Author Archives: Michelle Lentz

I had about 24 hours to play with the HTC Incredible this weekend and I loved it. If you can handle an on-screen keyboard, and want an Android device, then this is the phone for you.

Quick specs include 8 GB internal memory, 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor (which makes it snappy), 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive screen with yes, pinch to zoom, and integrated GPS. Oh, it also has a rather amazing 8 MP camera.

The Incredible is available for pre-order from Verizon today and will arrive in stores on April 29. It’s priced at $199.99 after a $100 rebate and with a 2-year contract.

It’s tempting to trade in the Droid for the Incredible. It really lives up to its name.

So, remember how I’m trying to get better with web video? Well, I haven’t really improved, but at least I’m not scared of it anymore. See the video review below.

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Visit Michelle at her day job, tweet her, or visit her when you’re craving some wine.

I’ve been traveling virtually non-stop since last October. I’m okay with that – I actually love the travel, even if it does burn into my blogging time. Because of the various liquids I usually carry (which almost always includes a bottle of wine), I always check a bag. (Thank you TSA, for making it impossible to bring on wine as a carry-on. Grrr.)

I’m living for the day when I’m Delta Medallion status (that day will be soon) because at that point, my checked bags are free. Until then, I’m paying Delta $23 per bag, each way. Thankfully, it’s not yet each leg of the flight, although I wouldn’t put it past them.

On Tuesday, discount airline Spirit announced that they will now be charging for – are you ready for this? – carry-ons. Depending on several items (whether you are a member of their Frequent Flier program, whether you pre-reserve overhead space), you can be charged between $20-$45 per item that goes in an overhead bin, with the fee assessed AT THE GATE.

Now, just the logistics alone of assessing the fee at the gate is going to screw things up. Boarding a plane is often a hassle anyway. With everyone pulling out credit cards, cash, travelers cheques, etc, it’s just going to get messier. But beyond that, I’m floored they’re charging for carry-ons.

I fully admit I get frustrated watching inexperienced travelers try to force gigantic bags into the overhead. (My own overhead roller bag was specifically made for that space and slides right in, wheels first, without an issue.) I lose patience every flight as someone or another desperately shoves and pushes on a bag that just shouldn’t fit in that overhead compartment, squishing and occasionally breaking, other people’s items. Despite my loss of patience with this, I also understand it. People wouldn’t be trying to bring everything on the plane with them if it didn’t cost them $23 to check a bag (and the price goes up with each bag checked). The airlines are basically forcing people to shove their lives into an overhead bin.

You’re probably thinking that Spirit is just some tiny discount airline and none of the majors will pay attention to this. Not so. Spirit was actually the first to charge for checked bags. It’s almost like they’re the money-hungry guinea pigs. If it works, they’ve set a precedent that other airlines will have no trouble following.

It’s a horrible circle. The no-liquids security rule has forced many people to check bags and, well, pay. I’ve always felt like the airlines were taking advantage of that regulation. Now, since no one wants to pay for checked bags, people are shoving gigantic bags into the overhead. And we’re going to be charged for that?

Suitcase image used under Creative Commons from Paul Lowry.

I made a resolution at the beginning of this year that I would start to learn more about web video. I hate web video, so this is pretty big for me. My first foray into doing this myself and without help is in the video below. One thing I learned? I say “um” a lot. But let’s get past that and talk about the phones I was reviewing.

Verizon released the new Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus back at the end of January. I was convinced I would love the Palm Pre and honestly, I laughed at the Pixi (partially because of its name). Much to my surprise, I’m not a fan of the Pre but I absolutely love the Pixi. I’m trying to figure out how to own both the Droid and the Pixi. Yeah, I love it that much. The WebOS operating system is fluid and intuitive. It just makes sense. The apps I was able to find are all built very well. It handles my multiple email accounts just as well, if not better, than the Blackberry Tour and the recently updated Facebook app is better than the one for the Droid.

If I love this phone so much, why aren’t I just trading in my Droid, which causes me a fair amount of hardware headaches? There are a couple of dealbreakers still regarding the Palm WebOS:

• Too few apps and most of the apps that do exist are not free (unlike the Android Marketplace)
• GPS and Google Maps is integrated, but I’ve come to expect turn-by-turn directions
• The camera takes horrible photos. (I know, but my Droid takes some amazing photos considering it’s a phone.)
• There is no decent support for Google Voice. Since I use that exclusively, I need something better than the mobile web interface offered by Google. (You cannot voice dial from a web interface.) On several different phones now, I’ve tried the GDialPro app, but it doesn’t seem to work consistently enough.

That’s it. Those are the dealbreakers that keep me from outright buying the Palm Pixi as my full-time phone.  The Palm? I had trouble answering the phone when it rang, my connections didn’t always go through, and it’s simply awkward.

Check out the video review below and be patient with me – I’m learning about video.

Uber-Quick Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus Review from Michelle Lentz on Vimeo.

UPDATE: On April 2 I was alerted to a new deal from Verizon that takes away one of my chief complaints in the video. Verizon is now offering the Mobile Hotspot (previously a $40/month feature) for free to customers who purchase a Palm Pre or Pixi. That means Palm customers get a free mobile WiFi modem on Verizon’s 3G network – so customers can connect up to 5 devices to the Internet (with a 5GB allowance) The company has also lowered the cost of the devices to $49.99 (Pre) and $29.99 (Pixi) and is offering both with a buy one, get one free promotion while supplies last.

At this point, the only thing keeping me from switching to a Pixi Plus from a Droid is that there isn’t a decent app out there for Google Voice. Once that happens, I could very well switch to the tiny goodness that is the Pixi.

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

TechCrunch just reported that Twitter’s geolocation features are finally turned on, just in time for you to find everyone at SXSW. My own geolocation features on my Twitter account don’t seem to be active yet, forcing me to borrow a screenshot from TechCrunch (thanks guys!). As you can see, there’s a tiny blue marker that, when clicked, expands into the tweet-location.

Ok, I find geolocation on my Tweets a little creepy, but it’s the sort of thing I can see turning on for big events (like SXSW) and conferences. But for me, it certainly won’t be an everyday occurrence (or so I say now).

How do you turn on geolocation? For quite some time, there’s been a geolocation option in your profile settings. I imagine you just tick the On box. As TechCrunch said, “While Twitter’s geolocation feature has been live through its API since late last year, there was no sign of integration into the main twitter.com site until now.”  It’s worth mentioning that Facebook just announced it will start rolling out its own location features next month as well (via Mashable).

Additionally, Twitter has made a subtle but fun change to its user interface. (Come to think of it, it’s also a change that means I need to update every screenshot in a lot of my course offerings.)  We’re no longer Updating, now we’re truly Tweeting!

Update: Well, apparently Twitter changed it back to Update. Come on, Twitter – we liked Tweet!