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Well, "it's complicated..."

Updated: Verizon Motorola Droid First Review

Unfortunately, our cell phones have morphed into mini-computers and for those of us with busy work schedules and diminishing in-person social skills, our choice of phone becomes almost as important as our car. Or choosing an actual partner. And like most of my relationships, me and my iPhone (3GS version) need to sit down and have a talk.

I do still have feelings for her – I do. But I’m starting to question whether or not it will be a long term relationship. So for those of you regular folk who aren’t enthralled by the iPhone’s hot bod any longer, consider this your support group. For those looking ahead to another phone, perhaps this will enlighten.

Yes, I’ve been looking at lots of pictures of the new Motorola Droid phone, but it’s just harmless and it’s not cheating.

My that's a nice keypad you have there. No...I shouldn't. Stop.

So here’s my quick list of the good, the bad, and the ugly after our first 3 billing cycles together.

What I Can Love Long Time.

The touchscreen is probably still 2 years ahead of its time. Multi-touch, scrolling, it’s flawless.  But, like dating a college girl when you’re a senior in high school, it’s questionable whether this relationship will last the next stage.  Though not my iPhone’s fault, the gargantuan case that I have gotten for it is also similar to the “freshman 15.”

The App Store. While most new comers have an app store, the low prices and amazing selection are unparalleled. Kind of like how most girls pretend to like football, or know a few players names – this one actually knows what a chop block is and isn’t afraid to yell at the ref when he misses it. Just last weekend I was having trouble navigating out of town. Downloaded the Find My Car App over 3G for free, and from a mile away it got me within 150 feet.

Safari and YouTube support is also great. Quick, and renders pages almost perfectly. If it doesn’t the site usually has an iPhone version anyways. But, it’s missing Flash. It’s like dating the hottest girl in the world, but she refuses to shave her unibrow. And the phones on the horizon have very nicely trimmed eye brows. I mean have Flash support.

3G and iTunes - for those who love music, there’s nothing quite like downloading podcasts, songs, or sampling the week’s releases while I’m driving home. I mean when I’m sitting quietly at my desk.

Mixed Emotions

At first, I found some of these iPhone traits charming, but they have over time began to reveal some aggravating problems.

Email - Emails render perfectly on the iPhone, as compared to the Blackberry’s text-heavy and HTML rendering issues. The calendar and push are great as well. That is until you have to organize emails, or would like to sort by name, subject, etc. The Spotlight search is fairly handy, but not if you don’t know the subject of the email or the sender. Which I normally don’t.

Layout and Customization – Imagine if you were dating someone who had a stunning dress, but then they wore that dress every single day. The iPhone lacks any customization other than the fleeting home screen – no themes, color choices, and it’s very cumbersome to change ringtones, volumes, etc compared to the blackberry. And forget about trying to rearrange your icons very much unless you login to iTunes. At first I liked the idea of simplicty, but for business use and different environments, it should use profiles like most other phones do.

Camera - it is a great camera that doesn’t have a flash. So about half the day its useless. I won’t make any comparison to a relationship here. And don’t try to organize your pictures, Apple will have none of that.

The Ugly

The overbearing father. AT&T. As great as any phone is, it’s equally as maddening as it is exciting when it’s not connected. And with AT&T this is a lot. Not even getting into the limitation on MMS and Tethering that existed forever, the service is just terrible. Verizon is not at all off saying 3G is 5x more on their network. Beyond that, call quality is rough, service just flips out and disconnects and reconnects constantly. Full service turns into no service non stop.

It’s like if your significant other is a load of fun, but her dad has given her a strict 9:00 curfew. On the weekends. And he calls the cops if you don’t bring her home (fortunately no charges were filed).

Texting, Calling. What’s a relationship without good communication? It’s the iPhone. The interface and options on the phone and contacts list are confusing and not handy, and it’s near impossible to type on the keypad. Fortunately the spell checker changes words to things I didn’t want to type, and the tiny little X to undo is too small for my claws. It also opens an entire app (and closes the one you’re in) to text and doesn’t always take you where you’d expect. So not only do I text to the wrong person from time to time, they also have no idea what I was trying to say.

Multi-tasking – Sure, the streaming audio is great, but don’t try to respond to a text or a answer a phone call (or check Facebook) while you’re listening or it completely shuts down and opens the other app. Most new phones are getting this feature, iPhone needs to get onboard. Update: I almost forgot, there is no task manager on the iPhone, so after running it about 5 hours hardcore, you have 5MB of 256MB left and can’t do anything about it but the 90 second shutdown and reboot. If you weren’t aware you were out of memory since it doesn’t let you know, then you’ll be surprised to find your “phone” app is frozen and won’t send a call. A handy little app called “free memory” was a workaround, but Apple banned that one a few weeks ago. I really need it to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time. Or give me a message that its past few hours of gum chewing have significantly reduced the speed it can walk..or cause it to walk into a pole.

Google Maps – Mostly sucks. Don’t try to replace your GPS with itand don’t use it in your car or the radio interference will assume you’re facing the opposite direction. My scenic drives get extra scenic far too often.

Battery Life – don’t plan on taking your date out for the late nighter. At first, she was the girl who fell asleep after one drink. After only 3 months, I am lucky to even make it to the bar without keeping her hopped up on red bull. I mean constantly on the car charger. I just confused myself.

The Bottom Line
The iPhone does a lot, and it does a lot well. My 3Gs is fast, and the ability to update the software keeps it adding new features. The App store almost by itself is a reason to own it. But after dealing with AT&T and many of the unfriendly features listed above, I’ve started browsing the Match.com of cell phones – gizmodo.com . I’ll hang in there hoping for a few improvements, but the Droid and some upcoming phones for Verizon are beginning to catch my fancy. I’ll give my iPhone a chance – maybe some cosmetic surgery…err..updates..and things will be back on track. One thing they can’t add…and maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but the touchscreen alone isn’t cutting it. The keyboard+touchscreens are looking better again every day. Like an ex that won’t stop calling.

But then again, maybe I never was cool enough for her. I’ll admit it. We’ll see how we do through the holidays.

And for those that will say “well just jailbreak it” I’m sorry, but that sounds too much like “jailbait.” Another relationship faux pas.

Stop teasing.