Over the years I’ve prided myself in being pretty tech savvy. I’ve even been complemented by many in the younger generation that I’m not the standard baby boomer lost in the modern world of technology and social networking. However, perhaps because of my many years and tech savvy, I’ve never been a first adopter. I learned long ago to avoid “serial no. 1″ of any techie gadget. For example, I always avoided a new Microsoft product until the first service pack (SP) is released. In another words, let someone else work out the bugs!
However, my old cell phone was looking pretty bad. It worked well as a phone but every thing else was really crude. So last week I became a first adopter and within days of it’s release I bought the new Motorola Droid 2 cell phone (though it is hard to call this much capability simply a cell phone). While you might argue this is just an update of the Droid, the Droid 2 is significantly changed under the hood with a faster processor and updated OS.
Bottomline, I simply LOVE this “phone”!! Today’s smart phone really has merged computers and communications into a single package. For example, the booklet that Motorola supplies with phone is a 4-5 page foldout. That’s it! They can’t supply anything more since what you do with the phone depends on which of the 70,000+ applications (mostly free) you download and install on the phone. So if you get a Droid or a similar phone be prepared to experiment and learn. Be adventurous and try applications to see if you like them.
I do have three recommendations for “must have” applications to get you started:
1. Advanced Task Killer – this is an absolute must to increase your battery life. The basic phone has the ability to “kill” i.e. turn off an application when your done. However, applications may continue to run after your done and some applications will automatically restart without you knowledge. This application can be set to automatically and repeatedly kill selected applications after a period of time thus increasing your battery life. Neat!
2. Lookout – This application is primarily a phone security feature. With this application, if your phone is lost or stolen it can be located. It can be locked remotely thus preventing it’s use. You can also cause the phone to emit a loud alarm thus signaling its presence between the cushions of the sofa!
2. Key RIng – This application keeps track of all those membership and discount cards cluttering up your wallet or key ring. It uses the Droid camera to copy any bar codes and then recalls them when necessary to be scanned in.
3. ShopSavvy – This application also uses the camera as a bar code reader. ShopSavvy allows you to scan the item’s bar code and search the Internet for the best price for the product! Gone are the days of getting a major purchase home and realizing you could have done a lot better on-line at Amazon or down the street at BestBuy!
So if your looking to join the smart phone set or even get a smarter phone, I highly recommend the Droid 2. But don’t take my word. Do your own research, Google some of the online reviews, watch a couple of Youtube videos about the phones or better yet, play with them at your local phone store.
ifi Analyzer. This application turns the phone into a wifi channel spectrum analyzer showing all the received wifi signals across the entire 2.4 Ghz spectrum. Cool! Now you can easily check your home wifi setup and make sure everyone in the neighborhood isn’t using the default channel 6. Or, you can optimize the location of your router.
