iAmazed

The other day, Dave and I were talking about the wonders of today’s technology. My Kindle can hold up to 1,000 books. The internet has rendered paper phone books and encyclopedias obsolete. But in my humble opinion, my iPhone is the most amazing gadget of all. I started thinking about all the other devices my phone and its apps has replaced, and my jaw dropped as I compiled my list (I know other smartphones offer similar features):

• Calendar. I used to carry a ring-bound planner made by Franklin Covey.
• To-do lists. No more paper lists; they are stored in my ToDo app where I can sort, search, add repeating commitments, and manage entire projects such as the courses I teach.
• Books. While the iPhone is not ideal for reading, I can still access my entire Kindle library if needed.
• Bible. I have YouVersion and the Bible on my Kindle.
• Calculator. Another built-in iPhone feature.
• Address book. All my contacts are stored on iCloud and available from my phone and my laptop.
• GPS. Thanks to Siri, I have point-to-point voice navigation.
• Flashlight. You can download an app that will serve as a flashlight.
• Clock. And timer and stopwatch.
• Camera. A very good 8-megapixel camera, additionally convenient because I can immediately send photos to email, text message, or Facebook. Same for the video camera feature.
• Walkman. My phone can hold thousands of songs.
• Grocery lists. I currently use Grocery IQ, which allows me to save “smart” lists and automatically links to coupons on the items I enter.
• Photo album. I can store my favorite photos on my phone, all the more handy to show off pictures of my family.
• Notepads. Thanks to Evernote, I can create notes and update them from any of my devices.
• Paper files. I store my documents in Dropbox, again allowing me to search and read from any device.
• Dictation machine. I use the built-in Voice Memos to create notes as I’m driving.
• And, of course, my phone. We still have a VoIP line at home, but the time is coming soon when we will ditch the home phone entirely and all four of us will go entirely mobile.

And this list doesn’t even include all the web-related applications for my financial accounts and favorite stores. And everything fits in the palm of my hand. Think about that. Quite an impressive gadget, wouldn’t you say?