Clare has suggested that my new HTC Desire Z is the biggest threat to our marriage yet. She has caught me looking at it surreptiously in the pub, checking to see whether its WiFi function has logged on to the free WiFi there.
It is an amazing device. The manual is well over 200 pages and I have so far discovered that it can leverage its 3G data connection to serve as a local WiFi hotspot. The GPS works and has us down to the right street number. I have now installed Skype, LinkedIn and DropBox as apps - I'm checking The Economist app for android right now.
Through the HTC website, the phone can be found if lost or stolen, the device can be locked or in a worst-case scenario all of its contents can be erased from the laptop.
The phone really leverages Google's approach to cloud computing which makes Microsoft's worldview essentially obsolete. I know we all know this, but using a smartphone makes that abstract knowledge very real. The future of computing is no doubt to be more like smartphones, which means more app-centric (reminding me of the object-oriented paradigm).
Nokia, such a dumb move to seek your salvation through an alliance with Microsoft!
