[OFB Cafe] My Droid Preview

[Timothy Butler]

On Nov 2, 2009, at 1:42 AM, Jens Benecke wrote:

> Hi Tim,
>
> The 3GS was on offer here as well but I’d have had to pay €200 extra  
> to get it. I didn’t think that was worth the effort. (Is it?)

	It's a nice upgrade, but not an absolutely huge one. Over the  
original 2G iPhone, absolutely, but over the 3G, I think two hundred  
euros would be nicer to have. ;-)


> You’re right about the apps. There is some utility in having a phone  
> that can do more than actually phone people. Even more so, since I  
> don’t really use the phone that often. :-) Since moving to Mac OS  
> and using Mac-centric applications more and more (I am now using  
> iWork 09 more often than OpenOffice, for example), most small tools  
> I have begun to like have *some* iPhone counterpart which makes life  
> a little easier or is simple fun to use.

	Yup. I have three favorite apps, I guess, besides the built in ones:

	1.) Amazon.com: it does an amazing job of analyzing a photo and  
finding the product you've taken a picture of (complete with pricing  
and ability to order right away). I'm not sure if Amazon.de is  
supported.

	2.) Facebook.

	3.) TouchTerm (a very nice little SSH client).

	Navigon's GPS program is pretty handy too, though I think if I were  
buying now, I'd wait it out and see if Google Maps Navigation comes to  
the iPhone. It's a lot nicer in most ways, save the fact that it  
requires a data connection in range to function.


> What I cannot really understand is why so many „other“ phones don’t  
> get the most basic simple things right - what use is a touchscreen  
> phone if the buttons are too small or the reaction of the OS is too  
> slow, and what good is a mobile phone in the first place if the  
> sound quality is so bad you can’t properly understand people?

	A very good question.

> Anyway, I’ll keep you updated. My iPhone will come unlocked and I’ll  
> just continue using my cheap prepaid SIM card and pay my couple  
> euros per month (right now I pay 9 cents per minute and SMS).

	I look forward to hearing how it goes!

	-Tim