As a small business owner in tough times every penny counts, so when it comes to technology it’s important that it supports the business and is not just another gadget to play with.
Anyway, two weeks ago I got a brand new HTC Desire with Android 2.1 and a data plan from Meteor. Having used several smartphones pevoiusly I was slightly sceptical about the real benefits, but my mind has been changed. The HTC Desire with it’s 3.7 inch screen and 1Ghz processor has been well able to handle any of the business talks I have thrown at it.
The first thing I checked out was the wifi and browser. My experience with previous phones and browsers had not been great, so I was very pleasantly surprised that the phone found the office wifiand connected without problem. The browsing experience with the large hi-res screen and pinch-to-zoom make this phone very usable for surfing the net. I have been able to login, to non-mobile sites and manage systems remotely (saved me several car journeys and carrying my laptop around with me).
The second thing I checked out was the News Feed eaders and Social Media. I use Google Reader to keep track of News Feeds, so I downloaded a free widget from android Market and within a few mins had access to all the feeds I follow from the phone. In another few mins I had downloaded Hootsuite to keep track of Twitter and Facebook for android. Now when I sitting in the car waiting to collect the kids I can use the time productively (or not) keeping up to date with what’s going on in the business and computer sectors.
The third thing I setup using the preinstalled app was get assess to my email, which was very straight forward. I also synced up with my Google Calendars.
I then installed WordPress (this post was created from the phone). I can now blog from anywhere.
Oh, yes the phone handels phone calls and text messages very well (something that not all smartphones do well).
For me the phone has paid for iteslf already and I would regard it as an essential tool for the Small Business Owner. And yes I know that all these things could be done on the iPhone also.
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