A Disappointing Christmas

Growing up, I always loved Christmas time. My grandparents would ask us for our Christmas lists, and I would start wondering which parts of the list they would get. While I understood the meaning of Christmas, I really enjoyed seeing the presents under the tree and which ones were mine. What do you expect? I was a kid. I found out years later that my grandpa would refuse to leave the store until all of the items on the list were purchased. I really wish that tidbit had been revealed a bit earlier. Oh well.

As an adult (or as close of an approximation as I am), I focus more on Christmas as a time to remember the significance and for family to gather together. The anticipation that formerly accompanied Christmas has found a new outlet.in looking forward to gadget releases, software releases, updates to software or hardware and various other geeky type of stuff. It was fully in evidence leading up to the release of what would become my phone. It was more recently apparent as I waited for the release of the operating system update for the phone.

The Incredible came out of the box with Android version 2.1, but soon thereafter, 2.2 became the latest version of the OS. Since upgrading the software on your own apparently voids the hardware warranty, I proceeded to wait as patiently as I could for the new release to be blessed by both HTC and Version before it arrived on my phone. "I'm a close approximation of an adult," I say to myself. "I can wait for it."

I should really have known better.

It became increasingly difficult to wait for the upgrade. Even though I knew that every day brought it closer to the date of the release, like Christmas, time seemed to slow down.

Finally, one morning, it was time: I got the notification on my phone that there was an update available. I immediately clicked to start the install. Then, I went to take a shower. The two events were completely unrelated other than the fact that chronologically they are together. Once I had completed the shower, I grabbed my phone and went to work.

Since then, I've been largely unimpressed, to be honest. I haven't noticed much of a change as far as the performance of the phone. Some of the widgets are prettier and the task switcher is a little bit improved so that there are more applications to switch between. However, most of the changes have almost been for the worse. Or at least the disappointing. The mobile WiFi hotspot feature is built in to 2.2. However, Verizon doesn't want to let you use it without paying an extra $30 per month. Verizon also added some applications, namely Skype Mobile and Verizon Navigator, that run on their own and can't be uninstalled. Skype runs on its own without any input from me. This is a bad thing. I have also recently discovered that Verizon has it set up that when you plug your phone in to your computer in hard drive mode (as opposed to charge only), they have an autorun set up to ask you to install their media management application. It also launches their website in your browser to affirm the virtues of their media management software.  All of this tends to make me a little bit upset. They're wanting to charge me for a feature of the operating system that they didn't create. They're filling my phone with bloatware that uses up resources that are at a premium on any mobile platform. They're ruining my OS upgrade. For shame, Verizon. For shame.

It's as though they've taken all the toys for me under the Christmas tree and replaced them with sweaters, socks and underwear.

And it's not even fun underwear.

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Waiting is the Hardest Part

I have an odd relationship with the rumor mill. On the one hand, I know that there are people out there that are making things up strictly for the page views or to be able to say, "Hey! I started that rumor!" We'll call this the Peter Vescey group.  On the other hand, I have an insatiable curiosity for what might be coming down the pipe. This was very prevalent for me with the rumors about the iPhone coming to Verizon, information on the release of the Incredible, and most recently information about the Incredible moving to the new version of the Android OS, 2.2 or FroYo. When HTC announced that the handsets sold in 2010 would be moving to 2.2 before the end of the year, there was a bit of an uproar on the internet because people didn't realize that meant that all of the phones would be migrated before the end of the year, not at the end of the year.  Pretty soon, we were hearing about the HTC Evo being updated and it was. Then, everyone started asking questions about when the Incredible would follow its Sprint-based brother.  At least, I did, and since I'm writing this, I'm going to assume that everyone else was asking those questions right along with me.

I started checking the rumor mill. Pretty soon, there was word from somewhere (probably Peter Vescey) that the update would happen August 18th. To a tech-obsessed geek like me, this was the operating system equivalent of a pregnancy due date. You try and tell yourself that it's just a date. Nothing is confirmed and lots of things might happen between now and then, but it still gets ingrained in your mind that you have a definitive end date in site. When that "definitive" end date comes...and then goes...it's a bit disappointing.

Just like pregnancy, however, when things finally do start moving, they happen pretty quickly.  We had started hearing about a new date in early September. I again told myself not to get my hopes up while at the same time freely acknowledging that I would still get my hopes up. An odd thing happened, then. There was a leak of the official 2.2 build for the Incredible. People were excited and admonished people to let them know how it worked so that they, too, might upgrade. Soon after, a new rumor started: FroYo for the Incredible would drop the next day on the 27th. The labor pangs had began. On the 27th, Verizon indeed confirmed that 2.2 would be rolled out, albeit slowly, to the customers who had purchased the Incredible.

Here I am, now, on Saturday, the 28th, still waiting for my update. I know that every minute brings us closer to the arrival of the update. I know that in due time, my phone will also be updated and I'll be able to enjoy the improvements that come with the upgrade.  I have to say, though, all those logical, well-reasoned arguments don't make the waiting any easier. I wonder if going for a walk would help move things along?

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The Next Big Thing

I've been horrible about writing again. For this I humbly apologize. Here are some of the things that I've been up to with the phone.

The phone came in very handy while we were on vacation recently. We went to the store when we first arrived (using the GPS to get there), and by the time we were done there, it was dark out. My wife said that we didn't need the GPS to find the hotel since it was on the same road (we thought). After 15 minutes or so of fruitless driving, my wife turns to me and says, "Maybe we need to turn on the GPS." The Incredible, for the win.

I've found that I'm searching out new apps less frequently. I have my social apps (Facebook and Seesmic). I have my podcasting app (Google's Listen).  I have my game (Robo Defense). There really isn't a whole lot else that I need an application for at this point on the phone, so I'm not hunting. Maybe that would change if there was a better interface in to the app store. This is one way in which Apple does better than Android in being able to discover apps in a nice, desktop interface and then load those apps to the phone. doubleTwist is attempting to do something similar on their website, but there's much to be desired there as well.

Speaking of apps, I also haven't gotten any progress in on writing my own.  I was able to download and install all of the tools and in fact did the "Hello, World" example.  However, my laptop's hard drive crashed and I haven't gotten back to it. Trust me, though, it sounds really cool in my head.

Recently, there's been news that the Incredible is getting close to being updated. The update would be to the current stable version of Android (2.2) and will add some very nice features to the phone, including 802.11n wireless, an Amazon MP3 store, and wireless hot spot. The last one is the feature most interesting to me. There's been some speculation on if Verizon will be charging extra to make use of a feature that's built in to the operating system of the phone, but it remains to be seen how it will be handled. That feature is already available on the webOs Palm Pre Plus without any extra charge, so one would hope that there would be a similar thought for the more popular Android devices. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.  One other thing with the update is that I've been hearing that Froyo (the code name for 2.2) includes some optimizations that make the phone a bit snappier and improves battery life. This is also a very good thing. I'm able to mostly work around battery issues with shutting off WiFi and leaving the GPS off unless I need it, but it would still be nice to not have to be so paranoid about it.

I've really like the phone so far. I think that it has been a good utility for us, and I think that I haven't been on it nearly as much as Tracy had feared that I would be. Maybe I'm finally starting to grow up.

No, that can't be it.

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Regret, Avoided; Opportunity, Missed

Well, today Apple held the WWDC Keynote address and unveiled their latest iteration of the iPhone hardware and (newly-renamed) iOS 4.  There were, as usual, the applause and cheering that Steve Jobs has come to expect of his keynote crowds.  I was able to avoid any potential buyer's remorse and Jobs missed a huge opportunity for a great announcement setup.

Jobs started off by covering some of the statistics with regard to the iPhone, iPad and the application store for their mobile stores.  He also discussed their new advertising platform for those devices that they hope will make themselves, and the application developers, even more rich (The Fugitive reference).  Then he went on to cover the main event.

The phone itself is largely what we'd been hearing about for weeks, especially after the prototype was purchased by a rumor site.  It's using the same (or similar) chip to the iPad, developed in house and has a substantially upgraded screen that packs a lot more pixels in, apparently.

What I thought was going to be the best part about the keynote, though, didn't happen, but it was perfectly set up to occur.  I'll explain.  When Jobs was demonstrating the new screen, he was going to have a side-by-side comparison between the screen of the previous iPhone and the iPhone 4.  Jobs makes mention of the network being unpredictable.  Asks people to get off of the WiFi (which I thought was a slight jab at the Google IO keynote a few weeks ago).  Later on, in another demonstration, more connectivity issues.  I had everything that would happen next mapped out in my mind.

The Steve shakes his head and sighs in exasperation while a sympathetic and loving crowd looks on.  "Can anyone help me?" he might ask.  Cut to stage left.  Ivan Seidenber, CEO of Verizon, strides confidently on stage.  "Maybe I can help, Steve."  "Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenber? How can you help?" "Well, I know that you've been having some network issues for, well, a while, and I think it's finally time that we joined forces.  We can show the world exactly what the best hardware, software and network can look like when they're together at last." "I think I'd like that, Ivan.  I think I'd like that a lot, but keep in mind that from now on, I own you." "Yes, sir." "Thanks for playing."  Then there'd be a freeze frame of everyone laughing at Ivan.

It was perfectly scripted.  It just didn't turn out that way.  So, here we are; mostly minor-sounding upgrades to a three-year-old device with a new form factor.  And the same horrible network that's been hampering it all along.  And here I am without the test I had been wanting.  The test to figure out if it was strictly wanting the openness of the Android which fulfills the philosophical arguments of freedom and choice, or if it was simply a case of justifying second best.  I still feel as though I would have gone with Android.  I have become more jaded with each Jobs keynote, picking it apart and taking everything he says with a China-sized grain of salt.  He's trying to get his followers to be excited about adding in features that have been available everywhere else for years, but they only become "innovative" when they come to Apple.  Multi-tasking, folders, WiFi video chat.  These are not new things.  They're just new to Apple.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go listen to Pandora while writing an email on my phone, which I've been able to do from day one.

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The Potential for Regret

In my original statement on why I was going with and Android phone I talked about being fed up with waiting for the iPhone to be on Verizon along with Apple's overly-vigorous control of what is allowed to go on the platform.  I purposely and happily went with the Incredible and haven't regretted it.  At least, yet.  This upcoming Monday is Apple's World Wide Developer Conference.  It has traditionally been at these Conferences, specifically the keynote address, that Apple has announced the latest version of the iPhone.  There has been speculation for a long time that one of the announcements this year will be the inclusion of Verizon as a carrier for the iPhone.

This has started me wondering:  How much of my decision to go with the Incredible had to do with the stronger philosophical alignment that I have with the Android platform and how much was because it was already on my preferred carrier?  When the iPhone does come to Verizon (it seems fairly certain that it will, at least eventually) will I regret jumping in with Android?

If Monday comes with the announcement of the iPhone on Verizon, we'll find out how that makes me feel.  My thinking right now is that I'll still be fine with my decision.  I'm free to do with my phone what I want to do.  I'm free to develop software for the platform and not have to cross my fingers that Uncle Steve will approve the application.  However, I also admit that if Monday comes and goes without any official word of the iPhone coming to Verizon I will breath a bit of a sigh of relief because then I won't have to be confronted with the possibility of being disappointed.  I like not having to be confronted with my feelings.

Like the rest of the world, we'll just have to wait and see.

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Something's Developing

As many of you know, I am a professional geek who writes software for a living.  There's a lot more that goes in to my job, but for the most part, that's it in a nutshell.  One of the side effects of doing that for a living is that occasionally, I'll get an idea in my head and start figuring out how I'd program my way to a solution.  Only rarely, however, am I driving to actually start writing code.  This is normally because I find other things to distract myself.  However, a friend of mine said something as we were talking bout phones that stuck with me, so I decided to look in to what it would take to start making programs for the Android platform.  Turns out, not really that much.

Here's what you need in a nutshell:

1. Java Development Kit - This doesn't just mean that your computer is capable of running Java programs.  It means that you're capable of developing Java programs.  Java is a programming language that is object-oriented (which means that you think of everything in the software as an "object" and each object has certain attributes and capabilities) and tends to be pretty good for embedded platforms.  It's also pretty widely-used.  The download is freely available from Sun.
2. Some way to edit Java programs.  What Android (and, frankly, almost everyone else) recommends is using Eclipse.  It's a bit of a resource-intensive program, but for what it does, it does it well.
3. The Android development kit.  This is where you get the tools for writing specifically for the Android platform.  This includes the interface to the OS along with essentially a virtual phone to be running your software in (which you can see above).
4. Programming ability.  This wouldn't be absolutely necessary, I suppose, but it sure doesn't hurt.  I haven't really written much Java code in the past several years, but it has some strong similarities to the languages I normally write software in (C/C++).

After getting everything installed and set up, I was actually able to get a program running pretty quickly.  I'm interested to see if everything I want to do will be possible with Android.  It means digging around a bit with the documentation to find out what function calls I need to do, but it should be interesting.  I don't want to talk too much about what I hope to actually accomplish, but it will hopefully help with my biggest complaint about the phone so far.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

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GPS FTW

As part of my commitment to a happy marriage, I took scuba lessons.  If you know my wife, that completely makes sense to you.  The lessons consisted of two weekends' worth of time allotment.  The first weekend was classroom work (horrible high school flashbacks) and pool work ("we're going to swim horizontally while pretending that we're swimming vertically").  That was the easy bit.  I passed that portion without any problems.  I'm still upset that I got that one wrong on the final test.  Regardless.  The second weekend consisted of what's referred to has "open water dives."  In other words, you're not in the controlled environment of the pool anymore, Toto.

We met early on Saturday morning and divided the group in to the various cars that would be traveling four hours to a quarry.  The quarry used to be a working rock quarry until they dug deep enough to hit a spring and fill the hole up with water.  They then stocked it with fish, sunk some interesting things to look at, and began charging such crazy, extortion-level prices for people (mostly scuba students) to make use of it that the Russian mafia was overheard to have said "that's a steep price."  The trip started mostly uneventful.  Those of us in the minivan were getting to know one another and enjoying scanning the radio for music we enjoyed.  There were five vehicles in the convoy all total.  For those who are wondering, of course I quoted some C.W. McCall as we pulled out of the parking lot.

Later on in the trip, things got a bit more fragmented.  One car missed where the interstate split and were on their own.  Traffic separated the lead van with the other three.  I called the lead van to make sure which route they were taking.  We were only a few miles behind them, but didn't see them again until reaching the quarry.  How does this relate to the Incredible?  With everyone separating, I decided to put the phone to a real-world test.  Battery life to the wind, I turned on the GPS.  It took me a little bit to find the address of the place we were going (Maps was a bit fickle about using the abbreviation for road instead of spelling it out), but soon I had the route planned out before us.

It was a bit more of a scenic route than I initially expected as it took us through the heart of a small town instead of staying on a road that eventually met back up with the road we were on, but the important bit is that it got us there.  I found that when the miles remaining to turn is in the double-digits, it decrements when it reaches four tenths of a mile remaining (e.g. 10.4 appeared as 10), but other than that, it was a perfectly good turn-by-turn direction system.  It fulfilled its purpose of getting us to the quarry and subsequently home.  Isn't that all you want out of a GPS system?

Over the two days we were there, I survived the sub-60 degree water and successfully didn't drown.  I passed the open water portion of the scuba classes and am now a certified open water diver.  The GPS passed a test that makes me feel better about not bringing my mom's Tom-Tom with when we make our anniversary trip, but I still need to get a car charger for the phone before that happens (stupid battery life).

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It's Not You, It's...Well, Mostly It IS You

Most of us have had that relationship that on paper should be great, but there's just something not quite right to us.  When trying to explain it, all we can really settle on is "It's just not working out."  Such has been my experience with doubleTwist.

I had high hopes for doubleTwist.  I had expected it to work for me in a similar manner to how I used iTunes with my iPod Touch.  However, after a week of using the program, it became obvious to me that it just wasn't going to make me happy.  There were too many things that I could point to and mention how it kind of bothered me.  None of these things were huge in and of themselves or what we would call "show stoppers," but they were nagging at me.  The performance was slower than I would have liked.  The podcasts were organized in a way that bothered me.  I had to manually delete the completed podcasts.  Then came the final straw: I provided feedback.  More appropriately, I received a response to feedback I had left in their forums.  The response was basically: "All of these are by design and can't be changed by the user."  I understand that engineers can get a specific work flow stuck in their minds (pot, kettle. kettle, pot), but to not even provide an option to order the podcasts in a way that the user might want? That, to me, is unacceptable.

So starting this week, I cut ties with doubleTwist.  It was an easy move to make at the time because that morning, for whatever reason, my podcasts decided to not sync through. So I listened to my podcasts by directly downloading them to the computer. Then I started looking in to other options.  The first thing that I really looked in to and tried was Google Listen.  It's an app on the phone, but it's also manageable through the Google Reader site.  This accomplishes one of the reasons for using a computer-based syncing option for the podcasts: Making the podcasts discoverable and subscribe-able through something other than the phone itself.  Mobile devices, in my opinion, are great for consuming certain content.  They tend to be less than great for discovering content to be consumed.  Integration with Google Reader lets me subscribe to podcasts through a web interface with a keyboard and a mouse.  Much better.  Listen, by default has one of the same small issues that doubleTwist had: it orders things by default from newest to oldest.  However, at least they provide you with an option to queue the files up in a specific order.  Not ideal, but it works.  I'm hoping that one of the new options I found in Reader will take care of the default case for me.  You're able to organize items there from oldest to newest.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

The app itself isn't perfect yet.  They need to provide play controls at the lock screen so I can pause and re-start the audio without having to unlock the phone and in some cases re-enter the application.  By the way, this is one way in which Android is (at least currently) superior to Apple's mobile OS.  I'm able to run an application in the background and not be locked in to the application as long as I want it to hear it.  Other than that and some small navigation issues (it's not yet immediately obvious to me which screen I need to be at for the different functions I want it to do), it's been working pretty well for me.  I'm able to set options in the app to not download items unless the phone is on wireless (using the home networking as opposed to hitting Verizon) and plugged in (not draining down the battery).  Throughout the day, it will occasionally hit the server to discover if there are any new items forthcoming, but it will wait to download them until the two conditions are met.  A nice solution instead of syncing, in my opinion.

So, that's it, then, doubleTwist.  I suppose I'll only see you again when I have some new purchased/ripped music that I want to be putting on the phone. I'm sure it will be an awkward and uncomfortable five or so minutes. Just like a real relationship.

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On the [Turn Left Now] Road Again

So it turns out that I need a car charger.  Not because I forget to charge or anything.  I can get the full day of battery through normal usage.  This includes listening to podcasts essentially the entire day and several text messages and phone calls (mostly from Tracy) throughout the day.  No, I need the car charger to make sure that I know where I'm going.  That's right, I turned on the GPS.

This weekend I had to drive to my brother-in-law's house to pick up his daughters for a birthday party.  I've driven there twice now but have a horrible memory, so I figured it was a good opportunity to try out the GPS turn-by-turn feature that they added with Android version 2.1.

The instructions that were given by the phone were pretty straight forward and it was very easy to hear and understand the voice.  I wasn't looking at the screen very much (for obvious reasons), but in the few glances that I gave it there was everything you'd expect on a GPS panel: Distance to go, next instruction, which way you're turning, a basic map, etc.

Here's the issue: In the 60 minute round trip, I burned through nearly half my battery.  I know that smart phones, with all of their features, are notorious for going through their battery quickly, but that's ridiculous.  I talked to the folks at the Verizon store and they weren't anticipating an expanded-capacity battery coming out any time soon.  I think people would snatch those up like hot-cakes.  I was also reading comments in a forum where a person was talking about the battery needing to get "broken in."  I was previously unaware that batteries were like a new pair of jeans, but it provides me with a little bit of hope.  As such, I've been unwilling to research if there's any actual truth behind it for fear of having those hopes dashed to the ground.  I'm strange that way.

The main two options for a car charger are the Verizon-sold one that has the permanently-attached cord or a DC adapter that simply has two USB ports on the end.  I would prefer going that route as it's substantially cheaper and would be able to be used with Tracy's phone as well.  The problem there, of course, is the concern that either the phone or the adapter wouldn't follow the USB protocol of asking the device how much power it needs before going to full power.  Basically, I really don't want my phone to explode.

But really, isn't that what we all want out of life?

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Working Out a Workflow

We fear change.

-Garth Algar

Over the past few years, I've had a pretty good work flow for syncing my iPod to the podcasts downloaded to the computer. I would plug in the iPod and wait for the sync, then I would kick off the download of the latest episodes and go to bed. In the morning, I would do another quick sync, unplug my fully-operational battle station...er...fully-charged iPod and be on my way. Some strange fluke of iTunes running and the iPod being plugged in kept the computer from going to sleep/hibernation. After nearly a full week with the Droid Incredible, I'm having to shift that a bit. It seems as though having the phone plugged in to the computer doesn't keep it from going to sleep. This means that in the morning, I wasn't having a fully-charged phone. With the battery life on the phone already much shorter than I would like, this is pretty much unacceptable. As such, I've been having to work out what process of steps I need to take to make sure that I have everything sunk and charged before I walk out the door in the morning.

Basically, I'm having to do more work before I go to bed now. I download the latest podcasts to doubleTwist, then sync my phone. As soon as that is completed, I unplug the phone from the computer and plug it in to its charger.

This might not seem like that huge of a change, but believe me, for me it is a large change. I'm very much a creature of habit. I always do the exact same sequence of steps when I'm in the shower in the morning. I always listen to my new podcasts in the same order. Therefore, changing my workflow, even a little bit, is kind of unsettling for me.

Another note about podcasts, while we're here: It looks as though the default media player doesn't mark the podcasts as played, so as it stands right now, I'm having to manually delete them. Also, they are being duplicated in the playlist for the individual podcasts, so I end up with at least two instances of each episode in the playlist. Hopefully, this doesn't mean that each one is having to be copied multiple times to the phone. That's using up space for no reason whatsoever.

I'm still taking suggestions for a replacement media player.

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One Day Down

One day is in the books now. I was brave and left my iPod at home, making the Droid my only device for the entire day that I was at work. A couple of quick thoughts:

• I need a more podcast-friendly media player. For some reason (don't know if it was doubleTwist or what), my podcasts were all double-copied to the phone. This means that I'm using more space than I need to. Also, the podcasts were in inverse order, so the oldest podcast was at the bottom. The signifigance here is that I will often let several episodes of a show build up and then listen to two or three at a time. With the current order, I have to manually start the next newest episode each time one episode is complete instead of allowing the player to simply cascade to the next. It's possible that's simply a changed setting, but I haven't found it yet.
• I'm concerned about battery life. I followed my normal routine throughout the day and I was at about 60% battery life by about the middle. Granted, other people were playing with the phone to see what it was like and there were more calls than normal because I had to talk to my wife about a few things, but I was a bit worried and shut off the WiFi while I was away from home. I don't want to have a case where I forget to shut off the WiFi and I'm out of battery because I had to search for something on the internet.
• Application interface on doubleTwist isn't exactly what I thought it would be. I had been under the impression that it would work very much like the iTunes app store where I could browse around inside the program for applications that would be sunk to the device the next time they were connected. This appears to not be the case. Instead, you can browse on the doubleTwist website for applications, scan the Q code on the screen with your phone and it gets installed that way. Slightly disappointing to me.
• I have fat fingers. The notification bar at the top of the screen is a bit hard for me to hit because you have to press and hold and the phone keeps interpreting that action as me wanting to grab the large clock on the home screen. This is a bit frustrating. Hopefully there's some form of setting where I can adjust the width of that bar. Otherwise, I might have to remove the large clock, which is doable but not preferable.
• I want to be able adjust the behavior of the optical track pad button. I'll admit it: I'm used to how the iPod/iPhone software handles the round button on the front of the device. I want to be able to click on it to wake it if it was sleeping; click to take me to the home screen; and double click to bring up the media controls. This is how I expect it to behave. Again, I'm hoping to be able to dig around in the settings.
• It's not immediately intuitive to me how applications keep running when I leave them. Is it something that I just have to get used to or will I need to change my workflow to use an application killer program to periodically go through and terminate the applications that I don't want to be running?
• The one and only feature that I miss from my previous phone is that I could close it to end a call. That's it. I just have to get my muscles used to ending a call in a different way.

All things considered, these are pretty minor nits. I'm very impressed by how smooth the phone is when scrolling from screen to screen or launching an application. The call quality is great and the voice search feature, once I get used to it, will come in tremendously helpful. The way humans work, though, is that it's the negative things that stick out. Overall, I'm very happy with the phone so far.

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The Impression That I Get

Keep in mind that as I write this, I have yet to install an application on the new phone. Right now, my computer is trying to sync everything that was previously in my iTunes library to the phone. I really hope that 8 GB of storage will be enough for now. Verizon was nice enough to send along a 2 GB micro SD card in the box. However, that was appropriated by my wife so that she could have her music on her new phone. In fact, one of the reasons that I'm still up is that I was spending a decent portion of my time to be setting up her phone.

One of the first things that I did was start working with doubleTwist to get the music set up. I thought it'd be a good idea to make use of it for Tracy's phone since it was able to import things from iTunes and she has a much smaller list of things to be imported.

Apparently, I did something incorrectly since things didn't get pulled in and I had to point to the music manually. Also, the program crashed a couple of times and syncing to the Rogue was a giant pain. It didn't fill me with confidence for it handling the Incredible.

After getting the cell phone completely charged (per the instructions that I read...well, at least the quick start part), I activated it per Verizon's instructions. Then, I signed in.

Instantly, all of my contacts were downloaded to the phone. Instantly, my mail was all set up. All of my calendar information is set up already. The keyboard is going to take a little bit of getting used to after the iPod keyboard.

doubleTwist has yet to completely amaze me. It seems to have imported my iTunes music sufficiently. However, subscribing to podcasts was a bit more cumbersome than I would have liked. I would have liked to be able to drag and drop files in to the program like I'm able in iTunes. I will take this opportunity to point out (and remind myself) that it's still technically a beta program.

I remain a bit concerned about the battery life. I used it for only a few hours with mostly just navigating around the screens and settings, and just before I plugged it in to the computer for the sync, we were down 1/8 to 1/4. That situation will require further monitoring.

I'm especially excited about getting apps installed on there. I'm definitely going with the Google Voice application. That will be my source of text messages so that I didn't have to add that to my account. I'm also going to be looking at the options for social networking.

So the bottom line right now is that it's still too early to tell for sure what all I think about it. Plus, there's the fact that I'm very sleep deprived right now. That never helps.

Final note: Could someone please speed up my network so that the syncing takes place faster? Thanks.

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Droid Day

It's here! It's here! It's really, really here!

OK, so I'm a little bit excited. The phone has finally arrived and I've gotten my wife's new phone set up, so I'm able to focus on getting things set up for me and my phone. It's currently charging while I excitedly page through the startup guide and the downloadable manual download and install doubleTwist. I find one of the doubleTwist setup screen especially humerus.

I think it's fully charged. And heeeeere we...go!

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Just a Little Bit of Panic

As we arrive at Droid Day, I have a short story to share about a little bit of panic that I had yesterday.

I was repeatedly checking my email yesterday for the shipping confirmation of our phones (my wife is getting a new one as well). I finally received an email from Verizon. This made me happy. Well, until I opened it, that is.

Unfortunately, we are unable to complete this request because [your phone] requires a data feature added to your voice plan.

This mildly upset me. You see, we knew going in that we were going to need a data plan. That was one of the things we discussed the most about making this move. We added it to the order. I looked up the order confirmation from Verizon to verify that it was there.

So I grabbed my phone and went to another room for some quiet. I was ready. I had my order number handy. I had my ire prepared and woe be on any phone representative that would dare contradict my position that we had fulfilled every requirement for the purchase.

"Hi, this is Mike." (Quotes are as close as I can remember.)

I calmly (no, really) explained the situation to Verizon Mike.

"Let me take a look here really quick."

I waited patiently, preparing all of my counter arguments.

"I have no idea why you received that email. Everything looks fine to me. I'll assign the order to myself and make sure that it gets sent out today. It's been a bit of a crazy day. I'm sorry about the confusion."

And just like that, everything was handled. I received the ship confirmation last night. I might subtly hint to my wife that the kids don't need to be picked up at normal times if the phones aren't here yet.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Now, I used to work phones in what at this point almost feels like another life. I like to think that I can tell when someone is genuinely good at doing customer service over the phone. Also, I know that some phone jobs are set up in such a way that the reps get better reviews or other things based on good customer feedback. So, I let Verizon Mike know that he did a great job and asked to be transferred to his supervisor to let his supervisor know that he did a great job.

"Sure. You might get his voicemail, but just hold on for one second while I transfer you."

So, i was transferred. However, after the beep I started talking and right as I was saying, "Hi, my name is Jason and I'm a long-time Verizon customer..." click. The voicemail hung up on me. That was a little rude of the computerized system. I don't know that I'll ever forgive it.

At any rate, while I know you'll never read it, thanks Verizon Mike for the help. I really do appreciate it, and you were friendly, helpful and efficient. Good for you.

Now, I just have to wait.

Well, nuts.

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Prepare for Trasition

In preparing for the pending arrival of the phone, I've been doing some research. I've been getting recommendations for apps to be loaded on it from friends and also been looking at a couple of other options from the media.

The recommendations for a Twitter client have been either Seesmic or Hootsuite. I'll probably end up trying several until I settle on one that I really like. One of the things that I wish Twitter did was to extend the API so that clients could push back the posts that have already been read. That way, when I've already read something on my phone, the client that's built in to my IM on my computer won't assume that they're all new just because I haven't read them there yet. But that's a rant for another time.

I've already mentioned that I listen to Leo Laporte quite regularly. One of the people that he has on his show This Week In Google is Lifehacker founder Gina Trapani who is a major advocate of the Android platform. In a recent episode, she mentioned a site named AppBrain which is essentially an Android app discovery site. It has another neat feature in that if you know someone's user name and they've signed up through AppBrain, you're able to look at the applications that they have installed on their Android phone. One of the best ways to find things that you have a good chance of liking is people's recommendations. AppBrain gives you the opportunity to take a look at what people are actually using, not just rating or saying is "awesome".

On the media side of things, I've been very concerned about how to handle music and podcasts on the phone. My job is one in which I sit at my desk and largely just work on my computer. A large part of my human interaction is accomplished through instant messaging. Also, I have some loud cube-neighbors. As such, I spend a good part of my day with my head phones on listening to podcasts (hence all the Leo references). I needed something to manage podcasts so that I wouldn't have to be manually downloading each episode each time. That gets to be a pain. In looking around, I found a program named doubleTwist. The more that I read about the program, the more I like it. It's essentially iTunes for everyone else. It handles iPods or iPhones like iTunes, but it has built-in compatibility with a plethora of other devices as well from other mp3 players to Blackberries to (wait for it) Android devices. It automatically handles moving music from your PC or Mac to your phone. It has a built-in Amazon MP3 store for finding and purchasing new music. It has a built-in Android app store. It has support for downloading and syncing podcasts. If it works as advertised, it's exactly what I want for a media manager for my new phone. I'll be providing a review of the program once I get the phone and get everything set up and installed. But for now, it makes me feel a lot better knowing that there is a solution out there that at least has the hope of providing me the functionality that I need.

Thursday is almost here...

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Dreaming of Electric Sheep

"Folks who want porn can buy [an] Android phone."

-Steve Jobs (supposedly)

I freely admit that I'm a gadget guy. There's always some new "toy" that I want to add to our house under the thin premise that it will make our lives "easier," but really I just want to be able to play with it and see what features are available. As such, it's really surprising to me (and my wife) that I've been able to hold off getting a smart phone this long. I've often looked at the different offerings, drooling over the possibilities. I think part of the delay has been the fact that I've always heard that Windows Mobile is horrible and Blackberries were too business-oriented for my tastes. That and Tracy was always there when I'm shopping for a new phone. When the iPhone came out, it was a huge step forward in usability, utility and (let's face it) fun, but it was on a network that I had no interest in tying myself to.

However, all of this has recently changed. We've realized a few times over the past couple of years how handy it would be to have internet access wherever we might find ourselves. Also, smartphones have taken significant steps forward, spurred on by the head start that Apple has given themselves with the iPhone. There have been constant rumors about the iPhone coming the Verizon (my carrier of choice because I'm an American and never leave the country), but nothing definite has materialized as of yet.

I had often thought that I'd wait until Verizon received their own version of the iPhone to take the plunge and own a smartphone. But as time has gone on, more of the decisions that Apple has made concerning what can and cannot be installed/done on the iPhone. If you read the quote at the beginning of this post, you'll see the reason that Steve Jobs supposedly stated in an email to a customer as far as why they have such tight controls on what can be done on the phone. I should point out that these are the exact same reasons that the People's Republic of China state as the impetus behind their vigorous filtering of the internet in to and out of China. However, I think that any reasonable person examining what is being done both with the filtering in China and Apple's position on the iPhone will see that it's not about porn, it's about control. I don't think Apple views people who purchase an iPhone as the owners of the iPhone, but rather a person that Apple has graced with allowing them to use Apple's phone. I have no interest in putting pornography on my phone. None whatsoever. I'm completely against it, in fact. However, I also have problems with a corporation dictating to me what I can or can't install or do on my phone.

One of the final straws for me was in listening to Leo Laporte's podcast network where he stated in several shows that he has dumped his iPhone for an Android phone, specifically the Nexus One. That started me down the path of planning to get an Android phone myself when the time came. Last week, pre-orders started for the HTC Droid Incredible on Verizon.

The family and I went in to the store as soon as they got a demo unit. I tried it out and found it satisfactory. Why merely satisfactory? Well, one of the big things about the Android platform is that it's very tightly tied to a Google account, so I'm not able to get a complete feel for the platform without being able to type in my username and password to get my contacts, email, and calendars on there. I did come away impressed with the speed with which it moved from screen to screen and the different little widgets to play with.

So, I pre-ordered the Incredible. Now I wait until April 29th, which is the release date for the Incredible. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I find myself a bit nervous about getting it configured exactly the way that I want it to be and how I'm going to be managing the functions that I use two different devices for today (cell phone and iPod Touch). It's exciting but a bit daunting. It reminds me (on a much smaller scale) of when our first child was born. I know that I'm about to embark on a new adventure, but there's a part of me that has always hated change.

That's why I'm writing here. I'm hoping to document my transition to the new platform on this blog and sharing my experiences and lessons learned with everyone else.

Hope you can join me on the journey.

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