It’s the final week with the Droid Razr. The thin little guy will soon be packed up and back to Verizon. One thing I’ve really been enjoying lately are the Smart Actions on the phone. You can set the phone up to do any number of things like lower the ring tone volume level at night to setting an auto-reply message for when you are busy.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed myself doing a lot of is data usage on the phone and on the Xyboard. I’m typically around wifi but I thought I would experiment for a little bit with using strictly data for a couple days on both devices (more so on the phone).

Obviously the 4G LTE on Verizon is ridiculously fast and amazing. Here in Dallas it is totally reliable and rarely misses a beat. It’s quick and the more you use it the more you want to use it. The downfall of that is you don’t realize how much you are using when you go strictly on data and stay off wifi. I noticed that because I’d use the data on one thing and it was super fast that I’d keep using it on other things like surfing the web, downloading an app or whatever. It’s almost a Catch-22.

Still the experience with the RAZR has been a good one. Once it is gone I’ll just be testing the Xyboard for Verizon. Something I can’t leave home without these days.

Verizon Ambassadors

As you know by now I’ve been asked to give reviews of some Verizon products. Recently I was shipped a Motorola Xyboard to test out. After about a hour of playing with it I realized, I like this much more than the Droid RAZR phone that I had been working with.

The RAZR is nice and all but for me the tablet is pretty sweet. The smaller screen size for a tablet is different. Instead of the typical iPad type screen size, this tablet clocks in at 8inches. To me, the small screen size isn’t a bad thing on a tablet. Why? Something about it just feels natural.

The Xyboard is a lot like the RAZR in terms of the Android OS on it. Still no Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0 but the OS seems nicer on the tablet than on the phone. The biggest drawback however are the apps for the tablet. Most of the phone apps aren’t worth getting on the tablet because they aren’t scaled to fit the tablet much like on an iPad when the apps are universal across the iOS.

I’ve found many quality apps like Twitter, Facebook, ESPN to just look off on the tablet. The experience is still decent with those apps but the look and feel of the apps on the tablet is lacking.

Another downfall if you will on the tablet is the weird corners. Instead of rounded corners like on most devices, this tablet has some weird edged corners. After holding it a while, the corners feel weird in your hands.

I’ll have more on this tablet as I get to play with it more.

As for the RAZR, it goes back to Verizon in a week or so. My usage of it hasn’t been nearly as much as before. After I tested out the call quality and the text messaging on the phone, I sort of stopped using it for what it really is, a phone. I mainly use it to play some games or watch some TV shows on the go, something the screen on the phone makes worth using for.

Verizon Ambassadors

So recently I became a Verizon Wireless Ambassador. A pretty nifty program where I get to try out devices and service from Verizon and then review it.

The first device I get to try is the Driod RAZR. This is my first experience with an Android phone. I’ve had an iPhone since the original so having “the other” kind of phone is totally new to me.

So far my experience has been a bit mixed with the RAZR.

The good:

  • The new 4G LTE network is ridiculously fast. One speed test and it was remarkably faster than my home’s wireless network. In fact it was nearly double. Very impressive.
  • The call quality on Verizon – something also new to me – was good as well. Not a lot of dead spots that I could see.
  • The Android OS is pretty nifty when you get down to it. Lots of different, yet, cool features to it.
  • The phone itself is pretty quick, apps load fairly quickly and run pretty smooth.
  • Having flash on a phone is pretty interesting. I was able to get ESPN3.com to work, which was awesome.
  • Speaking of streaming video, the quality on the RAZR screen is remarkable. It’s a bigger screen than the iPhone that I have right now and the quality is very nice.
  • The “turn-off when phone goes in to pocket” feature is a nice touch.
  • Widgets are pretty cool, and can be customized pretty easily.

The eh-not-so-great

  • Battery life on the RAZR is pretty pathetic. It takes a while to charge for one thing and either its because I don’t know how to turn some processes off or something but the battery just drains even when you aren’t using the phone.
  • Just like with most devices during heavy use, it gets fairly warm. Almost laptop warm.
  • No Ice Cream Sandwich loaded on the phone was a pretty big disappointment. I’ve read/heard great things about that update.
  • Too much crapware loaded on the phone that you can’t remove.
  • The back of the phone has a weird plastic that doesn’t seem to be removable yet bubbles up real easy.

I’ll do a few more of these blog posts about the RAZR until the device has to be returned in late March.

Verizon Ambassadors

The IF

So as you see I’ve added some stuff, changed the look and what not around here. Yeah, I felt I was ignoring the ever living poo out of this personal site of mine. So I’m slowly integrating my Tumblr feed into this site. I figure if I can get most, if not all, of my Tumblr posts on here then I’ll be doing good. I’m going to try to start using this place as my main page for weird and random things like I did on Tumblr. I’ll still write the random post about my life and what not but yeah.

Okay, that’s enough for now.

For the last couple months I’ve completely forgot about this site. I guess you could blame that on work, life, Tumblr, whatever. Anyways, I hope now that it is summer that I can actually spend some time on here to make this site a little more presentable. Maybe get Becca back to blogging about life and what not too.

We’ll see.

Becca got this in an email and I felt it was too good to pass up here.

The “Man” Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Finally, the guys’ side of the story. We always hear “the rules” from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules!

Please note.. these are all numbered “1” ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl.. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports: It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail

1. Ask for what you want.

Let us be clear on this one:

Subtle hints do not work!

Strong hints do not work!

Obvious hints do not work!

Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one .

1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done..Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials…

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” We will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, Expect an answer you don’t want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine… Really .

1. Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.

Yesterday was indeed my 26th birthday. I won’t lie I’m not the biggest birthday kind of guy. I told my dad last night that it was just another day and it was, but it was a good one.

Becca got me a snazzy bluetooth keyboard to go with my iPad I got for Christmas. I have to say right now typing this on my iPad with it I can see why these are items that could slowly replace laptops.

I got lots of folks sending me messages on Facebook, which was also nice to see. I probably got more messages than I expected to get.

So another year older. I have things I want to do and things I want to improve on. Hopefully I can do those things like lose a little weight, learn to cook more things than just pasta, and also learn to do a little more hands-on stuff around the house.

I love being part Swedish sometimes when I see things like this.

A great way to get people to do something fun and a way to get people to slow down more in traffic. Read more

The kid needs to be in child acting.