Getting used to my new phone

[rhu]

I finally got a smartphone. It's an LG Thrive (which is AT&T's branding of the Optimus) on a pay-per-use plan. (Yes, with regrets I'm leaving Virgin Mobile for AT&T, because AT&T is the first to offer pay-as-you-go for data.)

My new phone runs Android 2.2 ("Froyo"). Initial reactions:

I have fat, hot fingers. This makes for a lack of precision in pointing. (It's why I don't use the trackpad on any of my computers.) I miss using a stylus. My old stylus doesn't work on this phone; I understand capacitive stylii are available; I will have to look into it. In the meantime, I've installed MessagEase which I used back in the Palm days, and it makes text entry more reliable and faster. It even has a Hebrew mode.

I miss being able to press a physical button that has the device (1) turn on (2) launch a specific app. Back on the Palm (and all its subsequent incarnations) I could press the "memo" button and start writing; now I have to press "on", swipe the screen, press "home", find and tap the Evernote icon, find and tap the "new note" icon, and then I can get started. In general, I miss the old model of making a PDA as easy to use as paper instead of as featureful as a computer.

The swipe-to-scroll is "cool" but I miss having an honest-to-goodness scrollbar that I can drag to the specific position I want to read.

I'm a little worried that it will silently suck up my data allotment. I'm mostly in Wifi areas, and I think I've turned off the 3G Data link (with the intent of turning it on only when I want to use it), but I don't quite trust the device yet. Everyone in the world seems to have an "unlimited" plan so I don't think the apps and the OS have placed any emphasis on cost management. (And the carriers certainly don't have an incentive to make that easy.)

More to come as I get used to it.

Comments

[gingicat]

Hmm. Can you let us know how much data you find yourself having to do over the 3G link, and how much it costs? I rather like the pay as you go idea...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Nomi and I have styli that work with the iPhone, and presumably would work with your phone as well. However, you should note that most of these styli have a wider "point" than those for the Palm device.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

At mabfan suggests, capacitive styli do exist, but aren't that much narrower than your fingers.

As it's an Android phone, you have the ability to change your keyboard, by the way. I use one called "ThumbKeyboard", but I've also used Graffiti. Yes, THAT Graffiti. The one from BEFORE when PalmOS came out with the horrible Graffiti 2.

It works okay, but not as well as with a stylus. Which is why I'm using ThumbKeyboard.

My wife rooted her phone and is using some other OS; I'm using the ADW Launcher rather than the Froyo native one, but am using the Froyo OS. (Think of the Launcher as a shell.)

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

Everyone in the world seems to have an "unlimited" plan so I don't think the apps and the OS have placed any emphasis on cost management. (And the carriers certainly don't have an incentive to make that easy.)
You and another friend of mine posted about cell carriers and smartphones almost at the same time. Thought you might be interested in his take.