I had a conversation the other day with someone planning to buy a new phone. My one suggestion to her was: “Don’t buy the Razr.”

I hate my Razr, as I have previously discussed. I bought it when it was still novel enough to amuse me and make me feel special. I love its size. I love what it’s capable of and all that. I hate the interface, the bad reception and the quirks (the most annoying being randomly resetting itself during conversations — a problem noted by several people I know with the same phone). The video is small, but decent for what it is, and the photo quality and camera abilities leave a lot to be desired. Aside from its small size, it has withstood the test of “Meranda is clumsy,” in that I drop it several times a week and it hasn’t broken yet. (I remember the first night I had it, I was at the store, and I dropped it so it chipped a little. My mom looked at me and asked, “Are you going to cry?” I didn’t. But if it had broken, I probably would have.) Altogether, it’s been an annoying phone. But it got the job done.

Now, I’m in the market to upgrade to a smart phone. Doing so would allow me easier and timelier access to my e-mail and the Web. I could more quickly send off breaking news notes or look up facts on the run. I also want a decent quality camera with video capabilities. Basically, I want it to allow me to condense my tech tools for work not replace them. (I have a digital camera, laptop and an iPod that I love. Why replace them?) I just need to find that perfect phone.

So, reading this story (“Forget the backpack, ‘pocket journalism’ is coming“) excites me. I want one of those phones. Also, as seen on Poynter, “Smart Phones and Reporters: Perfect Together?“

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 7:14 pm and is filed under Journalism, Offline, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.