Matt Albiniak

"I can second this from firsthand experience. I've been an iPhone user since the original 2G/EDGE release, but was faced with a switch to Sprint after moving to Chicago (and a tragic accident involving my iPhone a bad jailbreak and a brick). I picked up the HTC Hero and constantly found myself trying to find the *right* options screen, the *right* way to navigate back a screen, and the *right* way to quit the app (saving precious battery life). I won't even touch on the "why does this phone with a Google logo not integrate with our Google Apps" topic because 2.0 sounds like it will resolve that. Even if it does, Android is still laggy, still has poor interaction design, and still has the challenge of supporting myriad hardware configurations across multiple carriers. Sounds like Windows, right? The switch to Android was painful, but made the switch back to the iPhone that much more enjoyable." - Matt Albiniak

"Want the worst phone in the world? Try the HTC Hero with Android 1.5. The basic things you covered here are completely fumbled by the Hero, and even if you go the Google Voice route (again, on 1.5), you're in for a world of hurt and disappointment. If you're emo, get ready to really cut yourself. The only problem I can relate to is the dropped calls, and that's because I'm in Chicago, where 6 in 10 commuters have an iPhone. Solution? Turn 3G off and use the EDGE network for voice. If I'm trying to find my way around (data), I'll go back to 3G. Then again, even when I made the brief switch to Sprint, EVDO was painfully slow, too. The gripes this post makes against the iPhone should be levied against US cell networks in general, but whatever. Now that the Droid is officially the second coming, all the cool kids are slamming on the iPhone -- hands down the best smart phone on the market. mla" - Matt Albiniak

"rick, i appreciate the dialogue, and without question, you've gone through the process whereas i'm making critiques from the sidelines. one is easier to do than the other (spoiler: sideline criticism is easier). also, bonus points for demonstrating the first rule of social media: talk about social media. kudos for listening, considering, and continuing to push the community forward. all the best, -matt" - Matt Albiniak

"Pandora's audio quality has driven me away. LaLa if I have something specific, Last.fm if I want to discover recommended tunes." - Matt Albiniak

"hm, sounds similar to something i posted to the ning site almost a year ago. http://smbmsp.ning.com/forum...... there is a surge in the number of "i'm not here for the content, i'm here to see my friends" comments i've heard over the past few events. i think it's great that the group has grown and thrives, but with that comes growing pains. i wish rick the best of luck in tackling these, and as i move to chicago, will absolutely be sharing some of the lessons with the socmed chicago groups. all the best, -matt" - Matt Albiniak