After using the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro in addition to the Nokia E6 and Samsung Galaxy Pro, I realized how much I had become accustomed to the large screen in everyday usage. At one point, anything over 3.5inches was considered huge, but supergiants at 4inches and above began to eventually take over the mobile phone market. Getting my taste of Android on the Samsung Captivate, Symbian S3 on the Nokia E7, and Windows Phone 7 on the Dell Venue Pro was enough to permanently rearrange the way I saw the general smartphone for my own wants. It was clear that for any future device to even become considered for possible adoption in my arsenal, its display had to be at least 4 inches...NO EXCEPTIONS!
I also discovered yet another key element of change to my smartphone usage: the death of the portrait qwerty bar form factor. From my first Palm Treo 680 to the Sony Ericsson P990 and P1i to the Nokia E62, E61i, and E71, I was quite familiar with that build and could not see myself doing without it. With devices like the Nokia E90, N97, N97 mini, N900, HTC TyTN, Touch Pro 1 and 2, and AT&T Tilt, the beginning stage of my waning dependence was taking place...and I had no idea at that time. I even went through a phase where I proclaimed disapproval of the sliding qwerty in favor of faster access on the portrait bar. However, even this argument began to lose water in lieu of my using the Captivate with the Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard and being blown away with such wireless tech prowess. Gradually, the appeal that once inspired me to hold the qwerty bar in high regard was fading...especially as I was drawn more and more to large touch screens.
The dust had settled after taking my time with the Nokia E6 and Samsung Galaxy Pro, and I was over both models for different reasons. The E6 suffered from a touch screen that was too small while the Galaxy Pro's HORRIBLE resolution made the screen almost useless for any worthwhile use. But underlying those initial problems was the fact that my heart was no longer invested in supporting the qwerty bar anymore. Even the opportunity to finally have Android with a hardware qwerty failed to make either the Galaxy Pro appealing or the HTC Status worth my time at the AT&T Store. In regards to wanting a larger screen, the Xperia Pro fell victim to rejection due to its 3.7inch display. While its typing experience was not bad on the sliding qwerty keys, swiping through the OS in closed mode was not on the same level as my Galaxy S2 or Venue Pro. In a funny way, it seemed that my fingertips kept running off the edge of the XPro screen since I was so used to a larger surface area.
As a result, I always felt at home when I would return my SIM card to the Galaxy S2...I even found appeal with the Venue Pro after dusting it off and playing with it via WiFi in my home! The proof was in the pudding: 4inches would be my minimum requirement for adopting another phone as my own. Another interesting twist to the situation materialized as a result of my not favoring the Nokia E6 with its Symbian Anna OS: I used extra funds to purchase a blue E7. While much of my reasoning involved Symbian nostalgia, there was also the necessity of formatting microSD cards that had been used in a WP7 device. Thanks to the USB OTG feature, the E7 could still pull off this feat with a card reader despite its lack of an internal card slot! In addition to those positives, there was also the amazing build quality, sturdy slider, capable keyboard and 4inch ClearBlack display in case I ever wanted to have another go with the Symbian OS again...even in its future Anna and Belle versions.
With the addition of the blue Nokia E7, my supergiant arsenal seemed complete with the 4.3inch Galaxy S2 running Android and 4inch Venue Pro running WP7. Since the Galaxy S2 basically measured up as a most perfect Android candidate while the E7 and Venue Pro offered the best of competing OS models, was there really a need to continue waiting for the unlocked GSM version of the Droid 3? Maybe not.
Trent Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/YouTube host
http://about.me/trentsense/bio
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II
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