So Google I/O was kind of amazing, the awesome part is that they gave me two free phones. The bad part was how to get into talks. I really need to find more conferences where they are either really old and experienced, or young without a lot of people.
But that is all besides the point, thanks to Google I/O I started carrying a smart phone. First a Droid (I sold that), then a Evo 4g (... it was taken to a better place), and now a Nexus One. Since I've had mixed feelings about carrying a smart phone, I decided a while ago to list the pros and cons.
Pros
- GPS always at the ready - with out this and google maps, I would have never found my way around Manhattan.
- Offline storage - The ability to store things like barcodes and maps offline makes life a whole lot more paperless and easy.
- Address Book + Internet - An address book that syncs with Facebook and Twitter makes it so I always have contact information for people
- Instant notification of new email - Useful for knowing if the servers at work have died
Cons
- Always on the internet - This can be kind of distracting. I've found myself more often than not staring at my phone while waiting for something, instead of just thinking and waiting.
- Instant notification of new email - I have no excuse for not seeing the servers are down.
- Battery Life - No matter what anyone says, the battery life of smart phones suck. The nexus one lasts a little longer than a day under normal usage, but you basically need to plug it in every night. I miss just having to plug my phone in once a week, but maybe I'm spoiled.
Anyway, these are just my views. After my trip to NYC, I'm pretty set that the pros outweigh the cons, but if I were backpacking, I would need a cheap phone that would last for weeks to take with me,