here are some highlights of why i like it so far…

1) Form Factor. my phone requirement was full touchscreen, no physical keyboard. the Incredible was the most recent phone to debut on Verizon’s network that met my requirement at the time of my upgrade eligibility. the back is multi-leveled creating visual interest, yet is able to lay relatively flat on a surface. the camera protrudes ever so slightly, but a case easily resolves this.

2) Snappy. “snappy” is a relative term since certain products can be more snappy or less snappy depending what you’re comparing with. well… my previous phone was a two year old Motorola Q9c running Windows 6.5. if any of you know what that is, you will agree that in comparison there is definite snappiness to HTC Incredible.

3) Android. i’m enjoying the UI and its customizable potential. i like that you have the choice to be as shallow or get seriously deep with the OS. that is the kind of depth i was looking for and found in Android. though i may not plunge very deep, it’s nice to know that i have that capability should i choose to do so. the system’s philosophy is one that i can get behind as well as its community.

4) Social Management. since Android is from Google, i love how my Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, etc. integrates with this phone. my lifestyle management as been kicked up notch… or two. plus, using apps to manage my social networking activities has never been easier.

remember, these are some highlights of why i like it. i encourage you to test the combination of many available brands and mobile operating systems. it is easy to be persuaded by a community of users or by marketing appeal and/or popularity. keep an open mind and find out for yourself which experience best fits you. in 2010, i’ve found that the HTC Incredible best fits me.

okay… that brings me to yet another peeve of mine… why would anybody knock when there’s NO door knocker and a doorbell is provided? plus, if people don’t like doorbells then in subsequent attempts knock HARDER!

back to the story… i was kind of bummed that i would not be receiving my new lens that afternoon but i got the details from customer service that the package will be secured at a shipping location instead of being out on delivery the next day during the time when i definitely know that i will not be at home.

around 3:30p i received a phone call from the driver who told me that he would be back around my area shortly. i wonder if the customer service representative got a hold of him explaining my dissatisfaction. anyways… i tipped him about using the doorbell since i was still working in my office/bedroom upstairs and within 15 minutes or so i received my new lens. after finishing up my work i quickly freed it from its brown cardboard encasement.

my dad was already home for about an hour and was working at the dining room table. yeah… he tends to annex the entire table with his laptop and external drives when he comes home. so i showed it off to him explaining the kinds of photos that the lens will allow me to take.

and with that being said i used him as my model to take the first test shot while he was watching 3ABN.

this cloisonne bowl was on the table, so i shot off several frames with different settings.

later that evening i attended my friend Ted’s surprise birthday party. i was hoping to test it more there but i ended up putting my 28-135mm and my 10-22mm to more use which you will see in my next post.

ok, this particular model doesn’t actually “shred” optical media but it does make them unreadable, useless coasters by making dimples all across the disc.

so here’s a plain disc and its smooth surface.

and here’s a disc that’s been passed through the shredder.

check out the dimples! all in a perfect grid.

so why in the world would i want a gadget like this? even though some paper shredders nowadays have the capability of destroying optical discs, not everybody has a paper shredder with this feature. plus this device is small and portable enough for me to take to my clients who may want to destroy discs that contain sensitive, business-related data. and on a personal note, i also have discs that contain backed-up personal information that i would like destroyed so that when they are outdated i won’t have to worry about somebody scrounging through the dumpsters, finding the discs, and go all willy-nilly with them. you’d be surprised that there are people that actually do this. so if any of you ever burn personal data on discs, you may also want to think about getting a paper shredder that destroys discs or a dedicated shredder like mine. you never can be too careful.