[OFB Cafe] My Droid Preview

[Jens Benecke]

Am 01.11.2009 um 01:49 schrieb Timothy Butler:

> On Oct 30, 2009, at 3:39 AM, saki wrote:
>
>> Timothy Butler wrote:
>>> So far, I am impressed...
>>> "With a major ad campaign, directly targeting the iPhone, in full  
>>> swing promoting the new Motorola Droid, it may be fair to say  
>>> Verizon�s first Android-based phone is also perhaps its most  
>>> anticipated device in recent times. Does it live up to the hype?  
>>> Read on for OFB�s unboxing and short preview of this phone, which  
>>> will be available for purchase next week."
>>> PREVIEW: The Motorola Droid Lands
>>
>> Yes, but not with a bang, so where?
>> There's no link on my received e-mail...
>> Terence

> Whoops, sorry Terence!
> http://www.ofb.biz/safari/article/583.html

Hi all,

Unfortunately, the Droid isn’t and won’t be available in Europe.

So I settled for an iPhone 3G for now. Replacing my 8 year old SE  
K700i. :-)

Seriously though: I had never wanted one. They were too expensive and  
I didn’t like the vendor lock-in.
But for the last four weeks I have been browsing around for a new  
phone and it seems that there is no real alternative given my  
requirements. Which, I think, are not too extravagant.

What I was looking for:
- good voice and sound quality
- problem-free address book and calendar sync with my Macbook
- good battery
- quality scratch free casing
- built-in internet access (for email mostly)
- call recording ability would be nice
- touch screen would be nice (I *hate* mechanical keys, they always  
break first)
- *some* software extensibility

What I didn’t care about at all:
- Camera. I have a 12MP compact camera, I don’t need one in my phone.
- Music and video recording / playback. Nice but not required.
- Games.

So I looked. And it seems 80% of the phones available today fail at  
the first two requirements.
- The Nokia N97 sound quality for example is an absolute disaster  
according to most tests.
- The LG series phones are nice but can only sync with Outlook and  
only one way *really* works (if you change a contact on the phone  
it’ll be overwritten).
- Sony Ericsson’s touchscreen phones are too much music player and  
too little phone for me. No thanks.
- A lot of other vendors offered Windows Mobile devices which then  
would again be tied to Outlook, or using The Missing Sync which  
supports *some* of the sync features of *some* of the phones.
- Also, most phones just didn’t get the user interface right. Buttons  
were too small for fingers, apps didn’t work, menus were confusing  
etc.
- Plus, every single WM phone I tried out in stores was just terribly  
slow to react, it was frustrating. I have a WM-based GPS navigation  
system in my car, it has exactly the same problem. Every key or button  
freezes the whole thing for a  second, even while typing a street  
name. Frustrating.

The iPhone, the tests said, got all these things right - but it was  
still too expensive.
The cheapest I found was €499 just for the phone.

Then I found an offer on eBay. iPhone 3G with a two-year plan at €15/ 
month, 50€ setup, 100€ rebate, no simlock. That amounts to €310  
of fees over two years (if you remember to send a SMS each month to  
avoid the no-use charge).


Well, the order has been placed. I’ll keep you updated. :-)


-- 
Jens Benecke - jens at spamfreemail.de - www.jensbenecke.de
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