Love for my new Motorola Droid
A friend of mine just sent me a text message, asking about my satisfaction with the new Motorola Droid that I just picked up a few weeks back. My satisfaction with this little device, and continued excitement still today, can’t be emphasized enough. The last time I was this excited about a digital device was probably when I got my first computer back around 1983. The only difference is that my Vic-20 had 4k of memory and used cassettes to capture programs and my little TV for video display (all for $299). And the modem that I added later ($99), communicated at a patience-inducing trot of 300kbps. My new Droid has 32GB of storage (that would be about 33.5 MILLION more kilobytes than the Vic – if I did my math right) with a built-in 3G satellite connection for bandwidth (averaging about 1MB download connection (and half that up) still slightly faster than my old dialup). And it also taps into my local 802.11 wireless points at home and at work. Did I mention Bluetooth too? Yeah – wireless headsets, etc. and so forth. After my $50 good puppy rebate from Verizon, my cost was HALF what my original Vic cost me - $150 (plus the monthly fees of course – but I use to have monthly CompuServe bills as well – not to mention occasional $300 phone bills thanks to said online service).
The power of the Droid is simple amazing to me. I have no idea why more people aren’t donating organs and bodily fluids to score one of these little machines. Yes, I am aware of the iPhone: I had been an Apple fanboy for the past 20+ years of my life. But for some reason I affiliate iPhones with the kind of people who drive foreign cars, wear designer clothing and talk too loud, while they are on the train, about shit that just doesn’t seem all the important. Where the iPhone seems to be about style, the Droid is more about function: For people who might drive Jeeps (like me) or trucks (like him). The Droid is not as elegant as the Apple option, and it weighs several ounces more, but I honestly like the heft of the Droid. It feels substantial and sturdy, like a power tool: Like it would probably survive if I dropped it out of the car and onto a parking lot, as I’ve done once already. Hell, my last phone slide across my dashboard and out the door opening of my Jeep, hit the pavement and I luckily got to it before anyone had the chance to run it over. After some reassembly it worked… mostly. But as usual, I digress.
Some of the most amazing features and applications I’m excited about:
1. Navigation: While I never owned a GPS unit, I now know that I never will. We used the Droids turn-by-turn guidance during our trip back to the Midwest last month and were simply amazed at how helpful and accurate it was. And yet, I have no idea why people would consider paying $100 or more from a GPS unit that does just ONE thing, when the Droid can do this and more.
2. Qik: The still/video camera built-into the Droid is pretty decent quality. They claim it to be 5 megapixel, but to my eye, the iPhone pix are clearer. I do like the fact that after I take the picture I can click “Share” and push it out to Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, Picassa, or send it direct to one of my Contacts. Regardless, the free Qik video app allows me to live video stream from anywhere I have a connection (wireless or 3G). The video stream can be viewed live from the Qik website and the video is also captured there (and on the camera) for future viewing by me and others (or it can be private if I so desire). Having run an online streaming radio station for 18 months, it blows me away that one device and one little application can become a small live video stream, for free.
3. Mobile Augmented Reality (AR): This isn’t just an application but an entire computer culture category that has nearly all my attention these days. The most recent smart phones being released (like the Droid and the iPhone 3gS) have digital compasses built in. While GPS functionality can tell where you are, a compass can tell which direction you’re facing. Those two coordinates, when teamed with an ass-load of data make it possible for you to hold your phone and basically say “Me Want Mexican” and it finds you all the Mexican restaurants within a reasonable radius of where you are, and then the Droid can give you turn by turn directions to get you there. But it’s more than that – your list of nearby Mexican restaurants will likely contain consumer reviews and ratings, and it might also tell you that two of your friends are already at one of the restaurants near-by (the free Foursquare app). Another Mobile AR app, Wikitude will tell me what I need to know about the special points of interest along the way or the history of the town I happen to be in. The Layar app is probably the most advanced in that I basically select the “layer” your most interested in at the time (a few options include”Eat”, “Apartments for Rent”, “Beaches”, “MrMovie”, “Hotels”, “Golf” , “Bands in Town” and even a damned “Flu-Shot Finder” layer. Regardless of what you’re seeking odds are good one of several Augmented Reality apps will help you find your way. Apps I’ve downloaded in support of this new terrain include Wikitude, Layar, Superpages Mobile and to some degree Foursquare. And Google just threw their spin on things this past week with their new “visual search” option called Google Goggles. I am so excited about this new aspect of computing power combined with navigation that I reserved MobileAR.info for future development.
4. Facebook/Twitter/Craigslist/YouTube: If I want to maintain my social status online, not being especially social, I can with some very specialized apps. Just like the iPhone, the Droid has thousands of social apps to choose from, most designed to keep you engaged and communicating with your network of friends, fans and followers. I’ve also added in a few different apps to get a podcast program working that I’m happy with (like Google Listen), including Stitcher which is streams audio programs as opposed to downloading them. And I installed Shazam (song recognizer) as well, in case there comes a time when I hear a new song and actually want to know who sings it. The lyrics were something about a “beautiful hot mess…”
I’ve really had very few disappointments with my new device, some of which were just a matter of me doing a bit of detective work (like why the battery was draining so quickly). One new app that I was really excited about was the Talking RSS Reader, which unfortunately didn’t actually work with the newest version of the Android operating system. But I have started a dialog with the developer and have volunteered to help him beta test on the new OS. Another disappointment has been Twidroid – a Twitter app that seems to launch itself without my involvement – just haven’t got around to uninstalling and switching to something else. DroidRecord was the only app I’ve actually paid for (.99c) but does not have the sound quality I was expecting for a simple dictation kind of app – but it does work and it is simple to use. Maybe I need to connect up a Bluetooth headset of some sort to improve the quality. I’ve also been looking for MAME (arcade machine emulator) app so that I can play my old Vic-20 and Commodore 64 games, but nothing great so far.
Bottom line – I really couldn’t be happier with my new Droid. It has me excited about technology again for the first time in way too many years.
-pjc