Please tell me it's worth the cost to get a smartphone!

[VeloVT]

nybiker, if you do get the Droid Incredible, please give us a review as I am due for an upgrade from Verizon and seriously considering the Incredible. I have a Blackberry Pearl currently and I have found the smartphone capabilities useful. For instance, my parents and I visited my sister in California in January. My parents both "thought" they remembered how to get from the airport to her office, but neither of them really did, so they kept driving around in circles, bickering and getting lost. Annoying. So I pulled out my phone, fired up Google Maps, typed in the business name, and my phone automagically gave use directions from our current GPS location to her office. On the same trip, I also wanted to call someone to keep an eye on my house, but I didn't have the number in my address book, so I was able to search the internet for him, highlight the phone number in the search results and automatically add it to my contacts. I also use it for email, and I sync my phone calendar with Google calendar (which I use a lot). I use the notes application to keep track of important information, and I have occasionally used the voice-notes application for things like remembering where I was parked in large garages (hospitals, hotels, etc).

Also, foursquare & twitter .

[Veronica]

Can anyone out there tell me how great they are and that they're totally worth the added cost?

It's only worth the added cost if you need/want the added features and are going to use them.

Thom has a smart phone. I don't. He can check our security system, call up pictures from the kitty cam, get directions, all that sort of stuff. We use it a lot.

He has a 90 minute commute each way into San Francisco and rides about half of it on his motorcycle. I like that I can check to see where he is on iGoogle. I use that feature M - F to decide when to start dinner. Some mornings Ii check it, if he hasn't e mailed me, just so I don't worry.

If I were still doing long unsupported rides or even double centuries regularly, I'd probably upgrade just so he could track me. Maybe next year when I'm eligible again.

Veronica

[OakLeaf]

Any progress on Droid phones syncing with iCal?

That's one thing I keep checking on. I really don't want to use Google Calendar. I'm well aware that there's no real privacy in this world any more and generally not too worried about it, but given Google's express privacy policy, I'd just as rather not give them the names of my doctors, my appointment times, hotel and flight confirmation numbers, etc., etc., etc.....

[Aggie_Ama]

I have a Blackberry but only pay $5 a month to T-Mobile for basic internet. I can't get outlook email (thank god!) but I can get onto any website the will support mobile use. So I can check how big a thunderstorm is on weather.com, check in on TE, check my hotmail and reply, etc. FWIW, Google offers a free text for phone service. Just text what you are looking for the GOOGLE. Works awesome and since I have unlimited texts I love it!

[Tuckervill]

I have a Droid, and it has one major drawback. I can't scale the fonts on email or text. Very annoying, and a serious oversight on Google's part. I hope they change it soon.

I love having it. Like it better than my Blackberry Curve.

Karen

[OakLeaf]

Ummmm, the iPod Touch does have alarms; I use them all the time! Both the Clock and the Calendar (built-in) apps offer alarms. I use the Calendar app to remind me to take my weekly vitamin D supplement, that I have an upcoming doctor's appointment, the kid has a dental appointment, and the like; I use the Clock app to wake me up, remind me to feed the meter, go to a meeting, and so on.

I used to set alarms on my phone, but the iPod Touch is so much easier to set alarms on, I use that for all alarms instead.

OIC, I didn't even realize there was a new Touch with a real speaker and volume control. You must have the new one then.

[Zen]

. I use the Calendar app to remind me to take my weekly vitamin D supplement, that I have an upcoming doctor's appointment, the kid has a dental appointment, and the like; I use the Clock app to wake me up, remind me to feed the meter, go to a meeting, and so on.

For those calendar things I use a datebook and my email calendar. Both are free.
Except for the alarm, I use my brain to remember stuff. I know there are naysayers but it's pretty reliable.

Still working on my alarm function.

[Adventure Girl]

The OP didn't ask about a specific smart phone or for a comparison, but I have used the iPhone and Droid Incredible side-by-side. I have an iPhone. Robert just got a Droid Incredible last week. They both have their own strengths.

The iPhone is much more intuitive.
Very easy to navigate through screens.
Can go online while you are on the phone.
More available aps.

The Droid loads pages MUCH faster.
It works with Verizon (in my opinion a big advantage).
The camera is much better.

I really like my iPhone but the phone itself isn't that important to me. I don't make that many calls and I work in an office situation. So I have access to a land line for the bulk of the day. Robert depends on his cell phone for his
business. He is out in the field for hours at a time and NEEDS a very reliable phone and network.

So we each have a phone that works for us.

[Catrin]

Zen let me know if you get that alarm function working - I need some tips on that

[OakLeaf]

Looky, Google cycling maps now on Android. http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/2010/...kes-is-mobile/

[WindingRoad]

Dang it you guys! You are making me want to let my phone do all that fun stuff! I have a Samsung Impression (not fancy) but apparently a 'smart phone'. Since I'm getting ready to move it would be very cool to have internet on the fly (i.e. the bike) for when I'm trying to figure out routes through the city. I'm hesitant because of the cost and for the fact that last time I was in Chicago my GPS wouldn't pick up crap! Made me so mad it would only work in the middle of the countryside! Like I needed help there, there's one road, follow that! Anyone live in Philly or nearby that can tell me if AT&T has decent coverage for GPS there? It may have been the GPS program sucked too??? I would probably just use google bike maps or something similar.

[ny biker]

The OP didn't ask about a specific smart phone or for a comparison, but I have used the iPhone and Droid Incredible side-by-side. I have an iPhone. Robert just got a Droid Incredible last week. They both have their own strengths.

The iPhone is much more intuitive.
Very easy to navigate through screens.
Can go online while you are on the phone.
More available aps.

The Droid loads pages MUCH faster.
It works with Verizon (in my opinion a big advantage).
The camera is much better.

I really like my iPhone but the phone itself isn't that important to me. I don't make that many calls and I work in an office situation. So I have access to a land line for the bulk of the day. Robert depends on his cell phone for his
business. He is out in the field for hours at a time and NEEDS a very reliable phone and network.

So we each have a phone that works for us.

I'm staying with Verizon, so the iphone is not an option for me.

One concern I have about the Droid Incredible -- every review says it's very hard to see the screen in direct sunlight. How bad is this problem? If I can't see the google maps while I'm out riding my bike on a sunny day, it's kind of worthless. I'm assuming you can just turn the phone or turn your body or whatever in order to see the screen, but maybe I'm wrong about that??

[kjb]

Well, isn't this timely? I just got an iPhone through work, which is fantastic. I love not having to pay $100 for it on my own. I'm all synced up with my work Outlook account and my GMail account. I get regular notifications from both. I also have my work calendar and my Google calendar synced on one iPhone calendar. Both are pretty useful to me. I also like that I can take care of work stuff while I'm taking the train into the city in the morning. I really wasn't a fan of doing work outside of work hours, but the iPhone makes it much easier.

I'm a complete Apple junkie, so I'd wanted to get an iPhone since they were introduced. A few drawbacks for me, though: i really don't like AT&T's service. I live right in Chicago, and i don't always have service bars, let alone 3G access. I never had any trouble with my T-Mobile service that wasn't caused by my POS phone. Also, the battery life isn't all that great. I have to charge every night, and leave it on the charger all night. It's kind of annoying, but . . .

If work didn't pay for it, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have an iPhone. I've thought about getting the unlocked version and using it on my T-Mobile account, but it wouldn't have a lot of the features that make it so cool.

[ColoKate]

It pains me to pay $120+ per month for my iPhone - especially because I never talk on the damn thing - I just can't give it up because I love it to death! I love texting or emailing pics on the fly to my family and friends. I love to read my emails and news on the bus to and from work. I'm totally obsessed with Words with Friends, a free scrabble app. I use the GPS daily as well as the various run/ride trackers. I use my free wine app when I'm at the grocery store. I bookmark recipes online while I'm watching Food Network shows. In fact this is my all-time favorite use of the entire device: I've always got it in the kitchen with me, either reading recipes from webpages or watching youtube clips from cooking shows. I'd always wanted to be able to do this and now I can! When I'm on the way home from work, I love typing in an ingredient I've got at home - I can get ideas for dinner before I even make it to the grocery store. I use the mobile versions of ebay, craigslist, pandora, google, google earth, yelp, facebook, online banking/billpay, groupon and others - making it unecessary to ever be tethered to my laptop whether at home or traveling. Can't imagine life without it.

[channlluv]

+1 -- love my iPhone

Roxy