26 Apr 10 Droid Update
I’ve had the Droid (affiliate link) for a week or so now, so I can write a bit more about this gadget now that the first flush of excitement of having something new has worn off, and I’ve had time to play around with it, and put it through its paces a little.
It has taken a little to get used to using a touch screen instead of keys and a trackball. I didn’t have any serious issues with the Blackberry trackball. It needed cleaning a few times, but that was probably my fault due to using the device when eating! I thought I had just about all the apps I need on the Blackberry, but I’ve certainly found more to add to the Droid
Using the Android Market I’ve found to be quicker and usually easier than the Blackberry App Store, but then again, on the Blackberry Curve 8330 I had no wi-fi so all data transfer was that much slower. I’ve installed Evernote, as that’s something I use a lot. I’ve also installed the Astro file viewer, as that makes for easy navigation around phone and the SD card. That is easier than the Blackberry, where I had to run the cumbersome slow Management suite on a PC to access the phone itself. I was also pleased to find a nice app to control my access to my Amazon S3 account, and also one for Dropbox, and one for Drop.io. These are all services I make use of, and to have easy phone access has to be a plus.
New for the Droid
The usual suspects line up for Geolocation apps. Foursquare and Brightkite work better on the Droid than they did on the Blackberry Curve. They’re faster and make use of the built in GPS, which the Curve didn’t do. There’s a Gowalla app for the Droid
The GPS works well with Google Maps, and will give you audio directions if you wish. This comes as part of your data package, unlike the Blackberry, where Verizon charged an extra $9.99 a month for the Navigator.
Locale is a very useful app. It’s not free, but costs $9.99. It allows you to set conditions based on your location. For example, you can tell it that everytime it finds your wireless network, to log in, turn off the ringer, and dim the screen. Between midnight and 7am you want the phone to be silent, but only when at home? That can be done too.
Skype mobile comes with the phone, and allows you to talk to other skype users via the Droid (affiliate link). You can’t do video calls (as the video camera is pointing the wrong way!), but you can do anything else you can do on your desktop or laptop Skype program.
There’s a few multi network messaging programs, such as Meebo, which allows simultaneous access to all the major IM networks, such as Yahoo, MSN, Google, AIM and so on. I also found a decent IRC client app!
Last.fm, Slacker, and Grooveshark allow me to listen to some of my favorite music, and DriodLive allows connection to Shoutcast Internet Radio stations (such as NAB Radio). There’s also a built in music app to play any music that you choose to download to the 16GB SD card that comes with the Droid
I’ve heard adverse comments about the camera, but it seems OK. I don’t expect a top class image from a cellphone however high the pixels. It does blow out on the flash somewhat though. It’s easy to share images with the other apps you’ve set up, such as Facebook or MySpace, or your blog if you’ve downloaded the free WordPress app software.
When recording video you can also upload it directly to YouTube if you wish.
Gmail, who I use exclusively for personal and business mail, works just fine.
Downsides?
No apps yet for Audible, or for Reqall. Wi-fi will stop working on occasions, and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to transfer data again.
The battery life is well, crap. I left home at 10.30am on Saturday. I took a few photos. I tweeted a lot. I used Foursquare and Brightkite as I moved around locations in town. I used the wi-fi in a coffee store. By a little after 2pm it was telling me I needed to connect to a charger as it was down to 15%. I think I’m going to have to get a second battery, and perhaps one of the larger capacity ones.
All in all though, I’m pleased with the Droid
Tags: accent, amazon s3, apps, audio directions, bar code scanner, blackberry curve, driod, droid, dropbox, excitement, gadget, google, google maps, management suite, sd card, touch screen, trackball, usual suspects, wi fi
31 Jul 08 Social Media Tools
Oh no! I hear you say. Not yet another article about Social Media Tools!
Well, no not exactly.
But still, us techie types do tend to go on about our tools a lot don’t we?
I guess other professions do that too. I can’t imagine being a carpenter and having a chat over a few beers with another carpenter and comparing lathes, but I guess it happens.
Going back in time, I’m sure the techs of yesterday got excited about new tools too.
Heck, I can remember back in my radio ham days (I drifted away from amateur radio and into computers fairly quickly, and I had neither the time nor the money to indulge in both), when we’d compare radio sets of course, but even accessories like SWR meters or Morse keys.
Now, with established technologies we don’t perhaps tend to talk about them so much. When was the last time you spent time on a land line telephone talking about them? Mature technologies that aren’t innovating so rapidly don’t really get the headlines do they?
It’s human nature to get excited about new discoveries, new tools, new toys, at whatever age we are, so when yet another Social Media app comes along, and we like it, we want to talk about it, and share our excitement with other like-minded folks.
Sometimes though, perhaps we need to step back, and enjoy Social Media for what it is, and quit trying out another batch of tools until next week at least!
Having said that, I’m not at all sure if I can put that into practice myself!
Tags: amateur radio, beers, carpenter, excitement, going back in time, headlines, human nature, lathes, line telephone, media tools, minded folks, morse keys, new discoveries, new tools, new toys, professions, radio ham, radio sets, swr meters, when was the last time
