Finally Got The Droid
I guess I’m probably also a little late to ride the hype of the Motorola Droid, but I was so excited by the commercials that I got myself one of my very own, and I have to say, it’s pretty cool! My biggest surprise, is that it took me this long to get a phone with the internet.
Motorola has actually always been my favorite phone manufacturer. My first phone was a Motorola. God knows what model. It was an extremely basic, grey phone. I was actually on the Cricket network at the time. It didn’t even have a camera, but it worked nicely. The coolest thing about it was that it had red and blue lights along the sides that would go crazy whenever it rang. If it was sitting on a table, unobstructed, the lights would dance around the entire room in a circular pattern. That was something really spectacular.
Also, it had a monochrome display, but you could change the backlight color, red, blue, orange, I believe. Every now and then, I’d change it and it would feel like a whole new phone.
Times have sure changed since then. I’d probably still have that phone had I not dropped it in a glass of Kool Aid. The screen flipped upside down and the keys stopped working one-by-one.
After that, I got a temporary replacement Kyocera phone. Are they even still a company? God was that phone terrible.
My next phone was another Motorola, the must-have phone of 2007, the god-damn RAZR. Man was that phone sexy. It was also a tank, made of solid metal. You could use that phone as a weapon, and then collect it and still use it to make phone calls. Nothing really special feature-wise, but it was my first phone with a camera.
Then I switched networks and stuck with the Samsung Alias (formerly the U-740), which was a decent phone. The QWERTY keyboard spolied me, I could never go back.
So then there was the iPhone, a phone everyone in the world wanted. Even I wanted it a little, though I typically didn’t admit it. I really hate Apple. Besides, it wasn’t on my network.
Imagine my glee when I start seeing commercials for the Droid. Here’s what happens, giant metal vessels from space smash into the ground in various locations across the world to release a phone, so cool it made my cry a little. And to make it even better, it’s not just the Droid, it’s the Droid WITH GOOGLE. I love Google!
Sure, what the hell does that mean, having Google? Wouldn’t any phone with the internet have Google? I thought it was lame they said that, but it didn’t stop me from wanting one desperately.
I’ve heard a lot about the Google Android App platform, and was very happy that Apple was seeing some serious competition. Especially happy that Android developers could write in Java, which is another thing I love.
The more I read about the Droid, the more I wanted it. Oh my god, a physical keyboard… that’s the thing lacking in the iPhone I hated the most! Like hell I could use a touch-screen keyboard.
Speaking of touchscreen difficulties, I had always thought touchscreens were going to be the piece of technology that lost me. You see, I’m aware that as you age, you become less likely to develop neurological pathways that are required to perform well on a new technological paradigm. It’s the reason our parents, for the most part, can’t use a computer to save their lives. Of course, some people that age can, but there’s even less competence in the preceding generation!
I’m sure at some point there were old folks saying something like, “You youngsters with your dishwashers, I’ll never figure those out!” It just happens. So I’m always on the lookout for the technology that’s going to lose me; the thing I just can’t learn. Sure, I’m still plenty young, plenty hip, and I’m especially tech-savvy, but I wasn’t so sure about touchscreens when they first started proliferating.
The problem, as I found out, wasn’t the paradigm itself, but the early implementations were just so awful. I’ve used the iPhone before, and I’ve been using the Droid for about a week now, so I’m now well-aware they’re usable. Honestly, the various touchscreen features of the iPhone do outpace the Droid (which lacks multi-touch gestures) but only by a little.
They made me sign up for the unlimited internet plan, and I’m glad they did, because having the internet on-the-go has proven extremely useful. If for no other reason, the internet radio apps like Pandora and Last.fm are fantastic. Also, the thing packs a 16 gb standard SD memory. That’s 4 times what my old ipod had, so I’ve essentially replaced that as an mp3 player, though I’m not sure I’d want to run with something this heavy in my pockets…
Haven’t really had a chance to use it much, but the GPS navigation feature seems really nice. Google Maps in general is pleasant to use. There also seem to be some interesting social uses for the GPS, but I’m not sure I want to be involved in something like that. There’s apparently an MMORPG that uses your GPS position to connect you with players in your area, so maybe some of theses nerds will be able to meet people in real life (doubt it) with similar interests.
Obviously, the biggest thing functionally is the App Market. The Android App market is open, anybody can put an App up, and Google doesn’t have anything to say unless there are problems. Apple’s App Store has an application process. They can reject apps for any reason, for example, Google Voice! That’s the odd thing about Apple, everybody always gives Bill Gates a hassle for being Mr. Proprietary, but it’s always been easier to write software for windows than Apple. By heading towards Apple, you’re really entering a world that’s more proprietary, closed-off and controlled by the powers-that-be.
There’s some pretty cool Apps I’ve added, like the Flashlight app which takes advantage of the bright LED light for the Camera on the front, the online radio apps, a simple notepad app, and an app for posting to my blog on-the-go. So far I’ve only installed free apps, but there are tons out there in the paid and free realms I have yet to discover. Maybe I’ll even develop my own app some day, something to integrate Fitlia perhaps.
Anyways, I’m going on and on and this blog post has entered the realm of too-long-to-be-interesting, so that’s enough about the Droid.