I need a "mentor"

[mybad]

Anybody care to school a technologically impaired mother of 3 on all the terminology/specs/what's so cool about this that and the other? I find all this fascinating but admit I am having trouble figuring some stuff out.

I only ask that you speak slowly and use small words.

 

[neodorian]

What have you got now? The reason a lot of us are interested in this phone compared to the competition comes from a variety of reasons. Not everyone is interested for the same reasons but among them are:

- One of the largest screens on a touch screen phone
- Very fast internet/data access where the service is available
- Relatively low price compared to competing carriers
- High quality photo and video camera (for a cell phone)
- The ability to hook it up to your HDTV for sharing or playing back HD videos

And there are a lot of other smaller reasons. Essentially, this will be (for the time being) the biggest, baddest phone out there so lots of phone geeks and gadget fans are following the news.

If you want to know about anything specific, let us know. This is a hobby for a lot of us so we don't mind sharing

 

[SprintFun]

Not to mention it will have fastest current processor in it and a substantial bit of RAM to help keep just simple operations smooth and seamless.

 

[mybad]

Not to mention it will have fastest current processor in it and a substantial bit of RAM to help keep just simple operations smooth and seamless.

Um, I thought I asked for small words-lol. What in hell is RAM and a processor?

 

[cabbie]

this phone will basically vacuum and dust your house while you watch your stories.




j/k of course What EVO is capable of is a lot more 'phone' that what many people will desire to take advantage of. My mother has a Hero and loves it very much, but she doesn't utilize the features anywhere close to what I do. But it's completely okay to not use every feature the phone has if it lets you do what you want and your value meets/exceeds the price point.

What would you like to use your phone for? Email, text, web browsing, camera, etc?

What I can definitely assure you of is that EVO will be fast, responsive and let you do anything you want to use it for very easily. When I got my HTC Hero I knew that I was early adopting a first generation phone and that the hardware (like processing speed, memory, that sort of thing) wouldn't be stellar, but it was still lightyears better than the phone I had at that point. The Hero can be slow, laggy and unresponsive at times. EVO will be smooth as butter in any way you use it. If its priced reasonably (as we expect it will be) then it's an easy choice to make it your next phone.

 

[cary328is]

Anybody care to school a technologically impaired mother of 3 on all the terminology/specs/what's so cool about this that and the other? I find all this fascinating but admit I am having trouble figuring some stuff out.

I only ask that you speak slowly and use small words.

Ok...mother of 3 huh? How old are your kids? Here's how the phone could potentially help you:

1. The large screen. Need to drop someone off at a friend's place? Need to find out where soccer practice is? GPS on a large screen is awesome and will help you get there. Everyone has a different schedule for after school activities? The large screen and calendar app(s) can help you stay organized and in tune to everyone's school projects, tests, practices, recitals, etc. Show off pictures to your friends on the large screen.

2. Awesome still and video camera. Need to capture that moment on still or video and send it to grandparents? No problem. Flick over to camera for a still picture or quick video clip. No time to send the video? No problem...hook it up to your large screen TV and share it when everyone's over for dinner.

3. Shopping. LOL This is something my wife loves. How does "OMG! It's so much cheaper at ____ let's just stop by there on the way home" sound? Fast speed helps comparison shopping on the fly OR when you walk into a store and are looking for a particular pattern, design, or color...how much easier is it to show the salesperson exactly what you're talking about on an awesome screen?

4. Groceries, recipes etc etc etc

I could go on and on...I apologize if I seem sexist with my examples but I'm just speaking from my own experience with my wife and daughter. I thought it would help give you a perspective that you can see in a practical way

 

[cabbie]

Um, I thought I asked for small words-lol. What in hell is RAM and a processor?

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. Your computer right now has it, along with a hard drive. When your computer is on, the applications (like internet explorer, windows media player, itunes, etc) that are running are retrieved from the hard drive and put into RAM because the computer can access it faster. So thats good for responsiveness on programs you are currently running, because it prevents slowness and lag. The more RAM you have, the better your computer or phone will run because it has more space that can be accessed faster.

Your processor is the real brain of your computer/phone. Its the thing that handles the legwork of use, because it performs millions of calculations a second. The faster the processor, the better your phone and computer will be.

EVO will have the fastest current processor and the most available RAM.

 

[momoceio]

First off let me say it's totally kickass that a mother of 3 is on an Android forum looking for geek knowledge. My mom barely knows what a cell phone is...your kids are already off to a good start

 

[dylan88]

First off let me say it's totally kickass that a mother of 3 is on an Android forum looking for geek knowledge. My mom barely knows what a cell phone is...your kids are already off to a good start

agreed lol. i wish my mom would do stuff like this.

 

[mybad]

First off let me say it's totally kickass that a mother of 3 is on an Android forum looking for geek knowledge. My mom barely knows what a cell phone is...your kids are already off to a good start

Awwww, shucks (face turns red). Yeah, my 11yo! is already bugging me for this phone. How about a hayell to the no?

 

[mybad]

Thanks so much y'all. I already feel much more smartical.

 

[Ilya]

3. Shopping. LOL This is something my wife loves. How does "OMG! It's so much cheaper at ____ let's just stop by there on the way home" sound? Fast speed helps comparison shopping on the fly OR when you walk into a store and are looking for a particular pattern, design, or color...how much easier is it to show the salesperson exactly what you're talking about on an awesome screen?

Even better...with the App ShopSavvy, you just take a picture of the barcode (in the app) and it'll find the best prices locally and online for you. I'm sure it's hit and miss on the products it recognizes, but still a cool thing in my opinion.

 

[dandm4life]

It's also always a good idea to have a good camera around at all times, as of now I keep my digital in my glove box. Lets say something bad happens and you are in a car accident. It's always a good idea to document the damage as soon as it happens in order to help with insurance claims, and there is nothing better than a high megapixel camera to do this.

Also, dont know if you are like my family or not, but every now and then my sister will ask if I saw a funny commercial, and if not we have to fire up the computer to check it out on youtube because my pre screen was too small for us both to look at. With a 4.3 inch screen and youtube hq, this will not be a problem.

 

[twospirits]

Um, I thought I asked for small words-lol. What in hell is RAM and a processor?

I almost fell off my chair when I read that. lol So true. You ask for a simple easy to understand question and in a forum of geeks, they come back at you with even more geek talk. lmao I love it.

First off, Welcome to AF.

and like others have mentioned, its way more than awesome that you are venturing into the geek world to know more about this device.

Besides, this forum, there are a few places that one can easily catch up to the geek talk. If you see a reference that you don't understand, simply wiki it in a google search. Like "wiki: RAM" and your answer pops up. (although the answer might be more geeky and leave you back to square one). lol

So enjoy and like I always say, Read, Post and learn, but have fun doing it.

TS out (hugging a mom)

 

[IOWA]

Welcome to AF! If you read my faq (link in signature) it will answer quite a bit of questions for you. Now I think I will have to write up a beginners guide. (Although the one in my sig inst complete yet either lol)

 

[Caloy]

First off let me say it's totally kickass that a mother of 3 is on an Android forum looking for geek knowledge. My mom barely knows what a cell phone is...your kids are already off to a good start

I'd be proud to call her mom.

But seriously, what makes this phone make us so excited is that everything we want in a phone, is in it. If you heard the slogan - "In the world of doesn't, Droid does", then I can say that the Evo "DOES IT BETTER".

 

[timmertc]

Anybody care to school a technologically impaired mother of 3 on all the terminology/specs/what's so cool about this that and the other? I find all this fascinating but admit I am having trouble figuring some stuff out.

I only ask that you speak slowly and use small words.

Here are some basic analogies:
Imagine you're sitting at a desk.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the desktop. The more RAM, the more stuff you can put on your desktop.

ROM (Read-Only Memory) is your desk's file drawer. When you start a program, it's like taking your email client or browser out of the file drawer and placing it on your desktop so you can use it.

Processor is you. You're the one who takes your stuff out of your file drawer and places them on your desktop. You shuffle the papers around, you stuff things back in the drawer.

A faster processor is you jacked up on Mountain Dew - with caffeine in your system you work faster. You shuffle papers faster, you put things in and out of your file drawer faster.

WiMax is your interaction with your office staff. On slower connections, your office staff take their sweet time bringing you the stuff you asked for, and then tell you about it at a leisurely pace.

With WiMax, you ask for it, and it's sorta like the butler in Mr. Deeds, instantly there before you turn around. Sneaky, sneaky. You send them away to do a project, and they're back before you know it, and you wonder how they could be done already.

Screen size - well, that's your window to the world. The bigger your office window, the more you can see. Other phones are like a ship's porthole, while the EVO is like having a glass wall in your office so you can see everything going on outside.

 

[twospirits]

^ nice.

TS

 

[cabbie]

Here are some basic analogies:
Imagine you're sitting at a desk.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the desktop. The more RAM, the more stuff you can put on your desktop.

ROM (Read-Only Memory) is your desk's file drawer. When you start a program, it's like taking your email client or browser out of the file drawer and placing it on your desktop so you can use it.

Processor is you. You're the one who takes your stuff out of your file drawer and places them on your desktop. You shuffle the papers around, you stuff things back in the drawer.

A faster processor is you jacked up on Mountain Dew - with caffeine in your system you work faster. You shuffle papers faster, you put things in and out of your file drawer faster.

WiMax is your interaction with your office staff. On slower connections, your office staff take their sweet time bringing you the stuff you asked for, and then tell you about it at a leisurely pace.

With WiMax, you ask for it, and it's sorta like the butler in Mr. Deeds, instantly there before you turn around. Sneaky, sneaky. You send them away to do a project, and they're back before you know it, and you wonder how they could be done already.

Screen size - well, that's your window to the world. The bigger your office window, the more you can see. Other phones are like a ship's porthole, while the EVO is like having a glass wall in your office so you can see everything going on outside.

 

[timmertc]

Thanks! (I used to use a similar analogy when I did PC support. I just modified it to suit phones - main difference was that the PC hard drive was the file drawer.)

 

[neodorian]

Here are some basic analogies:
Imagine you're sitting at a desk.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the desktop. The more RAM, the more stuff you can put on your desktop.

ROM (Read-Only Memory) is your desk's file drawer. When you start a program, it's like taking your email client or browser out of the file drawer and placing it on your desktop so you can use it.

Processor is you. You're the one who takes your stuff out of your file drawer and places them on your desktop. You shuffle the papers around, you stuff things back in the drawer.

A faster processor is you jacked up on Mountain Dew - with caffeine in your system you work faster. You shuffle papers faster, you put things in and out of your file drawer faster.

WiMax is your interaction with your office staff. On slower connections, your office staff take their sweet time bringing you the stuff you asked for, and then tell you about it at a leisurely pace.

With WiMax, you ask for it, and it's sorta like the butler in Mr. Deeds, instantly there before you turn around. Sneaky, sneaky. You send them away to do a project, and they're back before you know it, and you wonder how they could be done already.

Screen size - well, that's your window to the world. The bigger your office window, the more you can see. Other phones are like a ship's porthole, while the EVO is like having a glass wall in your office so you can see everything going on outside.

Seriously though, I always use the desk analogy when people confuse memory and hard drive/storage.

Available RAM is available room on your desktop. The more room you have, the less often you need to stash things in the drawers in order to work on something else. The bigger the drawers, the more papers you can store at any given time.

 

[twospirits]

Which is why I deleted those posts to try to keep this on topic.

TS

 

[nathanotis]

Desk analogy FTW! I always tell people this... And in the PC world, back when "cache" was a new thing, I explained cache was like a desk-side table... not quite as far away as your file cabinet, for quicker access for things you're going to need in just a minute.

Love it.

 

[hopalee]

wow! that is awesome, just awesome!