Today’s post is different. Today is about the Google Android Operating System and specifically the Motorola Milestone (Canadian cousin of the Motorola Droid). This is my first product review, and the only reason that I’m giving it is that I bought this phone for my own personal use and have been using it for several months now.

I’m providing this review, not as an attempt to provide an unbiased snapshot of a product, but to provide an admittedly biased, personal view of a product that I’ve found that fits my needs. Take it with a grain of salt, and remember that this is the phone I recommended for myself after exhaustive research, but it might not be the right phone for you. There are also newer phones out, that I would buy instead, had they been available way back when.

I’m ready to give my opinion on the operating system and the specific phone. I’m going to begin by describing the criteria I used to choose a phone, and then how the phone I bought does or doesn’t live up to my expectations.

What I Wanted in a Phone

I need a cell phone for my job. I do a lot of travelling around and meeting with people. Staying connected is important, and I wanted people to be able to phone me or email me and be sure I’d get the message wherever I was.

I wanted a device that I could load audio, audiobooks and video onto, and be able to play media on a nice, clear screen. I wanted a device that could map locations and present information about geographic data.

I wanted a device that is simple, intuitive, and put together well. I wanted a device that had wifi and a good Internet experience. I wanted a device with a physical keyboard, because I really didn’t trust on-screen keyboards to be able to do the job.

I had a bias toward Google Android products as I began. I had heard a lot about this new phone operating system, and I wanted it to live up to the hype. I was particularly excited about the potential for a free turn-by-turn car-navigation program provided by Google.

Shopping

I was amazed when I began looking around at the phones available on the market, how few of them met my criteria. I have high standards, it’s true, but there were very few phones that were capable of doing what I wanted them to do. I fairly quickly narrowed my list to three possibilities:

1. The Palm Pre
2. The iPhone
3. The Motorola Droid

Two of the three were available in Canada when I began looking. The Droid wasn’t, and still isn’t, because in Canada Motorola now offers the Milestone instead. It’s a cousin of the Droid. Same hardware and form factor, with slightly different software and features.

I liked the Palm Pre. I thought it might win out at first. I’ve owned many Palm products in the past and have always liked them. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that Palm’s marketing efforts weren’t going to be able to get them back into contention. The iPhone and Android were going to be the two heavyweights and Palm, I’m sorry to say, comes up a little short. I would be very happy to be proved wrong. I really like Palm, and I hope they can get back in the game.

I was biased against the iPhone from the beginning, I’m afraid. Both of my brothers are Mac guys, and I just can’t picture myself on the other side. I like the iPhone. I was impressed with it, but I was glad not to have to buy one. Also, it didn’t have a physical keyboard, which concerned me.

The reason that I went with the Android operating system is the same as why I’ve always bought PCs. Android is produced by many different manufacturers, all of them working with a unified OS that I can easily upgrade. And, it had all the things I was looking for, although if I’m really honest, some of the things I was looking for I was only interested in because I knew they were available because of the Android OS.

The Android OS has been out for more than a year now, and there are phones from a lot of different manufacturers available. But, none of the phones that have come out thus far have really made me confident that they can live up to the hype.

The Droid was the first phone that really made me believe it was possible for an Android phone to live up to what was promised. Since I made my purchase, the Google Nexus One has come out, and there’s no question in my mind I’d take a Nexus One over my Milestone. The Droid X is about to be released, and I expect it will easily move into the top spot on my wishlist over the Nexus One.

I think Android is the future, and that’s why I bought one for my own use.

What I Like:

I like the screen. It’s bright and clear, and it adjusts to the appropriate level of brightness automatically.

I like the Operating System. It’s simple, it’s functional, it’s speedy, and it makes sense. I didn’t need to spend long getting used to this phone. A few things weren’t intuitive for me, but I was up to speed in five minutes and had everything figured out within the day.

I like the Apps. The Android Marketplace has thousands of useful and clever applications, many of which are free. Most of those that do cost money cost less than $5 and often have a free ‘lite’ version you can try out and keep if it does all you need it to.

One of the Apps I use is a guitar tuner. I’d have to pay $50 to get a good guitar tuner, but this one that I downloaded for free does an excellent job. Other apps suggest local restaurants, let me edit Word documents, or do something silly like light saber sound effects.

I like the Internet. Wifi is easy to set up. The browser that ships with the Milestone allows ‘pinch and pull’ zooming, which is great. That feature is really crippled throughout the Android OS for fear of lawsuits, but it’s nice to be able to use it at least on the browser. I’ve recently tried the beta of the Opera browser, and it is amazingly fast on this phone.

I like the Maps. Google Maps is great, and being able to access it wherever I happen to be is fantastic.

I like the Onscreen Keyboard. I would have assumed that I would always be pulling out the real keyboard, but have been surprised how quickly I got comfortable with the onscreen version. I had heard that the Droid didn’t have ‘pop-up’ indicators to tell you which button you had pressed, but the Milestone does. I guess they figured they could get away with it in Canada, but might be sued in the US by the friendly folks at Apple for being too much like the iPhone. I still do use the full keyboard for longer messages and like it, but I’m comfortable with both keyboards, which really surprised me.

What I Don’t Like:

I don’t like that Google Nav was delayed in Canada. One of the key features I was looking forward to in this phone was the GPS navigation. In Canada, every GPS needs to be bi-lingual capable, and it took Google a while to get the French language figured out. Until they did, they were unable to provide the service. Fortunately, it’s now available, but the months spent waiting with no idea of the timetable and no hints when the product might be ready were frustrating, and par for the course with Google. They don’t under-promise, they don’t over-promise, they don’t promise at all. But they do deliver…eventually.

I don’t like that the auto-correct always moves my colons when I try to make a smiley face. I attempt to do a smiley face but auto-correct turns it into a garble by moving the colon to before the space: )   A small annoyance, but you would think someone would have tuned the auto-correct to deal with such a commonly-used combination of symbols.

The slider keyboard, which was a major factor in making my purchase decision, has started to get just a little bit loose. I’ve had the unit 6 months, which is about 1/6th it’s expected life. It’s nowhere near breaking, but it’s loose enough that I have started to go easy on it, for fear it might wear out before the rest of the unit. Had I to do it all again, I would certainly go with a phone with no physical keyboard. Ironically, the one thing that I absolutely insisted on to begin with may wind up being the thing I most regret insisting on.

I disliked the lack of Audible support for the Android OS, but I have good news. I happen to be a part of the beta-testing program for an Audible player for Android, and I can report that good progress is being made. I have no insight as to when a final product might be released to the general public, but I can testify that the team is working hard and the product is stable, which it wasn’t when I joined a little over a month ago. I think it’s possible they’ll have something ready by Fall 2010, and would be very surprised if it wasn’t ready before the end of 2010.

I don’t like the long delay in providing OS upgrades. Telus still hasn’t pushed out Android OS 2.2 Froyo to Milestone owners as of this writing, and it’s been available for some time on other handsets. I don’t know what the hold-up is, but I’m eager to get my hands on the new OS, and annoyed at the delay.

Conclusions

Knowing what I know now, I would still have picked up a Motorola Milestone when I did. Looking back, it was months before something was available that was compellingly superior, and then I would have paid a steep premium for it.

I would have preferred to be able to wait for the Nexus One, with it’s processor that runs at twice the speed. I would have preferred to wait for the Droid X, with it’s faster processor and dedicated graphics memory, but I needed a phone when I needed a phone, and given the options available at the time, I’m confident that I made the best choice for my needs of the available options.

I hope some day to upgrade to some super-snazzy new Android device which blows away anything on the market today. In the meantime, I’ll just be drooling over the Milestone X when it’s finally available for sale up here in Canada (sigh) until I can convince my wife my Milestone deserves a proper burial, and I can justify an expenditure on the latest and greatest once more. Then, I will exit the store, hold aloft the best mobile phone I can eke out of my budget and glory in the technological awesomeness… for the entire three weeks it takes until something new comes out that makes it seem old and out-dated.

What is refurb?

There are a number of reasons why a machine might be marked refurbished. It might be that the item was returned to the store and sent back to the factory. As someone who worked on a return desk, I could tell lots of stories about items that were returned for no reason, or at least no good reason. If the factory determines that nothing is wrong with the item or that the problem can be easily corrected, then they will simply repackage the item and ship it back out as a refurb.

Sometimes an item is marked refurbished because it was damaged in shipping or while on the sales floor, and the damage is only cosmetic. A product can also be sold as refurbished because it was a demonstration unit. Clearance merchandise that hasn’t been sold or damaged can sometimes be marked as refurbished as well.

Whatever the reason it was marked down, refurbished equipment can be a good buy. It helps stores and manufacturers recover the cost of returned items and it can mean a great deal for you.

What you need to watch out for

Most stores have a different return policy for refurbished items. The return may be exchange-only, the window of time for returns may be shorter, or the item may not be returnable at all. Be sure you understand how the store handles refurbished returns and how they may differ from the store’s normal return policy.

Sometimes a store will sell refurbished equipment alongside the new stuff. This is an excellent opportunity to compare prices and return policies. For example, an MP3 player that would normally be $100 with a one month return policy compared with a refurb for $30 and an exchange-only return allowed for one week. Clearly the price is right, and if you aren’t picky, then this might be a fairly obvious choice. But, if you buy the unit and realize later that it doesn’t have a function you consider crucial or it doesn’t perform as you want it to, you might regret spending your $30 on something you’re not happy with.

Buying refurb makes sense when:

1. You’re sure about what you want and know that this model is the right one
2. There’s a deep discount in the price
3. You are comfortable with the return or exchange time frame
4. You don’t care about imperfections or cosmetic damage
5. You’re comfortable with the store’s reputation
6. They have several refurb items in stock, allowing you to choose the best of what’s available

I have purchased many refurbished items over the years. I tend to buy refurbished for items that I want but don’t need. When I’m buying something that I really rely on or a product that I don’t know much about, I tend to opt for new unless the discount is really deep.

The store you’re shopping at also makes a difference. If it’s a store that I shop at regularly, I’m more likely to trust the items they put on refurb. Putting an item on refurb is a judgement call on behalf of the store, and you want to make sure you’re shopping at a place where they exercise good judgement. A store with nothing to lose in terms of their reputation has no incentive to avoid unloading their junk on you.

There have been a few times that I’ve bought a refurbished product that I was unhappy with, but the same could be said of my new purchases as well. It can be easy to blame my dissatisfaction on the fact that the item is refurb, when it just might be that I got suckered by clever marketing on a substandard product.

Buying refurb doesn’t always make sense, but there are times when the deal is too good to walk away.

Memory in a Flash

Flash memory is very useful stuff. It holds the pictures, songs and videos in your camera or portable device. It stores your files on your thumb drive. The best part is, it’s non-volatile, which means it doesn’t need a constant flow of electricity like the RAM in your computer. There are dozens of varieties of flash memory, and I’m not going to describe each of them here, I’m just going to focus on the three most popular.

SD

SD memory, created by memory manufacturer SanDisk, is probably the most common form of flash memory available. The initials stand for Secure Digital, not SanDisk, though. It’s inexpensive, it’s widely available, and it comes in several sizes, including mini and micro, which are more compact forms that fit well into smaller devices like cell phones, which are constantly looking for ways to reduce size.

The original specification for SD cards only worked up to sizes of 2GB. A whole new specification called SDHC, the HC standing for High Capacity expands the amount of memory that SD cards can hold beyond 2GB. Devices created before the new specification was finalized will not be able to use the newer cards. So, be sure your device has SDHC stamped on it, not just SD before you buy a card bigger than 2GB, or you may be disappointed. However, the specification has been in place for several years, so devices that won’t handle the new stuff are getting more and more rare.

Compact Flash

Compact Flash is generally limited to high-end Digital SLR cameras. You don’t find it elsewhere very often. Compact Flash is much larger and heavier in physical size, but it has a significant advantage over SD in speed and capacity, which is why it is popular among high-end camera manufacturers. Just like SD is coming out with new specifications to allow for more memory and speed, CF is also developing new specifications which will allow for better performance. So, it’s important to know what revision number (1.0, 2.0, etc) your camera will handle so you don’t wind up buying a card that won’t work with your camera.

Memory Stick

Sony really likes to be original. They usually wind up doing their own thing and no one else joins in. Memory Stick is a format that only works with Sony devices. It’s the only other format that has any real traction in the marketplace, but no one else seems to be interested in using it. It has gone through several revisions from MS to MS Pro, which offer higher capacity, better speed and smaller size, just like SD and CF.

Shopping around

Finding the right memory for your camera isn’t that hard unless you’re buying memory for old equipment. If your camera is more than 2 years old and you’re buying the largest capacity card you can find, it’s generally a good idea to pull out the manual for your device and compare the specifications it will take with what you’re buying. Either that, or make sure you understand the store’s return policy.

Why not Wifi?

Your laptop probably comes with Wifi, and there are lots of places that you can find Internet access. If all you need to do is find some quick information or surf the web, any open Internet connection will do. Some restaurants and coffee shops offer free wifi as an enticement to stop in for a coffee. Some people deliberately leave their home Internet open for anyone to use as a public service. Some people just don’t know how to secure their Internet connection, and leave it available unknowingly.

There is an ongoing ethical debate surounding whether its OK to log onto an open connection, or whether you should find the person who owns the signal and specifically ask permission. When I’ve needed to look something up while driving, I have on occasion just stopped in a residential neighbourhood to pull out my laptop and see if there’s an available connection. My conscience wasn’t bothered by it, and asking permission would have meant knocking on every door in  a ten-house radius to ask each homeowner if the signal I was about to use happened to be theirs.

On the other hand, if I found out my next door neighbour didn’t have an Internet connection of their own and was constantly using mine without asking permission, I would say it was inappropriate. If they had their own, but occasionally hooked into mine when theirs was acting up, I’d probably be OK with that, especially if they asked permission.

There are times, though, when you aren’t anywhere near a wifi hotspot but you still want to get access. In those cases, it might be useful to have a secure way to access the Internet in remote locations. Also, one of the things about tapping into whatever Internet connection you find is that if there’s no security on the connection keeping you out, there’s no security keeping your information private. If you are online banking or transferring client information, then you might not want to do so over an unsecured connection. It’s very unlikely someone will be eavesdropping on your Internet connection, but being careful with confidential information is important.

Mobile Internet Adapters

Most mobile phone companies now sell Internet Adapters for use with their service. The devices are reasonably priced, in fact I’ve seen some given away for free, but the pay-per-use Internet access they provide can get real pricey real quick. If you have a mobile phone, you have one for the convenience and security of being able to make a call wherever you happen to be, as long as you’re in range of a transmission tower. A Mobile Internet Adapter brings the same convenience to any computer with a USB port.

If you absolutely need Internet access for business purposes or just because you need your net fix and you’re willing to pay through the nose for it, then one of these devices might be just the thing.

The PDA

It wasn’t too long ago that the PDA, or Personal Digital Assistant, really took off in the business community and became a must-have gadget. Before that, truly organized people did it with paper, and some still do. PDAs were small, easy to backup and useful…very useful. This one little device could carry around all of your contacts, all of your appointments, all of your task reminders and could run simple programs to calculate, convert or store important data. It allowed someone with a mobile phone to bring critical data along wherever he or she went.

PDAs could synchronize with computers. This meant that information added to a computer or the PDA would magically appear on the other device. Mobile Phones had phone books, but keeping a comprehensive list of clients on your mobile phone up to date was tedious work, typing away on a little keyboard where you had to press keys multiple times to get a particular letter. Most people only kept a few phone numbers stored in their actual phones for the people that were most important or that they called the most.

Convergence

While PDAs were incredibly handy, it meant carrying around two devices, each of which needed to have a battery charged up on a regular basis, and trying to juggle both of them to look up a phone number while dialing the phone was an exercise in dexterity. The obvious solution was to merge these two devices into a single unit. Doing this in a small, attractive package, however, required a lot of clever engineering.

For several years now, there have been a number of devices available which successfully merged organizer and phone. The new trend is to add in wifi wireless Internet capability, so that the device can use local free wireless hotspots, instead of having to access the Internet through the phone company’s service which means paying the phone company for each piece of data transferred.

A Plethora of Choices

There are lots of devices available if you want a Smart Phone. There are devices focused on business users, average consumers, the tech-minded, those obsessed with the ‘cool new thing’, and teenagers. To make a good decision which is right for you, you need to know what these devices can do, so that you can ask informed questions about which phones offer which services.

Contact Management

Every mobile phone has a phone book, to store numbers you might want to call. Consider how much information you want to store. Just the phone number? The Phone number and the address? Everything about your client? Then consider how that information gets entered and how easy it is to synchronize that information with your computer or online address book.

Schedule

A good smart phone will act as an organizer, informing you where you need to be when. Again, how easy it is to synch it up with your computer is important.

Internet

An Internet browser is more and more becoming an important feature for your phone. Various websites offer versions of their site optimized for mobile phones, and some new smart phones offer full web browsers that allow you to surf just like you would on your computer at home. Of vital importance is whether the Internet is accessed through the mobile phone towers, for which you pay for every last byte of information, or whether the phone has Wifi, which would allow you to surf the Internet for free every time you’re near a Wifi hot-spot that offers free access.

GPS

Many phones offer GPS. Some phones will not only show you where you are, but how to get where you are going either walking, driving or taking public transit. We’ll soon be at the stage where every public transit system in North America is accessible through a GPS enabled smart phone. It will tell you which bus or train you need to take to get where you want to go, how long it will take, when you’ll arrive and how much you’ll need to pay. For me, the biggest disincentive for using public transit is having to figure out which route goes where and when I need to leave and how I find my connection to the next route. I’ve seen phones already that deal with all those hassles for you instantly in cities where routes are available online. Just punch in your destination and your phone will tell you just when you need to leave your house to catch the bus you need.

Camera

I never thought I would actually want a camera phone when they first came out, but I have to admit that I’ve really come to appreciate having a camera with me at all times. I often whip out my camera to take a picture of something I’m thinking of buying so I can show my wife and record the price. I take pictures of people I meet so that when I look up their phone number later I have a visual reference and I’m sure I remember who I’m calling. Having a video camera to record the circumstances of a fender-bender might help with your insurance company down the road.

Media Player

A lot of phones now offer playback of videos and music. You can load your favourite video of your child or grandchild and have a little something to show your friends about how cool your kid has become. You can get headphones, and use a smart phone to listen to tunes at the gym or while you’re out for a walk.

Invest Some Time and Money to Get the Right Thing

Having one device that does it all with just one battery that needs to be charged makes a lot of sense. If you use it well, then you’re quickly going to find that a smart phone is an indispensible device that organizes, entertains and offers security. Spending some time and money to get a device that you like and works well is a solid investment.

USB

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It’s a simple, easy way to connect things to your computer: Your printer, your digital camera, a thumb drive, a hot plate to keep your cup of coffee piping hot, a fan, a reading light, or one of thousands of useful or useless devices that are available for use with your computer. One of the great advantages of USB is that it not only communicates information, but is also capable of transmitting power. It carries information and powers the device. Larger devices that have significant power requirements tend to have separate power cords, but small devices often rely on USB for their power.

You can’t buy a computer these days that doesn’t include at least a few USB ports. If you need more connections than what the computer came with, you can buy a hub, which plugs into one USB port and provides 4 or more ports. This way, you can expand a single USB port to up to 127 devices: More than enough for a typical user.

Firewire

Firewire was standardized on Mac computers long before it became popular on PCs. When it was competing with USB 1.1, it had a significant speed advantage. It quickly became the standard for connecting MiniDV Camcorders to computers because it could transmit at 400 MBps (MB per second), which was 20 times the rate for USB 1.1 and necessary for transferring video files. Like USB, Firewire can both supply power and transmit data.

USB 2.0

USB 2.0 uses the same size of connector as USB 1.1, but it increases the speed of transmission from 20 to 480 MBps, 24 times faster. This made USB competitive with Firewire, but with the added convenience of being backward compatible with all earlier USB devices.

Firewire 800

Firewire came out in a new, faster version called Firewire 800, twice as fast as the original Firewire. For a while it was the fastest available, but it didn’t maintain its lead for long.

eSATA

SATA is a way to connect your computer to its internal components. When you install a Hard Drive or a DVD drive into your computer, SATA is the name of the cable you’ll likely use to plug it in.

A new type of SATA for external devices is called eSATA, the ‘e’ standing for ‘external’. eSATA runs at 3.0 GBps. That means it is three and a half times as fast as Firewire 800. Until USB 3.0 is widely available, eSATA is the fastest way to attach an external hard drive, and it operates at the same speed as your internal devices.

Before, with other types of connections, there was an advantage to connecting a device internally, because there was a bottleneck if you used an external device. With eSATA, you can attach devices which will theoretically perform at the same speed as a device you install inside the computer. eSATA is really only an advantage for devices which need to pass a lot of information very quickly, like an external Hard Drive.

USB 3.0

USB 3.0 is a recently finalized standard which will soon be included on new devices and computers. It moves the top speed of transmission for USB from 480 MBps to 5.0 GBps, more than 10 times faster. That makes it more than 50% faster than eSATA. And, because it uses the same size of connector as older USB plugs, it will be backward compatible with all earlier 2.0 and 1.1 USB devices.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a way to connect devices to your computer and devices to devices…wirelessly. It’s like USB, without the wires. It’s what connects your wireless headset to your phone, and that’s how most people know the technology. Originally, it was meant to replace USB, allowing you to connect your printer or camera to your computer without the hassle of plugging in wires. But, the only place it’s really taken off and become standard is with mobile phone headsets.

Laptop or Desktop

It’s very easy to add the newest connector type to a desktop computer. You can buy a card and pop it in your computer fairly easily. It’s a little trickier with a laptop. It isn’t as easy to add in what you want later on, so it’s important to pay attention to what a laptop comes with.

What are the Essential Ports on a Laptop?

USB

The absolute necessity is multiple USB ports – USB 3.0 if you can find it. USB is aptly named ‘Universal’ Serial Bus, because at this point, almost everything uses it.

Firewire

Get a Firewire port if you’re into video editing or audio recording. Older video cameras almost exclusively use Firewire, and most of the better professional audio interfaces do as well. It is worthwhile to be compatible with older cameras if you’re doing a lot of video editing. But, a Firewire port can be added through a PC card so even if you find a great deal on a laptop but it doesn’t have firewire, you can add it in later.

PC Card

PC Card is short for PCMCIA card, which is jokingly referred to as “People Can’t Memorize Computer Industry Acronymns”. It was a way to plug in modems and other devices back in the day which has now largely become irrelevant, but laptop makers still build them in. They’re only good for about two things: Adding in ports like Firewire that didn’t come with your machine and adding in wireless adapters.

They do a good job of those two things, though, because the cards can plug entirely inside your computer, making them very easy to just leave inside and not bother with. When you have a USB device, you need to unplug it and put it away before you pop your computer into your laptop bag or risk damaging the plug as it gets jostled around inside the bag. PC Cards just stay put, no muss, no fuss. They are often useful to have, but they’re a standard option on virtually every laptop, so advising you to make sure you have one is like advising you to make sure your laptop comes with a keyboard.

eSATA

Get eSATA if you want to use an external Hard Drive or other high-speed device, although if your computer comes with USB 3.0, then eSATA becomes redundant, and you should only get one if you want your computer to be able to interface with absolutely anything that it might have to. There’s nothing worse than being on a deadline or in a presentation and a file you absolutely need is on a device you can’t access. But, very few devices are eSATA-only. Most that have eSATA also offer USB as an option.

HDMI

An HDMI port is becoming somewhat standard on laptops these days. This type of port is solely for connecting your laptop to a Big Screen TV, but it’s a handy thing to have. Especially if your laptop comes with a Blu-ray drive, because then it can double as a component in your home entertainment system.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is nice to have in case you want to connect a keyboard or a mouse to your computer wirelessly, but this technology hasn’t replaced USB as it was originally hoped it would. I wouldn’t go out of my way to include Bluetooth, especially when you can just buy an adapter to plug into a USB port for $10-20.

The 3-Year Contract

If you want to buy a new cell phone, the best deals come on three year contracts. You get a little discount on a one year plan, a little more on a two year plan, but it’s always the three year plan that’s the sweetheart deal you can’t afford to pass up. What is it about that three year plan that makes it so worthwhile for mobile phone companies that they push it so hard?

The reason why it’s lucrative for phone companies to sell 3-year contracts is that mobile phones only last two years on average. That means that when your phone breaks in the second year of your three year contract you’re stuck with a one year contract. You still have to pay, but you have no phone. You either need to buy a new phone, or else pay the expensive fees required to get out of the contract. Of course, the phone company will gladly help you out of this little fix. They’ll happily give you a new phone for free or a nominal fee. The only catch is that they’ll want to extend the contract…by two years. That way you’re right back where you started, ready to repeat the process two years down the road.

She’s a brick…phone. She’s mighty mighty

Mobile phones were sturdy and reliable when they first came out. The old brick-sized phones were durable and solid as a rock. As phones have gotten smaller, thinner and more complex, one of the side effects is that they have become more fragile. The phone companies are aware of this, of course. Building technology with a predictable date of expiration is a long tradition in the electronics industry. Paying a little more up front for a phone with a shorter contract might leave you with more options later on. Be careful what you’re signing on for and how long you might be stuck with it.

Believe it or not, not everyone is dissatisfied with the concept of planned obsolescense. A lot of customers want the newest, flashiest phone. Your mobile phone has become a statement about who you are and what you can afford, like clothing or a car. But, unlike a car, a mobile phone doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars and can be strategically placed on a conference table for everyone to see. If the snazzy new phone you bought lasts more than a few years, it will become woefully out of date. For ‘fashion conscious’ consumers, the phone companies are almost providing a service by building in the excuse to upgrade on a regular basis. This may seem silly to some, until a TV show from more than 10 years ago comes on and laughter ensues at the ridiculously large phones.

Churn it Out

For a long time in Canada, it just wasn’t possible to get a free or low-cost phone unless you signed a long-term contract. The situation is changing. While all the mobile phone companies in Canada were offering the same sorts of contracts, there wasn’t much incentive to change your company. The deal from the next company over wouldn’t be any better. There was only the satisfaction of shaking the dust from your shoes as you left them behind. The problem was, with only a few mobile phone alternatives in Canada, there was probably a steady stream coming to the company you just left from the one you were going to.

New, smaller players have since entered the Canadian market, thanks to some new rules introduced the last time radio spectrum was sold to companies for mobile phones. Some of the new companies will last, some won’t. But, what they will bring to the table is an alternative. If customers can actually leave and find a better alternative, that could actually convince the larger, more established mobile phone companies to offer more attractive rates and phones. I know that I may be dreaming, but I think it actually could happen. In any case, look around next time your old phone dies. You might just find a deal.

Where I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a new freeway was built near where I live, about a ten minute drive away. Unfortunately, this new road was not part of the maps included in my GPS when I bought it. I don’t drive this road often, but it is a minor annoyance when I drive on it and am shown flying through a field on my GPS. It isn’t that I have trouble with the imagery, but that my GPS is constantly suggesting ‘actual roads’ I might want to be driving on as I pass by them on the invisible road it seems to think I’ve found. Also, the arrival time is always tragically incorrect until I get back on a road it recognizes.

I Just Want One Lousy DVD!

This was a minor inconvenience, but I had a plan. Most GPS manufacturers will give you one free map update. I called up the company and had the misfortunate to speak to a fairly new representative at the company. Because I had purchased a refurbished unit, it was no longer in the current line of products and support for it was a touchy subject. This young fellow was not willing to commit to the obvious course of action without checking the situation out with the higher ups and getting back to me. It wasn’t until I phoned back and got a more seasoned representative who recognized that conducting further business with me depended on a satisfactory resolution of this concern that I finally got a DVD packed with the latest maps shipped free of charge. It still didn’t have the new road, but what can you do?

Selling maps is a very lucrative business for GPS companies. Going on a vaction to Europe? You might have to shell out a few hundred dollars to be able to take along your very own GPS preloaded with all the amazing spots you want to visit. Different GPS units are sold with different maps included. Good luck asking for free updates of maps your unit didn’t come with. The updated versions of the maps your GPS came with are fair game, though. While a company may limit how many times they will provide updated maps, they should at the very least provide you with one free update. It’s worth your time to call the customer service line for the GPS you’re considering purchasing, and ask a few polite questions about what is offered before you take the plunge.

In addition to the maps themselves, the list of Points of Interest in your GPS can be updated. POIs, as they are known, are stores, restaurants and public spaces that are stored in your GPS that can be searched and can include not only the physical location but the phone number so you can call ahead if you need to. Most GPS systems will allow you to add your own Points of Interest or download updates. As businesses move into your area or go to business heaven, it’s nice to update changes on a regular basis.

Mobile Phone GPS

One of the new trends in GPS is mobile phones. In two years time, you won’t be able to buy a phone that isn’t GPS enabled. I remember when colour screens were the rage and I first tried to buy a phone that didn’t have a colour screen out of concern over battery life, only to discover NO one was willing to sell a phone that didn’t have a colour screen. Then it was camera phones, and every phone had to have a camera. GPS is the coming trend, and this one I’m actually enthused about in advance. I couldn’t get excited about colour screens or cameras until I got used to having them, and now I can’t imagine a phone without them.

I was unsure how I would feel about GPS on a cell phone until I got a close-up look at an Apple iPhone. Because the phone downloaded maps as needed, instead of storing the maps for all of North America in the unit, those maps could be updated continuously, removing the need for annual updates. When I entered an address, there were three options. I could get directions for how to walk to a place, or how to take a bus to a place in addition to how to drive to a place. The bus option included not only which bus I should take, but also when that bus should arrive, and when I should start walking to catch that bus and any walking routes between bus connections. Having the bus schedules for all the major cities in North America built into my phone and accessible whenever I want them is a huge advantage. It would encourage people to make better use of public transit which would be huge environmental plus.

I don’t think we’re even imagining the most creative uses for GPS on phones quite yet, but I expect some very interesting applications to crop up. They won’t entirely replace car-based GPS immediately, but I expect it won’t be long until it will be commonplace to get in your car, plop your phone onto a cradle attached to your stereo, and use it to play back songs and guide you to your destination deftly avoiding traffic snarls. Personally, I can’t wait.