I’ve been eagerly awaiting the switch to the DROID coming at the end of March, however Friday morning I woke up to an ailing Crackberry. Having the TAC insurance plan, and pointing out my New every Two plan was due for renewal in two weeks, I asked about just pushing that date to Friday, vs. getting another new Curve on VZW’s dime. The agreed to this after a little back and forth, and by dinnertime on Friday, I had myself a shiny new Motorola DROID.

Since I had spent some time with in at the store, I was familiar with the basic operations and capacity of the device, however the more I’ve been using it this weekend, the more I am blown away by the abilities of it. While I can’t pass judgement on the battery yet, as it needs a few cycles to get fully up to capacity, It’s been holding it’s own so far, unless I have Meebo open for IM. – UPDATE: 3/10/10 – Battery is getting me thru a day, and I’m not carrying along my USB charging cable anymore. With ‘average’ use, it’s quite adequate when you’re in a metro area and not constantly looking for towers.

The interface is pretty slick and easy to use. While I did have to google the basic methods to get apps to the main screen, and other random functions, but overall, it’s been a pretty easy learning curve!

What has impressed me most, is the accuracy of the touch pad. While I’m really enthused to have a full QWERTY on the device, I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would. I’ve been able to easily add my IM, social media, weather and other basic apps to get me back up and running. I’ve also found Gmote, would enables you to control your music library on your computer via the DROID. Also, I’ve located a pretty decent VNC program, all available from the Android Market (short of Gmote). Short of being able to completely setup my VPN connection to my Untangle Firewall, the DROID pretty much removes the need for me to drag a laptop places with me and tether up to the Internet.

There are a few items missing from it that I’m hoping are resolved quickly are: No easy copy/paste in the interface I found if you longtap the content in question, you can copy it, moreso, you can longtap just about anything, anywhere for a host of options. No ability to add signatures on outgoing emails. Seeing as I use this for businesses, It’s critical that this feature be implemented soon. Maybe in 2.1.

Otherwise, the speed, usability, stability and overall performance of the DROID is pretty impressive. I opted for a slightly overbearing case on the phone, because I admit I’m a bit hard on stuff, and wanted to give myself the best chances to now destroy it. The one phone call I’ve made with it, I found to be exceptionally clear and crisp. The speaker actually had decent quality sound, not tinny or choppy like I’ve experienced with other phones.

Overall, I’m going to give the phone a 9 out of 10 review, only discounting it for the copy/paste and email signatures, two a pretty basic features on all other platforms of phones.

Aah yes, the time has come once again for the trip to Florida. 5 days in the sun, with some other Rollag Friends, and no work, snow or cold weather. My parents have been awesome and offered to watch the four-legged kids for the long weekend, which will be GREAT. Recalling from last year, flying your pet with you, is almost as expensive as flying yourself, and you have to ensure there is room for your pet, as at least Sun Country and NWA (Now Delta) have a 2-pet per flight limit.

We’ll be down in the Ft. Myers/North Port area, so if you have any ideas of where to do, please let me know! I’m sure we’ll hit up a few places I went to last year such as Joe Cracker’s, but will most likely stay away from Snook Haven, unless we feel real adventurous.

Do you have a favorite place in the area to stop by? Also, we’ll be spending most of our last day in Orlando, so aside from Disney, ideas there would be great too!

It’s no real secret that I’m kind of a technology whore. I’m quick to take in any old, yet still useful computer gear (with the exception of the TekTronix terminal). Mainly, I’ve gotten gear from businesses or family/friends that are offloading it, because they don’t need it, and/or don’t want to take the time to refurbish and resell it.

I am now getting a stockpile of computers again (mostly server grade, dual CPU, SCSI, RAID etc) and will be cleaning them up and selling them locally. My goal is to take the proceeds and donate them to a non-profit organization.

If you have any hardware that you are looking to get rid of, that would be of any cash value, I’d be happy to clean it up, and send it on it’s way! The other alternative, is they sit in your basement, and annoy your spouse that you have ‘too many computers’