Saturday I meandered into my local Verizon store to get an up-close look at the new Motorolla Droid phone. While I was there, I also took a gander at the HTC Eris. After I fought through the lines (waiting for the two people in front of me), I checked out the Droid first.
My first thought - ugly! Yes this DOES matter in a cell phone, and not just for girls from what I'm reading online in the reviews. Second thought - gorgeous, clear, and large touch screen. Arguablly better looking than the iPhone screen (as the guy next to me with an iPhone said) The phone was a little tricky to navigate at first but I picked up on it pretty fast. There is no "Pinch" feature to zoom in on web pages and/or pictures. You also have to scroll through your photo album with buttons and don't have the ability to drag the screen to see your next picture. iPhone killer? I think not. I do like that the camera has a flash, separate processors for voice and data, and google voice with navigation. Say "Bar" to your phone and it will quickly come up with a list of the nearest bars to your current location. Click on one and away you go. You might have to throw out your regular GPS in your car if you pick up this phone. That being said, I was disappointed in the ugly design of this phone. The pull-out keyboard is very flat and not super user friend. It is very thin though. The on-screen qwerty is not very usable in vertical mode (too small) but not bad in horizontal mode. I never have been a fan of Motorolla and the Droid is just one more nail in their long buried coffin in my mind. But WOW - cool videos on the Verizon site. Nice marketing Verizon/Google!
I actually liked the cheaper HTC Eris better in many regards. The interface was easier to use, the phone had a more sexy look, and it included the pinch and drag functions familiar to iPhone users. Aside from not really have the money to drop on a new phone right now, the reasons I did not buy this phone is the screen is only 3.2" (vs. 3.7" on the Droid) and it does not include google voice or the newer version of the Android operating system. Still - not a bad phone and if Verizon doesn't come out with their rumored HTC Passion (think Eris but bigger, beefier, better screen, new operating system) in the next few weeks then I may opt for the Eris. After all, my current phone does like to shut itself off at random, among other things and my "new in two" has been up for a couple weeks.
In running news I managed to run run 5 Yasso 800s yesterday @ 6.7-6.9MPH (8:40-9:00 pace). I separated them by jogging 3-3.5 minutes between @ 4.5MPH. Felt good! I even ran almost half of the last interval @ 7.0MPH.
Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica
Yeah the Droid looks very sexy, I am locked in for another 10 months hopefully by the time that's up the dust may have settled a bit
Posted by: Stuart | 14 November 2009 at 09:32 PM