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
12 Jan 09 Out Of Town
It’s the first time we’ve had the opportunity to get out of town for a weekend for a long time, and as we were looking forward to meeting up with our friends again anyway, it was good to get away.
No, we didn’t fly anywhere. It was only 100 miles, well that’s what the GPS said, but the odometer was around 93 when we turned up the drive.
Well it’s not really a drive, it’s across the field. It was dark so I was very careful in case there where any landmines. Not real landmines but enormous great holes to bottom out on. There weren’t though.
We got there in pretty good time, after stopping for some food and drink on the way.
I almost always forget something, and this time was no exception. I got out the camera, and I’d forgotten to put the SD card in the darn thing. (when I got back home, I found I’d left it on the living room table). So all the photos that I took, were with my Blackberry, which is ok in good light – for a cellphone at least.
It was quite dark, so we just enjoyed a snack, and a few beers, and turned in for the night.
The next day we took a short walk down to the Pee Dee River, which is about a mile away. It was a most pleasant afternoon, and it was good to be able to walk around in the countryside. Much as I enjoy living in Charleston, I always prefer the country to the city.
We got back home, and grilled out in the evening. Pork chops and a hearty salad went down a real treat after that walk.
Sunday, we went into Pamplico for brunch, and had some excellent ham and friend chicken, accompanied by cabbage, and beans. It was an ‘eat all you can’ buffet, so I did.
Slight panic on the way home. We were low on gas, and we seemed to drive for miles and miles before we found a gas station that was open, and in the process we took a wrong turning, but it didn’t really take us too far out of our way. Only downside was that it made us too late to get to the Amazon Grill in Goose Creek for the Lowcountry Bloggers meetup, before everyone else went home!
All in all, it was, of course, good to spend time with good friends, and it was good to take some real chill out time and relax. I actually didn’t sit at a computer all day on Saturday, which is a first for me for a long time!
Tags: beers, blackberry, cellphone, fly, food and drink, fried chicken, good time, gps, holes, landmines, living room, long time, odometer, pamplico, photos, sc, sd card, snack
