Linkology: The Best of the Internet for 9/24/10

September 24, 2010
miproconsulting
Blog

So I have an Droid X and iPhone sitting here, right in front of me. My iPhone 4 drops a ton of calls, which led me to look at alternatives. Here in Michigan, Verizon is a very strong network, so I picked the baddest phone in its lineup: the Droid X.

So far, between the two, I have mixed feelings. The iPhone is by far more polished and has the best UX: the OS is smoother, navigation is much more consistent and intuitive, apps are a full order of magnitude better. WiFi performance is notably better than the Droid X. The iPhone’s camera is outstanding, easily besting the X’s 8 MP unit. The phone itself – the hardware – is better. The soft keyboard, while not Swype-enabled like the Droid X, seems designed to perfection; not a pixel is out of place. But, the huge downside is that it drops a lot of calls. And lately, if you call me, often the phone won’t even ring. It’ll just send you to voicemail.

On the Droid X side, it’s…different. Notifications are endlessly better than the iPhone. I can customize anything I want (still learning about that). Voice-enabled text fields are perhaps the killer feature. Google apps are exponentially better, and I’m a total Google slappy: Maps, Gmail, Calendar – all of them. But, on the downsides, there’s battery life. And the app catalog is what Apple had back in 2008 (PaperToss is a ‘hot’ free game on Android). The OS is klunky, stuttering in weird places, with some of the icons and art looking like it came right out of a b-grade art school. But the coup de grace, the biggie, the reason it’s called a smartphone: calls are rock solid, if a little tinny (I chalk that up to CDMA vs. GSM).

So, what to do? No idea yet. I’ll ride out my 30-day window with the Droid X and Verizon to see what other (hopefully more conclusive) impressions I come to.

In the meantime? Links, baby.

Please do not click on this link unless you want a completely inexplicable picture.

Positive self-talk: the greatest adaptation. Fantastic 7 minute video featuring Greg Amundson.

USC Law hosted a discussion with David Simon, creator of The Wire. Fascinating stuff.

E-Z Fynd is the safest, most secure way to search the internet. The video explains the concept. Also: peppermints.

‘Tall Women Carrying Heavy Things’. Google CEO Eric Schmidt on The Colbert Report. Worth it.

Finally, here’s some footage from a camera on board a cruise ship when some very rough weather hit (25-foot waves, 50-knot winds). Crazy.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

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