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I found using the iPhone with the Chromebook, was more about finding work-arounds to get them to work together, which was quite frustrating at times.
The idea that my iPhone doesn’t integrate worth a damn with my primary computer - the Chromebook is something that wasn’t acceptable to me. So I started wandering around Craigslist and other places, looking to picking up a cheap last generation Android smart phone, since I had never used one before and wondered if it would work any better with my Chromebook.
Pretty quickly I found a HTC Droid Incredible2 on Craigslist for...well let’s just say it was too good a deal to pass up. I did a bit of a little rice bag magic, cleaning, maintenance, a new micro SD Card and now it works like a charm.
What I found was that the Chromebook and the Incredible2 worked very well together. It was very easy to transfer files, photos or videos between the two and I could do more than just charge my phone with my computer.
Surprisingly, I was liking the HTC for a lot of stuff that I use a smart phone for and was using it to do stuff that I didn't with my iPhone, like read my emails without pinching out or turning to landscape more, surfing the web and lots of other little things.
However, one thing in my my iPhone’s favor was that it is also my my primary carry camera and does a great job of taking photos quickly and are good enough quality, that I can use them on my blog.
The Incredible2 photos were okay, but the photos were not as sharp as the iPhone's or as easy to get to the photo App.
However, since I wasn't really planning on making any decisions about possible changes any time soon, I didn't worry about it too much. I had gotten the Incredible2 just to see what Android was really like - I need to actually use a device to know whether it would work for me.
Over the next few weeks, I played with the Incredible2 to see how I would fit it into my work flow and how I use a smart phone. I even read most of the PDF documentation to figure out some of the nuances of Android and HTC/Verizon’s interpretation of it, to learn how it does things differently than I do on my iPhone.
Which really created quite a dilemma for me.
- I liked my iPhone but it wasn’t working well with my Chromebook.
- The Incredible2 integrated much better with my Chromebook, but it was a second hand device and I am still unsure of its reliability.
During the past week, I purposely carried both around with me and I found myself starting to pull out the Incredible 2 more and more, even for photos, although it was not activated and only had WIFI access. At that point, I knew it was time to go ahead and make the change.
So I did! I activated my HTC Droid Incredible 2 and deactivated the iPhone 4S this week.
The reality is that this is just one more step, that I seem to be making towards making the commitment to using Google’s technology silo. Switching to an Android phone is a huge move for me in this direction, that when combined with getting a Chromebook definitely puts me pretty far down that road.
It will be interesting to see how my move to an Android based phone works and how it improves my work flow with my Chromebook.
Do you have any tips or tricks that you use with an Android phone and/or how you integrate it with your Chromebook, to improve your work flow?
Do you have any must have Android Apps that I need to look at to use on my Incredible2?
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Originally written by Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and published at One Foot In Reality, © 2011-2012 – All Rights Reserved. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Harold Shaw or Mary Shaw and One Foot In Reality with appropriate and specific directions or links to the original content.
Interesting. I am 56 and I had the first Mac say in the year 85-88. I have had no Apple since but followed Apple and admiring it. I have worked five years now programming in .NET and have Windows at work.
ReplyDeleteBut at home I want to have a computer which is free of any troubles and optimal for browsing and Google docs. There is now doubt Chromebook is the best choice for my use case. I also have Android even if I am not a great fun of that. Buying one in Europe was not quite so easy because we have the å ä and ö in my language. But I got one and I am 100% happy with this.