Last Wednesday Apple dropped the price of the iPhone $200 dollars making it $400 and like a fish can’t resist a shiny lure I can’t resist a gadget. Of course the iPhone wasn’t invented as a travel specific gadget, but many of its amazing features can help the traveler. Here are a few of them.
It has a world clock so say for example you needed to phone your friend in Istanbul, you can add it to the list of cities and the iPhone will display it, and prevent you from calling at off hours.
The iPhone has Google maps integrated into it so if you need to find someplace while on the road, you can easily bring up a map, and even cooler look at the satellite view.
The screen on the iPhone is really good, so if you find yourself trapped in an airplane forced to sit through Shrek the Third for the third time on one trip you can keep some of your favorite TV episodes or even a movie stored on the iPhone.
Of course the coolest thing about the iPhone is that you can watch the In The Know Traveler video casts on your phone. You can even bring them up on Youtube, which is integrated into the phone. Here are my three favorites for iPhone viewing, and keep an eye out for many more coming out soon.
A splash of Istanbul
The Getty Center
Having played with an iPhone recently, I agree with the author; this is a very cool gadget, but also a really useful tool for travel. As a travel tool, you get internet access, worldwide GSM phone service, mapping, music, video and podcasts, as well as notes, documents and a camera at your fingertips (literally).
I can think of a million reasons why this would be handy, especially for field reporting or on-site info retrieval.
Sign me up, as I am TIRED of lugging my 7 lb. laptop around just for email back home!