Allow me to introduce myself…

Greetings and salutations.  I’m one of the new contributing writers for the site.  I apologize for taking so long to familiarize myself, but things have been quite hectic as far as my schedule goes.

We’ll start with the basics.  I go by many names, but most people call me Hype.  I feel being formal is unimportant unless there’s monetary purposes involved and I’m far beyond unorthodox, amongst other things.  Alcohol fuels my greatest thoughts/ideas…so more than likely, besides today since I’m at work, I wouldn’t doubt that most of the posts I make will be under the influence.  No worries however, as my focus is stronger in that state and it’s impossible to slur text, so everyone will be alright.

I’m an IT technician, but have been a techie for quite some time now.  Never will I accept the terms “geek” or “nerd”, primarily because that’s not who I am, although I’m associated with the same line of work.  If you met me, you’d understand and probably would never think my profession is actually what I do for a living.  Also I have no filter.  When it comes out, it comes out and I don’t bother stopping it.  I definitely exercise my freedom of speech without warning.  If stereotype holds truth, by now you can probably guess where I’m from.

Now that the formals are out of the way, I’d like to skim through some of my experiences in the smartphone world.  My first “true” smartphone was the Audiovox XV6600 (Verizon), otherwise known as the PPC-6601 (Sprint) or the “HTC Harrier”.  If you’re unfamiliar with this phone, allow me to introduce you:

I’ve always had some type of obsession with large screen phones with QWERTY keyboards.  Factory loaded with Windows Mobile 2003, this phone was a pretty big deal at the time, being considered in the upper echelon of phones.  The 400MHz Intel processor made loading programs a breeze as they didn’t use much resources at all, and best of all, it came with Microsoft Office Mobile.  Sure, the camera lacked by our current standards, but the VGA wonder of its time snapped some pretty nice photos.  I was only 19 at the time, but the looks on the faces of some businessmen who saw me, an urban youth with no briefcase or Wall Street background using a $600 phone that destroyed their dated Blackberrys, was well worth the price.  Not to mention the flexibility that rivaled the new-coming iPhone (sidenote: I’m not a huge fan of iPhones…), but that’s another story.

Moving along to 2008 — I had tried a few Blackberry (Wackberry, as I call them — definitely not a huge fan of RIM either) devices that didn’t quite butter my popcorn, and my XV6600 had finally expired.  We had our fun with various hacks and even an iPhone skin, but the poor workhorse of a device that kept me entertained for 5 years was not only on its deathbed, but also very obsolete.  I’m usually not one for major unnecessary changes, so instead of going the iPhone route, I decided to purchase the Samsung Omnia (Samsung WiTu/SCH-i910) since I worked at Verizon and had sold enough of them to be very familiar with how they worked.

Windows Mobile 6.1 was certainly a breath of fresh air, as was the 5MP camera from the 640×800 VGA I had migrated from.  Within the same light, I also became obsessed with the HTC Touch Pro, so I did what any conniving man at my age would’ve done — convinced my then-girlfriend to purchase one.  The Omnia was simply perfect.  My favorite “apps” were the business card reader and the built-in Slingbox type app (the name escapes me at the moment).  Also, yes…I did choose this phone particularly for the screen size, even though it didn’t utilize a keyboard.  It’s a very sleek and sexy device.  I can’t tell you how many women I met in various places (i.e. train, bus, restaurants, etc.) that would immediately comment on how they’ve never seen it before and would wind up putting their number in my contacts.  Smooth.

From there I migrated to the Motorola Droid X, which I am still using.  Quite honestly I love it.  It has definitely caused me to shift from Windows Mobile devices (which I still have undying love for) to the Android platform.  As I’m uncertain which device I’ll purchase next, I’ll definitely be sticking with an Android device and maybe a Windows phone as a side-piece.  Moreover, who knows…it could be one of you guys (readers or writers) that help me make a decision…