The gPhone Is Out, but Does it Hit the Spot? Husband and Wife Techies Sound In

It’s called the Droid, or its more formal name, the “Android.” It’s the Smart Phone that’s changing the rules and causing an advertising uproar, making its mark as Google and Verizon’s answer to the market-bending iPhone.  Surely you’ve seen the ads poking at Apple’s pride and joy, illustrating that what iDon’t, Droid does.

Over 26 million people have smart phones, with iPhones boasting a market share of 10.8% of these worldwide sales and that number growing faster than research can count.  iPhone apps are in advertising vogue, and convert quite well with finger-tapping enthusiasts.   So, the Motorola Droid promised a release date months out (November 6th, they officially went on sale) – and this husband and wife team were suckers for good advertising and baited waiting.  Droids in hand … they spent a weekend digging in.

Start Up Screen.  Red Eye Pulses and is very reminiscent of Hal (shout out to all the 2001: Space Odyssey geeks).  It’s tough to wait – like watching a video game charge up.  The Droid oozes marketing prowess and customer satisfaction.  Then, the little Droid – alien and friendly, is there to meet your every command.  Users can talk to him (voice search rules), read books, play games, create real Word Docs, email, chat and oh, yeah … call people.

The first things about the Droid that Drew and Jenn loved were the crazy apps. They played drums, downloaded a virtual light saber (that’s Drew), a guided meditation app (that’s Jenn), and a whole bunch of other entertaining, but not-so-useful play toys.  Most of them were free, but those that were not, they had 24 hours to keep or remove and money would be refunded.  There are only 10,000 apps for the gPhone (like you NEED 10,000 apps) compared to the iPhone’s 100,000.  But, that won’t be the case for long. Since Google encourages open source development, apps are being added daily and will quickly creep up on iPhone’s claim to the app kingdom. There are TONS of fun things to do on the Droid, but now it’s time to dig in to the business ramifications.

What does it mean for advertising clients, what’s really there?  Well, one bank and one airline were savvy enough (or shelled out enough $) to premiere apps on the Droid:  Bank of America and Southwest Airlines both offer custom apps.  Hopefully, the number of these branded apps direct to the suppliers will increase.  There are also lots of integrated travel apps with Flight Tracking, Social Destination sharing and nifty new places to buy mobile marketing. What was shockingly absent?  Good travel booking apps, but it surely won’t be long.   Get ready for your web marketers around the world to start talking Droid apps.

For business:  Email, Word Docs, PDFs and email sync – the really important stuff.   Coming right out of the box the phone showed this team that they were behind the times with the current email infrastructure.  A company using POP mail, although easy and accessible, lacks the bells and whistles of a company with several exchange servers, sharepoint servers and sharing that fosters an environment of collaboration.  The Android allows for a personal email user or a corporate user with exchange services.  The phone was perfect for exchange or personal email . . . but not for a company that uses a popmail solution with no BES server.  Luckily there was Google apps (not the gphone apps) that provide enterprise level service and customization, for an inexpensive price.  Unlike Microsoft products, Google Apps is providing updates to software on the fly and per user feedback.

The point is, with savvy IT support, the option is either an exchange server (problem solved) or one willing to move from the POP environment.  Word Docs, PDFs and Powerpoints were also easy to read, edit and send.  It takes a $7.99 app to make your phone a portable computer.  There is also an app for Virtual Desktop to access docs on your PC.

A few notes on things J & D really liked or didn’t like:

Drew says:

• Very happy with the 16GB provided via the SD card.  Plenty of room to repurchase the music he had in iTunes … but as a picky song purchaser that really wasn’t an issue.
• 5 MP camera makes him happy.  Better than the first digital camera he purchased.
• Touch screen is smooth … like Al Green smooth, doesn’t get any smoother.
• Happy with the contact, calendar and chat integration.  Multiple email accounts.
• Incredible speaker phone.
• Not happy that voice apps fall into music collection.

Jenn says:

• Three words: Visual. Conference. Calls.  No more wondering who’s on the line or who’s on hold.
• Easy on the carpal tunnel –  touch screen is quick, takes a light touch and auto-words work well (except Haha! becomes Bahamas!)
• Not happy that Flash isn’t quite integrated (this could be fixed as this is published – technology moves that fast).  Since Windows 7 is touch-screen capable and smarts phones are on the rise – fingers, not a mouse will be the clickers of your website.
• WiFi so fast, Nascar should sponsor.
• She loves that it’s a lot like the iPhone, with a slide out Qwert keyboard and directional mouse (although the touch screen is so good, she hasn’t needed the button option)
• Video and TV!!!!  Crystal clear and screaming fast, and with a swish of the thumb – she’s back to that document she was supposed to be working on. 

Finally, this duo loves their Droids, and is considering expansion of them to other Blackberry users.  They are using their phone “smarter” so to speak, and it’s easier to work from.  Really, the Droid makes the Blackberry look like the brick phone from 1994.  Jenn and Drew still love the iPhone, don’t get them wrong . . . but, they’re happy there’s more skin in the game, more options for consumers.  It’s about a personal choice.  Lord knows iPhone lovers think theirs is the only flavor.  But whether it’s chocolate or vanilla – there’s an app for that.

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