Catching Up

I have not posted in quite a while, mostly because my work load has been so heavy. Despite this fact, that has not stopped me from experimenting and thinking about technology, design and other aspects of digital life. Let me tell you about one gizmo.

More than just a phone
About 3 to 4 months ago I got a Chocolate cell phone from Verizon. I really like the form-factor of the phone and most of the features but here are some things that which you may not hear too much about.

1. Heat/Pressure sensitive interface. It can be very finicky and in certain instances somewhat clunky.

2. Battery life. I personally would like better battery life out of the cell-phone... especially when you are playing music. It should definitely not just look good as a phone, but have genuine functionality. I was really disappointed by this. In this day and age, we should get the battery life deal down... especially given the fact that it directly influences the totality of your experience.

3. 1 Gig of memory? I don't really get this little glitch, but despite the fact the verizon wireless store offered to sell me a 2 Gig memory card to hold my music, it only works correctly with the 1 Gig memory card. What the heck is that all about. When I asked the sales person about this he stated, "they should be able to fix the bug as some point, via firmware update." I asked, when is that going to happen? He said, "I'm not really sure, but I know that they will." Well that's a bummer after spending all that money.

4. You broke my mirror! One afternoon, I pulled my chocolate out of my pocket only to discover that the screen was broken. I took it to the Verizon Store and the repair person stated, "we see a lot of this." Fortunately, I had insurance on my phone so only had to pay 50.00 for the new (aka refurbished phone). That was definitely weak.

5. User interface. It could be better. I'm praying that Verizon has an Apple moment, get outside the box and consider a new interface that is easy, intuitive and outside of the general paradigm that we currently live with. Another great example of taking standard fair is Google thinking of "conversations" and "labels" and improving on how we relate to our email. Verizon could learn something from them.

But there is still good in all things
I do have to say, that there is still some very cool aspects to the Chocolate.

1. The slide out key pad. That is function and cool.

2. The size is also nice. Not too big and not too small.

3. Also the antenna is good. I have to say that it has amazingly good reception. In my office that I sometimes call the concrete bunker, it's a clear as a bell. Nice.

4. The phone as a small speaker that will allow audio to play directly out of the phone without the use of head-phones. Not killer, but a nice idea.

Conclusion
Owning a chocolate is like women in high-heel pointy shoes. While it may look good, you may end up saying... gawd, that's gotta hurt sometimes. In this instance truer-words have never been spoken.

// Jaye Morris, Technologist