Archive For: May, 2010

The HTC Incredible on Verizon

What is it?

This phone is arguably the most hotly anticipated device release since the iPhone. For the most part, the biggest question people have is “what is android”?  It’s probably easiest to say what it isn’t. It is not iPhone, it is not Blackberry, rather it is Google’s operating system designed for mobile devices. There are “apps” like the iPhone but not as many.

I was excited about the ability to finally use my Google Voice number natively on a device. This handset has that feature built in and I can toggle whether to use Google Voice for all calls, international calls, or prompt before all calls.

Costs: The phone carries a typical smartphone cost of $199 on a 2 year contract. I opted for a 1 year contract and paid $269.

Setup: Within 15 minutes, I had entered my exchange credentials, my facebook and twitter accounts and was generally thrilled. It has a great voice recognition feature and wherever I would normally type, I can just speak and it’s transcribed quickly.

Uh Oh: Fast forward a few days and I have a major problem. The battery lasts about 5 hours. Literally, from the time I unplug it in the morning; I have about 5 hours with even light use! A call to Verizon tech support leaves me wondering if I should just return the phone. Because of all the great features I decide to research the issue to see if I can find an acceptable solution. I came across a great app called “Juice Defender”.

http://www.thegeekengineer.com/juice-defender-how-to-save-battery-of-your-android-phone/

http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-latedroid-juicedefender-pFAx.aspx

I paid a few dollars for the full version and basically it tweaks quite a few settings and extends the battery to about the next morning. This is again, light use, hourly email checking, 3-5x a day twitter updates/ facebook, etc. I use Bluetooth in the car and wifi at home, so I also use a handy widget that makes these easy to turn on and off.

Must have apps: Advanced Task Killer, ShopSavvy, Goodlink, Remote Desktop, WifiAnalyzer, WordPress, Google Voice, Zendesk and TimeDroid.

I’m really enjoying the vastly improved reception on Verizon so with all the great features and the improvement of the battery life issue, I think I’ll keep this phone (at least for now).

The Why and the How of Cable Management

It never fails. I will come to your home or your office for the first time and 9 times out of 10 I will see how badly neglected your cable management is.  Sometimes I feel like I am the only IT person who gives a darn about ugly cables.

Next I will solve 98% of your computer issues and then I’ll politely ask your permission to spend 30-60 minutes re-doing your cables. Why should you let me do this? Because I’ll sleep better at night. No, really, the real reason is that it IS actually important. You have 16 power strips daisy chained together and that is going to be a problem someday. You’ll unplug or step on the switch in the middle of THE most important work you’ve ever created. Then you’ll curse everything and everyone and that gets you nowhere (Trust me). One thing you’ll never see me using is cable ties though. If your IT person uses cable ties, you should fire them immediately. The best tool for the job is Velcro.

You’ll feel better knowing what plug is what and you won’t trip and fall. The best benefit of all? It just looks better.

So Long AT&T

After a few years of incredibly poor network coverage in LA, I have finally decided I’ve had enough.  But if you wanted an iPhone, there simply was no other choice and it doesn’t look like this will change anytime soon. I have tolerated hundreds of dropped calls over the past couple of years. If anyone reading this has tried to carry on a conversation with me while in my car, I simply can’t talk to you. AT&T drops so many of my calls along Sunset Boulevard that I just no longer have any expectation of a call not being dropped.

Perhaps this is a secret plot to get us Los Angelenos to stay off the phone whilst in the car. While I truly believe it’s safer to not use the phone in the car, for small business owners who need to stay in touch with clients, there aren’t a lot of other options.

I found a great site www.cellreception.com where you can read actual users experiences with the different networks in and around Los Angeles.

Just google “at&t dropped calls los angeles” to see how bad it really is.

I’ll be taking my business lines as well as those of my family over to Verizon. I will hopefully have much better results!