malkav11

I'd been eyeing an HTC Evo even before they came out, but when they did I wasn't yet eligible for an upgrade and anyway they'd sold out everywhere. With more time and attention paid, I became a bit more skeptical, and now that I'd become eligible, it was starting to look like upgrading was going to be more expensive and less beneficial than it was worth. On the other hand, Sprint acquired another new, shiny Android phone with 4G, this one with a hardware keyboard, the Samsung Epic 4G. Unfortunately, when last I looked, Sprint wanted to charge me $350 even with my upgrade discount (with a $100 rebate on top of that, admittedly, but while it's better to get $100 back later than not, it doesn't help at all when raising the funding to make the initial purchase), which just wasn't really workable.

Then Radio Shack called me. They'd missed entirely the phase of my cell phone owning career where my little LG Rumor's screen died and I went insane and paid $500 for a no-contract Palm Pre, also the part where I was now a Sprint Premier customer with once-a-year upgrades. But, they said, I was now eligible for that two year upgrade. And as it happened, not only did they have the Epic 4G for a much more reasonable $220, no rebates necessary, but they offered me $50 or so trade-in for my Pre. Well then, said I.

And so, here it is. I have it. And it is wondrous. Oh, the Pre had a slightly better keyboard layout in one or two respects (though the Epic's keyboard is otherwise much nicer, substantially roomier, number keys accessible without modifier and ARROW KEYS - god how I missed those on the Pre. Made it impossible to edit anything I typed, had to delete everything after the mistake if I wanted to correct.), and some interface niceties that I miss - gestures and such. But it's so much faster in every respect, it's got some very nice built in capabilities, a GORGEOUS screen, the aforementioned 4G (which I can't get in my basement apartment, sadly), and oh yeah, it's Android-based. Which has opened a whole world of apps to me that drop my jaw. Nobody developed for WebOS, and while I have an iPod Touch, it's a sad truth that that plucky little thingamajig has no camera, GPS, or cellular internet, which lack means even if there are comparable iOS apps, I can't use them.

For example, Google Goggles. Holy shit. Point it at something, take a picture, and much of the time, poof, it will magically identify it for you and point you at helpful links like an Android Market page or sales pages online. It can recognize and even translate text. It is -amazing-.

Or Shazam. Hold the phone near a source of music and it will identify the music for you. Poof.

Or Google Translate, which I am reliably informed will actually do real-time audio translation. WTF. MAGIC.

I just...wow. I loves it.