Jordan Kobert

Over 2 months into switching from my iPhone 3GS to my HTC Incredible, by Verizon and I am loving it**. Here are 10 things that I can do now that I couldn’t do with my iPhone (and that I’m pretty sure you can’t do with the new iPhone4):

1. Make calls whenever I want.
2. Receive calls when they come in.
3. Stay connected on calls both made and received.
4. Read my voicemail with Google Voice on my phone and/or at my computer,(if you haven’t used it as your voicemail you don’t know what you’re missing).
5. Customize my screens.
6. Create custom widgets and icons for the tasks *I* need most.
7. Sync my Google accounts (gmail, contacts and calendar) straight from the cloud, instantly, to my phone, for free.
8. See all notifications (missed calls, facebook messages, twitter replies, calendar reminders, etc) in a single view.
9. Take 8.0 mp pictures. 
10. Look at my iPhone carrying friends with bewilderment and wonder as I watch them cringe with each dropped call. 

**Disclaimer. I recently switched from a PC to a MAC for work and am LOVING it. I also have an iPad. Apple makes great products. Phones? Not so much…

It’s been a little over 4 weeks since leaving the iPhone (3GS) and AT&T and movin’ on up to the HTC Incredible on Verizon. We hit an inflection point at week 2 and the HTC Incredible has gone from “sufficient” to “sometimes awesome and mostly Incredible”.

Here’s the overview:

Phone: iPhone4 Antnnna? This phone makes and receives calls with 100% confidence. I haven’t dropped a call yet - honest! And I’m using it in parts of the Bay Area that had previously been dead zones. Bravo.

Speed: Incredible. As fast Faster than my 3GS

Google Integration: I continue to be impressed. Mail, calendars, contacts - the cloud is awesome. Google Voice takes visual voice mail to an entirely new place with transcription that is fairly accurate and eliminates the need for many a wasted call back.

Customization: Incredible. I have icons for frequently accessed tasks such as calling someone (wife, work, sister) texting someone (wife) and so on. I have widgets, weather, and a home screen calendar icon that tells me what my next appointment is. 

Incredible. 

The new HTC Incredible arrived today. This is hailed as the phone that can compete with the iPhone on all fronts. 30 seconds in and it becomes clear that it has a proprietary connection for power/syncing. Really? Micro USB wasn’t enough?

Breakthrough as far as voicemail goes today. Visual Voice mail on the Android is sub par at best. And it costs $2.99 a month. Seriously.

Here’s the workaround: Get a Google Voice number (I have 2 invites left for the first 2 folks to DM me. Or you can request one here). The link in this post shows instructions to loop your missed calls to your GV number. You can set it up to email, SMS and transcribe. Android of course has a slick GV interface. I’m back in voicemail action!

Ok, 5 days in and the key issues seem to be:

1) In any amount of sunlight the phone is barely useable. It should be called the HTC Vampire.

3) Battery life is ABYSMAL. Change the name from HTC Vampire to HTC Abysmal. With minimal calls and data I have not made it 12 hours on a single charge. #Fail.

3) Speed is an issue. I assume this is processor based and will be fixed when I upgrade to the Incredible. Ambitions name, so I hope so.

4) Bluetooth seems to need to be repeatedly paired with my car. This is a hassle. I’ve entered the password multiple times and it is not storing it. Deal breaker long term.

5) Verizon DEFINITELY has coverage in areas that AT&T simply doesn’t. This is nice. I can use my phone as…a phone!

Day three. I need visual voice mail. The act of calling in to Verizon, entering a PIN and listening to my voice mails is outdated. Here’s the thing - it’s not that my phone isn’t doing everything it needs to do, it’s just that after living with an iPhone for over a year, the expectations are so much higher. Thinking about upgrading to the Droid Incredible to make it a fair comparison. Steve, if you’re listening, can you speed up the new Verizon version? 

Imported Google contacts and my Gmail. Seamless. You can run multiple apps at the same time. the problem is, you can run multiple apps. And they run, and run, and run. And my battery, 100% at the start of the day and with one call, ran out at 3pm. The screen is useless in any significant sunlight.Trying to take a picture is like staring into a mirror.

Oh, and you can’t copy text from an email. You can’t even select it. WHAT? That phone number you emailed me? Yeah, I’ll need to write it down or memorize it in order to dial. What is this, 2007?

After enduring more dropped calls than I could handle, I’ve decided to say goodbye to the brilliance of Steve Jobs and swap my iPhone and AT&T coverage for the Verizon network.

Day 1: Damn you Steve Jobs. 3 minutes in and I am questioning the entire thing. Can I call Verizon and tell them I was just kidding? I moved into an HTC Droid Eris. It’s small. The screen is small. The keyboard is annoying and seems, well, small. Intuitive? Maybe. But not after a year of iPhone normalcy. God I loved my iPhone. I’m having thoughts of freedom. This will make me LESS dependent on a device as I will use it less and communicate with PEOPLE more. And I won’t drop calls. My phone, will make and receive calls with reliability and clarity. That’s what I pay for, the rest is fluff. God I miss my iPhone.

Are we headed towards a world of paying $0.99 for every thing? Has the application marketplace taken us ‘off the menu’ for good?

Restaurants have done it for decades. Well before the iPhone, the carriers (like AT&T) got us accustomed to this with their billing process. Phone insurance? $2.99 a month. Add data? $9.99. Ringtones? $2.09. And so on and so on until your $79.99 “complete package” gave you a bill with taxes, surcharges and other cleverly named costs and looked more like $150 a month.

Now we’re buying apps in the same way. Apple saw 1,000,000 apps downloaded the first DAY the iPad was released. Personally, I don’t hesitate to try a new app for up to around $1.99. Over $2.00 and something triggers in my mind that makes me more cautious.

With the massive popularity, more phones and, iAd, AdMob and more ads on the way, prices for apps should continue to remain low. Which means we’ll all keep on clicking “BUY” without much thought. Brilliant…if you’re selling.

But what about buyers. Will we be seeing this pricing model play out elsewhere? TV? News? Are we moving to an app-ified world (yes) and will we see more and more payments for smaller amounts (maybe)?

Isn’t A la carte more expensive in a restaurant?

My friend takes pictures like this when he travels. I could stare at this all day. #iceiscool

After 10 years, national level bicycle racing returns to Vermont. The KSR is Back!

airstreamfairytales:

psa from @stuhueso

Awesome. Amazing what the MTB kids are into these days…

It’s rare in this day and age to see a true craft take place. Seymour’s Fashion in downtown San Francisco still makes it happen. Custom shirts, suits and the like, all measured by hand, and written with pencil in a ledger with carbon paper. They have books going back decades. It’s like stepping back in time in the best possible way.

Today’s Remodelista features Summer House, a Mill Valley CA boutique that carries, among other lines, Sefte Bedding! Check it out…

Nike just called me. Yes, Nike.

They called to confirm a recent online purchase and the experience was so positive that it made me think about what else Nike makes (everything) that I could use (a lot).

The entire experience from inbound call, voice mail, to the tone, personality and delivery from the person on the other coupled with the level of service they offered made me a customer for life (or at least for a long time).

As more and more products become commodities, is customer service the ‘secret sauce’ that will separate a company from the herd?

I’m a big fan of awareness and cycling and as such, love this ad.