Rest and Motorola Droid Review

No run today.  I figure my feet could use the rest.  Today, I'm going to do a quick review of my newest favorite gadget--my Motorola Droid phone.  As far as running purposes go, this phone does it all.  It has a 16gb sd card that comes with the phone (upgradeable to 32gb when that card comes out).  I transferred my 14gb Itunes library to the sd card on the phone, so it was goodbye Ipod.  There is an Amazon mp3 app installed on the phone, so I can now purchase music and have it install directly to my phone without connecting to a computer--goodbye Itunes.  There is a free app called Pandora, which lets me listen to the radio.  I tell it my favorite artist and it plays songs by them and others that it thinks I might like.  If you like the song it chooses, you hit the "thumbs up" button and vice versa if you don't like it.  Based on your responses, you will either hear more songs by those artists, less or none at all. 

I was envious of those with Garmin watches because of the accuracy with which they were able to track their runs, as well as the ability to see a map of where you ran.  The app CardioTrainer solved that for me.  It has all the features of a Garmin.  It tells me my pace, distance, elevation changes and gives me a map of my run.  All of this is done via the gps on the phone.  Like many of the useful apps for the Android market, this one is free.  There is the option for $3.00 to be able to race against yourself using the app.  You can run a previously run route against a pacer (you from your previous run) if you want to race against yourself for a new personal record.  As of now, I haven't yet purchased this option, but I'm sure I will. 

The only drawback to the phone is the weight.  It's not like carrying an Ipod Nano in your pocket or on your arm.  I have yet to find an armband made for the Droid, so I tried one made by Belkin for the Ipod touch 2nd generation.  I could fit the Droid in the holder, but when I tried to get it on my arm, it flopped around and wouldn't stay in place.  I tried putting it in my pocket, but turned around after a block due to it pulling my shorts down.  I'm now on the hunt for some kind of a holder to carry my phone.  I'll let you know if I find anything.  This phone really does it all--just like the commercial says.  In addition to it functioning as an Ipod, and a Garmin watch, it also has the Google maps navigation app.  The navigation app freed me from buying another GPS unit for the car.  This $200 phone is cheap when factoring in all of the other devices that it replaces.  It does so much more, but I can't list them all. 

Addendum:  I finally found a solution for carrying the phone.  I bought a running belt from Ifitness.  It's the neoprene mini sport belt.  It was $23.95 and works beautifully.  My phone slips snugly into the pouch.  There was no bouncing or shifting.  The belt was so comfortable that I forgot I still had it on 30 minutes after my workout.  I only put my phone in there, but there was still room for some gels and an I.D. card or cash.