No, I am not blegging for a tablet. I am looking for advice re: e-readers and tablets. I know I want to get one, but I’m trying to figure out what I want to get.

I’ve considered e-readers because of the battery life and e-ink: I need something that will read PDFs but will give me access to ebooks (not for fiction – nonfiction ebooks are a major step forward in policy analysis and I want to read them easily – SHUT UP NOT A NERD). But every time I play with an e-reader in the store it just seems so damn clunky and the touchscreens seem very non-responsive. Are the store ones just crappy?

As for tablets, well, I know the pros and cons of the iPad well enough at this point and if I go that route I’ll wait for the iPad 3/”new iPad” to come out. But does anybody here have good advice re: Android tablets? I want to at least consider them, because I do so love my Galaxy Nexus (even if the dialer isn’t as good as my HTC was).

EDIT TO ADD: Also: I’ve been considering picking up a digital camera for the purpose of vlogging (because I want to be the next Zefrank, maybe – DON’T STOMP ON MY DREAMS, INTERNET). Does anybody have any good recommendations for a camera that does decent high-definition video (because if I’m going to get a camera that records video, it might as well be pretty)?

I’ll probably end up going with a Motorola Milestone (the international equivalent of the Droid) through Telus.

I am just posting this so everybody can have a chance to tell me I am getting the wrong smartphone, or alternatively to self-importantly explain how they don’t have a cellphone and only communicate through smoke signals. Smoke signals are the new fixies!

So here is the thing. I have never owned a smartphone, mostly on the basis that they are fairly expensive, and although the apps and so forth are appealing, I previously could not in good conscience say that I desperately needed one. This is why my cellphone is a cheap little Nokia that looks like it can call 1999. However, in a few weeks I will likely be in need of a smartphone, assuming everything goes as planned and I begin working at a law firm. A smartphone is essentially part of the whole Lawyer Package at this point, along with “suit” and “cold appraisal of the world.”1

The problem, though, is that I do not follow the smartphone scene as such. I mean, I know the generalities: Android can multitask but is slower, iPhone has more apps but you’re dealing with Apple’s closed-door shop unless you jailbreak, et cetera. I also know that a Blackberry is likely out for a couple of reasons I won’t get into right now.2 But I have no personal experience with either Android phones or iPhones beyond the occasional fiddling with a friend’s phone when they get up to go get a new drink. I don’t know performance specs and have only a very tenuous grasp on killer apps.

Finding good reviews of phones isn’t too hard, but phone reviews from ZDnet and the like are, I figure, often like their other hardware reviews in that finding out what mass experience of the product is like often contradicts what the reviewer’s experience was. Even worse, though, is finding a site for good app reviews: there are so many spam sites dedicated to “app review” that picking my way through them is a chore.

Hence I turn to my readership, because you people are by and large nerds, and nerds often have great smartphones. What are your experiences with iPhones and the various Android models? What should I buy? What are, in your opinion, the killer must-have apps that justify their price?3 And can anybody recommend a good site for app reviews?

1. Lawyers make more lawyer jokes than anybody else. [↩]
2. One of which is that they don’t support a certain type of database integration and the others do. Way to go, RIM! [↩]
3. For example, I don’t care how good your GPS app is; I’m not buying it because $200 is a lot more than Google Maps, which is still free. [↩]

Volkswagen introduces concept car that gets 100km on one litre of gasoline.

A Livejournaller-slash-driving enthusiast tours a brand new Tesla Motors dealership.