By Michael Unruh, Service Manager with Data Network Group

I had been using the same two phones for over two years and the need to consolidate devices was at a critical mass. Actually, I had been carrying around three devices: my work cell phone, my personal cell phone and my iPod Touch. All three served their purpose individually, but with the latest technologies providing all of the functions in one device, I knew I needed to make a change. Now came the hard part.

My wife had been using an iPhone for some time, so I had access to her phone and the advantage of playing around with its various functions and features. In addition, it seemed that everyone around me was getting an iPhone and I was developing app envy as neither of my current phones could download apps, or play music or connect to multiple email accounts. However, as two of my colleagues found out, AT&T’s cell coverage does not work very well in our office building. My personal cell uses the Verizon wireless network and I have been very pleased with its coverage and lack of dropped calls. Rumors have been surrounding Verizon ever since the iPhone came out that they (Verizon) would get a version of the iPhone as well. This obviously has not happened yet and I was losing my patience.

Now, to complicate matters, Verizon released the Droid X. And, after reading what seemed like hundreds of reviews and deliberating for a few weeks I still hadn’t made a decision. I’m not a compulsive shopper, much to the chagrin of my wife (who is), so I struggle internally with major purchases. I figure that I am going to be tied to whatever device I choose for at least the next two years, and therefore, I classify this as a major purchase. I decided to go with the Droid X over the iPhone.

Since I viewed both devices as near equals, my decision came down to cell providers and features. The Verizon network works well both in my home and at the office and, after all, I do want to actually use the device as a phone from time to time. I liked the screen size of the Droid X, 4.3″ vs. the iPhone 4′s screen size of 3.5″. The Droid X also has an 8 Megapixel camera and software zoom while the iPhone’s camera is only 5 Megapixels. And finally, I could ditch iTunes. I never got used to managing my music through iTunes but found it to be a necessary evil in order to use my iPod touch. With the Droid X, I can drag and drop music files and folders with ease using Windows Explorer.

I am certainly not bashing the iPhone as I will admit that I still have some app envy as Apple has over 200000 at the time of this post, while Google apps available for the Droid are only a fraction of that. But, overall, I couldn’t be happier with my choice as I now carry only one device that plays my music, manages my email from my work and personal accounts and browses the web and downloads apps with ease.