SykoGrafix
SykoGrafix.com
December 17, 2011

Phoning it in.

I am composing this blog from my brand new phone. I have the just released Samsung Galaxy Nexus. This phone runs the android operating system and is pretty much be the nicest phone on the market right now. I am new to all this but I’m getting the hang of it and enjoying it so far.

People have been asking me if this phone is better than an iPhone. I really have no idea as I have zero interest in owning an iPhone or any other Apple products, so I can’t speak to that. I know that Android does not have as robust of a selection of apps as the iPhone, but i am finding plenty of cool things to do with it, and I’m learning more and more everyday about what these devices are capable of.

I’ve tried a number of games so far. Some of them are trash, but there are a few gems. There are even some video game emulators. I wouldn’t necessarily want to replace a true gaming handheld with a phone like this, but it’s interesting to toy around with at any rate.

I definitely prefer this phone to the BlackBerries I was using before. The screen is bigger, it’s faster, and there’s just more to do with it. While I don’t want to become one of those jerks who can’t seem to pull themselves away from their phones, I do sort of get it in a weird way. These gizmos can do so many cool things, it seems wrong to not use them when you’re just sitting idle and not doing anything else. Of course, this is new, so I’m sure, in time, the novelty will wear off.

Speaking of novelty, one feature that is proving to be frustrating, if not amusing, is the speech recognition. Much of this post was made by me speaking into the phone, so it has taken some extra finessing by hand to get the words to actually be what I want. Trying to use the word “robust” earlier gave “I love robots” and “I haz wii boss” as the resulting text output. Both of those things are true, but not what I was talking about. Not really the time saving feature I was hoping it would be, but at least it has been worth a few laughs.

The only real serious downside is that the battery seems to deplete quickly during heavy use. I’ve heard rumors of a larger optional battery being made available some time soon, so I hope that comes to pass.

All in all, I am really liking this whole smartphone scene. I would like to say that this is going to make me a much more productive person, and that might be the case someday. Right now though, I like it because I can play Angry Birds.

Sayonara.