New Toys!

[bjarvis]

The final part of my tech upgrade project arrived today. In August, I upgraded my netbook. That same month, I ordered FiOS (although it wasn't installed until Sept 1 because of the Verizon strike). At the end of August, I bought an intro level Android-based tablet as a test device --and have fallen utterly in love with it. And today, my Blackberry Storm was officially retired as my new Motorola Droid Bionic was activated.

So far, the new telephone is a delight to use. Yes, the Android interface is less intuitive than the iPhone; it also took some effort to get all of my email and social media accounts set up on it the beast. That said, I'm delighted that it has apps available my Storm never could dream of running. Verizon's 4GLTE network is indeed fast: 1600+ contacts, a number of calendars and a tonne of EverNote docs all synced in mere minutes and app downloads take only 5 seconds each or so.

And the screen & graphics! Clear, crisp, colorful and extremely fast response time.

I've purchased the wifi hotspot option and it works beautifully with my laptop, allowing me to cancel the service for my broadband modem, saving about $30/month. It took some effort to de-bond my bluetooth earpiece from my Storm and bond it with the Droid, but that too has been a success.

I haven't tested its music ability yet. While I can connect the phone to my laptop via the USB cable, there aren't any docs or instructions I've found yet which tell me where to place files on the phone so they can be found by the appropriate applications. I also don't have a good feel yet how long the battery will last under regular usage.

Comments

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Check out: http://www.doubletwist.com/

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I upgrade my netbook from 1G to 2G Ram...and it didn't do a damn thing to speed it up. No clues. (Danny did the upgrade for me of course, since he doesn't trust me with anything electronic).

Danny's bamfoozled by his Android phone. After he set it to "airplane mode" to kernoodle with it on our way to Portland, it stopped wanting to find 3G access to anything, so he was 'blind' the entire weekend. It seems to be a problem. He even had to contact tech support (gasp!) when we got back home, because his phone wouldn't connect to 3G. What a life! What a life!

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

Great. Now I have Lena Lovich's "New Toy" stuck in a loop in my head.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Ooo... an mechanism to download & carry my iTunes podcasts! Yay!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing he pulled out the battery to force a complete reset, right? If that didn't help, it definitely must be some sort of serious problem requiring returning it to the shop.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :-)

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

He's had two sessions with their support line so far. Not quite sure what he's tried as yet, but yes, an hard reset sounds like it would work. He's prolly tried that already though, knowing him!

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

I am indeed, a fountain of useful and useless knowledge =)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Some day, I will make my gratitude known in person in ways which would make the baby Jesus cry.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Then I recommend whacking it with a stick. It probably won't help, but it's tremendously therapeutic.

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's too soon for you to say, but how's your batt'ry life?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

So far, not great but that's probably because I'm playing with the new toy night & day and have the wifi and bluetooth options activated nearly the entire time. I need to recharge it about once per day currently but once the novelty wears off and I learn more about how to stretch the battery life, it'll probably be recharged every other day.

[thoreauinsf.livejournal.com]

I just upgraded to the Droid3 which is the bionic with a pull out keyboard. I love it. :)