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Not there’s really anything “bad” about an iPhone when you compare it to what else is out there. I’ve used a handful of phones, and on it’s worst day the iPhone is still a full car’s length ahead of the pack. So this is really just a list of things that surprised me as I moved from the original 8GB iPhone to a new 16GB model.

The Good:

More storage is nice

This is sort of a “duh”, but it’s worth mentioning since it’s the main reason I upgraded. Well, that and the fact I received a gift certificate for a 16GB iPhone. But the expanded storage is a big winner. I can be a little less choosy as to which albums I pick for the commute and I can throw a few podcasts and audiobooks on as well without fear of skimping on the tunes.

The sound quality is better

From call quality to the improved volume of the speakerphone, the 3G just sounds better all around.

The flush headphone jack is convenient

Not that it really ever mattered to me, I only use Apple’s earbuds anyway. I realize there are better sounding ones out there, but I tend to destroy earbuds on a frequent basis. And it’s just too easy to swap them out by dropping by the Apple Store or hitting the Applecare web site.

GPS is nice to have

Although the only time I’ll end up using it is when I’m lost in a city that I’m unfamiliar with. Would have come in handy in Barcelona earlier this year, but other than that I’ll be sticking with the GPS in the Mini Cooper. Without turn by turn directions and a usable map size, GPS is not all that useful. Especially since the original iPhone used cell tower triangulation, which for most situations is good enough.

The 3G fits nice and snug into my favorite iPhone case

When the 3G came out, Case Mate dropped the price on their “Signature Leather Case” from $30 to $6. So I picked one up, and what do you know - it fits great with the iPhone 3G. It was actually a tiny bit loose on the original iPhone, much to my disappointment.

The Bad:

You can’t charge over Firewire anymore.

Which really sucks, because several of the iPod docks we have around the house are plugged into the wall via Firewire. This isn’t something that worth the expense of purchasing new docks and cables just to charge over USB, so it means that I can only charge my phone in my home office now. Hassle.

The Mini Cooper won’t charge it either

Which power sucks, because that means that I need to go back to carrying both an iPod and an iPhone on road trips now. It also means that my phone isn’t charging during my lengthy morning and evening commutes. Stinks.

The battery life sucks with 3G on

Even with the new software update, turning on 3G almost guarantees that your phone is at a half charge by the end of lunch. I tend to keep 3G off for this reason.

3G really isn’t that much faster

I suppose it’s faster, but in the sense that slow is faster than slower. WiFi speeds are “quick” and anything less than that is slow. So if you’re looking to upgrade to the iPhone 3G because you’re looking to get your home broadband experience when you’re on the go, keep waiting. This isn’t it. I don’t know if it’s the latency of cell networks, the processor and memory of the iPhone or something beyond by understanding - but surfing the web using the 3G iPhone involves only slightly less waiting than it did before.

Ok, this post is about four months late. Which is better than never, but only just barely. An unintended consequence of Cooper’s birth was that it coincided with some incredible Cure tickets I had for the same evening. I know, to even mention such a thing provides fairly strong evidence that my priorities are screwed up. I don’t dispute this. No worries though, a friend went in my place and thoroughly enjoyed my 8th row tickets for the show.

My method for making peace with this was that I told myself that on the next occasion that I could see the Cure, I would allow myself to do whatever needed to be done to see as good a show (if not better) as the one I missed. No expense or effort would be spared. I imagined this would be a few years from now, after a few more rumored Cure breakups and subsequent new albums. Imagine my surprise when I saw on Ticketmaster that they would be in Ohio a month later.

The original plan was for Jim and I to load up the Mini Cooper with a cooler of orange soda (preferably Sunkist) and an iPod of Cure albums and drive to Cleveland for the show. But it turns out I had a meeting that morning that I couldn’t miss. Lucky for me, my work is both profoundly flexible and generous. They agreed to fly Jim and I to Cleveland in order to both make the meeting and correct my concert karma.

A Few Words About Concert Karma

Concert karma is when by some unfortunate circumstance, you miss a show. As a child, my father and I missed a Robert Palmer show because our car overheated. I corrected this event by seeing Robert Palmer fifteen years later at the House of Blues with my mom. As a child, I missed Pink Floyd because my parents thought I was too young for a concert. I corrected this event by seeing Pink Floyd years later in Des Moines (or was it Ames?). Actually, I brought that one full circle by taking my dad to see Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon in Chicago. The point is, once you’ve missed a show for any reason, the clock is now ticking. It may take you a year, or three, or thirty to correct it - but correct it you must. It’s one of the only ways you can preserve any kind of harmony in the universe. Either that, or I’m just kind of obsessive about this stuff.

Back to Our Story

After the meeting and a convertible ride to O’Hare (sunburn included), I gave Jim a call to see where he wanted to meet up for a beer before the flight. The conversation went something like this:

Me:

“Hey, I’m here – where you at? Want to get a drink before the flight?”

Jim:

“Why are you there so freaking early? Our flight doesn’t leave for like 3 hours.”

Me:

“Our flight leaves in an hour. I e-mailed you the itinerary from Expedia.”

Jim:

“Oh Jesus, you’re right. I’m not going to make it.”

Me:

“Dude. Not right. You have the tickets. You HAVE to make it. Get in the car, break some laws and I’ll see you at the gate in less than an hour.”

Jim:

“I’m leaving now.”

My next call was to TicketsNow, the place where we got our tickets from in the first place. While Jim raced to O’hare, I arranged to potentially purchase another ticket in case we got separated. The next 45 minutes was a flurry of phone calls, e-mails and text messages to try and put together a concert ticket for me and an alternate flight for Jim, just in case.

Long story short, Jim made it to O’hare but missed the flight. My last text message to Jim before liftoff was something to the effect of “buy another ticket, get on your flight, see you at the show.” An hour later I was in Ohio.

Despite making the flight and arranging for another ticket, it seemed that life just didn’t want me to see this show. The car never showed up to take me from the hotel to the venue, so I began walking. On the way to the venue, a car pulled over to the side of the road and asked me if I knew how to get to the venue. I said I didn’t, but I had an iPhone that could probably help us out if they didn’t mind if I tagged along. They said to jump in, and offered me a Pabst Blue Ribbon for the ride.

We arrived at the venue just as the opening band finished. The Cure began their set and put on a tremendous performance. About midway through the show, Jim arrived and we took our 8th row seats for the remainder of the three hour show. Jim mentioned later that this was a nearly perfect way to see this show (he had just seen them a month before) because the earlier songs were a lot of newer material he didn’t care for, but the later part of the set was comprised of all the great older songs they rarely play.

By the end of the show, Jim and I were both a bit hoarse from cheering. To top things off, The Cure finished with “Jumping Someone Else’s Train” which I have never seen them perform live before. After all the effort and drama to see this show, it was completely worth it to see one of my favorite bands with my best friend.

The thing I kept thinking all this time was, when I was a kid, none of this was possible. I wouldn’t have known about The Cure’s Ohio show in the first place, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to find use a handheld gadget and the Internet to find tickets, flights, cabs, directions and everything else. It’s amazing to me still, the kind of access to information we have now and the freedom it affords us.

I’ve been to all the Lollapaloozas at Grant Park (and more than a couple back in the 90s’s too) and I’ve always kind of half-assed them. They’ve never really gotten the attention and adoration from me that Coachella has. Which really isn’t fair, because Lollapalooza is almost as good as Coachella. Almost. And this year it came close enough that I’m not mourning (much) the fact that I missed Coachella again this year. This was by far the most enjoyable Lollapalooza yet.

My previous gripes about Lolla were these: it’s laid out in such a way as to cause massive traffic jams in the center of the park and it’s ridiculously hot and humid.

This year the weather helped out considerably with that second one: although it was surface of the sun hot on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were perfect. It was nice enough that I dared to drink beer during the day - an act which would have resulted in certain death in the heat of previous years.

As for the crowd traffic: this year I went with another approach. I minimized my trips across the park. If it was between two bands I kinda liked, I went with the closer one. I ended up skipping a few sets that I might have enjoyed marginally more, but not as much as I enjoying not making the trek across the expansive Grant Park. With the exception of one poor set choice on my part, the plan worked out almost perfectly.

So who did I see? Honestly it’s a bit of a blur. I’m having to refer to my schedule right now to recall. Ok, it’s all coming back to me now…. The Enemy UK, The Kills, The Black Keys, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, CSS, Radiohead, The Gutter Twins, Booka Shade, Explosions in the Sky, Jamie Lidell, Battles, Toadies, Rage Against the Machine, Wilco, The Whigs, Nicole Atkins & the Sea, Amadou & Mariam, Iron & Wine, Love and Rockets, The National and Nine Inch Nails.

Instead of reviewing each, let’s give awards. After all, how many ways can I say a bunch of bands rocked?

The Awards:

Band I Missed But Would Have Most Liked to Have Seen

That has to be Rogue Wave. I’m not a huge fan, but the album has really grown on me these past few weeks and I really would have liked to have seen them. But the line was so ridiculously long to get in on the first day that after standing in line for an hour, I only made it in time to see The Kills.

Best Set

Either CSS or Toadies. I’ll say CSS because I’ve never seen them before and they were played a high energy and danceable set. And by the time they played “Alcohol” and “Alala” the crowd was on fire. However, Toadies put on a hell of a performance too. And after playing “their big song” (whichever that was) a lot of the crowd cleared out and Jim and I got with in 15 people of the stage. Awesome performance - like a cross between the Pixies and Soundgarden.

Worst Set

Without a doubt: Battles. It was practically unlistenable. They sounded a bit like Tortoise, but only if you took everything I like about Tortoise out of the equation and just left experimental instrumental music. It was so bad we left to watch Lupe Fiasco - which also sucked, but at least it was listenably well-executed sucking.

Hottest Set

Had to be The Kills, and they were feeling it too. They ended their set 20 minutes early, and I don’t blame them. Wearing all black and rocking out into the early afternoon sun is a good way to give yourself a coronary. They put on a great set while they could though.

Biggest Freaking Crowd I’ve Ever Seen

Radiohead drew more people to their stage than I’ve even seen in my life. It was China showed up to hear Karma Police or something. I love Radiohead, but I’ve seen them three times before - so I wan’t going to try and be a hero and get up any closer than the back third of the field. No worries though, they sounded great. Surprisingly mellow and sleepy set though - I had expected a bit more energy from the performance.

Surprisingly Worst Sound From Band I Looked Forward to The Most

I love the band Love and Rockets, but their sound was abysmal. If I didn’t want to hear a few songs from “Earth, Sun, Moon” so bad, I might have left and checked out Gnarls Barkley. The guitar was too bright, the vocals too soft, and there were to keyboards at all - despite the heavy use of keyboards in their recorded output. But they did play “No New Tale To Tell” and “Mirror People” so it was all worth it.