Ryan Dube

I have to admit, exchanging my old Cingular 8125 Windows Mobile phone for the new and improved Motorola Droid with the Android OS operating system was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in a very long time.

I’ve already had the opportunity to write a couple of articles over at MakeUseOf reviewing the device. The one that I had the most fun with was how use the cool Star Trek Tricorder app available on the Android market.

Opportunities that the Droid Opens for Me

As an online writer, I’m pretty excited about this device. Previously, I had to hunt down Windows Mobile 5.0 applications that would let me send short blog updates the length of two or three sentences to my various Wordpress blogs. Now, I’ve installed wpToGo from the Android Market and I can post full blog posts with my phone, complete with an image if I like – it’s amazing.

Other Droid apps that significantly help with my online writing work include Twidroid (for sending out Twitter updates), Facebook (for sharing articles with friends), Gmail (for staying in touch with my writers, colleagues and clients) and Astrid (for scheduling and as my ToDo list).

Needless to say, the Droid has quickly become an indespensible tool to me. I never miss important emails or phone calls, I’m constantly reminded of things that I used to forget all the time, and now I can immediately snap a photo and blog about an experience that, before, I would have had to wait all day to do, once I returned home.

How a Mobile Phone Can Help With Writing

Is it really important for online writers to have such a nifty tool? For me, there were two primary uses for this new technology. The first was that I could write mobile phone articles for MakeUseOf. At the time there just weren’t enough Android writers (now there are almost too many!). Second, I needed it to stay in touch with everyone.

I have a day job, so now I can check and answer emails at lunch time, while previously I had to wait all day to get home and answer emails. Normally, this wouldn’t matter so much, but when you manage a team of writers and report to several clients – being available online most of the day is critical.

However, the one area that I’ve noticed such a device puts a writer at an advantage is the ability to blog about, and report on, news and events immediately. Not only immediately after something happens, but sometimes you can actively report on an event while you’re on location and while the event is going on.

Imagine being at a scene of a major catastrophe and being able to send in reports every few hours to your blog. Or imagine hiking the appalachian trail and being able to fire off captured images and GPS coordinates along with a description of your trail experiences.

It’s an unbelievable, brand new world that we are quickly entering. It’s truly the “next generation” for writers, because now we are the ones who are providing the content that readers demand. If you can offer immediate, well written information to the Internet audience, you will have that audience. It all comes down to having excellent writing, and being able to understand and take advantage of the technology.

And yes, sometimes it’s just fun to play with very cool high-tech apps like the Star Trek Tricorder.