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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