iPhone Home Page: Part 1

 The Fixed Row

For those of you who don't know...I'm sort of an Apple geek and the iPhone has truly changed the way I do life.  Except for the PC, I can't think of another device that has revolutionized my way of thinking when it comes to anything...for the most part.  I really do believe that the iPhone is actually a pocket PC.

It has taken me a while, but I have finally found the perfect mix of apps to put on my home page. The image above is actually my iPhone home page with a highlight on the four apps that I will discuss in this post.  For those who don't use an iPhone, the home page is similar to that of internet browser on your computer...it's the start-up page of apps for the iPhone.  For me, these are the apps I find the most useful and used the most often. There are some very useful apps which are handy only in specific situations such as during a business trip and so don't get used as often...these don't go on my home page.  I believe that on some level, a person's home page tells others something about that person...personality, priorities and such.  So let's dig into my home page and see what it says about me...shall we?

There are twenty app slots available on an iPhone screen with the bottom four being fixed for all pages.  So no matter what page I'm on, the four bottom apps are available to me at all times.  This means that even in the home page, the fixed row holds a higher priority.  This post will concentrate only on this row.  Since this is my only phone (we have no home phone) I have decided that the fixed row will be reserved for communications.  As you can see above, it contains the following apps: phone, text, email and Tweetie (a twitter app from atebits).  All but the Tweetie app come with the phone and are essential for communication in this digital age in which we live.  The phone and text apps are essential to me since that is how I mainly communicate with family and friends.  The importance of the email app with both personal and business emails being available is core to this device.  And then comes twitter.  Twitter has fought for and won at least a 30-minute slot in my daily schedule. Twitter allows me to see semi-live the happenings of the world from what's going on in the lives of friends local and distant to breaking news around the world.  So Tweetie is the app I chose to help me keep up with this ever-changing world.

These four apps are the ones I have deemed the most important to me out of the 100 apps I have on my iPhone.  Some of the reasons are technical and some personal.  In the end, communication with my family, friends, community, co-workers and my fellow human beings in general is a priority for me.  I believe that it shows in my choice of apps on my home page and more importantly...in my daily living.