Travel

Updated on July25, 2011. Though I was able to post a basic post including images using the WordPress for Android application on my smart phone, I still needed to do some fine-tuning of the post from the regular WP interface. Also, I posted a follow up post on the weaknesses of my smart phone.

On the bus from DC to NY

In December 2009 l had a post about my new smart phone from Nokia. It was my first “smart” phone, and I was quite happy to have such a major upgrade in my wired-ness.
Over the time I became more and more dissatisfied with the phone, even though my requirements were very minimal.
Today I would like to talk about my new smart phone which reduced Nokia to becoming “smart” only if properly taken into quotes marks.
I have had my new phone for the last two months and really come to enjoy the real power of real smart mobile device. Just as I said in my post on Nokia I am
not much of a talker on the phone, but the great benefits of a smart phone capabilities are so cool that I do not really care about the phone features proper, but rather enjoy the rest of the smart package.

So about my new smart phone. On May 18 I got my Samsung Infuse 4 G. It was just three days available for sale and the very first day when I became eligible to upgrade at a discounted price. I had known about the phone and had been expecting it for about a month. My main pull to it was that it had (and still has) the biggest touch screen on the market. It is important because my eyesight has been progressively deteriorating in the last years and especially since I started my classes in part-time MBA program at GW School of Business. It came to the point that on my Nokia I could not read anything without glasses: not the names of the incoming callers, not the current time- nothing. So having a big screen and adjustable font size was very appreciable improvement. Once I got the phone I started to play around with it and learn all the features available from resident programs, as well as free and premium applications. I have really become hooked up on all the great things I can do with the phone.
Her is the short list of all the things I have come to appreciate:
* Big screen – I now can actually use most of basic functions without glasses: see the time, read the urgent emails, identify the callers, use stopwatch for exercise or grilling. None of these “simple joys” was available to me with Nokia.
* I can check all of my emails from one interface delivered to my combined mailbox on the phone. Nokia allowed to configure only mailboxes from the ISP. So except the verizon email I would have to get my other accounts via web interface. Needless to say it was cumbersome and I used it very rarely only in extreme urgency. Now I hardly go to my gmail, GW mail or yahoo account via computer – all done on the phone.
* Fast speeds of downloads or web browsing – no contest from Nokia.
* Free navigation from pretty capable Google maps. Nokia only offered the paid service from AT&T. I used it for a month while it was free. It was constant butt of the jokes. Every time I veered away from its directions it was insisting that I take “next legal u-turn”. Google quietly recalculates the route and gives new directions based on my “deviant” behavior instead of trying to enforce corrective actions.
*Multitasking!!! This post is a great example of it. I typed the whole post while sitting on the bus from DC to New York. While I was typing the post I had my navigator running in the background and I was periodically checking my location and trip progress.
All the way I was listening to Napster radio and personalized playlist, also maintained at Napster. I was periodically taking pictures with the built-in camera. I was also periodically looking up information on the web and could have up to four browser windows open at the same time. And from time to time I was answering calls from my family. All these actions were running simultaneously hiding in the background when needed, but never stopping completely.

Anyways, I just crossed to Manhattan and my stop is going to be soon. I am finishing and publishing this to post just to demonstrate how great the mobile device can be if done properly. Included in the post at the top and below are a few random pictures I took with my Samsung Infuse 4G smart phone along the way.

Posted from WordPress for Android

The bus at the rest stop on the way from DC to NY

Service Area in Delaware

Entering New Jersey on the way to NYC from DC

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