I’m Finally Getting a Smartphone!

As I am writing this, the mobile devices I own include a first-gen iPod Touch and an Alltel Samsung phone. The phone is actually newer than the iPod, but you wouldn’t think so at first glance. Soon, probably tomorrow, I’ll be finally replacing that phone with a Droid Incredible.

I’ve pointed out a lot of flaws with Android on my blog, so this might seem to be an odd decision at first. However, in my situation, the Droid gave me a better value:

• One of the major reasons is that I’m basically cheating and getting this phone on my parents’ Verizon family plan. This means that instead of paying at least $70 a month for the phone, I’m paying $40, maybe less.

• The $55 iPhone plan and network gets you okay voice coverage and (in my case) miserable 3G data coverage, with a 200MB cap. I’m getting unlimited 3G data just about anywhere with the Droid, for $15 less a month. This is a great deal.

• So far I’ve found two cool things that an Android phone can do that the iPhone can’t: Voice Actions, and Tasker. Voice Actions are something I could see myself using during driving, say for a sudden change of navigation or, more likely, to change the song without touching the phone. Tasker lets you do cool things like disabling sound when you’re within 500m of your workplace, or activating the speakerphone if the phone is pointed straight up (from being on a table). Android phones also have better Google Voice integration, and even on my Samsung phone I’m a Google Voice addict.

• Finally, I’m tired of iOS’s cheap notification system. Every notification you get interrupts what you’re doing, and (particularly in the case of Prowl notifications) you can miss alerts completely if you’re not careful.¹ Android has a much better setup, with a sliding panel of stacked notifications.

I do realize that the applications will be of lower quality. I also realize that the hardware is probably of lower quality. I realize that I’ll probably have to root the phone and install a custom ROM should I not find HTC Sense to my liking, and I realize that I may also have to do that should HTC/Verizon decide that my phone isn’t worth updating when new Android versions are released.

But, that’s at least $180 a year that I don’t have to spend, and I’ll never have to worry² about data caps. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about that, but I’ll be taking quite a few long drives in the future, and it’ll be nice to play Pandora with a 3G connection all the way, without worrying about the 350MB of data streamed during the trip.

Besides, I have an iPod Touch already, and it’s still got life left in it, so I’m not really left out of the iOS app world. I won’t so much miss the apps as be inconvenienced by having to use the iPod to run them. I can live with that.

So, I’m excited about my new phone. I’m sure that after I get it I’ll have disappointments - who knows if, say, there’s a good RSS application for it, or that the IM applications are any good - but there will probably be as many pleasant surprises too. I’ll be sharing my first impressions of the Android universe soon!