Riding Smarter

It’s almost the weekend and it is disappointing not being able to ride when most of the week’s works were finished early. It has been raining since the night of Thursday so any hope of the usual Friday jumpstarter ride has been cancelled. And because we, architects and design professionals, usually need inspiration to design, most of the time (ironically) we have to exhaust our body (run, bike, drink and party) to actually fuel the mind. It’s normally a surefire way in getting those creative juices flowing and getting the job done in a healthy way.

The past few weeks were probably the busiest for us this quarter. I was only able to run less than 5kms. So to make the new phone more useful, I changed the Runkeeper to mountain bike settings and logged an even more pathetic 6km total bike commute. I was hoping to start my (used to be) regular 100kms-a-week ride when we finished work early yesterday, but with such taunting downpour, even just 10kms seemed blight on the pedal.

Today, with rain and the gift of ‘pause’ (as inspired by Bo Sanchez ), I was able to take the chance to write again and continue my pending phone review. Having Samsung’s Young GT-S5360 or Galaxy Y for almost a month now, I can better attest to its capabilities and incapacities clearer.

For motorcycling with the thinnest gloves on, it was quite difficult to use the minute capacitative screen. And even with half-fingered gloves (as stated in the previous review), it would be easiest to use the keypad if you have petite women’s candle-like fingers. When it comes to competitive bicycling, except for Audax, racing with such a pretty phone on a criterium or closed-circuit time trial road race is never advisable. Though the Galaxy Y may be the smallest smartphone, it is not as handy and very slippery without the gel-type case protector. It could, however, pass as good company for selective training and sports-touring.

Easily, Samsung’s B2100 or Nokia’s 3720 would beat the Galaxy Y in any given weather or road condition. Being more handy, tactile and rugged, these marine-rated waterproof and shockproof phones even boast LED flashlights that may replace a Cateye headlight if necessary – making the smallest Galaxy far from barely qualifying into the hardcore phone list. There is also the Samsung Xcover smartphone, with a hifalutin IP rating you can only see in industrial lighting materials, which would easily be the popular choice of the executive cyclist with the usual robust taste. The advantage of the slim Y though is its ability to fit into smaller armbands or just slightly bulge from the compression shorts.

Honestly, although I needed a smarter phone than my previous, I never wanted a Galaxy or a smartphone initially (nor did I have any plans to go snorkeling or mud-wrestling with it). My few additional requirements for another bar-shaped cellular phone were to send legible emails quickly and bring it on any road and off-road trip without too much thought. (This maintained the Young’s few advantages). Like all my other phones surviving makeshift Ziploc-like wraps and a few bike spills, the price was the deciding factor after passing reliability concerns and aftermarket guaranty. The Young is a simplified device that works as a proper phone that I can always afford to replace at any given time. In case it gets lost along with site scaffoldings. stolen or accidentally gets dropped in the single tracks, it would not be as heartbreaking as compared to losing or breaking a seamless iPhone, or a more sophisticated Blackberry or HTC.

To our surprise, when the wife agreed to retire the broken 2600, we were shocked by to see dirt cheap touchscreen smartphones displayed alongside the mall’s branded shelves. Amazingly ultra-affordable (meaning way way below budget), the entry-level Samsung Galaxy Y and the LG Optimus Me toppled my first Nokia choices at almost any angle. With a minimalist façade (similar to the classic iPhone) and a bunch of freebies - free GPS, free Google maps, free Gingerbread applications - the very basic Galaxy-Android proved to be worthy jersey pocket material to a frugal cyclist like me. And without much effort, it blended with the tire lever and Presta spares, as if proprietary and not an after-thought.

It has become a fine reliever to the aging laptop and netbook, and emails decently with one hand (with the other hand carrying Ice). Aside from convenient social networking, sending work reports and jobsite photos from almost anywhere were no real problem – giving me more time to bike and save enough money for the next bike ride. I can’t wait.