So, I have an iPhone now. ... ........ ...now what?

[JasonPratt]

{peering at it suspiciously}

{shaking it}JESUSCHRISTITJUSTMADESOMEKINDOFALARMKLAXONNOISEWHATINTHEACTUALHELL!!{dropping it}



{peering at it suspiciously}{from a safer distance}

[BanzaiCat]

Is it an -s model (4s, 5s)?

If so, Siri can be fun to talk to. Press and hold the square and wait for it to beep, then ask her a question. It can be a silly question ("Where can I hide dead bodies?"
What does the fox say?") or something more pertinent ("Closest Sonic").

Although I think they got rid of the 'dead body' gag with the iOS 7 update. You could do it before, but not after. :(

If I were you, invest in a GOOD case to cover it up, like an Otterbox. Those are damn good covers that help absorb punishment. So if you're going to poke your phone a lot or drop it often, I highly recommend that. The glass cover WILL shatter easily if you're not careful. Plus the iPhone just feels plain flimsy without a good solid cover, at least to me.

Visit the App store and find you some wargames.

Don't do Candy Crush Saga; you'll lose your man card.

[Staggerwing]

Some of the edgier characters out there are using iPhones to...



... Call up people and talk to them. Weird  :o

[BanzaiCat]

It's a PHONE, TOO? Why was I not told about this?!?  :P

[JasonPratt]

I finally figured out how to use it as a phone, which was the main reason the company bought it in the first place (on a mobile phone account upgrade).

With some help from my younger employees, it now rings like a telephone instead of klaxxoning at me like a sub with a breaching nuclear reactor. I regard this as a welcome improvement.

From measuring the size of the phone (????) they tell me it's certainly a 5; and I guess it's a 5S because when I was trying to put it to sleep it asked me if I wanted to ask it a question, leading me to suspect I was pressing the wrong though obvious button by the way.

It tells me "very funny" when I asked it where to hide my dead bodies. ... so is it version 7 or the earlier one?? {shaking it}{peering at it}{answer unclear}{try again later}


I will say in its favor that while its ergonomics are terrible (it doesn't fit my hand well while I'm talking on it like a phone), at least it's larger than my last flip phone which was not only small and slick but all the buttons which killed phone functionality were located exactly where I had to try holding onto the phone to keep it from launching (accidentally, not on purpose) out of my hand. Again, I regard this as an improvement. I suspect I will be able to play Tetris again, too, which my last new phone lacked CURSE IT!

[BanzaiCat]

If it's a new iPhone, it's likely a 5, and yes, it's an 's' if it talked to you.

The operating system (iOS) is 7 on those new phones, so that's what you have. Do you have to enter a four-digit PIN to unlock the phone, pressing cutesy little circles with numbers in them? That would be 7. It's far too girly-looking for my taste; I wish Apple had given users a choice of themes, otherwise I might not have traded my 4s in on a Windows phone.

Also, on the top right edge of the phone (top edge, to the right), there's a horizontal bar. Press it once to put the phone to sleep. Press it or the box-button to wake it up (and enter your PIN). If you want to take a screenshot of something on your phone, press and hold that bar at the top and then press the box-button. It should flash white and make a camera-click noise. Congrats, you just took a screenshot on your phone. It's in your camera roll now.

Play around with it, you'll get the hang of it, old man. :)

[JasonPratt]

No 4-digit PIN number (yet), but possibly it was set up not to need that (yet).

THANK GOD IT DOESN'T HAVE THE TWEEN GIRL GRAPHIC SETUP YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! {puke}

Although I may ask my little nieces how to make it run this weekend. They seem like they know what they're doing with their Mom and Dad's various mobiles. (Then again, that might end up with tween girl graphics on my phone, despite them not being anywhere near tweens yet...)

Meanwhile, I have (1) navigated to the ap store finally;
(2) searched for Phantom Leader;
(3) failed to find Phantom Leader;
(4) found Lords of Waterdeep;
(5) strongly considered LoW and perhaps some other popular board game conversions;
(6) reminded myself I'm not supposed to be buying games for a while;
(7) reminded myself that in principle that ought to include iPhone games;
(8) managed not to buy anything yet.

Overall, this seems like progress.

[BanzaiCat]

I have Lords of Waterdeep on my iPad - it's a fun game. Not sure how easy it would be to play it on an iPhone, though.

If that's a company phone, better ask first if it's okay to download apps to it. They might not have an unlimited data plan or even allow non-work-related apps to be installed on it.

[spelk]

I think Shenandoah's offerings work on the iPhone

http://www.shenandoah-studio.com/products/botb/

[Staggerwing]

I have Lords of Waterdeep on my iPad - it's a fun game. Not sure how easy it would be to play it on an iPhone, though.

If that's a company phone, better ask first if it's okay to download apps to it. They might not have an unlimited data plan or even allow non-work-related apps to be installed on it.

Something tells me that Jason might have an 'in' with the management.  :D

[BanzaiCat]

If he does, more power to him!

At my last job I managed to get rid of my POS Blackberry Torch and get the 5s. They didn't allow downloads nor any kind of data other than e-mails and text messages to other work cell phones. I was so happy to get rid of the Blackberry, but at the same time, wondered why the hell they bothered with the cost if they're going to give me a $500 phone but only use about $10 worth of it.

[JasonPratt]

True, family business, and Dad (who is in mostly-retirement) set up the account and migrated us over. We do have a monthly Gig limit, but they wouldn't mind me putting fuzzy things on the phone. Dad has plenty. We even let our minions employees leech off company wi-fi for personal reasons and they can play games when not on duty. I should look into setting up an office pool competition on something for break or lunch time, maybe something turn-based so it's easy to quit and save and pick up again, but colorful and in their range of interests. Hmmm... I bet Blood Bowl has an ap, I wonder if it's up to legendary edition yet...?

[BanzaiCat]

Nope, no Blood Bowl app as of yet. The football (American football) apps all are either suck-crap, or are in-app-purchase suck-crap.

[JasonPratt]

My sadness is palpable, since I described the idea to them at break and they thought it sounded nifty.

I know Star Coach was supposed to be ported sometime soon/recently, but it isn't the same thing.  :'(

But I've also heard the devs are hard at work on BB2, so I'll just have to hope it has mobile versions for purposes of intercompany turn-based slaughter.

(Or possibly some recommendations could be made here, who knows, hint hint...  ;D )


Meanwhile I've picked up iOS Carcassone, which might help train my nieces to like the game; and also Lords of Waterdeep since there is a significant possibility I might be playing with some other authors and/or internet personalities at Origins this year (though I can't be sure yet) and I wouldn't want to embarrass myself on stage in front of an audience by not knowing the game.

[GDS_Starfury]

So, I have an iPhone now. ... ........ ...now what?

trade it for a Samsung.