clue free

Saw my first Google G1 early adopter this morning on the subway. Unfortunately, he was doing nothing to dissipate its for-geeks-only image.

• CRT tan
• Skullet
• Giant backpack
• Apple-shaped physique (oh the irony)
• Grease spots on various parts of clothing
• Untied shoes

Long story short, the G1 was obviously the cleanest thing this guy owned. In the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads, he could play the Linux box. So now, with character development out of the way, I can proceed to the point–or rather, observation–which is not that only iPhone users can be cool.

Keeping a safe distance from Our Hero, I watched as he panned up and down web pages and played around with a few of the built-in apps and the Android Market.  He was having a groovy time being a groovy person.  As we started to descend into the tunnel that leads to Manhattan, I noticed that his expression was cooling.  He started to fidget.  His face looked like he was wondering if he left hair in the shower drain, without actually caring one way or the other.  He put the phone away, briefly… then took it back out, used it for 5 seconds, and then just cradled it, stealing glances at the other passengers, not quite half embarrassed.

He seemed to have run out of things to do, and didn’t know how to reconcile this with the fact that he now had this shiny new toy.

I think this was his first smartphone.

Anecdotally, I’ve known plenty of geeks and gearheads who resisted smartphones for one reason or another.  Some sniffed at the quality of each converged component, preferring instead to lug around dedicated devices (including a full-size SLR, in one case. Giant Backpack Dorks of the world, unite!)  Others simply wished for the more straightforward interface and reliable performance of “a phone that is just a phone.”

When someone like this purchases one device that rolls telephony, web, email, calendar/to-do, media playback, video and still photography, GPS, and metric dozens of other yet-to-be-discovered functions into one box that fits in your pocket, there’s a natural expectation that you will never, ever, be bored, ever again.  A steal at only $179.99 with two-year commitment!

Well, yes, except that we always find a way to get bored.  People go broke filling their house with blinking distraction gear and still complain that there’s nothing to do.  Everyone gets to that quasi-zen moment when, surrounded by all your ass-kicking LED-sporting gear, you just can’t bring yourself to use any of it. Ironically, depending on how determined you are to vanquish boredom forever, you will experience the Moment more often than others.

The difference here is–rather than the rainy Sunday afternoon when this usually happens–smartphones have the potential to put this moment out in public.  This morning, one guy got there, on his way to work.