Bye-bye Droid…At Least For Now

I love gadgets, particularly new tech toys.  Yet, I’m not the earliest adopter.  Like many tech folks, I like to buy when the bugs get worked out.

However…it just so happens that several months back, my sister needed a new phone and I told her I’d been hearing great things about the Droid.  (As we’re on Verizon, iPhones aren’t an option for us – yet.)  They were running a two-for-one special; she got a Motorola and an HTC Eris.  She experimented with both and ended up with the Motorola because it had a better touch-screen for typing.

So, I got to play with the Eris.  Here’s my short-list summary:

I nearly bailed on the Droid when I couldn’t make a hands-free call when driving.  I compromised, only making a call when parked, but that’s not always viable.  Loved the other features, though.

What got me the most was the short battery life.  It was so bad, I called to ask for a replacement battery.  It was sent; no better.  I’d leave the house with the phone fully charged (green light) and within a couple of hours, it was dead.  I tried turning off the data connection, but then I couldn’t get email messages – which for me is the primary reason for having a Smartphone.

I was in the field this week doing shop-alongs.  I realized that if my phone was dead, no one could get ahold of me.  So it was bye-bye Droid and welcome back BlackBerry, at least for now.

Manufacturers need to know that Smartphones aren’t toys for many of us – they’re essential office equipment.  If it can do more, I’m delighted; but if the phone/email doesn’t have enough power to be on for at least 20 hours a day, I’m taking a step back to my tried-and-true BlackBerry until newer phones solve this primary problem.

For me, cool doesn’t trump utility.  Does that exclude me from their target audience?  I know I’m not alone (I heard Leo LaPorte  talking about this yesterday).  Maybe this is just an evolutionary step.

What type of field usability studies did Google/Droid do?  Extend the battery life, offer genuine hands-free (Bluetooth) voice dialing, and the ability to turn web-browsing off when not in use, and I’m back…because not-so secretly, I’d really prefer to be using a cool toy – I mean phone.

Merchandising 2.0 and Amazon

When I got my new Kindle, I started to realize how much Amazon has been lagging behind in its merchandising efforts.  When Amazon first came to market with its ability to recommend books based on past purchasing patterns and/or interests, that was a real step forward in online merchandising.

But think about it: while Amazon has broadened its scope on what it sells, have they moved to “Merchandising 2.0″or beyond?  In my view, they are no longer leading.

Just for starters, why can’t I…

View the “back of the book”?  I want to read the book description (better than the publisher’s version), see which authors/publications have written a blurb on the book recommending it, and read the author bio.

Be notified when an author I like is going to publish a new book?  Even on the Amazon site itself, one doesn’t have this feature.

See all the books that the magazines are touting as great reads for the month?  Real Simple had a summer book section in its June issue.  When I read it in May, nearly 3/4 of all their recommended new books weren’t available on Amazon.  This happens to me a lot.  If a magazine or publication is going to help sell books through recommendations, shouldn’t Amazon be savvy enough to take advantage of it?