So, an interesting thing happened last week: I changed phones, again! In early September, I upgraded from the Droid Thunderbolt to the Droid Bionic. After just one week of use I decided to move back to the Thunderbolt and give the Bionic to a son who was moving from a dumb phone to a smartphone. It wasn’t that the phone was BAD, it was just that it really wasn’t all that different from the Thunderbolt and why waste an upgrade? In early November, after waiting forever, I finally had choices: either the Droid RAZR or the HTC Rezound. I actually played with both and although either would have been fine, I chose the Rezound because of the outstanding sound quality. And then last Thursday, I saw the launch announcement for the Galaxy Nexus.
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OK, let’s get this out of the way right up front: This phone is so thin it could almost double for a letter-opener. I have to admit that I had my worries that I would break the device in half, but nothing could be further from the truth. This was a fun review for me because I knew that I would be purchasing one of the two phones review by SMR this week. In the end, I did not chose this phone, but had it been the only choice, I believe I would have been very happy indeed with the results. The Motorola Droid RAZR is an amazing piece of technology and it speaks very well for the future of Motorola in the Android ecosystem.
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One of the truisms in today’s world is that there is never a plug nearby when you need one. Sure, I carry a huge spare battery in my giant carry-on electronics bag, but it is quite a chore to dig it out, set things up, and recharge. An then when I am recharging my smartphone, I find that my Kindle is dead too. I guess I forgot to turn off the Wi-Fi. Dang!
When I first saw the Ray Solar Charger , I knew this was a gadget for me. A solar recharger with a multitude of possible uses, from mounting to an airline windows, to propping on a table to recharge using artificial light, it is there and easy to use. I am also excited about the Ray for emergency purposes too. It will be nice not to have to totally rely on the power grid to keep my device operational. Just one of the things I often think about living in Houston.
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During the SMRPodcast I sat aside and listened to the Samsung Google Announcement. Here is what they said and more important what I was thinking as an Android fan.
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During our last podcast, one of my picks was the Penzu service. While it is true that there are a lot of ways you can keep a journal/diary, I really like this service because you can quite literally use it anywhere, easily add photos, and now that the Android client has been released, I can truly be untethered in using it. You can do almost everything in Penzu with their free service. However, if you want to really use it to it’s fullest, you need to move to Penzu Pro, which is currently priced at $19/year. This morning, however, I received a notice from Penzu (see below). If you use the link, you can sign-up for Penzu Pro for $15.20 for the first year, instead of $19. Of course, you can try it out for the first month and if it isn’t for you, Penzu will refund your money.
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This last week I was in the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, exiting the underground train that connects terminals, when the handle of my computer roller-bag came apart, making it impossible to actually pull it and no ability to retract the handle. Lucky for me, I felt it happening and I was able to recover the screws that had come loose. More lucky for me, I was able to able to pull my Swiss Tech Utili-Key off the keychain and screw everything tightly back together and in less than 60 seconds I was on my way again. When I told a colleague about the incident, the comment was “Good thing you carry all those tools!” I decided then and there that I needed to share the tools I carry. What follows are the actual tools I carry and use. It ignores many that didn’t make the cut long-term. And I didn’t have to spend a lot of money to find quality tools.
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I received a very interesting HeyTell message this morning from Rod, as well as the graphic above, indicating that his Motorola Droid Bionic has turned into a battery monster and has gotten to the point where he is ready to just pitch it. As you can see, he is 4h 25m into a fully recharged battery and the phone is nearly dead. The major culprit according to the phone itself? Cell Standby. What does that mean? It means that his phone is spending most of its juice looking for a better signal. This is a clear indication that Motorola is going to have to tweak the Radio code for this device to make it more efficient. This is actually not uncommon. You will recall that when the HTC Thunderbolt (the first LTE device on Verizon) first released, the Radio code was upgraded twice in short order, to get the battery usage under control.
HeyTell Message
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I thought that it might be worthwhile to show how my battery usage went after my first full and long day on the road, using the Droid Bionic. This included a very early start (5 am), 2 canceled flights, a change of airline carrier, 7 hours sitting in an airport, 90 minutes of travel through heavy city traffic and dinner with colleagues before I hit my hotel at 11 pm. You will note that I got about 1 hour of recharge time during the cross-city drive by plugging into the convenient USB port of my rental car. The lowest my battery got was somewhere between 25-30% remaining. I could easily see that that was not going to get me through the evening.
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At 9:01 am Thursday morning, I pushed into my local Verizon Wireless store, third in line, and stepped up to the counter to purchase the Motorola Droid Bionic that I had called and reserved the day before. It is always nice when a plan comes together. I was onsite with a customer all day on Wednesday, and Rod called me at 4:30 pm and put the fear into me, supposing that I was already too late to get my unit without having to order online. I called my guy at Verizon and he assured me that he had one tucked under the counter for me, as long as I was there at 9 am. Let me just say I got my device over 24 hrs before Rod. So, the question everyone is asking me today is this: “Was it worth the wait?”
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If you live anywhere near the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico, you know that along with the sun and fun of summer comes the constant eye cocked towards the horizon, waiting for the inevitable storm to appear. Even a near-miss can bring a LOT of excitement and a direct hit might be as life-threatening as we ever see during our lifetimes. The most important factor in successfully dealing with the huge Atlantic tropic cyclones generated by the hot sun and the warm ocean waters is preparation. And crucial to that preparation is information and planning. It’s really hard to purchase gas cans, batteries, non-perishable foods, etc. when you are behind the information curve and store shelves are already bare! In fact, that close to a storm is totally the wrong time to begin preparations. However, that’s a whole different story. For several years, living on the Gulf Coast of the US, I have relied on technology to give me a heads-up as far out as possible so that I can prepare, change plans, and make that crucial decision of evacuate or stay put as needed. I want to introduce you to some of the top contenders in mobile applications to help you do this.
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