Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hardware First Impressions

While traipsing through the mall yesterday, I had a chance to play with some gadgets I've been meaning to handle. Here are my initial impressions - keeping in mind, they were very brief encounters:

HTC myTouch 3G - This is the follow on to my G1. It has the same OS, so it was quite familiar. I could definitely tell it has a faster processor, and the phone was much more responsive. But, no keyboard? What the heck! I can't imagine why the dropped it, as the phone seems crippled without it.

HTC Touch Pro 2 - this phone definitely has the hardware. While I'm not ready to claim it has a better keyboard than the original Sidekick, it was definitely roomy. And the screen was gorgeous. The problem is, it's Windows OS, and I felt like I was moving in slow motion because I'm so unfamiliar with it. This isn't really Windows fault - each OS has it's own nuances. For example, I hit the hang-up key to lock my screen, while Shira hits it to back to the home screen. The result: whenever I pick up Shira's phone, I can't figure out how to get home, and whenever Shira picks up my phone she's constantly locking it. This may be a great device, but I'd have to learn the OS first

Smart Fortwo - OK, this is car, but with it's compact size, I'd say it's nearly a gadget. They had a few of these sitting around in the mall, and surprisingly, the one I approached was open. I was able, for the first time, to sit in one of these.

I have to say, I'm impressed. I didn't feel nearly as claustrophobic as I thought I would have. I didn't get the sense that there was nothing in front of me, or behind me. I couldn't exactly spread out, but I think it would definitely have been drivable.

Ignoring for a second that we don't actually need a new car, there's about a 0% chance I'll be buying this one. The issue isn't that of space - it's of safety. Our conversation about the car quickly descended into one about whether or not it was safe enough. I'm impressed with crash capabilities, but all Shira sees is a tiny car waiting to get stomped.

4 comments:

  1. if you really like the hardware of some of the other HTC phones running WinMo... a number of them can be hacked to run Android, check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/ and you can see which ones can be modified... But I totally agree, why did they remove the keyboard? If I wanted a smartphone without a keyboard I'd get an IPhone... this said, Samsung and Motorola are bringing out a slew of new Android phones with keyboards, just currently they are being released on Sprint and Verizon (maybe ATT)

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  2. Thanks for the info Nick.

    Hopefully we'll see a G2 soon enough with a keyboard - seems obvious to me. But, they never seem to ask me...

    -Ben

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  3. Anonymous12:36 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. Sara [who's same comment I've deleted twice] -

    Do you think posting comments about zillionsb is really appropriate here?

    -Ben

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