The Droid Lightens the Road Warrior's Load

[REMilk]

I am a road warrior. I travel nearly every week and take from 4 to 10 flights a week. I also like to have with me, my music, my books, GPS, games. etc. With the proliferation of technical solutions, one could end up lugging around many devices including, laptop, cell phones, personal assistant systems (Day-Timer) or PDA, Ipods/mp3 players/CD Players/audio books, Hard-cover books/e-book reader, video/movie player, game players, GPS, and satellite radio.

Though not a perfect replacement for dedicated items, my Motorola Droid has enabled me to significantly reduce the number of (electronic) items I have to lug around and move through airport security (TSA). TSA scrutinizes someone with lots of electronics. I use the Droid for the following functions:

1. Cell phone/Text – The Droid extends the basic communications of cell phone and text messaging to include additional communications functions of email and social media.
2. Personal assistant systems (Day-Timer)/PDA – Originally, I replaced these bulky systems with a Palm Pilot-PDA. Now the Droid replaces the primary PDA functions of corporate calendaring and personal calendaring (individually and/or combined), contact management, note taking, etc.
3. Ipods/mp3 players/CD Players/audio books – I agree that the dedicated devices for this have more functionality that the Droid, but for my 58 year-old ears, and the fact that I am listening on airplanes, the Droid handles these function satisfactorily for me.
4. Hard-cover books/e-book reader – ebook readers actually replace the hard-cover books, reducing weight. The ebook readers, in my opinion, are much easier on the eyes and require less effort to read that a Droid. However, I have read many books on my Droid and I carry several electronic books with me. Because of the screen size, the Droid might be a weaker replacement than for other functions.
5. Video/Movie Player – again, the dedicated devices have more functionality amd have larger screens than the Droid, but I have watched 1-hour TV shows on the Droid; I could watch a full-length movie on a cross-country flight on the Droid.
6. GPS – I have used this up and down the East Coast (Daytona Beach, Florida to Kittery, Maine) and in the upper Midwest, and the GPS has worked well. Google Maps have been more current that my wife’s new GPS; in fact a friend moved into a new subdivision 2 weeks ago, they were the first house, and Google maps already had their street mapped. Take that Magellan, Garmin, and TomTom.
7. Satellite radio – with the upcoming app release from Sirius/XM radio, I will no longer need to carry my satellite radio for long trips in rental cars. Another reason for carrying :icon_ banana:the SatRad was to listen to Boston RedSox and New England Patiout broadcasts, I can now listen to these on Droid radio apps.
8. Game player – Though the Droid is not a PSP or other portable gaming systems, there are many games and puzzles available for one to use to ‘kill’ time.
9. Laptop – Alas, the Droid cannot replace my laptop! I can read PDF files and read and write Microsoft word, excel and powerpoint docs. However, the small screen does not provide ‘ease of use’ for most business docs I deal with (word docs of 1000s of pages). In addition, I work with large MS Access databases and large MS Project files for which there are no Droid apps.
10. Miscellaneous – I also am able to work in “the cloud” through the use of Google Docs and ZOHO. In addition, I use DropBox and ZumoDrive apps for file storage in “the cloud.”

In the future, I am sure we will see new multi-function devices in a portable communication package that have increased functionality. This rambling just shows how the Droid has lightened my load.

 

[Erron]

Very nice write up.

i agree with dancing banana. The mlb app is the best app on the market!

 

[Ghostwheel]

On my last business trip, I made the decision to forego my laptop and see if I could get by with just my Droid. I can't say there was anything about the laptop I missed, and it was freeing not having to lug that heavy laptop bag around the airports, or go through the process of removing it for the security x-ray. For all my future business travelling, the laptop is staying home, thanks to the Droid.

 

[Romple]

20. No DOS prompt? What were they thinking?

Oh come on DOS was an OS! But we do have a command prompt! Total BS!!! ;p

 

[Ghostwheel]

20. No DOS prompt? What were they thinking?

Oh come on DOS was an OS! But we do have a command prompt! Total BS!!! ;p

Wrong thread...?

 

[Romple]

20. No DOS prompt? What were they thinking?

Oh come on DOS was an OS! But we do have a command prompt! Total BS!!! ;p

Wrong thread...?

FML! damn you Chrome and letting me have open 20 tabs!

Leaving here for hilarity.

 

[DaDroidDude]

OMG!
How on earth did you replace your palm pilot with the Droid for PDA work?
Seriously, the keyboard entry on the Droid is sooooo slow and inaccurate, regardless of which keyboard I use.

Perhaps you're not as much of a palm power user as I am.
I check on or enter stuff probably 50 times a day and my productivity would slow to a crawl if I were to use the Droid keyboard to enter it all.

What app do you use for your todo list?
Are you hooked into Exchange?

I would LOVE to only carry around one device but have not found suitable replacements for calendar or todo list.

Thanks
B

 

[REMilk]

OMG!
How on earth did you replace your palm pilot with the Droid for PDA work?
Seriously, the keyboard entry on the Droid is sooooo slow and inaccurate, regardless of which keyboard I use.

Perhaps you're not as much of a palm power user as I am.
I check on or enter stuff probably 50 times a day and my productivity would slow to a crawl if I were to use the Droid keyboard to enter it all.

What app do you use for your todo list?
Are you hooked into Exchange?

I would LOVE to only carry around one device but have not found suitable replacements for calendar or todo list.

Thanks
B

I originally replaces the Palm Pilot with a Treo. Now I use the Droid.

If I have a lot of text to enter, I use the slide out keyboard :motdroidhoriz: on the Droid. I am becoming adept at using the ALT key combinations. I agree that using the on-screen keyboard can be slow and frustrating.

I would say I use my Droid about the same as you.

I am hooked into MS Exchange. I purchased the app, Touchdown, which allows easy access to my account on my firm's MS Exchange Server. This gives me access and maintain to my corporate email, corporate calendar, corporate tasks/to do list and corporate contacts.

For personal email, I now use Gmail and use the included Gmail App. For personal calender, I use the included Calendar app. For tasks/to do, I use the app/widget gTask which syncs my tasks to Google's (calendar) task list.

This is based on my experience, most likely yours will differ.

Good Luck,
Bob