Riding with the iPhone

I’m on a motorcycle trip this week, and left all technology behind… Except the iPhone. It gives me the chance to get away without having to lug along a laptop and plan my trip around wifi hotspots. Before leaving, I subscribed to the Rogers data roaming plan. It’s still unreasonable, but it’s better that the abuse I’d otherwise take for data roaming. It makes email cheaper than text messaging while I am in the US.

It’s then end of the first day, and the iPhone has already proved itself. First save came when one of my friend’s bikes broke down. Google quickly gave us the location of the nearest Harley dealership, and their technician helped us with the diagnosis. A bit of tinkering and we were on our way.

A couple of hours later, I got a SMS telling me that there was a problem with one of my servers. I launched the SSH client on my iPhone, logged into the server, found and fixed the problem. A few minutes later I was emailing my partner to let him know it was running.

Of course, the three other guys did make fun of me for not having the tip calculator app installed after lunch, but we were able to pay our bill anyway.

At stops for food and gas, I updated my facebook status so my wife could follow my progress. Mapping is quicker and easier that it ever was with my handheld GPS. The Wordpress app let’s me write and publish all this from my iPhone. I even use it on occasion to make phone calls.

Life without laptop

I am on the road at a conference as I write this. Normally, I don’t leave home without a laptop – but since I was travelling by motorcycle and space is at a premium I left the notebook at home. This meant putting a lot of faith in my iPhone, and so far it has paid off.

Of course, getting & sending emails, voicemails and tweets is commonplace with the iPhone, but could I do any “real work” if needed? Turns out the answer is yes.

A client contacted us about a change to an online project that was needed urgently. It wasn’t a big change but it did need to be done before I’d be back. I quickly logged in to the server over ssh conection using TouchTerm (touchterm) launched vi and edited the file. A quick check in the browser, and I was emailing the client back to say that the change had been made.

I’m still not sure if I’d be comfortable to be away for a few weeks without a laptop, but I won’t worry for a few days as long as I have the iPhone with me.