verizon's not happy with me, but that's fine. while they were reliable and low maintenance, they were also pretty vapid and flashy. too much makeup, and not enough substance, if you will. i'm speaking about my now dormant samsung u740. at first i was seduced by it's confusing keypad and ability to go both ways. in fact, the keypad alone brought back fond memories of the motorola timeport i had in the earlier part of this decade. (i still say that screen is the best to date for a lowend clamshell.) it also got me out of a long term contracted commitment with sprint, the crazy company that sends you feces in the mail, surprises you one day by doing all your laundry and then sleeps with your friend because the birthday present you stole for it wasn't expensive enough. verizon was good, and fair. the u740 did it's job and was a breath of fresh air after my sprint razr. (btw, sprint puts their own UI /over/ the existing motorola one. it was like running doom II on a 386 with 4mb ram. some of you know what i'm talking about.) but after a while, i became a little frustrated. you pay for a piece of solid state, it has an OS, it has removable storage, some of them have wifi, gps and a keyboard...but you're not allowed to access all these things. you want to connect your phone to the computer? that propreitary cable costs money, my friend. you want to import a ringtone of circuit bent malaise you created yourself? no, i don't think so. here, have this kanye west ringtone from the verizon store. only $0.99. my xv8600 at work has gps, but verizon blocks it...yet it's running wm6. not even a registry hack will enable it. wtf, verizon? do you want to read my mail before i open it, and perhaps it'd be ok if i spend some time with my guy friends? oh no, of course...i forgot you need someone to help you blow-dry your hair and scrapbook, and yes of course i like this sweater you bought me and are making me wear. when some of my friends started getting iphones, i should have been jealous, but meh. it was only until android actually became a reality that i could be swayed to grow dual nuts and leave the stalwart vzw controlling ice-queen.

here's my take on the g1 THUS FAR;

cons:

camera: completely useless. 0 settings, no flash, has the exposure capabilities of a flashless holga. at night. in a cave. with the lens cap on.

UI: i'm 'clicking' a little longer than i'd like to (more like a brief touch) to activate things. it occasionally will be a little sluggish, but i would like to attribute this to the few custom apps i have running.

battery life: like driving a hummer with the gas tank of a moped.

customization: a few things could improve here. i'm finding that some things that should be obvious aren't available. such as, i would like a vibrate when i receive a notification; new e-mail, new text, new g-talk message (oh yes. FUCKING AWESOME.) you can't edit desktop shortcuts (maybe getting ahead of myself there...it is still just a phone) and the trackball is too slow in regular menus (great in the browser, though.)

durability: eh...i guess it could be worse, a little on the flimsy side but i don't really care. nice looking phones get stolen.

which brings me to the pros:

HOLY CRAP MY PHONE IS RUNNING LINUX! OH MY FUCKING GOD! everything besides what's listed above is so totally worth the some $400 this whole conversion has cost me. it's beautiful, the 3g is fine (although i'm sure there are people who will debate this) it has the full size web, the sound quality is great, and getting around the phone is intuitive and easy. the keyboard is nice (i still say the rubbery XV8600 keypad is the best) and the trackball is a nice addition. overall, i'm pretty psyched to have this phone.

sounddoc