After considering this smartphone to replace my clunky, but functional Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, I have decided, and I'm voting with my feet.
No Droid for me.
In fact, no more smartphone for me.
First, the Droid is flashy, but it's keyboard is poor, and human thumbs don't come with the fine point calluses on them that would be required to efficiently use the phone. At least my Samsung schI-760 has rounded keys that give tactile feedback when pushed.
Second, and this is the biggie, I like to have broadband connectivity when I am away from Blog Station Alpha. I've been using the smartphone as a modem, and the Droid will do that, but Verizon now wants to nick me for $15 over what I've been paying for that privilege.
So, I am going to get a netbook, a pint-sized version of a laptop. It will run on Verizon's G3 broadband system, do everything the normal-sized laptop will do, and run twice as long on it's battery as it's big brother. It's keyboard is real, not virtual, and my fingers will fit on it for real touch-typing. Yeah, I know I could have gotten a folding keyboard for my smartphone, but then I would still be stuck with it's small screen. The netbook has a 10.2" diagonal screen.
Unless I wear field jackets everywhere, I will have to carry the netbook in a shoulder bag, and that's a minus, but the belt-carrying I've done with smartphones for five years now has had it's tense moments.
OK that decision's made.
Now what do I chose for a dumb-phone (something I can text with)?
What netbook do I choose, and do I go with an open one using a Verizon card or a VZW one with the connectivity built in? If I get the VZW one, I get it for about a third of buying it, and since I would have had to have paid for the broadband use anyway, it makes no sense to buy an unaffiliated model.
I like this Gateway, offered by VZW.
Once I dump the crap off the hard drive, it should be even faster than it's advertised blazing speed. I suppose that MicroSquish will have to maintain XP right into the long future now that these new netbooks are running it.
There is a Windoze Seven model that VZW sells, but it's out of stock, unknown waiting period, and my question of will 2GB RAM be enough to run the new OS is unanswered on the 'net.
Time for Geezer Coffee Klub, then off to the Verizon store.