Entering the Digital Age

About two weeks ago I left the stone age and got a Verizon Incredible with Android. My previous phone, fondly dubbed "that crappy black thing" was pitched, and I have been playing around with the new device slowly. It has so many features that I'm finding that it will take me a while to fully explore it which is a big change from my old brick of plastic.


It's got messaging, email, internet, a camera, access to the android store, turn-by-turn navigation, and it's FAST. I've been very impressed so far.

Because smart phones are so new, the pace of progress from one model to the next is absolutely blistering and it isn't at all uncommon for a phone no more than 6 months old to get bricked. I don't think smart phones have hit a plateau in terms of their sophistication, so I expect the next generation of Android phones to absolutely surpass this model and make it mind-blowingly obsolete. As such, I'm trying hard to enjoy being on the edge of tech innovation even if it only last for a few brief months.

One thing that is really impressive to me is how good the camera is. I can still remember buying a 4MP point-and-shoot back in high school and it cost $450. This little phone has a 8MP camera built in. And it actually seems to shoot pretty crisp photos provided enough light. The flash ain't that bad either. check out these few shots I've taken since getting it:







Clearly, I wouldn't throw out that point and shoot camera, but geez, this thing doesn't play around. It's got focus issues, the controls are a little wonky, and the image stabilization isn't great, but here I am critiquing little niggles. The thing has a camera that takes decent snapshots of everyday life, it's always in my pocket, and it's dead-simple to shoot.

I remember my mom telling me when I was in high school that when she could have a camera, computer, and phone in her pocket, she'd consider buying that device, well, it looks like that future is closer than she might have otherwise expected!