Me And Droid. What About You?

About two years ago I made a decision to convert from a long time, dedicated Palm enthusiast to my very first Android phone (went with the Samsung Moment originally). It was a scary move at first as Android was just making its way to the market and no one really knew what to expect. I did a lot of research before
making the move and I will tell you that the deciding factor for me was the seemless, wireless, continuous Sync of my Contacts on my phone and my Contacts in my Gmail account. You know that if you ever lost or broke your phone, it is a real pain in the butt to rebuild and replace all those contacts. I see it all the time on Social networking sites. People post on their Status Updates things like...Broke my phone last night but got a new one today, so text me your number so I can save it. lol. I only laugh because I have been there myself. But it's not funny when it actually happens. So when I came to understand that when I put a new contact in my pone, it was automatically (without me doing anything) synced to my gmail contacts, or when I put a new contact in my gmail contacts it was automatically synced to my phone contacts, I WAS SOLD! That was really the beginning of my passion for Google.

I was already a Gmail user (obviously) but I also used Google Calendar as my main calendar for appointments and Birthdays and such. I am not sure if I realized it at the time of my Android purchase but all that same seemless, wireless, continuous sync also happened with my Calendar. If I put it in my phone calendar, it showed up on my Google calendar and visa versa. Why is all this important? Well check this out. About two weeks ago I dropped my current Android phone and crushed the screen. The phone was now junk. Although I still had the headache (and cost factor) of having to get another phone, once I received my new phone, all I had to do is put in my gmail account in to the phone and within minutes, all my contacts and appointments were right back where they were before. I didn't miss anything. Didn't lose one contact or appointment. That my friends has REAL value in today's world as far as I am concerned.

 I didn't really understand the whole "CUSTOMIZING YOUR PHONE" thing that was such a buzz with the Android market and all until I actually got my phone. Then it all came together for me. I could make my phone in to a device that specifically served my purposes. I could set it up to my liking. For example: I like to have one of my Home screens as what I call my "INFORMATION" page. It has my Google Search bar on it along with the Time, Day and Date, a Calendar widget showing my next up and coming thing that I have to do, the Weather for Today and Tomorrow and a quick look at Today's Top News. So in one glance I get all this information. On another one of my home pages, known to me as my "PRODUCTIVITY" page, I have my most used Apps (these are some apps that I highly recommend but will do a more detailed App Blog later) like Google Navigation, Gdocs Notepad (take notes on my phone and sync them to my Google Docs account online), Light The Way (turns my phone in to a flashlight), Calculator, Voice Recorder, Voicemail, Internet Browser, GroupText (allows me to text many multiples of people at one time), Email (Pop3 or Imap), Gmail, Calendar, Contact Event (one of my favs. Lets me select a contact and schedule something on my calendar. Very Cool), and of course the Android Market. And then I have my "ENTERTAINMENT/COMMUNICATION" home page. On it I have apps like Shazam, CraigsNotification, Touch To Talk, Alarm Clock, Pandora, Pkt Auctions (ebay app), Laputa Book Reader, TuneIn Radio, Twitter, Movies, Barcode Scanner, Gtunes Music, Facebook and YouTube. All of this readily available, literally at the touch of my finger.

Today, my Android device is all I need. It's my phone, camera, video camera, email, text, video player, music player, etc. Anything and everything I need I can do with my phone and if it currently doesn't do it, there's probably an app that will make it do it. So am I happy making the switch to Android. Hands down, no questions...YES! It's turned out to be one of the best decision I ever made and I am looking forward to the future of Google and Android.

Thanks for reading and be on the lookout for future Blogs on Google, Android and Apps and where I believe all this is going.

Stay Focused & Feel Good!!