For me, testing a device on the road is critical. Seeing how it reacts in various mobile networks and testing coverage in a larger geographical space are key. But testing on the road also forces me to test it when I’m least forgiving.
So I was off to a weeklong business travel excursion hitting over 5 cities in 7 days, balancing work and fun events. I went taking 4 devices to test: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, The Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH–LC11 hotspot, the Droid Bionic and its Lapdock.
As a seasoned traveler who is addicted to technology, I was happy to have such great tools at my disposal.
I love that when interacting with facebook and twitter from this tablet I never get “Unable to view” message. It just works. When I reviewed the Xoom, another android tablet, I was smitten with the android tablet’s ability to work no matter the website I was trying to view. This tablet is much slimmer than the Xoom and has a sleek, stylish look and feel. The textured gray backing is just begging to be held. Camera specs, 4G, and ease of access to Google products made this a hit for me.
To be fair, I was also packing an iPad. For a head to head comparison, they each had their own qualities that made me want them for professional use.
No comparison! People who know me know that have been completely smitten with the Thunderbolt. I am always keeping it in hand while testing the other phones that have been sent my way. This phone was tested to the fullest, while my Thunderbolt took a vacation. The Droid Bionic is sleek and has a very pleasing feel when using it as a phone. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but when you’re not zipping through the social scene, or keeping up to date with your work on the go, and actually using it as a phone, it matters. The sound quality, both outgoing and incoming, are superb.
Favorite things:
- Sound quality
- 4G and processing speed
- Screen clarity and touch screen reaction
- Camera quality
Cons:
- Camera speed: This was the most disappointing feature. Click and wait. This seems to be one of the hottest topics on the droid forums regarding this phone with no resolution as of this post.
I was so excited to get my hands on this little slice of geek pie! The ability to interact with your phone, with the ease of a full keyboard, mouse, and screen, seemed very appealing.
Day one with any new phone always starts the same. I hop onto the Android store, and send all my apps to the new phone. Then I usually spend the better part of a day logging into the various accounts that I have: facebook, twitter, lightbox, dropbox, evernote. For even the seasoned touch screen typist, this is a tedious process. With the lapdock, this was a breeze!
The honeymoon was over quickly. After a few trails of texting and answering e-mail with the same ease of a laptop, I drifted to web browsing and trying out some of the featured web apps.
Error: Low Memory
This device runs on the processors of the phone, but at the end of the day, it is a phone. It is not strong enough to run complex websites and apps.
Glorified Charging Station
For me, at the end of the day, all this accessory was good for was a glorified charging statin. But, it did that really well! Yo’ve been there. You’re at a conference or an all-day meeting. You’re tweeting, taking notes, and answering urgent e-mails. Then, your battery is dead before lunch. You have to move to sit near an outlet or do without while it charges. Not me, not this trip. I slapped the phone on the dock and kept on notetaking. After a short while, the phone is charged and the battery on lapdock is still close to full.
A more practical application
While this is not my next purchase, it has potential for a large number of people. For the aging population, for the non texting generation with texting teens, and people with impaired eyesight, this tool is worth the money. Being able to use the full keyboard to keep up with the lighting speed of the texting teen, and utilizing the full screen size will be a big help to many.
Hotspot: Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH–LC11
Staying connected while traveling is really important to me. Many airports and hotels have WiFi, but at a not-so-convenient price. Enter the hotspot. I had my laptop, iPad, and phone, as well as a second laptop connected to this one device and still had normal web surfing speed. I connected to the hotel’s paid wireless and found the speed of the hotspot to be almost double. This is definitely something that needs to be in my stocking this Christmas. Well worth the money.
If you have a can’t live with out tech device you travel with, please share it in the comments!
These devices were sent to me to demo free of charge by Verizon. I was not paid, nor did get to keep any of the items, so feel free to add a few of them to your Christmas list for me. ;0