Entry dated ::  August 1, 2010
ATT Store , New York City

My Iphone Problem

I wanted to buy the coolest of the cool: the new Iphone 4. I went to the ATT store on 86th Street, credit card in hand, and played with the Iphone for 2 hours. But alas, here is what I found:
1) Emails? I could not type my full name and email address on its keyboard without a half dozen typos.
2) Voice Recognition? Its voice recognition software made even more errors. The problem the salesman told me was the microphone picked up ambient noise.
3) Phone? After 3 tries, it connected with another Iphone in the store, but the clarity was spotty, as I walked, and at some moments inaudible. When I asked the salesman, he shrugged, saying again the problem the ATT salesman told me was the “ambient noise.” But “ambient noise” is part of the context of modern life. life in New York City.

conclusion: I cradled in the palm of my hand a gorgeous device that didn’t work as either a phone or as a message sender. If there was ever proof of the global triumph of form over function, it was the beautiful Iphone 4.

The Trip Across 86th Street

At the Verizon store, I tried Motorola’s new Droid X. It actually worked.
1) Emails? The keyboard is about 50 percent larger than that of the Iphone so I could now type my full name and email address on its keyboard without a problem.
2) Voice recognition? It errorlessly typed out my email address as well as a cliched line from Shakespeare. So one does not even need to type to answer emails.
3) Phone. It actually worked. Even as I moved around the store, it was clear as the proverbial bell. It turns out the Droid X has 3 microphones, two of which are used to cancel out the ambient noise. (This may also explain why the voice recognition works so well).
4) Utility
The clincher for me was that, unlike the Iphone, the Droid X has an HDMI outlet for high-definition transfer This feature allows me to hook the phone into my home theater so I can skim the world’s data broth watch and watch videos on my 10 foot screen in HD
.
Conclusion: I bought the Droid X.


Questions? Email me at edepstein@worldnet.att.net
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