Here I am, contradicting my own thoughts about technology purchases from a few months ago. This is what happens when your Verizon contract expires mere days before the launch of the Droid, unarguably Verizon’s best smart phone to date.

To be fair, as a web developer on the go, I can probably justify owning a smart phone more than a lot of people, but that’s beside the point. I bought it and, thus far, have not regretted it. Other than a slightly higher phone bill, it’s been all ups and very few downs.

What I love about the Droid

For one thing, it does everything I’d want an iPhone to do, but on a way better network. Sure, not as many apps and games, but if I really wanted to game on the go, I’d get a Game Boy or whatever they’re called these days. But when I was in a rural spot with a few iPhone friends and had full bars of 3G while they were all barely getting Edge, I smiled. Don’t get me wrong, I love the iPhone. If it were on Verizon’s way-better network instead of AT&T, I’d probably have it. But, at the same time, the opportunities for expansion on the Droid with its open development platform give me a lot of hope when I look at Apple’s sometimes-draconian control over their app store and device.

I also am enjoying the turn-by-turn directions powered by Google Maps that comes for free with the phone. I used it all last weekend getting around southern California with zero complaints. The GPS is accurate and I only lost GPS signal for a few seconds on a back-country road.

And the fact that I could run multiple apps at once came in handy when I was listening to music on my Droid through my car stereo and it was still giving me turn-by-turn directions over the music. And to run those apps at lightning speed with the Droid’s impressive hardware is nothing to complain about.

On a similar note, the fact that I can listen to streaming music and download podcasts from anywhere I get service is extremely convenient.

Also, I’m a big texter and tweeter, so the keyboard is highly important to me. The Droid, conveniently, has three: two on-screen keyboards (one each in portrait and landscape mode) with amazing predictive text when your fingers slip and a physical keyboard that isn’t perfect but can be nice once you get used to it.

Lastly, being the Google apps junkie that I am, the automatic integration with my contacts, calendar and email on my multiple Google accounts, and the integration with my contacts on Facebook, make for a smooth interface when calling, emailing and texting friends.

What I don’t like about the Droid

Well… not much. Nice, huh? The only things coming to mind are minor bugs and annoyances. One thing is the lack of multi-touch on the screen. It’s a bit confusing in the web browser, Google Maps and photos. I hear the phone actually supports it, but that it hasn’t been built. I’m not sure how true that is, but I can hope.

Another is that, occasionally, the text messaging app freezes up for a few seconds when I try to type and the browser has crashed for me a time or two. But they recover quite well, so I can’t complain too much.

Also, the camera leaves something to be desired, with its weak auto-focus and dark-ish exposures, but I hear there are already software updates in the works to fix some of that.

Lastly, the music player pauses briefly when a new text or email notification pops up. I’m not sure if this is a bug, really, because it was actually nice to know I’d gotten a message once I figured out what was happening.

Wrapping it up

All in all, I’m extremely satisfied with my purchase. I am still finding new reasons to love it and I think most people jonesing for a great smart phone on a great network will be satisfied, unless there is some iPhone-only feature or app you “need” that you know isn’t ever going to come to any other phone. (I can’t imagine what that would be.)

I intend to work this phone to death. I’m rarely an early adopter of new devices, and this one came along at just the right time. I will use it until it no longer works and, unless another better option comes along in the meantime, I can’t see myself switching phones any time in the near future.

Don’t get me wrong, technology is cool. I get caught up in gadget glory as much as the next geek. But lately, I’m starting to wonder if I’ve got my priorities straight.

While I was in Thailand, I saw the business class of Bangkok and the barefoot-and-dirty Muslim families in tiny villages. It was immediately noticeable that the happiest people seemed to be the ones furthest from the rat race and competitive edge of owning the coolest new junk.

I read a couple books while I was there — which I’ll be reviewing as soon as I get my rear in gear — that couldn’t have been timed better: they directly and indirectly pointed out the danger of giving in to consumer culture.

And then I read this article in Relevant Magazine that closes with this quote:

Do I want the “Internet in my pocket”? Am I troubled by my lack of immediate knowledge of world affairs? Am I troubled by my distance from email, and should this distance be closed? Will I be closer to my “friends” if Facebook is in my pocket? What kind of person do I want to become? And, finally, is an iPhone the shape of the distance between the current me and that better me?

Replace “iPhone” with any piece of technology we hold high and you get what I mean.

Two of the best things about being in Thailand were the fact that I had no cell phone or texting and that my Internet consumption was forced down to 15 or 20 minutes a day. The only downside was that I was in limited contact with people I love, of course, but that’s the nature of international travel no matter what. So why, then, do I come back home and immediately start checking out what phones are coming up in Verizon’s lineup?

Maybe, as much as I was glad to be home, landing in LAX and wading through the culture resulting from consumerism wasn’t the best method of re-entry. As if I could avoid it.

Hey. Hey you. The one that gets up in arms when people say they need Internet on their phones. If you keep that up, in five years they’ll be the ones that appear smarter than you because their brain will be in their pocket when you left yours at the office.

Reading on the web is almost certainly affecting the way we process information, but it’s not making us stupid. Instead, it’s changing the way we’re smart. Rather than storehouses of in-depth information, the web is turning our brains into indexes. These days, it’s not what you know — it’s what you know you can access, and cross reference.

[Your brain is an index via Joshua Rothhaas]

Also, this is an appeal to change education systems that still test people on how well they can memorize crap. Yes, there are professions where that will still be useful, but what fourth-grader really needs to know the names of all her bones?

Ever since the iPhone released two summers ago, the mobile world has changed completely. Sure, smart phones existed well before the iPhone, but it was the first time it was sold as something for everyone, not just business users and tech geeks.

Along with the revolution on phone side of things, it seems as though every web service I use has become highly intertwined with mobile media support. I’m a heavy user of Facebook, Twitter and Brightkite. Facebook has a mobile version of the site that feeds the addiction of those of us with mobile web, and both Twitter and Brightkite would be almost completely useless without text messaging and/or mobile web.

I see potential for huge ideas that would only be possible with the help of mobile computing. The trick is having a phone that encourages and contributes to those ideas in a way that is it is easy for the end user to work with and for them to grasp the bigger picture as well.

All that said, I decided to geek out and come up with the ideal mobile phone for my own personal wants. I am currently in the early stages of shopping for a new phone to take me to the next level (beyond just phone calls and text messages, that is). This is also sort of written for my friend Ben Pike, who is the biggest mobile phone geek the world has ever known.

Here are the features I want in my next phone. Obviously I’m dreaming, so the closest I can find will have to do. The rest are just good ideas to shoot for.

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