Gadget Monkeys

I got bored of the Word Press free hosting pretty quickly.

Gadget Monkeys now lives where it used to: www.gadgetmonkeys.net. See you there!

Yes, I already have an iPhone 4. But it’s locked to AT&T and the jailbreak STILL isn’t out… Plus, I figured out a way to beat the system.

Here’s the situation. I’m currently halfway through a two-year contract with Optus, paying $129 for the unlimited plan with my iPhone 3GS. To break out of that contract, I would have to pay $816. But then I thought – surely Optus will give me a concession if I stuck with them instead of moving to another carrier? I brought this up with the customer service rep over the phone, and she transferred me to the “retention” department. Ah ha! The next person I spoke to said that she could whittle that fee down to $320 if I re-contracted with Optus within 30 days. Sweet – iPhone 4 comes out this Friday!

Now, I don’t have to go back to the old $129 plan that I was on to qualify for this deal – I could go with the cheapest $49 plan if I wanted to. The new $129 unlimited plan is seriously sweet; as well as unlimited calls, SMS and MMS and voicemail, it comes with double the data the old plan had at 6GB, plus unlimited 13 and 1300 numbers, unlimited Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, eBay and FourSquare access and $180 of international call value. But I’m going to go with the cheaper $99 unlimited plan instead, which has slightly less data at 5GB and only $100 of international call value – but all the other free inclusions, and much better value than my old plan.

Even better, there’s a 12-month contract option. To break it down, I could:
- Do nothing, and stay on my existing $129 unlimited plan until next year with the iPhone 3GS. I would pay $1548 altogether for the remainder of my contract (12 months)
- Break my contract for $320, switch to the $99 unlimited plan, get the iPhone 4 for free, get an extra 2GB of data a month, free social networking access, free 13 and 1300 numbers (this used to be extra on the old plan), and $100 of international phone call credit, and pay $1508 altogether for the 12 month contract.

So I’m actually saving money in the long run while simultaneously getting more value, AND getting a new iPhone 4! It’s a no-brainer. I’ll give my old iPhone 4 to my mum once the jailbreak’s out, and get bonus points for being a loving daughter.

I’ve taken to Photoshop and Lightroom in a big way. And to think, a couple of months ago, the most complicated image editing program I could use was Microsoft Paint! There’s so much to learn, and so many different ways to do the same thing, but I’m loving the challenge! I love how you can turn crappy photos into stunning ones.

Here’s a photo I took in New Zealand last month.

Out of the camera, it looked terrible, but a few tweaks (namely HDR toning) and some judicious cropping, and it looks significantly better!

(Check out a larger version of the above image on my Flickr page)

Wah.

According to Redmond Pie (one of the more reliable online sources), it won’t be out today like I (and the rest of the iPhone 4-toting geek populace) had hoped. But it’s close! I can feel it!

I’ve been an Android die-hard for the last couple of months, but as soon as my iPhone 4 is unlocked, I’ll be back to the iPhone. Not necessarily because it’s better – I just want to have the experience of using an iPhone 4 as my daily device for awhile. There are certainly things that I will miss about Android: widgets on the homescreen, the handy notifications window (so much more advanced than iOS 4′s push notifications – bleh!), the handy back and search buttons, and seamless push Gmail.

Wow, why am I going back to iPhone 4 again? Oh yes – the Retina display, the excellent 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD recording, more apps (Android is getting ever closer, but iOS still has the edge), and not having to worry about running out of storage – Android 2.1 still forces you to store everything in main memory! Time will tell whether I stick with it once the initial new-gadget sheen wears off.

Here’s a quick video I shot with the iPhone 4.

It’s about time I started blogging again.

These are the things that are currently happening in my world:

• Writing up a storm. The freelance world is being very good to me!
• Working on my photography portfolio. Finally assembling a mix of photos to post on Flickr. Teaching myself Photoshop – steep learning curve, but very rewarding! Also did my first ‘photo shoot’ and can technically say that I have sold some photos.
• Just got the insurance approved for my stolen Canon EOS 5D Mk II. Some scummy low-life stole it from my bag at a farewell party, took around three weeks before the insurance came through, but now I am once again reunited with my love!
• Been on a travelling spree. New Zealand in June, Hong Kong in July, and Hawaii, Los Angeles and Las Vegas in October!
• Still a hard-core gadget monkey. Chomping at the bit for the iPhone 4 jailbreak to be released so I can unlock the iPhone 4 that I bought in Hong Kong. Hope it’s released before the iPhone 4 launches here in Australia on Friday! Current gadgets of choice: 64GB iPad 3G, Samsung Galaxy S, Livescribe Echo pen, Audio Technica headphones, Canon EOS 5D Mk II

Here are a few of my favourite “portfolio” shots