Wavin’ Droids

Since this is a blog, I suppose an update of sorts is needed. While it’s been a busy past few weeks not much has really happened.

I’ve needed a phone upgrade for about a year now. My xv6800 has been all but worn out. Sure a new battery would fix the 2 hour battery life, but it really wouldn’t fix the slowness, the GPS being locked out, or the randomly missed calls. Hint: the phone is supposed to ring when calls come in.

This caused a dilemma, I knew I wanted another smartphone, and I was pretty dead set against another Windows Mobile phone. Microsoft really needs to scrap the whole thing and start back at the drawing board if it wants to get in the game. What I wanted was the iPhone. Problem was I’m on Verizon and still had until January 2010 before I was out of the contract.

When it comes to a lot of things, I can exercise a little patience, but when it comes to technology, I’m extremely impatient. Gotta have it now and all that jazz. I just really didn’t want to pay the disconnect fee, nor did I want to switch to AT&T. I currently have their DSL service and they don’t provide anything higher than a 3mb connection in my area. Of that, I only get to experience maybe 2mb max. I’ve called and complained but their solution is to send someone out to “fix” it, but if it’s something past the demark line I’d be charged along the lines of $150. Customer satisfaction with them is very low for me.

Then word got to me of a new smartphone coming on the horizon. The Droid. I started doing research into all the technology behind it and got wind of Google’s involvement in developing the OS. I also read an article or two on the beta of Google Maps Navigation they were releasing on the Droid, for free. All this and it was coming out sooner for Verizon? Deal. Needless to say I was a tad bit excited (I’m certain I drove my wife and friends nuts for the week or so before the launch.)

The morning it released I met up with a friend of mine and we became Those Guys. You know, the ones that show up early for the launch of something that no one else cares about? Yeah, that was us.

Since I’ve gotten mine, I believe I’ve convinced two or three more people to buy Droids. I really should be getting commission.

Here’s a demo video of it:

I’ve always enjoyed the perks of being on the bleeding edge of technological advances, so when my Droidin’ fellow got his Wave invite before I did, during one of our D&D games, I’ll admit I was a little green with envy. The good thing is, when I finally got my Wave invite, almost exactly two weeks later — during our next D&D session — I had about 30 invites that I could send out, because it looks like I got mine from signing up on the Developer’s preview as opposed to from another person’s invite. I’ve since sent out all my invitations, received 20 more, and sent those out as well.

Unfortunately Wave has been pretty much ignored by all my friends who signed up for it. It’s my belief that it really won’t see widespread use until it is able to tie in seamlessly with current technologies. The only real way to introduce new technology on the internet is to make it the same, but better. Right now it’s better, but its own thing. Standalone. Standalone does not work when you’re on the ‘net. However, I do look forward to using it regularly and eventually running my own Wave server. I just don’t see this happening any time soon. Of course the common excuse given is that it’s in preview. That’s fine, and I expect things to be rocky. Maybe when they get to beta they’ll have it working with email and my complaint will be nullified.

That’s about it for what’s been going on with me lately. I also managed to finish (tentatively) the Disciple Geek Challenge/Promise. You’ll notice that I changed the name because the term challenge is well, confrontational, and I felt it started the message off with the wrong note before I even started trying to write it. Go give it a read and let me know what you think. It’s a work in progress and I’ll be happy to do anything I can do to improve it.

Coming up I plan on starting with a Bible Basics lesson. You know, going over some of the information about the Bible that most Sunday Schools cover. I really want to start with a good foundation in our studies. I’ve contemplated creating a flash video like the one that explains 3.5% of Google Wave. I think it’d be a good way to get past the basics.

If you want me to go further in depth with what I think of Wave or the Droid, let me know and I’ll give them each their own writeups, but really, there are plenty of other reviews out there.

::Google Wave Reviews::
::Motorola Droid Reviews::

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