJ Ford, Toronto Raptors, TSN2

So, after 10 days, is this device - that I pined over for more than a month, that I am paying an arm and a leg for - worth it?

An emphatic YES after week one. Let’s break it down and see what’s what.

Phone and iPod
So, these are the two items this one device replaces for me, and one of the main reasons I wanted the phone - so I only had to carry one device instead of two.

I’ll admit it hasn’t made me use it as a phone any more than I normally would (which is to say, hardly at all). And I’ve used it as an iPod exactly the same amount as I normally would (a couple of hours every day). It’s the beauty of having them both in one that makes me feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.

The phone itself is crisp and clear, which is something I was concerned about - after all, what the hell does apple know about making a phone? But the quality is great.

And the iPod is far superior to my Nano; I absolutely love it. I mentioned before about the shuffling playlists/songs right from the top of each list, as opposed to having to go back to settings - I can’t even tell you what a difference this makes, as I have several playlists I like to play in order and several I like on random. It’s a small thing, but het.

Another small touch, I also really like seeing all the album art so nice and clearly.

While I have no quantifiable way of proving this and it may just be my enthusiasm fro the device, but I do believe the iPhone sounds better than my 2nd-gen Nano too. Whether it’s the headphones or the iPod itself, I am hearing softer “background” instruments and sounds I never heard on the Nano.

Speaking of the headphones, how great are they? Specifically, the click button/microphone? Wicked idea. I’ll admit a volume control would be nice, but the ability to pause/play, skip songs, answer/decline calls, etc., without having to take the phone out of my pocket, wake it up, etc. is huge. It’s another brilliantly simple design decision from Apple.

Data
On the data side of things, I’ve probably used it way too much. I have no doubt this will ease up a bit as the novelty of it wears off and I get into some routines about checking e-mail and Facebook etc. I find myself playing with it a lot and surfing the Web even though I’m never far from a computer. (Still, in 10 days I’ve used less than 100MB. I can’t imagine ever reaching 6GB!)

Safari works perfectly well, and though I’ve heard of people experiencing crashes, it hasn’t done so on me yet (knock on wood).

The 3G network has been uniformly fast, and always available. I’m sure living in Toronto helps, we’ll see how fast it is next time I go to Niagara Falls or something.

E-mail
Being able to get e-mail on my phone was a huge part of my desire to own an iPhone, and so far, I love the e-mail application. I’ve probably used it more than anything else except the iPod.

Of course I had to switch from Hotmail to Gmail, which necessitated logging in to a lot of web sites and updating my address. Then, it took me a while to get Gmail set up correctly and synced with Outlook; very nice of Google to bury the correct IMAP settings (and the fact that IMAP is the preferred method over POP3) nice and deep in the back alleys of their support pages. Sigh.

But it’s working now and it’s great on the phone (yet a little slow sending/receiving in Outlook 2007, oddly enough). It’s quick and smooth and I’m even getting the hang of the keyboard; I actually enjoy e-mailing on it.

Still can’t get Gmail to work through Outlook, Outlook Express, or Live Mail at all here at work. We must have the desired POP3/IMAP/SMTP ports blocked on our firewall. Sigh. Nothing’s ever perfect, eh?

Oh, and on the phone interface, I do wish I could collapse that Gmail folder! I don’t need to see all those background folders while my “real” folders fall off below the scroll. Sigh.

Other installed Apps

As for the other things that come pre-installed:

Maps - we made extensive use of the maps/GPS function going to a wedding last Saturday night. I’ve heard some complaints that it doesn’t work very well, and if you’re driving alone, I’d agree - since it doesn’t have voice prompts and trying to read it while driving would likely be deadly - but if you’ve got someone to read the prompts for you, it works great. The maps were accurate and the GPS follows you quickly and smoothly. I don’t know what people are complaining about! Of course were up in Vaughan, I’ll have to test it downtown sometime and see if the buildings interfere.

Weather - I’ve used this a lot, surprisingly! It’s only mildly more convenient than surfing to a news page or turning on the TV, but still, it’s appealing to get it in the palm of your hand! And the interface is pretty.

Stocks - no interest here, and I really wish I could delete the icon! Sigh.

SMS - works perfectly well, although I’m not sure I love the “conversation” layout your texts take. Each text sent/received by a single contact is added to one long stream - and you only have the option of deleting every text from that steam or saving every text.

I don’t need to keep all the texts that say “OK” or “be there in 10 minutes.” But someone might text me with an important number or address that I want to hang on to. And I might send a contact a text 10 days after I sent the previous one, but the iPhone still thinks it’s part of the same “conversation” More sorting/storage options would be nice! Still, other than that, it works just fine.

Contacts - one of my favourite parts of the phone. I love having my phone and e-mail contacts integrated, and synced with my computer! It’s the little things, you know.

Calendar - I’ve never used a planner on a regular basis, but I am trying to take advantage of everything this device has to offer. So far, I have actually been using this, and syncing it with Outlook; it works great, we’ll just have to see if I have enough need of a planner to keep using it.

Photos and Camera - sure, 2 megapixel with no flash isn’t great, but you know what, it’s not bad either! And I didn’t buy the thing for a camera. Both the photo organization and camera are perfectly useful. The screen obviously displays photos really well, and using photo-caller-ID on such a big screen is great (it never made much sense before when on a tiny phone screen, you could barely make the picture out anyway!).

Notes, calculator, clock - haven’t had much use of these yet. Especially the clock - it’s got a freakin’ clock on the top! Bit of a waste of an icon - I’d rather see the clock and weather integrated.

YouTube - haven’t used much Youtube either, but I’ve tried it and it works just fine. Perhaps I’ll get more into the viral video thing now that I’ve got access to it!

App Store and iTunes - I haven’t actually purchased anything from iTunes directly through the phone yet, but I’ve used the App store and it works perfectly well… if you’ve got the time to sort through the thousands of apps. Which leads us to…

Downloadable Applications
Let’s just say it outright - there’s a lot of crap out there in the App store, for sure, and finding the good ones can be a challenge. But here’s notes on a few I’ve discovered:

Facebook - I’m not a huge Facebook user, but since I can’t use it at work, I figured I might use it more now that I can get it on the iPhone. All you can really do is update your status, write on walls and upload photos, but that’s basically what Facebook was in the beginning so that should be enough.

But, I’m a little disappointed in the proprietary Facebook app. It looks nice, but for some reason, it won’t load all my friends’ profile pictures! I also don’t like how the news feed carries only status updates.

If you check Facebook through Safari, it loads up great, and of course you can use it in landscape. You get news feed items as well as status updates, and all the profile pics work fine.

The application has better photo support, though! Frustrating - I’d much prefer to use only one, but each does something better than the other! What was I saying about nothing being perfect… right.

Sportacular and The Score Mobile - Both are sports/scores updaters. The Score has a much nicer interface (and I do like The Score as a station, in general!), but Sportacular offers way more information, with news updates, and more leagues. Both are free, though.

Shazam - Mentioned this one before, and it’s still a killer “check this out!” app to show your friends, but ultimately, the opportunities to use it aren’t plentiful. Still, you never know when you’ll hear a song you simply must own, whether it’s in a movie or at a bar or whatever, and it’s free, so why not?

iWik and Wikipanion - A pair of Wikipedia viewers, that purport to optimize Wikipedia better than Safari.  Both can be used in landscape and portrait and Wikipanion supports pinch-zooming. I find I prefer the interface of iWik, but both are than using Safari to access Wikipedia directly, in which the wiki layout is just too small. And if it’s possible, Wikipedia is even more useful on mobile than it is on PC! Any time someone asks one of these “did you ever wonder…” questions, you’ve got the answer!

Google  - The Google app is a little better than Google on Safari simply because you have more local search options. It’s great to type in “Swiss Chalet,” hit Local, and get directions on the maps app to the closest one.

Koi Pond  - It’s a $0.99 fish pond. Yes, it’s as dumb as it sounds, but it’s just so damn cool! It’s got some nice soothing pond sounds, the fish move around (and swim away when you “splash” the screen), you can even feed them! It’s so dumb. Yet so cool. Definitely a “show off my new toy” app.

WordPress - As mentioned the other day, this works really well and is another in the line of “it blows my mind what this thing can do” apps. But as I also said the other day, I can’t see myself using it all that much - I’m just too wordy in my blog posts (like this 2,500 word opus!).

Games  - There’s way too many to go into detail, but Sol Free Solitaire, ClassicBreak Lite, 21 Pro Blackjack, Sudoku, and Pegjump are all free games I’ve downloaded and kept. They all pass the time adequately.

I may suck it up and pay the $7.99 for Tetris. Who doesn’t love Tetris?

 

Basically, as you can see from the list above, there’s a lot that you can do with this little device. And I’ve just scratched the surface, I think.

There are a couple of issues with the iPhone, most of which have been covered elsewhere, but I’ll mention my experiences with them.

Battery life
It’s definitely not long-lasting. I grant that for everything the phone does, you have to expect that it’s going to drain the battery. I get that. What’s frustrating is Apple’s policy of not letting you replace the battery. Like the iPod, the battery is kept hidden away in “void my warranty land” if you attempt to take it out.

So what that means is, if it dies, you can’t just go to Future Shop, buy a new one, and swap it in. You have to send your phone to Apple. That’s right. You have to live without your phone for a week. And it costs $100! And it wipes all the data off your phone! I’m sorry, that’s bloody ridiculous. You don’t even have the option of taking it in to the Apple store, or at least, that’s not an option given on the Web site. What a joke.

Now, hopefully, you’ll never actually NEED to flat-out replace the battery. It’s total life-span should last through the life of the phone, and if it’s faulty, chances are it’ll die before your one-year warranty expires.

Where it really irks though, is not having a backup. Again, this thing sucks battery life pretty quickly; if it didn’t, this wouldn’t be a big issue, but one forgotten charge, and you might be outta luck. If you could have a backup charged and handy at all times, this wouldn’t be an issue, but you can’t, so you gotta be super-diligent about charging.

It would also suck if you were camping or taking a long flight, or being anywhere for an extended period, without a power source - no matter how diligent you are there’s some places you just can’t plug in! Again, keeping a charged backup around would be handy.

Thankfully, for me, I don’t anticipate being in such a situation often and I’m near enough to various power sources (home, work, car) that I don’t ever have an excuse for not charging. I may need to buy an extra USB/power cable for work though.

Crashing/freezing

The other well-documented problem has been somewhat frequent crashing or freezing. Yesterday was the first time I’ve experienced anything crashing - when checking the football scores in Sportacular. I guess I just wanted too much info too fast and it crashed! Other than that it’s been fine; I suspect that I got in at the right time, when software 2.1 was released. They seem to have worked out a lot of the kinks! (Knock on wood.)

In conclusion…

I love this device. I’m so glad I bought it, and especially glad we got a good deal on the voice plan. If I were paying the full price of Rogers’ advertised plans, I probably wouldn’t be glowing about it so much, because practically speaking, it wouldn’t be worth it. But at almost $30 less per month, it is worth it - worth every penny.

Tags: iPhone

Well, turns out WordPress has an iPhone app! So this is just a test to see if it works…

 

… which, clearly, it does. Awesome. I’m continually amazed by this device!

Obviously I wouldn’t want to write too many of my typically long-winded posts on my iPhone, but it’s pretty cool to have the functionality.

Tags: iPhone

So, my awesome girlfriend, whom I have mentioned before, has patiently listened to my weeks-long debates over the iPhone. Should I get it? Should I get the iTouch? Should I get nothing? Etc.

I guess she’d had enough because on Friday, she went out to buy one for me, and surprise me with it. She discovered she’s elibigle for a corporate airtime rate, a real discount over the regular Rogers rate, which would make the monthly cost more affordable. She is awesome.

Unfortunately, the Rogers store at the mall gave her the runaround about not being able to add services to our account (even though it’s in both our names) and she didn’t get it.

So of course she had to tell me (since according to the Rogers store, I am the only one who can add anything to our account) and the surprise was ruined.

But since she is awesome she said we could go to the Rogers store near our house together when I got home and get it. At this point I said, you know, you may as well get one too because you’re like me - when you see it in action, you’re going to want one.

So we both got one. She got the white 16GB, I got the black 16GB. The rep we had, Herbert, was super nice, and basically told us the people at the mall don’t know what they’re talking about. He gave us a really good airtime rate (even better than the aforementioned corporate rate!) and we’re taking advantage of the 6GB of data for $30 offer, which expires at the end of the month.

Unfortunately some shoplifters interrupted our purchase and activation, and by the time all was said and done we were so hungry we wanted to eat our iPhones (we were in there for 2.5 hours!). But in the end we got them and we are now the coolest people we know.

One problem of course, is that you can’t get Hotmail on the iPhone, not through the mail application anyway. Just through Safari and it really isn’t the same.

To use the mail app, you need POP3 support. Which Hotmail has… if you want to pay for it. Microsoft demands $20 per year for it.

So your left with three choices.
1. Pay $20 - yearly
2. Use the Safari Web browser to access Hotmail
3. Switch mail providers.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest a majority of people are gonna take option 3. Seriously, MS, $20 a year? For a service that Gmail, Yahoo and every ISP offers? Come on.

I really don’t want to switch - I’ve had my Hotmail address for 10 years, it’s easy, everyone I know knows it. My girlfriend is a Hotmail user too, so this really sucks. Being able to receive anywhere e-mails is a big feature of the iPhone, especially to me since I e-mail more than I talk on the phone!

Gmail seems to be the most popular alternative; I’ve had a Gmail account from day one but rarely ever use it. I hate Gmail’s Web interface, and I’d rather have an e-mail client open all day, instead of a Web browser anyway - but I can’t get it set up to run through a mail client at work. (Ironically, I think my office must be blocking any POP server except our own. Hotmail? No problem. Sigh.)

Of course, the point of all this is to get mail on my iPhone, so no Web browser or client needed, right? This is what I got the thing for. And I’m paying for it so I damn well better use all the features to their fullest capacity!

But is it worth updating my address with all my contacts, and in every damn thing I’ve ever signed up for? Hmm….

Oh well, at least I don’t have very many friends, so I’m not inconveniencing too many people.

In the end, I am thrilled with this purchase. I’m also happy that, even though it means I’m giving Rogers more money, I got an official phone and am on a proper voice and data plan (rather than buying an unlocked phone). So much more convenient.

I have to say I especially love the way the iPod is presented on the iPhone (I imagine it’s the same on the iTouch). Maybe I was just used to the tiny Nano screen, but it just seems a lot easier to navigate and see what’s what in my library! And I love that there is a shuffle option at the top of every playlist! So much better than always having to go back to the settings.

I suppose I am a bit of a follower, going with the “in” thing. But so what. It does a lot of things and it does them all very well, and it’s a lot of fun to use.

Tags: iPhone

So my friend John got an iPhone a little while ago, and when he showed it to me, I was pretty much hooked. I would like to think I’ve outgrown that stage where I get all enamored with the latest gadgets, but damn… the iPhone is a very, very slick piece of technology.

I decided I really wanted one… but of course, Rogers’ well-documented ridiculous pricing and contract options didn’t appeal to me. I tried to get them to allow me to continue getting my bundle discount (15%) if I replaced my home phone with a second wireless one - the thinking being with the iPhone plan I wouldn’t need both a home and cell phone - but they wouldn’t go for it. On its own, there’s just no way for me to justify the added monthly cost of the iPhone - about $100 - in combination with my home phone.

So now I’m left with the decision to purchase an iPod Touch - essentially the iPhone without the phone - or get an “unlocked” phone off of craigslist or eBay. Seems like 16GB iPhones are going for between $600-700 on craigslist (and of course you get no guarantee it’ll work). The new 16GB iTouch (out in the next week or so I believe) will cost $329. Even the $429 32GB model is attractive at that rate…

I have to admit the new iTouch is nice. Much thinner, longer battery life, the speaker and volume control are fantastic additions… basically all it’s missing from the iPhone is the phone and microphone (which unfortunately means you can’t use Shazam, possibly the coolest iPhone application out there). And of course your data is reliant on WiFi rather than direct 3G access.

The other option is to pick up a 1st-gen iPhone. There’s always a few used ones available online, usually around $400.

So it’s a hard sell. The iTouch would certainly do the trick; it’s got all the slick doo-dads of the iPhone, and I barely use my cell phone anyway, and it is considerably cheaper; but the beauty of having an all-in-one solution is very, very appealing (even though I rarely use the phone, I still carry it everywhere I go).

Of course, both my current cell phone and iPod work just fine, so how do I justify this at all? I don’t, really. I guess I really am just a sucker for a cool gadget.

Tags: iPhone, iPod, iTouch