Tech consultant for Olympia, Lacey, And Tumwater

Anyone know how to delete icons on a Droid? The directions I was given do not work. Watch the video and tell me what I am doing wrong.

Verizon Droid 2 Unboxing

Well I now have my Droid 2 in my fat little fingers. Keep watching this site for more videos as I learn all that can be done with the Droid 2. Yes, i am a Droid noob! I have had a “dumb phone” for the past two years because last time I bought a phone I was extremely disappointed in what phones were out there. So I have owned smartphones before, but this is my frist Droid phone.

Tons of Droid tutorial videos will be posted on this site, so make sure and subscribe. Feel free to ask me questions and i will do my best to answer them as best as I can. Questions will only be answered on the show though. You have to watch my videos to see your answer. So subscribe, subscribe, subscribe!

Happy Droid 2 day everyone!

Sponsor My Droid 2 Hunt And Unboxing!

Droid 2

So Thursday morning I will be at my local Verizon store banging on the door demanding my brand spanking Droid 2. I will be posting videos of the hunt, the unboxing, and the initial playing of this new product. This will be an all day event with between 5 to ten videos being posted within that first 24 hours. I need something to plug! If you know me, you know I have no problem to sucking up to the sponsors of the things I do. So sponsor me already! Anyone who is willing to spread this to a potential sponsor it would be very much appreciated. Don’t worry about asking for permission to give out the email for this auction. It’s all over this website and will be killed off on Friday.

How Do We Bid?
I’m doing this by email simply because the auction sites out there both suck and blow. I will be posting through my Twitter account only what the bids are up to whenever an update is needed. I will monitor this as often as I can over the next 24 hours. The names of who bid what will be kept secret though. How do you bid? Real easy send an email to Droid2@MarkCarras.com Don’t bother sending this email around to spammers or storing it in your lists. It will be killed after the auction. If I don’t get back to you it means that you lost the auction. Watch my Twitter if you want a chance to re-bid. Bid as often as you feel you need to. It takes me one second to hit delete if you’re too low.

Who Can Bid?
It’s pretty open. No porn. Nothing racist. It has to be an actual product of some kind. Website, food, drink, band, cd, dvd, movie, service, etc. So pretty much anything. If you have a website for me to plug you will get more out of it, but that is your choice. I’m here to promote your thing. Email me a bid and let’s do this thing!

How Much Of A Deal Will You Make?
Well I am getting the phone to prepare for my trip to Gnomedex next week. Gnomedex is part of Seattle Geek Week. So once I get it, I will be trying to figure out what I can do with it, how to use the tools it has, figuring out which apps I need, and figuring out how to use those apps. This will be the subject of most of the videos I will be promoting my sponsor…who ever that is.

Again, email your bid to Droid2@MarkCarras.com and watch my Twitter feed for the results.

My Twitter Feed is at http://twitter.com/MarkCarras

R2-D2 Droid: Verizon Why Must You Torture Me!

Droid 2

So more official news is finally coming out about the Droid 2. Anyone who has been paying any attention at all to my social networks is probably sick of me talking about it. I know my wife is. She’s told me as much. So now it is pretty much official that the Droid 2 may be ordered online on Wednesday and may be ordered in store on Thursday of this week. So not only is my waiting over, but I will now be able to have a new phone in time for Gnomedex. So I’m happy right? Oh hell no!

At the same time as they announce that I can get my Droid 2 in time for Gnomedex, they also announce that if I wait just a few weeks more I can get an R2-D2 version of the phone. With me being a major Star Wars nerd from way back before most of you were born, this is pure torture! There is no way I can wait any longer for a new phone, so I am going to get the regular Droid 2. However, I may have to put up with insane amounts of flack from my wife for switching up to the R2D2 version when it comes out just a few weeks later. Would I pay an extra couple hundred dollars to have a Star Wars version of a phone I purchased just weeks prior? Yes, I am THAT pathetic!

Now of course Verizon has a 30 day return policy, but I’m willing to bet they will release the R2D2 Droid 2 just over one month after the regular Droid 2. So either those poor clerks will have to deal with a flood of excited nerds exchanging their phones or they will deal with really pissed off nerds wanting to exchange their phones, but not being able to. Of course one could just wait an extra couple weeks before buying the regular Droid 2, so they fit into that return policy window, but I’m an American and so I’m more impatient than an Apple fanboy waiting for a chance to sniff Steve Jobs boxers.

No worries people. I hear that there will be a Verizon representative at Gnomedex, so I will do my best to get an interview with them. Maybe I can find out a way to get upgraded to the R2D2 phone from the regular Droid 2 without paying a few extra hundred dollars? So to my fellow nerds please keep watching this page for updates next weekend for further updates on this insanity. Before then I should be blogging daily about my adventures trying to get a Droid 2 phone on Thursday morning. Anyone want to go hunting with me?

Are mobile phone makers ignoring the working man?

We have all laughed at the commercials for the Jitterbug. The phone for old people that are afraid of technology. The fact is that they have made insane amounts of money because of catering to a niche that everyone was ignoring. Well I am part of a nice that the mobile phone industry is still ignoring. The working man! I am a proud card carrying member of the Teamsters union (local 252). I have done blue collar work all my life and will probably do this until i die. I can tell you all my co-workers hate their phones. It is always for pretty much the same reasons. Size being the main one.The phones are too small to be functional. I used to be able to use one device for podcasts, mobile web surfing, texting, taking calls, checking email, and even notes for reviews of concerts I go to. Now my phone sits in my backpack for emergency use only. I am spending less and less all the time. You are becoming less and less of a priority.

My current phone is the LG Voyager™ in Titanium. The good news is that the keyboard is the best keyboard I have ever had on a phone. Great for texting, but that is about it. Other than that it really sucks. Keep in mind that I am talking about a phone with the working man in mind. This is not a phone for the 20 something people with desk jockey jobs. Those douches can shove their iHypes up their collective backsides!

Here are the biggest things that would get me to buy a more expensive phone again:
• Screen should be bigger than 2.81″ Between half an inch to a full inch bigger would be great.
• Physical sliding lock to truly lock everything. The one that the LG Voyager™ in Titanium currently has still leads to butt dials.
• Get rid of the “Say a command” lady or give option to disable until it’s ‘ready for prime time’. I have stopped using my phone for media partly because podcasts are constantly interrupted by that annoying voice that I have grown to hate more than anything.
• Offer option where user could pay extra to avoid Rhapsody so free podcasts can be played for free without being tricked into charges. You have sold out your customers with Rhapsody and let them scam your customers out of their money. This has lead people to leave you and is bad for business. Dump Rhapsody! They are about as corrupt as it gets and they don’t seem to care about your customers at all. They are the other reason I no longer use my phone for media.
• Full SD cards since the working man doesn’t have the tweezers or the time for MicoSD
• Any scroll bars should be at least the width of an index finger to avoid hitting unwanted buttons more often than scrolling (this is the main reason for the bigger screen…functionality)
• Getting to a browser should be one click and I should be able to default to the non-cached version.
• Just as with the LG Voyager™ in Titanium , the working man phone should be lateral-clamshell design that hides the full QWERTY keyboard.

Remember with the working man you need to keep it simple. Fancy makes us frustrated and increases tech support calls and online chats like the one below…

Please wait for a Verizon Wireless sales representative to assist you with your order. Thank you for your patience!
Chat InformationA Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with Delysia
Delysia: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?
You: Wondering if you have any decent sized PDAs yet or if they are all still too tiny to be functional?
Delysia: I’d be happy to help you with that.
Delysia: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?
Delysia: Are you an existing Verizon Wireless customer?
You: yes
You: I have hated my phones for several years because they are too tiny.
Delysia: Excellent!
Delysia: I completely understand.
You: Excellent that I have hated my phones?
Delysia: Are you logged into “My Verizon” with your username and password?
You: NO
You: Never had a reason to. It always ticks me off when I try.
You: Logs me out when I’m trying to look at things.
Delysia: Ok, in order to possible upgrade discounts you be logged in.
You: Good, so no reason to log in then.
You: Now do you have a respectable sized phone?
You: Why would I upgrade if the phones are still tiny?
Delysia: This will give you an opportunity to view all the possible phones.
Delysia: To your liking.
You: Isn’t that what you are there for? You can’t tell me if Verizon has a phone with a screen bigger than 3 inches?
You: You may not know this but customers can view phones without logging in. Just to let you know. ;0
Delysia: Please hold.
Delysia: Please hold on while I check that information.
Delysia: I recommend the Blackberry Curve. The Curve delivers on the BlackBerry® promise with no compromises. BlackBerry push technology is designed to deliver emails to your smartphone as they arrive so you read and respond to them. Its applications work together so you can email a web page to one of your contacts while you’re browsing the web, or listen to music as you read and respond to your emails. VZ Navigator, BroadbandAccess Connect and a 2 megapixel camera round out the total package that the sleek and elegantly-designed Curve offers. This is an awesome smart phone! What do you think about this Blackberry?
You: I have yet to find a good review of that phone. Plus it is even smaller than the phone I have. Are you a robot? You don’t seem to have a clue about your products?
You: You also don’t seem to be even paying attention to what I am asking.
Delysia: I am sorry for the inconvenience.
Delysia: That is the largest screen that we offer at this time.
You: Still only tiny phones then. Getting that question answered was like pulling teeth.

This entire blog post can be shortened to one sentence though. “I want a bigger phone!” It doesn’t need to be some huge brick either. Just big enough to be functional please. I would love to offer my consulting services to any company for free to get a decent phone that works! Contact me.