Georgia Pok Guy

I think, if anything, today’s xkcd sold me against getting a DROID.  Why is a physical keyboard a selling point?  I really like Apple’s decision to make all but the most basic buttons virtual.  It allows the phone to maintain the same form factor, and with fewer moving parts that’s just one less thing I have to worry about breaking.  Granted, Android is an open source platform, which is good from the developer side of things.  And running multiple apps at the same time would be nice (or even just having multiple web pages loading at the same time).  But for some reason I just can’t look past the physical keyboard.  It seems like a red flag of lazy design, so who knows what other horrors may await?  In the end, I’ll wait to see what the early adopters think before casting a final judgement.  Part of the reason I’ve been looking at the DROID is that my Gen 1 iPhone is getting kinda old.  But since there is little price difference between the DROID and new iPhones, I’m more inclined to stick with Apple.

Lets say you’re sitting in your local Starbooks, all by your lonesome, and you’re just dying to converse with someone about the Japanese serow.  Do you:

1.  Stand up and shout out that the Japanese serow is an even toed ungulate?
2. Use iFob to see if anyone else has listed “Rare fauna of East Asia” under their interests?

iFob is a really cool (in theory, haven’t used it myself) piece of software for your iPhone that connects you to everyone on your local wireless network, allowing you to exchange information about yourself.  It’s like MySpace or Facebook at WLAN granularity.  For introverted people constantly living in fear of being rejected by others (such as myself), this sounds like a great piece of software.  I can see who around me shares my interests, and can use that to strike up a conversation.  Finding a kindred spirit is always an uplifting experience.

One potential downside I could see, especially for the womenfolk, is having creepy guys pretending to share your interests.  This problem already exists in places like MySpace, only this time the guy is in the same room as you.  Still, I think this looks like a really interesting, innovative idea, and I look forward to testing it out sometime.  Now, if only I liked coffee… 

I received an iPhone for Christmas (from Santa, of course) and I still haven’t set it up yet. I suppose it will have to wait for Boxing Day, then…