For the FIRST time, we got phones that I love more than I ever imagined I would. I'm usually disappointed that they aren't as great as they were advertised to be, not to mention the fact that I can never figure out how to do "whatever." But this one? . . . nothing short of amazing. And EASY.
They are Droid X phones from Verizon.
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Needless to say, I changed the home screen wallpaper immediately. That red eye thing gave me the creeps! |
We've been AT&T customers forever despite the fact that we were constantly getting "emergency calls only" or "no service" messages in various places. We figured we wouldn't be able to use the new ones inside the house or barn either since both have steel roofs, but we hoped we wouldn't have as many problems everywhere else. Ha! The things works great everywhere we've been -- INCLUDING at home, and inside the barn. And everywhere else so far.
We both love the size of the thing, too. In Mark's case, the (touchscreen) keyboard keys are waaaay larger than any other phone. When you turn the phone sideways, they're the size of the buttons on a regular home phone. And unlike any other phone I've had, the period and the @ sign -- not to mention ".com" -- are available right there on the main keyboard - makes e-mail addresses and web addresses VERY easy to enter.
Here's the screen you get to either enter a web address or do a Google search:
As for me, my hands always started hurting right away when I talked on my old cell phone. The thing was just so small . . . This one is a really comfy size to hold onto. Not that I need to. You can easily use standard headphones (same size plug as any that you would use for a computer or DVD or tv or whatever) or wifi cordless headset with it. And you can also do about anything on it verbally. You just hit the "Home" button twice and it goes to audio commands. Very easy.
You WOULD want to have headphones for it anyway, for sure, because you can download all your music to the phone and use it like an iPod. It comes with a 16 GB memory card installed, but you can even upgrade to 32GB if you need to.
Or you can listen to FM radio. Or download podcasts.
Or use it as an ebook reader! I actually like it better than I like my Kindle because (1) it's backlit, (2) everything is in color, and (3) it's much easier to hold!
And the kindle software comes preinstalled on the phone, so if you already have a kindle, it's just a matter of signing in to access your existing library. And amazingly, if you read a while on the phone then open your book on one of your other devices, it opens exactly where you left off no matter which device you were using last! Love it! Here's an explanation of how the Kindle app works on the Droid X.
And of course, I love the fact that through Kindle you can download the first chapter of anything for free so I don't end up buying anything I won't like (or that I've already read -- something I do all too often when I go to a bookstore!). And of course the library lets you download ebooks to the phone, too. And unlike the Kindle, when you're reading on the phone, you can choose to have a white background with black print, "sepia" background with black print, or black background with white print. Oh - and you can choose from 5 different sizes of text and there's a continuous brightness adjustment so you can make it as bright as necessary for whatever your location happens to be at the time.
And Kindle isn't the only thing that's already on there. There are dozens of applications already available. They're all available in alphabetical order just by hitting the "open app" arrow in the center at the bottom, touching the one you want lightly to open it, or holding it down to transfer the icon to one of your home pages.
And the kindle software comes preinstalled on the phone, so if you already have a kindle, it's just a matter of signing in to access your existing library. And amazingly, if you read a while on the phone then open your book on one of your other devices, it opens exactly where you left off no matter which device you were using last! Love it! Here's an explanation of how the Kindle app works on the Droid X.
And of course, I love the fact that through Kindle you can download the first chapter of anything for free so I don't end up buying anything I won't like (or that I've already read -- something I do all too often when I go to a bookstore!). And of course the library lets you download ebooks to the phone, too. And unlike the Kindle, when you're reading on the phone, you can choose to have a white background with black print, "sepia" background with black print, or black background with white print. Oh - and you can choose from 5 different sizes of text and there's a continuous brightness adjustment so you can make it as bright as necessary for whatever your location happens to be at the time.
And Kindle isn't the only thing that's already on there. There are dozens of applications already available. They're all available in alphabetical order just by hitting the "open app" arrow in the center at the bottom, touching the one you want lightly to open it, or holding it down to transfer the icon to one of your home pages.
Bottom line - this phone is virtually a mini-computer. In fact, it's much easier to use on the go than a laptop or netbook is because the Android software is so cell-phone oriented. It processes everything much faster than a computer would.
The camera is 8 MP and it's as easy to take videos as it is photos.
Oh, if you're on Facebook and gmail, your contacts will all download to the phone automatically including the profile pictures! You just have to log onto each from the phone one time and that's it. Apparently e-mail addresses and some phone numbers are available from Facebook because some that I didn't have before are now filled in on my telephone contact list. And my contact list in gmail has been updated to match. Amazing. And pictures -- you can download years of pictures and when you click on the collection it will start scanning through the photos BY DATE no matter how you downloaded them. It works just like Picasa. You just flip the touchscreen as if you're turning a page and just look through them all like that.
So Wendy, if you haven't gotten a new phone yet . . . you've GOT to check this one out. I think you'd love it! If you DO like it, check it out at Wirefly.com. It was only $49.99 there, as opposed to $199 at Verizon. We were going to buy them from Amazon Wireless for $49.99, but they were going to charge us set-up fees of $35 or $39.99 (I forget which) for EACH of us. Wirefly didn't charge us anything extra, not even shipping.
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