So, this happened:

blah blah aren’t the droids i’m looking for blah

It’s a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0.

Why? Well, two good reasons:

1. I hate the fact that there’s a widely-used OS out there that I know nothing about, so I wanted to try out Android for myself
2. Part of my job will involve diddling Androids, and I much prefer diddling my own instead of that which has been diddled by so many before me

And two terrible reasons:

1. NEW. TOY.
2. .. there are three Kairosoft games available for Android (Cafeteria Nipponica, Dungeon Village, and World Cruise Story) that aren’t available for iOS, and I want them

I had been thinking about getting a tablet for a while, but I know giving up my iPad was the right choice. I never used it, and anything I might want to do on an iPad I can do at work on any of the dozens of tablets there. In my (utterly awesome) new job, I could be asked to work some magic on Android at any time, and I really know nothing about it – and as a proud nerd with a boner for mobile technology, I hate being in the dark about something so common. With that in mind, I started to research Android tablets, but I still wasn’t ready to spend so much money on something that’s little more than a passing curiosity on my part. It would take far greater than a professional itch to make me give up my beloved iPhone, so getting some sort of fancy new telephonic device was out. Finally, after spending a day making terrible jokes about a dropped iPod Touch and football, I realized the answer was sitting in front of me: I was looking for the Android equivalent of an iPod Touch. Twitter came through with some good suggestions, and I settled on the Samsung Galaxy Player pictured above.

Of course, it’s never really that easy – for the most part, the 5.0 isn’t available in Canada. I planned on driving down to Bellingham to pick one up when I decided to Google a little bit harder, and lo – I found it on the Staples.ca website, for $20 less than Best Buy.usa. Hooray! I ordered it on Thursday, and it arrived at my office yesterday afternoon.

I’m still learning my way around Android, but the biggest difference so far is the size – the ‘droid is fucking HUGE. In fact, I named it The Behemoth. It has a 5″ screen, and it’s just enormous next to my iPhone. Still, the size makes me really glad I didn’t opt for a tablet after all – the Galaxy is basically a tiny tablet for tiny elf hands, like mine. I know I could have spent a little more and gotten a 7″ Galaxy Tab instead, but I’m pleased I went this route. It’s small enough to carry around in case I need to solve any iOS vs. Android arguments, I get to play exciting new games that I can’t get on my iPhone, and I didn’t spend a bajillion dollars on it. Also, I’m learning. Learning is good.

The Behemoth is so large, in fact, that it doesn’t fit in any of the cases or pouches I have, so I’m gonna sew one up. New toy AND I get to practice sewing? Buying it was such a good idea! I am so smart.

For size comparison, here is the Behemoth next to Tunnel Snakes Rule (my iPhone), Ed’s work Blackberry, my iPod Nano (shut up, I love my Apple products), and the new portable battery charger I had to get because the voltage changed from the 4 to the 4s and my old charger didn’t work anymore:

i’m connected to the internet SO MANY TIMES

FOR LEARNING!