I just bought a dumb smart phone - initial observations

[The Gorn]

I purchased a Virgin Mobile Android based phone, the LG Optimus: http://www.amazon.com/LG-Optimus-Prepaid-Android-Virgin/dp/B004LJ8N78

I have used a very cheap bottom end Virgin handset quite successfully around the house a few years ago, so I took a chance that a data phone would have acceptable service here.

The main attractions of Virgin Mobile service are twofold: no contracts, and dirt cheap service. 3G service for Android (no limitations stated) starts at $35 per month, with 300 talk minutes included. The closest comparable Verizon package would be close to $100 per month. I want to stick my feet into the shallow end of the smart phone pool before committing to an automobile loan like payment for two years.

My initial impressions:

Considering I am in a rural (exurban) area not very close to a big city, 3G reception seems decent. Most web sites come up slower than on my DSL connected desktop but it's not terrible. I can get OK reception from inside rooms in the house (IE, read the NY Times on the toilet. No, not really, that's disgusting, but I did try it from the bathroom.  )

FUSSY, FUSSY, FUSSY in all respects. Especially the reliance on the finger tips as an entry device for a keyboard. Android is a full Windows or OSX or Linux like desktop OS and while the screens are scaled back in complexity to what you can cope with in a tiny form factor, it's still challenging to get right, and I am not particularly fat-fingered.

The speed of the device is extraordinary from several aspects. Time to start is VERY quick compared to many feature-phones now on the market. The speed of activities like browsing and the accuracy of its voice recognition (you can speak a navigation command or you can speak a URL) is VERY high. Overall in terms of the hardware platform I am flabbergasted. Even a cheap instance of a smart phone like this is a high quality, functional device.

I think that smartphones as they are right now are DOA for seniors and anyone else with manual dexterity issues. This will improve as larger format phones come out, and aspects of the UI are further refined.

I got the hang of everything in terms of the UI very quickly just from reading what people write about smartphones. IE, to zoom a web page or certain other content, you pinch or spread your fingers apart; you drag content to scroll it.

I think Peter Gibbons has given me some instruction on smartphone compatibility issues with respect to web sites. The main issue I see with respect to web sites that are not designed specifically for mobile use is that such sites are essentially not very usable. IE, imagine an entire web site displayed in a 2.5 x 3.5" space. I find that a web site designed with fixed pixel width is particularly crippled. Some normal web sites with non fixed width do tend to flow along the margins of the smart phone display and are far more usable.

The WAP version of this forum, as Peter noted, does not display URLs that are embedded in post bodies.

GPS functionality is FANTASTIC. The device gets a very fast, very accurate lock on your location and it is correlated directly to Google maps. The GPS lock is far faster than my Magellan handheld GPS. And you can map a driving route by voice or by keyboard.

Overall -

I hope I do not waste a lot of my time with this stupid thing. Mainly I purchased it to stay current with where the industry is at.

Seeing how one really works is eye-opening.

Also, business wise, I can now see why YCombinator and the whole startup scene exists. This is exciting technology. If I were a 25 year old programmer, I would have (disgusting sexual metaphor redacted) over programming one of these devices.

So the next best thing, as far as I am concerned, is to get someone who is infatuated with the tech to write your killer app for you for royalties only.

The main opportunity available here for people in our age bracket is to be a slave plantation owner to exploit the inherent business opportunities.

Seriously, I see TREMENDOUS opportunity for providing the compatibility bridges and work necessary to make smartphones wholly integrated with the business IT world and with the needs of consumers. Even now. I was constantly running into web sites on this phone that just don't look good in this display size. Just the redesign aspects for smartphones could keep web designers busy for years.

[pxsant]

The one area where mos of these devices fall down is in battery life.  My brother has an Android phone and he can't get through a full day on a charge.   My old Blackberry gets 4 to 5 days on a charge with average use.

After you have used it long enough, I would be interested in your battery life experience.

[Peter Gibbons]

Gorn,

Fantastic review. Congratulations on your new investment.

The LG Optimus really feels great in your hand. The rubberized back and sides look good and make it easy to hold the phone.

In contrast the iPhone 4 with its sharp edges and slippery surfaces is exactly on the opposite end in terms of ergonomics. That's why almost every iPhone 4 I see is in some bulky and ugly cover.

Also contrary to popular belief LG pioneered the slate design with LG Prada. They were 6 months ahead of Apple in this area.

In another thread I mentioned leapfrogging.

Well, now you have leapfrogged me by significant distance: My Blackberry have screen half the size and if you touch it you will just leave fingerprints - nothing else happens

I am not going to mention that I paid three times more money

And I bought it just 2 years ago.

$35/month is fantastic price for unlimited 3G. I am paying $30/month but this is a year only promotion. Paying $100/month for wireless is insane.

[Peter Gibbons]

My 2 year old Blackberry also doesn't have a great battery life.

This is not a problem. Now that most phones use micro USB connectors for charging - I have couple of extra chargers from old phones. I keep one at the office and my phone is almost always at least 90% charged.

[TRexx]

Especially the reliance on the finger tips as an entry device for a keyboard. Android is a full Windows or OSX or Linux like desktop OS and while the screens are scaled back in complexity to what you can cope with in a tiny form factor, it's still challenging to get right, and I am not particularly fat-fingered.

My nephew sells phones for T-Mobile. He says that this is the biggest complaint he gets from "old people" (> 35).  To them he recommends phones with a real Qwerty keyboard.  Unfortunately all those moving parts make them less reliable.

[The Gorn]

The battery life is very poor.

I had the phone charged 100% and then used it online intermittently for perhaps 2 hours last night, then left it on overnight. It is now down to 19%. Apparently you plan to have it on the charger most of the time when you're not using it.

The standardized micro USB charging port makes keeping spare chargers around easier.

I also left out mention of the video and camera function. This phone is supposed to be "auto focusing"? It did look like in VCR mode the focus was bouncing around. (Having such a tiny camera have moving lens parts is amazing, I figured this stuff was all fixed focus.) The quality of the 3.x MB stills were poor. I know that much of the proletariat uses camera phones as its modern "Instamatic" but I still really want my high quality dedicated camera.

Really, the main reason I bought it now is because we are taking a trip next month and I thought having something like this to check out restaurants and places to go while we were on the road would be really handy. Plus keeping up with what is going on in this industry.

I really don't think at this point I want THIS phone to be my one cell phone. I want a normal phone with normal battery life for carrying-around calling. Not that I have anyone to talk to. 

Agreed, the Virgin data plan is priced great. The next best thing I found was a T-Mobile plan for two phones with unlimited data for $50/mo per phone.

To reiterate - I see great upside in enslavement of younger programmers at low wages to write new applications for these things. 

[PhilFromNY]

Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about buying the same phone and it helps to have the curmedgeon viewpoint.

[The Gorn]

Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about buying the same phone and it helps to have the curmedgeon viewpoint.

And that's exactly what you'll get here. 

[Richardk]

I looked at that phone too and concluded it's a dumb smart phone. 

I definitely want a keyboard. I was surprised that a stylus doesn't work, only your fingertip. Also the speed didn't seem that great when surfing the web but while watching YouTube it seemed fine.

And there's that battery life or lack of but I'm told that all smart phones have this problem.

The only other issue was spotty coverage once you get into rural areas. In fringe areas we had missed incoming calls, delayed texts and next to no data or surfing ability while others (different carrier) seemed OK. We were in an area where it's listed as 'Fair' - One bar of service but it was down a hill and along side a lake at a resort. In town, it was OK. So you really need to check the coverage and compare that to your needs.

For 'real work' even a small laptop is better but as a 'consumer' of content, this might be OK. My last thought was how long is this thing going to last, since it's so cheap to buy?

[The Gorn]

I *believe* (faith based belief based on direct inspection) that it's a high quality piece of merchandise. I have no qualms about the phone. It feels heavy and good in the hand.

Virgin doesn't have rich alternatives for Android phones. I bought this one for $129 for at Meier's (literally) while my brother was buying his groceries.

That is the "sound" of mass deindustrialization right there - you can buy a complex Linux based cell phone right down the aisle from milk, bread and yogurt.

The next step up in Virgin stuff is a $299 Android phone.

Having bought the phone and played with it a little, I decided that it's a largely unnecessary electronic tether for me, but, it does offer great conveniences and can come in handy.

I just don't want to become one of these mass proletariat morons who can't cope without one. In the same way that I avoid becoming too dependent on a GPS - I enjoy the ability to read maps that ordinary "Avatards" in our society can't. Most people can't read maps, I can, in part that makes me smarter. Being able to do without fancy electronics as needed is a pride thing.

The only other issue was spotty coverage once you get into rural areas. In fringe areas we had missed incoming calls, delayed texts and next to no data or surfing ability while others (different carrier) seemed OK. We were in an area where it's listed as 'Fair' - One bar of service but it was down a hill and along side a lake at a resort. In town, it was OK. So you really need to check the coverage and compare that to your needs.

All I know at present is this service, so I'll say -

Virgin is an "MVNO" (look it up) that resells Sprint service, so I am really using the Spring 3G network.

A (Indian but somewhat understandable) service rep at Virgin told me that if I activated the phone and avoided using talk minutes, I could get a refund of the first month's service if I found that reception was entirely a no-go in my location. So that eliminated my fear to try it.

[Richardk]

I'm very tempted to get one myself, to see what "I'm missing" and to program for the droid environment but do I really need the device since they have emulators? The answer is probably yes, to avoid creating something that no one can figure out or to see what the real performance is.

As for quality, they look very nice but my daughter's friends have the model down (non-droid) and everyone was great except for one. That one got replaced twice but so far is going strong. So was it a bad batch? Otherwise, for the money you can't complain but once you're dependent on it or it's your only 'communication device', they go ballistic when they have problems.

A refund from Virgin? Good Luck with that but maybe in that special case. Customer service is one area they could improve but based on the market they serve, they need to be 'hip' and I'm sure the refunds would be endless if allowed. On the flip side, you have no contract. If you don't need customer service, I can't really complain about them.

[The Gorn]

You'd really need the Droid to field-test the usability of your own code, as well as to create a motivation to develop the app in the first place. The phones have mobile specific features like GPS that applications can interrogate, the "soft" keyboard data entry, the camera integrated into the phone, etc.

The thing that impresses me most about this phone and phones like it is the richness of the application environment. Far richer than anything you are used to on the desktop. I really think you need the physical device available in order to appreciate this and in order to create applications for it. Puristically, it should not be so, but I think that's the reality.

Windows desktop --> an Android phone

is like

DOS --> Windows 95.

Imagine trying to develop GUI applications for Windows using a library in DOS. (actually, there were a few multiplatform libraries around through the mid 1990s that promised just this - the "CUA style" in character mode DOS, in graphic driven DOS, and in Windows. I knew of absolutely no successful commercial applications developed that way, either.)

I see that as a similar situation to what you're proposing.

[Peter Gibbons]

It's possible but absolutely not recommended.

I tried to develop iPhone application using only the simulator when the iPhone just came up. Lost interest and never finished.

A few months ago I developed a Playbook app using only the simulator. This time I finished it because the motivation was there - getting the actual Playbook free of charge.

After I got the actual device I discovered bug that I could never have found in the simulator.

With Android phones so inexpensive - there is no excuse not to get one if the idea is to develop applications.

[The Gorn]

Not to sound like an idiot fanboy, but the versatility and scope of possibilities of Android is unparalleled. Almost anything that a phone owner would want to do that formerly would require paid subscriptions to multiple third parties is available for free. One data plan and all that stuff - music, images, messaging, email support, web - is available free and unfettered. Plus GPS API capability.

It feels like a reasonably powerful desktop PC in a small candy bar sized package but with a lot more added.

In order to compete reasonably on that turf you really should have one of the phones. The main reason, as I said, is usability testing of your own ideas. You need to be able to walk around with one or drive around with one and try it in the field.

I'm a curmudgeon but I nevertheless suspected all of this before I considered buying one of these phones. It is true. Smart phones like the Android are sort of an epiphany of personal computing (with the exception, of course, that most "goodies" are located on servers and are centrally controlled.)

The maniac investment guy Jim Cramer claims that the smartphone industry is poised for multiple years of explosive growth. I can easily see why.

[Slinky]

Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about buying the same phone and it helps to have the curmedgeon viewpoint.

We need our own magazine: Curmudgeon Reports.