and it’s a much more effective use of my money than a droid. Two phones are $60 a month. A phone that handles wifi, has a great browser, has push email, and needs no data plan? That’s a better deal for a lot of folks. I know there are things a droid does that my phone doesn’t, but there aren’t very many things. I save $1700 a year, per phone, over two years. Damn.

I came very close to getting a droid, anyway. I’m glad Motorola has been saved for the time being, and I think android’s success will grow quite a bit.

There’s a problem, of course, in that the industry doesn’t want people to have phones that are internet capable but don’t pay for a data plan. My phone, for example, has to be reflashed with the factory firmware (over the ATT firmware) in order to use its wifi chip. If I didn’t have this option, I would either have to carry a wifi device around, or get a smart phone.

I think the Droid is a foolish purchase unless you really need to upgrade now. There are so many really strong competitors coming out in the very near future that seem to really outshine it. Sure, there’s always the next thing, but multitouch and a good camera are important things to some consumers.

And price… well, that’s the end all be all for me. I could afford a $100 a month contract, I guess doubled since my wife likes this stuff too, if I wanted. That’s $3400 more than I’m paying now. Makes it easier to stomach my sincerely felt jealousy at the sweet Droids I see on the way to work.

Ericsson handsets have *always* been some of my favorites, though. Never much cared for what Sony brought to the table, but I’m very excited to test their Android handset when it comes out. The phones are well designed and get great battery life. And, you’re right: the camera functionality on those phones is far superior to anything in the droid or iphone.

For me, however, a camera is not at all important. As long as it takes a clear enough photo to utilize Google Goggles functionality I’m happy.

For some reason, I’ve never had a problem with a bluetooth headset. I currently use a really expensive blackberry branded one (I didn’t pay for it, and wouldn’t have), but I’ve had plenty of luck with crappy cheapo ones. Everyone else hates almost all of them. Strange.

Droid is a neat phone, though it’s going to be outdated eventually anyway. If you’re on a data plan and are in an area where Verizon is the best (a lot of places, obviously), the droid is a good phone.

But don’t let the fandroids fool you, most phones are great these days. Since I have wifi on mass transit, at home, and at work, I’m fortunate enough to use a Sony ericsson C905a, which is free with a subscription, and with no data plan I can still surf the internet on wifi and use GPS. My wife has one as well and we pay $60 a month for both plans. And the camera on these phones makes the Droid look like a POS. Since we take pics all the time, and always have wifi, it’s a legit point.

Although I still an envious of those Droid apps. No reason to get an iphone, in my opinion, but there are so many cheap and excellent options out there these days.

I liked the BlueAnt devices because of the voice-command feature (say “answer call” and it picks up the call), because when I go out (still walking to the bus, damnit), I have a fleece 4-way hood on, plus some thick gloves, and hitting the call-answer button would likely get annoying/be impossible.

You tried the Plantronics Discovery 925? It seems it mostly be the same thing as the 975.

I wish places would let you try on different headsets to find one that fits.

Jawbone makes some really nice and sturdy headsets — you might want to look into those, too.

Any opinion on Blueant headsets?

I know you were joking, John, but you do bring up a good point: the number one function of these devices should be making phone calls and, perhaps, sending text messages. I recommend Android devices for smartphone users because they do this *AND MORE* flawlessly.

“Can you make phone calls with it?”

“Ya know, I dunno.”