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

[sundial]

Good grief! Are there any tutorial videos you can watch?

[ny biker]

It's a fast read, plenty of white space. Actually pretty well written for a tech user manual.

I printed it double sided, two pages per side to save on paper.

[ny biker]

Update -- the phone arrived last night and I activated it today! I still am figuring out how to do everything. But I know how to make a call, answer a call, and send a text message. And surf the web. And look up addresses in google maps. And take photos and upload them to facebook. So I'm already well on my way.

[7rider]

Do you have the same #?

[ny biker]

Do you have the same #?

Yes.

I need to get a good ringtone. The ones that come with the phone are boring. My old phone had a train ringtone that was awesome -- I miss it already.

I might download a ringtone from the Formula 1 website -- so I'll hear engines revving whenever anyone calls me.

[northstar]

I have a Palm Pixi, and I love it. I just made the switch to a smartphone and it makes things so convenient! GPS, email, my calendar, everything. It was quite inexpensive (as an upgrade through Sprint) and I'm trying to get my mom to get one.

[indysteel]

Until 2006, I didn't have a cell phone of any kind. Now I have the Blackberry Curve. I mostly use it for e-mail and calendaring. I got to the point two years ago that I was forgetting a lot of appointments because I was so busy all the time, not all of which I wanted on my work computer, so I opted for the Blackberry. I also didn't have and didn't want a home computer, so it filled in the blanks there, too. I really like being connected with work 24/7. My job isn't THAT intrusive as it is, so the fact that I'm always reachable isn't a big drawback for me. It's also helped me feel less anxious about being out of the office since I can still stay in touch. I really like having it when we travel. We can look up directions or restaurants or check the weather.

I can't answer for you whether it would be worth the extra cost. For me, it is.

[ny biker]

So, the new phone is already paying off.

I drove up to NY for the holiday weekend. Driving back to VA on Tuesday, I crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge only to find that 295 S -- the route to I-95 -- was completely closed. (Really, Delaware should change its motto to "The perpetual road work state.") And the detour to get to I-95S was poorly marked, well technically there were no signs at all. No problem, I have a Garmin Nuvi to keep me from getting lost. But I quickly realized the Garmin would put me on 95 right before the toll booth, and I refuse to pay that toll -- especially when they can't be bothered to properly sign such a major detour.

So I pulled over at a gas station, turned on the phone's internet connection (I keep it off when I'm not using it to conserve the battery) and fired up the google maps. It found my location, and I was able to scroll around and figure out how to get to Rt 4 south so I could bypass the toll and rejoin I-95 in Maryland. Score!!!

I also had fun taking photos of my sibling's dogs and uploading them to facebook over the weekend. I played with making videos, too.

For my next experiment, I will try out the Navigation app on some local trips to see how well it works.

I've also spent some time playing Teeter, which came with the phone. But I'd like to download one or two other games for those times when I'm stuck somewhere with time to kill. Can anyone recommend a droid app for crossword puzzles or scrabble? Or any other good games?

BTW, merely browsing through the available apps is pretty entertaining. Under the "lifestyle" category, you can find various bible and other religious apps. But the same category also includes multiple versions of the kama sutra and something called "Car Sex Positions."