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What I did cannot be accurately described as “buying a phone”.  In fact, I played with my Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket (S2) for several hours before thinking maybe I should use my “device” for calling someone.  In one fell swoop, I Freecycled my old phone, returned Bob’s camera on loan to me since who-knows-when, and retired my voice recorder.  I now do much of my personal surfing either in bed waking up (especially the weather so I know what to wear) or when I’m out and waiting in line or whatever.

Yes, I finally have a data plan, and no more excuse not to look something up or go to a website while I’m out and about.

And the touchscreen is so easy and natural, my keyboard feels weird now and I sometimes have the urge to touch the monitor instead.  The voice-mail to text is awesome; transcripting voice for text messages is even better.

I discovered the joys of Foursquare, getting off to a hefty start while helping Susan move from Albany to Southern Ohio.  Groupon saved me money on the spot at Nelson’s Ridge restaurant in Lackawanna (I signed up and paid for the discount while waiting to order and they just used the code on my screen).  I went app download-crazy for a while, and am slowly getting rod of the more quirky or less cool ones.  And I do have REALLY cool ones.

And it’s changed the way I work in fundamental ways.  Not only am I embracing the Cloud, but I finally took the plunge in something I wanted to do for some time — use Gmail as my primary account.  My spam is greatly reduced and I have a copy of recent emails everywhere I go, still archiving and managing on my PC using Outlook.

The only drawback is the battery drain is extreme.  I have to charge it at least once a day.  Fortunately, I got the service guy to throw in a car charger for the usual price, citing a cheaper price online for leverage in negotiating.

I could go into my favorite apps and what they do, but right now the Teefts are coming over with pizza and wings, so it can wait!