Droid Life Q&A Sessions: Volume 11 Answers

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Q&A

It’s finally Friday, which means it is time to go through all of our submitted questions from Monday and get to answering them for the Droid Life Q&A Sessions. In volume 11, we cover our favored go to pre-paid carrier options, which daily drivers the team is currently using (can you believe I didn’t answer with the Note 2?), and even touch on our own personal hobbies that we occasionally have time for.  

As a reminder, E is Eric, T is Tim, K is Kellen, and R is Ron.

What is your pre-paid carrier of choice?

T:  I like to stick to T-Mobile for pre-paid, but I have been meaning to check out Solavei.

K:  I’m currently using Solavei. Not sure why I’m using it over Straight Talk, but I am. It’s $50 per month for unlimited talk, text, and HSPA+42 T-Mobile service. It’s a hell of a deal.

R:  T-Mobile would probably be my pre-paid carrier of choice, but I honestly haven’t looked into it much. There really isn’t much of a market for pre-paid plans. I would love to see that expand. Hopefully T-Mobile’s latest moves will help move that forward.

How do you all feel about all of the bans/backlash against Google Glass?

E:  I feel like some of it is justified. The ban on having it while driving is probably the best thing to do going forward. I don’t want someone doing a Hangout while they drive down the interstate at 70mph. The bars and other places banning it however is a little overkill to me.

T:  As far as bars banning Google Glass, that sort of makes sense I guess. Seems like just a garb for attention, but what concerns me more is the government already taking steps to ban it while driving. It’s an unreleased product, no one has had a chance to see what it will actually be like, and the people in charge want to condemn it. I have zero tolerance for that. People are already terrible drivers and Google Glass is not going to make it any worse.

K:  It’s just like when cell phones first had cameras and gyms tried to ban them because they thought people would take creepshots of others working out all the time. People don’t know what to expect with Glass, so we’re seeing the whackjob conspiracy theorists come out of the woodwork already to be seen in their stance against it. By the time they launch, we’ll have seen all sorts of attempted bans or negative press, yet it’ll still launch and likely be successful.

R:  I don’t mind them at all. Glass still isn’t a real product so it doesn’t have any material consequences. The reality of the situation is that products like that will have to prove themselves to not be distractions or dangerous in certain situations.

glass10

What hobbies do you guys have?

E:  Writing, basketball, keeping up with my television shows (American Horror Story, Adventure Time, The Americans, Being Human etc.), enjoying some good video games (Go play Bioshock Infinite right now).

T:  Well, I used to play a lot of video games, but lately I am so over sitting at my desk any longer than I already do. I spend as much time outside and with friends as possible, watching movies, eating out, drinking, and laughing. I play semi-competitive baseball (not softball) up here in Portland, so training and practices take up a lot of my time recently. Must get ripped in time for May. I play music, enjoy cooking, go on hikes with my dogs, and doing some light photography. Basically, I don’t like to sit still anymore!

K:  Over the last year and a half, I’ve become addicted to running. Ran my first half marathon ever in December (1:59:12)! Outside of that, I’ve got a thing for shoes, as you can tell if you follow me on Instagram. I wouldn’t consider myself a sneakerhead, but definitely love me some Jordans. Outside of those two things, tasting fine whiskey and eating Portland’s best eats are always on the agenda.

R:  I lead worship at my church and I like to play Halo with my wife. Outside of that I’m usually busy with work, church, and writing.

What device is your daily driver, and what are you planning to be your next device?

E:  Still rocking the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon. Waiting to see if HTC releases something like the HTC One on Verizon and if they don’t then I don’t know what I’ll do with my life.

T:  The Nexus 4 is my daily driver currently and I am hoping to either make the Galaxy S4 or HTC One my next daily. Please, don’t tell the Note 2 cult members I left the group. They will find me and destroy me.

K:  It has been the Nexus 4 since it came out, but I am dying for something new. I’m really intrigued by the HTC One, just because it’s so different than what Samsung did with the Galaxy S4 (which is just a slightly beefier S3). So I’m guessing I’ll spend a lot of time with the One here shortly. After that, just give me whatever Motorola and Google are working on.

nexus 4 nexus logo

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

E:  Editor in chief of The Verge or New York Times, I’ll take either. Or a host on Top Gear.

T:  I have always wanted to do law enforcement for some reason. I wouldn’t care so much for all of the paperwork, but being a member on a S.W.A.T. team has always been sort of a dream job. Getting paid to kick ass just sounds righteous.

K:  Front office of an NBA team. I’m a basketball fanatic, have been since I was a kid. At one time I actually wanted to be a sports agent, but realized you basically need to be a lawyer for that and didn’t want to spend the time in school as I was a terrible college student (not dumb, just loved the beer too much).

R:  I would love to lead worship full time or write about technology full time. Right now both are just side projects.

If you had to completely unplug for two-four weeks (you could only use a feature phone for emergencies), what would you do?

E:  Go to camp. Certified Eagle Scout here so I know how to unplug from time to time.

T:  Oh boy, that’s a tough one! Well, I guess a vacation would be in order. You would definitely find me on the coast in some quaint coffee shop just people watching and hanging out.

K:  I better be on a tropical island with my toes in the sand, ocean 10 feet in front of me, with a Dos Equis in hand, or I wouldn’t last an hour. There is something about the ocean/sun/booze combo that can have you forgetting about the world in a split second. Damn, that would be tough though. Even on the last vacation I took, I was squeezing out emails through 1-bar of service while on the beach.

R:  That’s basically what I did for Lent. I’ve still had my phone to read articles and whatnot, but I found myself doing a lot more reading and spending time with people face to face. It’s been really nice.

How many hours do each of you spend working on the website a week?

E:  Probably works out to be around around 10 hours a week on the site, depending on how busy the site is and how much work I do for school.

T:  Well, I would say too much and my boss would say not enough. But in the end, it’s just right. In fact, I actually joke with my friends that I’m sort of a doctor since we are “on call” for the news. No matter what time it is, if something important happens, we need to write it up. Call me Dr. Tato from now on, please.

K:  This is it. Droid Life is actually my life. I try to keep a regular schedule for the most part, which you have probably noticed. In all, I bet I’m doing something DL-related anywhere from 50-70 hours per week. Thing is, I love every second of it.

R:  I work at a local computer consulting company for my day job. If I’m reviewing a phone that tends to take around 10 to 12 hours and my opinion pieces tend to take 3 to 5 hours. It all depends on the subject.

Why hasn’t Verizon killed the Droid line yet?

E:  Because, like us, they’re clinging to the hope that Moto will come out with another great Droid phone.

T:  You can’t just go killing off what made you. The DROID brand is very important to Verizon I think and as long as it remains successful, then expect for it to stick around. At least until Disney or George Lucas start charging too much for the branding.

K:  It’s too powerful of a brand at this point to kill. Even if they release a mid-range phone, they can brand it with “DROID” and sell it. Thanks to the original DROID, they were able to go above Android, to create something all their own. Verizon is likely still the biggest Android carrier in the U.S., and I’d imagine a lot has to do with that brand. I doubt they’ll kill it any time soon.

R:  That’s a good question. I think Verizon is hanging onto it so they can claim to have an exclusive from certain companies, but it’s possible that they’ll retire the brand soon. I think it’s lost a lot of its marketing power and Verizon knows that. It would take a pretty killer device for that name to mean anything important today.

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