Hey everyone! I wanted to share with you another image that I took while I was in Kansas City. This time, it happened to be of the Drum Room Lounge, inside of the Hilton President in Kansas City. If you see at the post that I did with the hotel lobby (it’s a few below this one) both were taken with the same biodegradeable tripod (an apple). Hey! I didn’t know I was going to stumble into somewhere this cool! Same as before – this was a 5 shot HDR shot at -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 and processed with Photomatix.

So, why share these HDR images with you here? Well to whet your appetite for more HDR stuff at Photoshop World. That’s right, registration is open for Photoshop World in Orlando, FL March 24-26 2009. Now, on Tuesday March 23 Matt Kloskowski and I are bringing back our pre-con Real World HDR. So, if HDR is one of those things that you’re thinking of doing, and you want to learn it from Matt and I at Photoshop World, make sure you register now! Believe me, this one will sell out pretty fast.

My Weekend With the Droid
Here at the office, I get teased quite a bit for not owning the Iphone. It seems like everywhere I turn, there’s someone walking by the office pointing out their newest migration to the Iphone; their finger pointing in mock anguish as to me being one of the last holdouts. Over the last 2 years.. the landscape has gone from red to blue.. everyone gushing at their ability to to do this.. and do that.. on the new Iphone.

Here’s the real skinny about it: I just don’t care. Most of the time, if I give you a “I know.. im waiting for x to switch” I really am not thinking about that.. i’m just telling you what you want to hear.

The thing is – I am very happy with being on Verizon – and no amount of bells and whistles on the Iphone would have made me switch for it. My wife and I both have a plan, and both of our families are on the same network.. so most of our calling is free. The key word here being -calling-. At it’s core, I am one of those few people who believes that owning a phone really does begin with a phone. Everything else on top of that is just gravy. Phone must come first. I’m even the guy who has given up on Bluetooth earpieces after getting every one. A wire works just fine for me.

That said, I was interested to see what the new Verizon Droid was going to be like – the union of Motorola Hardware and Google software. Hey.. we’re big Google fans, and Motorola has been known to produce cool stuff (Startac). I’d be willing to give it a shot.

Here’s where things differ. I am NOT LOOKING for an Iphone Killer. To me, I happen to think that the Iphone is an amazing piece of hardware – saddled with (what many say) is the worst carrier of the group. I don’t want it to replicate all of it’s features and I dont want to bench it on whether the exprience is “Magical” “Breathless” “Just Works” “Timeless” Je ne sais quoi.”. My review comes from a standpoint of “Since the Iphone isn’t coming to a real phone network any time soon.. is there a phone on Verizon that will let me do the following things.. ”

To me, the answer to all of those questions was a a very good yes with the Droid. Want to hear about it? Want to enter the weekly Blog contest? Check out the link below:

Scroll down to the CONTEST TIME if you want to bypass my initial thoughts on the Droid

What I was Looking for In a Phone
There were a couple of projects that I was working on not too long ago that had me get a loaner Iphone for a bit. While I had it, there were a couple of things that I really thought were awesome to have- which is what i’m using as the basis for my review:

1. Email – Access to my Work/Personal email rocked.
2. Photos – Being able to see pics on my phone. Being able to take pics and share them on FB/Twitter
3. Social Media Stuff – Access to my Facebook/ My Twitter Account - they turned out to be good
4. Music, Movies, and Media – Itunes – The Ipod portion of it rocked only when I was traveling. Commuting? Not so much

Email
Right off the bat, the entire intergration with gmail worked for me. I’d been lamenting having POP email access for my personal email and finally said to myself “Im making the jump to gmail” with the phone. To be able to check it, and be in time with it wherever I went is a big plus and very painless for me to setup so far. I was also able to setup my work mail with it as well, so in no time flat, I was getting alerts for messages on both accounts. That was a plus for me.

While on the subject of the Email – Email is definitely a lot easier to use when you can type. Now, I could do somehting like 35wpm on my LG Voyager, so I was really looking for a keyboard that I can use to work on some messages/text. In this I think the Droid did OK, but does have some room for improvement. The keyboard was OK, but I think that the spacing of the letters could have been a bit better if they would have done away with the selector button on the right of the keyboard. If this is a touch based phone, why would I need that selector? Take that space, and space out the letters just a hair more and typing would be a joy. That said, I seemed to be doing OK with the keypad after a couple of days.. so it’s something i’d like to see changed.. but not bothering me too much so far.

Keypad: A- Mail Accessability: A+

Photography
The camera on the phone is a 5 Megapixel camera, but like all of the cameras on cell phones these days, it seems a little slow on the picture taking. Coming from a DSLR, im expecting instantaneous pictures to be had here.. and am noticing a bit of a delay on the pics. Frustrating, yes.. but it’s about as frustrating as the cameras i’ve had on some Sprint phones, the LG Chocolate, The Envy, and the LG Voyager. This one seems to be a bit slower.. and not as reliable.

What I do like about the phone in this spot is it’s screen. The screen is big, sharp and bright. That part was a solid plus for me. Looking at pictures in the phone was awesome, but took a little learning to not pinch the screen. An icon on the lower right of the screen let me zoom in and out. It was odd that it didn’t have multitouch features here, but i’m going to give it a benefit of the doubt that the feature is stuck in a court room rather than an omission. I’d totally put this on the list of things to remedy. All told though, it worked out well.

The camera has LED flashes and a screen slide out section that lets you change Color Effect, Storing Location, Size, Quality, White Balance, Flash Mode, Scene Mode and Focus Mode. I thought it was great that the Focus Mode included a Macro setting, and that’s something that I am definitely putting to use over the next couple of weeks. As I write the review I’m going back to the camera and taking some sample shots. This one really gets the worse part of the review. A firmware/software update on the camera is totally in order here. If you take pics at a distance.. great.. up close.. anyone’s guess. Press and hold down an image in the gallery and it will let you share it in a variety of ways – Bluetooth, Email, Facebook, Gmail, Messaging, Picasa, or other apps (in my case, Twidroid). I’ve also started using the new Photoshop.com Mobile app for Android, so that’s another feather in it’s cap as well.

Camera: C- Screen: A+ Sharing Experience: B+

Social Media Stuff
These days, it’s about My Facebook and My Twitter Account . I’d like to be able to have something that keeps me connected to the ppl that stay connected to me. The Droid has Facebook on it and I was able to download Twidroid to it in no time. On the Facebook front, you have the option to sign in and take your contacts from Facebook and add them to your phone- beefing up your contacts in a big way. Single click on one of the contacts and you can check their Facebook profile. As much as I liked the feature when I first got it, Im turning it off, and only syncing it with the people that I really want on my phone – people that will also be accessible and available through my gmail account. That kind of integration I think is key. Twidroid appeared to do everything I wanted it to do – make posts, check @replies, see trends, add pictures. I don’t have the multicolumn support that I would have in something like Tweetie – but to be honest, I like the featureset here. Simple. So that’s got a big fan in me right now.

Which brings me to something that I am liking and hating at the same time. I’ve connected all of these services to this device, and when I am running them, the phone is whirring at me every 3 minutes it seems. Now, I have something in my pocket that lets me know when I get mail at work, or at home, or when someone sends me a Facebook item, or when someone Tweets something.. or when I get a DM. The internets are completely connected to me, and as much as I like it – part of me wanted to shut the phone off entirely this afternoon. I love it’s interconnectivity though..

Social Media Connectivity: A-

Music and Movies – The Itunes Experience
When I’ve been traveling, using the Iphone was key in that I had Music, Movies, Pictures, and apps to keep me busy. With a short commute, however, I saw that my use of it as an Ipod went down significantly: Something that I didn’t expect to happen. That said, I think that it’s a good thing that entertainment and our work stuff roll itself into one app – I just dont think that’s its an essential thing. For the longest time, I was completely happy running around with a phone with great service AND an Ipod. It be nice though if I could share some movies with the Droid, some pictures of my daughter, some podcasts, and some Playlists to hit the road. Maybe even throw in some apps while I am at it.

For those looking for Itunes syncing – we all know that’s not going to happen. However, here’s something I found that I thought really took a lot of the frustration out of the sync- kudos to them. The company is called Salling Software and they come up with a piece of Software called Salling Media Sync. Its a program that runs on your desktop that when you plug in the Droid to your computer and Mount the drive, Salling Media Sync kicks on and brings you to a Dialog box where you can sync your Itunes playlists, Podcasts, and pictures from Aperture2 and Iphoto! The process is pretty straightforward (Here’s a great video to show you how the process works.. easy).

The playlists transferred over great, as did the Podcasts. In no time flat, I had music and the most recent LayersTV. The only thing that this doesn’t let you do (hopefully soon) is to sync Photos from a specific directory, and to sync Movies. In that, I just manuallu copied the movie to a directory on the Droid. Tropic Thunder played with no problems.. and on a screen like the Droid, I was really happy.

Obviously apps are another thing that the Itunes experience relies on, and it’s hard to argue with the 100,000 or so apps available in the Itunes store. The apps that I really was looking for were in the Android Market. I got my Tip Calculator, Reversi, Shazam, a Lightsaber App, a Dave Chapelle Rick James Soundboard, a Flashlight, and an app to write on WordPress blogs. To me, I didnt feel like I was missing the thousonds of other apps in the Itunes store. I got my healthy dose of candy apps as well as productivity apps. While writing this though, I did come across this article on Appsfire that showed just what happens to the majority of apps in the Itunes store. Remember.. it’s not quantity people. (Again, saying that fully understandting that Itunes and the Iphone have quality apps out there). The Android market seemed to get me stuff I needed, but i’m sure that upon inspecting it more this will change. I didnt expect to use the Droid too much as a multimedia app, but because of Salling Media Sync and the Android Store, that totally got me ranking this much higher than I expected.

Multimedia Experience : B+ to A- Salling Media Sync: A- (Lets get that Sync Photo to Dir and movies for the A!)

In this, I feel that the Droid came up Aces for what I was looking for, but it’s probably a great idea to also talk about other things on the phone.

Dialing and Call Quality: Big screen for dialing is a plus. Call quality is awesome (Verizon obviously). The phone is actually loud – which I appreciate when walking around in a city atmosphere. Love the fact that it has a 3.5 jack.

Score: A

Phone Build: Overall the phone seems to feel solid, with two notable exceptions. The volume buttons on the top right felt a little flimsier than I would have liked them – as if they would come off. These definitely need to get taken care of. The other one -could- be a big deal but i’m going to wait and see on it : the Battery cover. 3 times i’ve taken it out of my pocket and the battery cover has come off. A locking switch would have been good here.. or a better battery cover. Big no no there. Let’s hope that the accessories for this thing let me cover that up. Other than that, I think the phone feels great.. the keyboard is a welcome addition, and the speaker is loud enogh.

Score: B (Fix those 2 problems)

Google Maps and GPS: AWESOME!!! Bye bye GPS! Totally confirmed I was going the right way and saved me on a bet with the wife this weekend. It even gives you a street view of your location. Great intergration here! A+

Browser/Video
So far seems good, but going to need to browse more sites. Seems like youtube doesnt allow a HQ version for some videos.. but need to check on that. Inconclusive right now. Also cant figure out how to use Speakerphone for Youtube app.. must

VERDICT:
If you are looking for a phone that is going to take your Internet/Social Media experience, couple it with your email, give you a good set of apps, GPS, camera and some Multimedia stuff on a great phone network, Droid certainly delivers. The experience comparison to other phones in it’s space should be Apples to Oranges here. So far, very happy with my choice.

CONTEST TIME
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog drop-down, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. Remember, the contest will end Thursday 5PM,. and the winner will be announced Friday morning.

The Contest Question:Who is the author of the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for Mac in the Reviews section?

The Prize:
A copy of The CS4 Training Jump-Start Program from Kelby Training as well as a Layers Magazine Subscription!

Thanks so much for stopping in everyone. Have a wonderful week!!