Hiding behind the gorgeous 3.7 AMOLED multi-touch screen is a 1.0 GHz Snapdragon processor. Yes people, it’s as fast as the iPad. The phone comes with built in 8GB Flash meda with 512MB RAM. The phone also has a microSD card slot which can support 32GB. On the back of the Incredible with a very pretty red bezel is an 8MP camera with LED flash and video capture capabilities. This phone also has an optical trackball; similar to how the trackpad works on the Blackberry Curve. What I don’t understand is why. This is a touch screen phone with a fantastic responsive touchscreen. So why the need for the trackpad? Touchscreen HTC, duh. My finger is the cursor. Other than the trackball I have no issue with the hardware. The phone itself is as thin as the iPhone and feels more rugged.

As far as software is concerned it works just like every other Android powered phone does with a twist. The Incredible has HTC’s Sense Skin. I used to love this skin but now it’s just there for extra forms of customization. Before Android got multi-touch, the HTC Sense skin added the feature to a few apps like Photo Gallery. So all you Droid Eris or Hero owners try pinching your pictures. Android comes packed with a full HTML browser, Gmail, Picasa, Buzz, Google Maps, Google Voice applications, and a whole lot more on the Google Marketplace. Google Maps on Android has a built in Turn by Turn Navigation mode too. One thing, you should be aware of the accelerometer on the Incredible. It only works in one direction. I don’t get this feature either. You can tilt the phone to the right and it will change the screen orientation, but if you tilt the phone to the left the phone will leave the screen orientation in portrait. It’s a little annoying but the phone has so much awesomeness that everyone can live with it.

In addition to the hardware and software the Incredible is available on the Verizon network that allows you to make phone calls and browse the web over 3G speeds pretty much anywhere in the US. So for a price tag of $200.00 with a two year contract, the Incredible is an elite smart phone with an average price. I like the direction Android is going and the hardware manufacturers are finally on board with building impressive phones.

Other noteworthy specs:

• Bluetooth 2.1
• Wireless headphones support
• Wifi
• 3.5 mm headphones jack
• microUSB charger
• Li-Ion Battery
  • 146 Hrs Standby
  • 5.5 Hrs Talk Time
• Digital Compass

I can see why Apple had no problem with letting this browser in. It’s not good. I’m sorry. It’s not bad, but in no way am I going to use this over Mobile Safari. I just gagged a little. But yeah, it’s just not there. Now to be fair not all of Opera’s short comings are their fault but it makes the browser less desirable.

So let’s start with the good. It is fast. I think the “fastest browser in the world” is a bit much. It takes it’s sweet time to load up the New York Times, Twitter, and Facebook. However, when after the initial load of the pages the browser navigates back and forward really nicely. The pages are there instantly unlike, Safari which has to refresh every time it pulls up a new page. Another nice feature is the Speed Dial home screen. It’s just visual bookmarks but I like it. The last positive thing Opera has to offer is “tabbed” browsing. So it’s not like Safari where you open a new page and scroll through pages. In Opera, a menu pops up at the bottom and shows you the active tabs and a “+” sign that lets you open another page. It’s a nice to have and works very well.

Tabbed Browsing

Now here’s the bad:

• Does not import bookmarks from Safari.
• Does not support any Google Mobile Web Apps. Screen Shots below.
• Does not have full mobile support for Facebook or Twitter.
• Mult-touch navigation is spotty and hyper accelerated.
• No Flash (had to put that in there).
• This is not Opera’s fault but the fact of the matter is it can never be the phone’s default browser. So all web apps will automatically launch Safari making Opera a nuisance.

In my opinion Opera Mini is just like any other average free browser you can find on the App store. It’s sad but Apple is not going to let anyone be more accessible than their own browser. I can understand that and I will have to live with it. As mentioned above Opera is free on the App store so give it a whirl and let me know what you think. I personally am going to delete it from my phone shortly. Download Opera Mini for iPhone here.

Google Voice Login Screen on Opera

Google Voice Login Screen on Safari

So I watched this video (below) today on Gizmodo and was thoroughly impressed.

Instantly I sent the link out to a couple of my Android and iPhone friends to try this thing out. First I tried it out with my Android buddy. He was using a Moto Droid Android 2.01 on 3G and I was on my iPhone 3GS on wifi. He was sitting right next to me and I Knocked on his phone first. We connected but the video feed froze on his side and the app crashed. After that we tried the following connection combinations: 3G/3G, WiFi/Wifi, 3G/Wifi, Wifi/3G. None of them could connect.

So fine, didn’t work as well as the video above. I figured, well the app has been out for quite some time it’s gotta work iPhone to iPhone right? It did, after six tries. Finally my buddy, Matt, on his iPhone 3GS connected to his office wifi connection was able to successfully Knock on my phone which was connect to my home network wirelessly.

There was a significant delay in video transmission. At least over 30 seconds. I was IM’ing with him while he was sending video and Matt showed me the IM window on his monitor. So I could see the messages I sent 30 seconds ago. The other thing that this app lacks is the ability to send audio. I guess it’s not that big of problem because on AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks you could be on the phone with that person while sending video, still it would have been a nice to have. If Fring can do it why not Knocking Live?

Unfortunately this app was a huge disappointment. I don’t recommend it even though it’s free. The only good thing that it does is utilize push notifications on the iPhone. So my friends could Knock my phone and it would alert me that someone is trying to send video even with the app closed. I would have disliked this app even more if I had to call my friends and tell them to open the app so I could send them video. But then again I would have to call them just to send audio. Oh well, it’s great in concept and really had me excited, but right now I’ll stick to taking pictures/video and posting to every social networking site known to human and email.

The Palm Pre Plus uses Palm’s Web OS. Web OS is fairly intuitive, supports multitasking, a sweet contact manager, native IM client, smart notifications, multitouch, Microsoft Exchnange, and an application to turn the phone into a mobile hotspot to support five other Wi-Fi devices. Web OS allows the user to have a lot more freedom with their phone. For example, with Web OS I can make any sound a ringtone. If a buddy of mine emails me an MP3 file I could also save that as a ringtone all on the phone within the mail app and settings. The iPhone does not allow any functionality like that. Lastly, unlike Android phones, the Pre has an all-in-one Media Player. I know, and that’s just the software. Oh and how could I have forgotten the full HTML browser that supports FLASH!!!

The most notable hardware upgrades are 16 GB of internal space and the laack of a trackball. The bottom part of the phone is now clear for gestures. The Plus version has a much nicer keyboard. The keys are spread out a little more with a great clicky feel to it. Also the slider part of the phone is not as sharp as the original Pre. The Pre Plus has a 3MP camera with an LED flash too.

The only negative I see in the phone is that it does not have a virtual keyboard. This is not a deal breaker by any means. With all this I have no idea why Palm is struggling and why the phone is not selling. Verizon has a phenomenal 3G network and they are selling it for just $150.00. That’s $50.00 less than the iPhone and popular Android Phones. You also get another $100.00 off if you’re up for your “new every two”. I don’t get it. At the regular price or the discounted price you’re getting arguably the most functional phone on the market for a steal. Verizon should be selling out of these phones. If you are on Verizon and need a new phone, there should be no question about, buy the Palm Pre Plus.

Why would I not buy the Motorola Devour?

• The BLUR skin. I think having a social network skin on my phone is distracting and takes away from the core functionality of the phone. On the flip side, if Twitter and Facebook is the only way you talk to your friends this phone might be for you.
• Verizon network. No surf and talk at the same time.
• Slower than the Moto Droid and Nexus One.
• Android 1.6 (hopefully upgraded to 2.1)
• Only a 3MP camera. Other comparable phones have a 5MP camera.

Why would I buy the Motorola Devour?

• Verizon network. Yeah I know its a con, but you’ll never be without 3G. So it’s a pro too.
• Decent 3.1 display but no where near the best.
• Above average battery with 6.5 hrs of continuous usage.
• Good body design. I like the centered slider.
• Separated keys on keyboard. Much better than the Droid’s keyboard design.
• If I’ve never owned a smart phone before.

That’s it. It’s not yet out on Verizon; I would be shocked if it was priced a penny over $100.00. It’s a fun average phone. Just like it’s sibling the Backflip, it is a perfect phone for the not too tech savvy user and the heavy tweeter.

Later I got to reading this book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s about this small group of people in Mexico that can run for insane distances on these leather sandals and other American ultra-marathon runners getting together to run this awesome race down in Mexico. The book is extremely entertaining and very informative about running. McDougall sites several studies done about runners, injuries, techniques and shoes.

One of the techniques that came up quite a bit was Barefoot Running. Many studies have shown that running barefoot is great exercise for your feet. Running in soft, comfortable, marshmallow shoes actually prevents your feet from getting stronger. This concept actually made some sense. McDougall sited more studies about how running barefoot also helped with common running injuries like shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and runner’s knee. This piqued my interest. I can’t run more than three feet without getting painful shin splints and then have to start crawling.

Anyway the story continued and one of the competitors, Barefoot Ted, in the finale race started raving about these Vibram Five Fingers shoes. The same ones my friend Josh had. He was the first ultra-marathon runner sponsored by them and he loved them. His name is Barefoot Ted and he pretty much preached through the entire book about how awesome these shoes were and how running barefoot became like his drug. He was addicted.

So, with Josh’s personal testimonial, Born to Run’s studies, and Barefoot Ted’s constant praise of these shoes I caved and ordered myself a pair. I LOVE THEM. I don’t want to wear normal shoes ever again. I’ve always enjoyed being barefoot and I initially felt these shoes were just a gimmick but I couldn’t have been more wrong. They are incredibly comfortable. It’s pretty cold right now in San Francisco; I thought my feet would be cold with just a thin layer of neoprene and no socks but these shoes keep my feet nice and toasty t00.

I’ve been wearing my Five Fingers every day for the past week and it is a work out. Unlike a normal shoe with one flat surface, each one of your toes is working to push your body forward. Now this may seem obvious to you, but after you wear them and walk a few miles you’ll understand what I mean. You’ll definitely feel a work out. I also tried running with them. Due to the lack of cushioning my stride was a lot shorter, but this wasn’t bad, it actually helped me quite a bit. My shin splints pain wasn’t as intense as it normally is and my calves were pumped. You will have calves of steel after running in these shoes. The less intense shin splint pain was my favorite. I could actually run about half a mile without crying.

Like I said above, I love them. I plan on buying another pair for every day use and keep the ones I have for running/gym. Also the shoes are machine washable so don’t worry too much about getting them stinky. Just throw them in the wash, leave them out to dry and you’ll be all good. As for the book, it was pretty damn good. I thought the story was a lot of fun, and the fact that it was a true story made it all that more awesome. If you’re in the market for a good book and great shoes read Born to Run and pick up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers at www.awesometoeshoes.com, you won’t be let down, I promise.

Physical Phone:

• Slightly thicker than an iPhone.
• The flipping motion is really awkward. I like the creativity but the phone is too wide to flip like a normal clam shell phone. Also unlike other phones with flip action this thing flips to a straight 180 degrees unlike other phones that stop at 135 degrees.
• The display is average at 3.1 inches
• Camera and Flash are integrated on the keyboard. Yeah, I know. Ugly and weird.

Operating System:

• Android 1.5 already obsolete. Supposed to get upgraded sometime soon but the OS upgrade will probably make the phone extremely slow.
• Android Market. Yay now you can download Apps.
• MotoBlur Skin is okay. I don’t really care for it too much. I don’t stalk my friends’ every move on Twitter or Facebook nor do I update every one of my statuses that much to need to have an OS skin focused on Social Networking.

The Rest:

• 5MP camera with 4X digital zoom. Pretty good for the type of phone it is.
• MP3 Player and Video Capable. I still don’t understand why Android Phones don’t come with an all-in-one Media Player.
• Bluetooth, wifi, and full HTML browser. The standard.
• Speaker phone and noise canceling mic.
• Average battery life at 6hrs of straight usage.
• Only $100.00

So if you are madly in love with AT&T service and don’t want an iPhone or any Windows Mobile Phones then this is the phone for you. It is a steal at $100.00. It does everything anyone could ever want in a smart phone and it does it all at an unprecedented level of mediocrity. I think this would be a great gift for kids or someone who is looking to get into the smart phone market without having to pay a boat load of money. So go in today and trade in your old Moto Razr for the Backflip. You’ll be happy.

Tunebug:
This was probably my favorite product at the whole Expo. Tunebug makes two products the Vibe (wired) and the Shake (blue-tooth). Both of these devices use NXT SurfaceSound Technology which essentially turns any surface into a speaker. The devices work best when touching something hollow. It’s really simple, just plug in any portable audio device using the headphone jack, sit the Tunebug on your desk, hollow drawer, or even you head and it will turn that object into a speaker. The demo they had at the Expo was with helmets. If you snowboard, ski, ride a bike, or do anything that requires you to wear a helmet; it’s probably not a good idea for you be wearing headphones at the same time. I’m assuming you’ll want to be able to hear what is happening around you. So the friendly people at Tunebug feel the same way. Just attach your Shake or Vibe to your helmet with the anchors that come with your Tunebug and your helmet is now a surround sound speaker but you can still hear all the ambient noises around you. I wanted to buy one pretty much after I took the helmet off, but the blue-tooth version is not available yet. You can bet I’m going to go get one as soon as it is available. Look out for me I’ll be the guy on the MUNI wearing a helmet just so I don’t have to wear headphones and it will be awesome!

Pogo Stylus:
I never really had the need for a stylus, until I downloaded Zosh for my iPhone. So instead of running out to buy one I thought it would be more fun to make my own: DIY Stylus. However, with the announcement of the iPad I can see how styluses are going to get more popular. The Pogo stylus works extremely well and comes in two sizes: Stylus (large) and Sketch (small). So if you are of the artist type or like to sign documents I think you should pick one of these bad boys up. They are a nice compliment to the iPhone/iPod Touch and have a much more elegant look and feel than the one I made myself.

Scosche:
Scosche iPod and iPhone accessories are awesome. I own a set of Scosche headphones and I think they are fantastic. The sound quality is not what you would get out of a set of Shures but they are way better than Sony, Panasonic, or any middle of the road headphone out there. They also have a built in remote for the iPhone and iPod using TapLINE technology. It doesn’t stop there. All of their accessories I had a chance to look at were up to par. So instead of writing about all of them here are links to a handful of my favorite Scosche accessories:

• Headphones
• Solar Battery Pack
• Charging Wall Mount
• HD Video Cables

Uncommon iPhone Cases:
This a pretty interesting product. 100% customizable iPhone cases. Upload your photo or design to their website and they’ll print out your design for you on an plastic slider case and ship it out to you. That’s pretty much it. I encourage you to check out the site. If you are artistically challenged like myself and cannot come up with a cool design of your own you can check out their gallery which is built by several other artistically talented people. Also if you have an iPod Touch, plan on buying an iPad, or have a Blackberry Storm II they will make cases for you soon enough too. So check them out.

Beats by Dr. Dre:
I know these aren’t anything new, but they make me feel like a I am in a concert hall. I was surprised when I first tried these out a few months ago. I was expecting something gimmicky, but when put them on my ears I was, eating my words and contemplating dropping over $300.00 on a set of headphones. I know they are ridiculously priced but if I traveled and/or need something to pretty much isolate me from the world around me, I wouldn’t buy anything else. I’m so much of a dork that I would probably send mine into Colorware and get them colored with the Los Angeles Lakers Purple and Gold theme. I don’t have much else to say about them other than they are probably some of the best sounding headphones I have ever tried. The noise canceling Bose ones are nice too, but something about the Beats make them have a much richer sound and lets you clearly hear the highs, mids and lows of any type of music. I love them. I want them. My birthday is in April.

GelaSkins:
They make beautiful skins pretty much any of your gizmos and gadgets. They have skins for Blackberries, Palm Pres, Kindles, PC laptops, MacBooks, iPods, iPhones and a whole lot more. The artwork ranges from abstract art to comic books. The skins are printed on thick adhesive vinyl decals using 3M sticky stuff. You know the stuff that Romie and Michelle invented. Except this new 3M adhesive will not leave a residue and can be removed and reapplied a bunch of times. I don’t know the actual statistic, but the representative said he had demoed one decal over 100 times and it hasn’t lost it’s stickiness. Also they vinyl has these tiny grooves on the adhesive side making it really easy to press and smear out those annoying air bubbles. As an added bonus for you iPhone users out there, GelaSkins has a free iPhone App that allows you to save any of the artwork as wallpapers. This way you can have the matching wallpaper for the iPhone skin you just ordered from www.gelaskins.com. Well even if you don’t have a skin you can still take advantage of their services and decorate your iPhone with their wallpaper.

Those were the highlights of my trip to MacWorld Expo. I had a good time dorking out with fellow Apple fans. If you’d like more info or want to check out what other people thought, visit www.macworldexpo.com.

I walked into the Expo and HyperMac is the fist booth you see. They have an awesome set up with huge sign displaying their name and photos of the products. Two tables with all colors laid out charging various Apple devices. I’ve been in the market for a back up battery. I got one off of Woot! a year ago and it treated me well. It is a bit on the bulky side and I have to carry around a long doc connector cable. So the HM Nano solved my problems of convenience. The Dock Connector cable is connected to the battery and it is the size of 1.5 Zippo lighters stacked on top of each other. It’s equally thin as a Zippo lighter. I can slide that thing into my jean’s pockets and not have to worry about it. It has a fantastic design and it matches the black iPhone with the shiny black coating and chrome accents.

Vendors also sell their products at the Expo and usually for a discount. The HM Nano is normally $70.00 (pretty steep) but at the Expo it was $50.00 with an additional 10% off. $45.00 to me was a reasonable price for a well designed battery back up. Before I bought the HM Nano I specifically asked the salesman if the HM Nano will give me at least one full charge. He told me that it would charge my phone 1.5 times. I was stoked and bought it. Now here’s the disappointed part. I went out on Friday night and my phone was down to 5%. No big deal though, I got an HM Nano on me. Plugged it an barely got 60% out of it. So I figured maybe it wasn’t fully charged and ready to go out of the box like the salesman also told me as I was leaving the booth. I fully charged the device that night and went out all day  Saturday. It barely charged my phone to 80% before it died.

Fortunately, it was 5:00PM (Expo closes at 6:00PM) and I was still downtown San Francisco. I hoofed it back to MacWorld and went to the HyperMac booth. They were nice enough to give me a replacement on the spot and was told again that the HM Nano was ready to go out of the box. A friend of mine’s phone was down to 5% battery so I loaned my brand new HM Nano to her for the rest of the evening. Her phone only got a 92% charge. The HM Nano has an 1800 mAh battery and the iPhone has a 1200 mAh battery, so I’m assuming only under optimal conditions will it provide me with 1.5 charges. By optimal I’m thinking they expect you to turn your phone off and not use it while it fully charges. Overall, I wish I didn’t buy  it and and am considering returning it. The only reason keeping me from returning it is having to drive down to Sunnyvale, CA or have to pay for shipping to send it back to them. It doesn’t feel like any of that will be worth my time.

The service is at in an alpha stage right now. They currently support over 70,000 locations and have presets for 10 US cities, 15 international cities. The service will provide recommendations for what to wear for the current day based on the weather forecast in the city of choice. There are two options per gender: work or play, and two sets of outfits for each type of weather and occasion.

So the way it works is you log into www.weatherista.com and select the city you want. Then chose one of the two radio buttons for male and female. After that select “work” or “play” and click refine. An image with your clothing recommendations for day and night will pop up. If you don’t like the first option click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the page to see your other options. Pretty straight forward.

Like I said above, Weatherista is in alpha right now, so the options are a bit limited. There are plans in the works to increase outfit recommendations and extended weather forecasts. What’s important right now is perfecting their current offerings. So if you find this service interesting and want help make it perfect for you, please visit www.weatherista.com and sign up to be an alpha tester. The more testers and more feedback the better the beta and official release will be.