So about a month ago I broke down and bought a "smartphone". I got the Samsung Nexus S, which is the latest Google phone. I have to say that I love the phone, it's just so damn convenient having access to maps, mail, and internet in general. It's also a nice time waster when you're stuck waiting in line somewhere. Even when not using 3G, the phone is a nice couch surfing device to check mail/facebook. The barcode scanning app has also proved useful, scanning a book at a store and seeing that it was cheaper both online and at another bookstore not far from where we were.
A couple of observations:
- Android (2.3) is awesome, I like it better than iOS, though I only played with an iPhone for a few minutes. It seems easier to organize apps and I've also noticed a few apps are free for Android, but paid for iPhone (e.g., turn-by-turn navigation and the star map app that follows your movement from the commercial)
- The voice recognition is amazing. I can dictate multi-sentence text messages and it is almost perfect. Usually not more than one or two words get messed up. I also use if for map search and it generally gets the spoken addresses right with no problems. You can also say things like "Send email to John with Subject lunch ... hey John, lets get lunch ...." and it will pick out the app (email), the subject line, and the message body.
- The Nexus S may be one of the last smartphones to not try and be a tablet. All of the latest phones are dual-core with giant screens. That may sound cool for computing, but a friend of mine bought one (the Galaxy II) and he gets about 7 hours of battery life. I try to charge mine every night, but I can go two full days on a charge if needed.
- You don't need a huge data plan. I use my data freely and haven't come close to the 500mb limit. I have Wifi at home, at work, around campus, at the coffee shop, etc... That makes a big difference. But even without Wifi, as long as you are not streaming video you'll have a hard time exhausting a 500mb quota.
