iOS 5 has some good vibrations

At least, they’re good if you make them good! As pointed out by Glenn Fleishman on Twitter in these two tweets, in Apple’s newly-released iOS 5 for iPhone (and perhaps some of the other iProducts, but I’ve only looked on the phone and it really mainly makes sense there), you can go to Settings > General > Accessibility, Custom Vibration = On and then edit the vibration along with the ringtone whenever you edit a contact. Also, you can create your own “vibration” pattern “ringtones” of a sort once this setting is on, just go to Settings > Sounds and at the very bottom, you’ll see Vibration Patterns where you can dig down and select from various defaults or record your own.

Personally, my first attempt was my first name in Morse code, since it’s about all I remember from when I got my Amateur Radio license well over ten years ago (and I failed the code test, which I wasn’t planning on taking, and got my code-free Technician level license I was aiming for :-) Who knew that many years later I’d wish I’d learned Morse code better so I could more easily recognize callers by feeling my pocket vibrate? Definitely not me! (I did learn code decently well but visually and not audibly, and the translation was slow and painful, and difficult to un-learn and re-learn. Learn it the right way the first time!)

So I’ll probably not do too much with the custom vibrations, at least not ones containing secret Morse code (secret mostly from me). Glenn may far better with his luscious beats, which must mean he’s a better musician than I! But thanks, Glenn, for the custom vibrations tip. I also checked out the other “Accessibility” settings, which are pretty cool; I’ve heard of them before but hadn’t paid very much attention. Some options aren’t useful just for official “accessibility” reasons, so don’t be afraid to browse!