It's been some time since the last post. That's because I wanted to know what I was talking about, so I wanted to have a Droid before I posted again. Well, thanks to my beautiful wife Maria, I finally have a DroidX!
A week before Christmas (2010) my wife and I went down to the Verizon store to check out the DroidX and see how expensive it would be to set ourselves up with a couple of them (one for each of us, mine being my Christmas present). I was pleasantly surprised when she decided to get them for us.
I'll tell you that we didn't pay what they were asking. We didn't even pay what you could get them for online at Verizon. It wasn't much of a discount, but we were able to get $20.00 off of the price of Verizon's then running Buy 1 get 1 Free promotion. Plus they set us up with a life-long 20% discount on phone accessories. But don't let that foll you, at 20% off I am still paying more than I would at Best Buy for retail priced Motorola factory accessories. But it's only a penny or two and this way I know my wife won't get gouged if she goes in because she has a question and needs something.
However, it should be noted that we didn't just walk out of there with a couple of DroidX smartphones. Because I am a little clumsy (the week before I dropped my EeePC and cracked the screen), we wound-up getting a full coverage protection plan on my DroidX. That's a hefty price tag right there, but it's much cheaper than having to buy a new one. And I knew I would (and do) use it absolutely all the time. And this plan replaces the phone no matter how it gets damaged. So that's a big deal, and because of the 20% discount on accessories, we did load up. We both got wrapsol screen protectors, clear plastic rubber covers, and I grabbed the last case they had that would fit the big screened DroidX. So it wasn't like we didn't deserve getting a good deal.
I actually wanted to see if I could knock-off another $20.00 to $5.00, but Maria just agreed to their comeback after the sales guy called the manager. After all, they weren't offering a buy 1 get 1 free deal, and they were already $20.00 more expensive than Verizon was offering them for online. Originally, we asked for 2 for $150.00. I still think we could have gotten a better deal by dickering more, but women get impatient when shopping for tech stuff (not shoes, though) and when it became a done deal I had a DroidX, so I kept my mouth shut.
There was another nice feature about getting 2 Droids. And this deal has to do with the data plan. We don't actually get a lot of phone calls. So we did grab the lowest priced family plan. But Maria doesn't surf much with hers, and she uses her new Dell for all her email. Plus, I turned on the WiFi so she can always use that at the house when downloading new apps. So with hers we just got the least expensive data plan. In doing that, they offered us an unlimited data for about the same price on the second line. Since I am constantly surfing the web and checking out new apps anytime that I take Max anywhere where he just does his own thing (which is often since I am the primary care provider), this promo works out nice for us.
We didn't tack on any SMS plans, though. We don't know anyone who texts. ;)
We are actually used to buy-as-you go phones and have used both Tracfone and Virgin before (take a Tracfone over a Virgin despite how it sounds if you can, they have a better network) and we know that we will be spending in a month for 2 contracts what we spent in a year on a pay-as-you-go phone. But there are no smartphones available in pay-as-you-go flavors, yet. I certainly hope that there will be soon, even if we are pigeon-holed into contracts for the next two years. These Android, iPhone, BlueBerry and Palm smartphones are just simply too good to be exclusive to the privileged and the communication professionals that require them.
But now that I have an actual "smart"phone, I can't believe that I actually traunted around through life without one. It's always with me (rarely do I space off taking it along), and it's not just a phone, camera, web browser, calendar, timer, (alarm)clock, address book, calculator, tip calculator and unit converter like my old Tracfone LG, it's a much better one that is also a compass, a level, a flashlight, a little book reader, an emailer, doodler, simple image processor, gallery, 720P Hi-Def camcorder, video player, TV, TV Guide, movie times guide, Blu-ray compliant electronics device remote controller, an entertainment device, a radio, an MP3 player, a voice recorder, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a gas mileage and expenses tracker, a business card reader, a document scanner, a bar code reader, a comparison shopping guide, a headlines updater, a news reader, a weather update, a recipe guide, a secret journal, a password safe, a jokes keeper, an inspirational quotes machine, a multiple reference guide, a voice to speech blog toy, a deer/turkey caller, a moon phase guide, a farmer's almanac, an air horn, a star map, a NASA image gallery, a hard drive, a file sharing tool, a file downloader, networking tool, an FTP server, a social networking tool, a synthesizer/piano/drums/xylophone toy, a ringtone maker, a morse code teacher and tool, a GPS with turn-by-turn instructions, a ski conditions reporter.... it's even an internet WiFi access point!
Just like the computer, everyone wants one and eventually everyone will have at least one. You just can't beat these things. I would be able to scan credit cards if Square would just send me the little attachment I need to do so.
The world is changing, and the smartphone is a good part of it. I do recommend that kids only use the phone speaker and hold it away and in front of their head as a precaution, but these things are phenomenal!
Well, I hope that helps you get a deal. You can probably wind-up with a better deal than I had if you are getting a couple of phones. The same type of dickering should work with just about any smartphone. Verizon and some of the other players are rumored to be working on cheaper contracts, too. You might wait a bit for that, but if you can get one now and don't have a smartphone, you should.
The only extra accessories that I have grabbed since we bought these droids is a quick car charger from Best Buy and I am going to also grab a home dock. A car dock is the only other thing you might need and that would take the place of the car charger.
Good luck getting a deal and happy Androiding! ;) -Doug
Widget Bot is a little blog about my adventure with my DroidX and its tools. I hope it will turn into much more.
