…which is good, because I’d rather not have to think of where my new cell phone came from.
I signed on with Sprint this weekend (unlimited everything as far as I care) and picked up an HTC Hero in the process. This is an interesting change. Not only do I have a phone, but I have a phone that integrates itself with my Google services (GMail, GTalk, Google Voice…). The idea that all of my GMail contacts are immediately available from my phone is pretty neat (it’d be neater still if it only looked at my specifically-contacted Contacts rather than the “all contacts” list of everyone I’ve ever exchanged email with…).
Texting/emailing is far easier on this phone than on my Nokia 5310 that it replaced, even without a physical keyboard. Android’s text prediction/correction features work extremely well and are most forgiving of inaccurate fingers.
The Android App Store is a work in progress, but I’ve been able to find some websites that have made an effort to sort the wheat from the iFart applications. The most immediately useful one: “Carrr Matey”, a pirate-themed app that lets you “drop anchor” when you park your car and then can use the GPS to get you back to it later (including a timer for the meter if needed). A potentially useful one: “Here I am!”, which can send a text/email with a link to Google Maps with your current location. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know how useful the link is to non-Android phones.