Two by Four

I like to think of using SPRecovery as old school. Tried and true, it works flawlessly. It’s quick, easy, and gets the job done. Then along came Koush who put his own spin on flashing/recovering your android roms. His way of doing things grows from doing backups within an app rather than having to manually boot each time and holding down ‘x’ to enter SPRecovery. While they both get the job done, each has its drawbacks and advantages.

Clockwork Recovery is accessed through Koush’s Rom Manager which is available in the market. It’s a great way to download and try new roms without having to hook up your usb cable for manual copying. Given that roms are all over the place and not usually in one centralized location, Rom Manager is a great way to have one repository. Once you choose the rom you like, it downloads and then asks if you want to clear boot/cache and create a backup. Afterwards, it reboots into Clockwork Recovery and on goes the backup.

I have noticed that Clockwork is a bit slower to backup/restore than SPRecovery. It takes quite a few minutes longer for the process to complete, so I typically set my phone down and do something else for a few minutes. Also, not all roms work with Rom Manager and Clockwork. Ultimate Droid 8 did not work with Clockwork and it was recommended to use SPRecovery.

I’ve gone back and forth a couple times now and while I prefer the speed of SPRecovery, I like the convenience of using Clockwork with Rom Manager.  I think the best of both worlds would be to access SPRecovery from within Rom Manager!

I first saw Ghost Armor when I was walking through a mall in Tempe, Arizona. A buddy and I stopped to watch a demo of the sales person taking a sheet of the plastic armor and trying to push an ink pen through it. It simply stretched and did not break. At the time, I was not willing to spend $25 for my company provided Blackberry Curve.

A few months later, I acquired a Motorola Droid when all the hype was on TV with the commercials, etc. It was a bad-ass device then and still is now. I actually prefer it over the Droid 2. Anyways, I decided I needed to protect the phone and purchased the Ghost Armor online. It came a few days later and I had a helluva time putting the stuff on.

The product comes pre-cut for each surface of the Droid including corners, front and back covers, and each small surface of the phone. Given that the pieces are so small, you have to have very delicate and precise hands to apply yourself. It took me a few times to finally get it right without having any air bubbles underneath the armor. The whole process took probably an hour after the first application, retrying, and drying.

The next day, the device looked brand new again. The armor really held up too. The Droid has survived many drops, keys scratches, and general abuse. However, the armor eventually started to peel off over time. One by one, each piece would come off from the phone and would get dust underneath. As time went by, each piece would not stick any longer and I’d end up just peeling it off. It lasted a total of about 10 months time.

A whole year went by and I found myself walking past the same kiosk with the same sales person in Arizona. I asked him if they could reapply a new armor to the phone. He said it would only cost me $10 bucks. Not a bad deal I thought!

If you don’t like having those large rubber bumpers on your phone, I highly recommend Ghost Armor. For an initial cost of $25 and $10 for new applications, it’s a great deal to keep your phone safe.

Advantages:

• Low initial cost, minimal cost to re-apply
• Clear, barely noticeable
• Robust material that provides great protection
• Lifetime warranty

Disadvantages

• Comes off over time, but can be re-applied at a Ghost Armor Kiosk
• Hard to apply yourself, just have a rep at a kiosk do it

I’ll start of by saying welcome to Two by Four. This blog will primarily be about reviewing technology available to us here in the US. All of the reviews come from my own personal point of view and experience with the devices.

Embrace and enjoy the technology!