Droid 4 and Webtop

The intended post was to be about an app on my phone but as my first and only post was about the G1 5 years ago, I'll provide a quick update.

The G1 was great. It's small, resilient and has the physical keyboard with separate row for number keys. Unfortunately, the "c" key basically stopped working, which is a bit of a nuisance. When that became truly painful and large improvements in the camera had come to pass, I was looking at a Droid 1 that seemed to function really well, but the writing was on the wall that it would soon be outdated. The Droid 2 arrived on the market and I got one the next day. It was exciting, though it lacked the huge crowds generated at the G1 launch years earlier.

The Droid 2 was a great phone though it lacked a separate row for the number keys, instead requiring use of the Alt modifier key. This is still a pet peeve of mine with respect to many of the physical keyboards available.

Thankfully the issue was remedied with the Droid 4, which I now use and enjoy thoroughly. Along with the separate number row, it has a micro hdmi port for use with a monitor or TV. I didn't think I'd ever have any real need for it, but I bought a cable anyway, just in case. That gambit paid off recently when I had to leave my MacBook at the shop for an SD card slot repair.

That night I dug up my micro hdmi cable, plugged the phone into my monitor and connected the bluetooth keyboard. It was excellent! Not great resolution, and the OS lacks the flexibility, speed and power of a notebook, but I could continue working on some scripting with a nice, big screen and full keyboard.

Though the need rarely comes up, I think the Webtop and hdmi port were a great addition to the Motorola Droid family of phones. Looks like subsequent models let go of this feature because, like me, few people really made use of it. Maybe if Android becomes more flexible (like being able to have more than one app on screen at a time) this technology could be in demand. In the meantime, we'll keep working with our notebook and phone or phablet combinations.