Razr Droid is a Big, Okay Phone

As I've said before, hubby decided to get our boy and me Droid Razr  for Christmas.  Though I had resigned myself to NO phone after my contract was up, instead I got a new phone.

A HUGE phone.



And what do I think?

Well, it sure is pretty.  Getting the screen protector on is a pure-D pain, though.  Little bubbles and flecks of enraging dust.

It's a big phone, that's for sure.  Which is what I wanted.  I've long thought a markedly larger screen (larger than my old LG Vortex, for sure) would help with my lousy eyes (we'll talk about my eyes sometime), but it turns out I was wrong.  This phone is still very rough for me, even with its 4+ inch screen.  Go figure.

This phone brags 4G-LTE, but I gotta say, I'm not terrifically impressed.  I find myself not getting updates, the phone lagging and locking up, mail not syncing, etc.  It's not as fast as I would have expected, and it's not as reliable, connection-wise.

The phone itself is pretty intuitive, operation-wise.  It does come utterly loaded with bloatware and crappy games that seem to defy removal.  But the app market is easy to use, and it only took a few minutes for me to customize.  It comes with 16 gig internal SIM (with up to an additional 32 gig via mini-SD), so it should take me a while to max the poor thing.

The camera is pretty okay, though the controls don't do the orientation flip I'm so fond of, and the zoom is pretty jerky, not at all smooth.

My biggest complaint about the Razr Droid?  That miserable battery life!  Wow, what a dog!  Never had a phone eat through battery like this one.  I understand why--it's got a zillion things going on and a really nice, sharp, large display.  But this phone is constantly plugged in.  When I'm home, it's charging, when I'm in the car, it's charging.  And when it's left on a table overnight?  It's practically dead by the next morning.  Yes, I could shut the 4G off (which I do at home, riding off WiFi), I could disable the mail sync, I could do all those things to extend life, but then the phone wouldn't have the very FEATURES meant to make it cooler than my last phone.

So I guess my verdict is "pretty okay."  Great if it's free through your carrier, very nice, large display, good enough camera with a decent built-in flash, but otherwise average, and a markedly worse-than-average battery life.  Or at least it sure seems that bad from where I'm sitting.  It's a decent phone, but man, if you're looking for a phone that'll last you through a day far from outlets and chargers, this probably isn't your phone.

I promised I would get back to you on the smaller candle supply site we hit after the Candlewic mess?  Well, the order came today.  We ordered on Friday, it shipped (from Montana) on Monday, it arrived today--Wednesday.  The order contained exactly what we'd asked for (and a tiny bit extra on the wax, according to our scale).  While we had chosen Fed Ex, the site does give the option for "cheapest shipping at the time of shipping," and, apparently, that turned out to be USPS or some combination of USPS and Fed Ex.  And that's just fine with us.

The name of the place?  Cierra Candles   And, while our order only consisted of glue dots, some soy wax, and a couple of fragrances, we're happy enough with them that our next order will go through them, too.  Sadly, they only have soy wax (which we'll use sometimes), so we'll have to go elsewhere for our palm.  But we're looking at checking into their soap making supplies, too!

Pouring those soy candles tonight.  Just a few, like with the others, trying to get a feel for different waxes and different scents.  This one's soy patchouli in a greenish.  Should be interesting!

Well, didn't mean for this to turn into a series of product and vendor reviews!  I guess, after writing for Epinions for 13+ years, it's just habit.

Boy, this was a text-heavy thing, wasn't it?  Let's find some really bad paneling!

Holy kitchen paneling, Batman!

Christmas Past

Well, another one under my (for now) increasingly large belt.  Nah, I'm not feeling guilty about the eating--I knew it was coming, and I enjoyed it immensely.  It'll almost certainly continue until New Year's, when we'll hop back on that wagon.

Christmas Eve brought the traditional "one gift the night before" thing.  For the boy and me, it was new cell phones--the ones I talked about earlier.  They are Razr Droids--quite fancy, and the screens are big enough that I can likely comfortably use mine without squinting and giving myself a headache.  Despite having opened the box, our boy was actually quite surprised.  Sadly, hubby had gotten himself a watch . . . which came pre-broken.  Since we don't know where the receipt is (grrrr!), we're not sure the store will take it back.  Hopefully, they will.  Yes, I'm the one who always yells to keep receipts.  No, they don't often get kept.

We ate Chinese and watched, of course, A Christmas Story.  It's become something of a tradition.  A good one, I think.

Christmas morning found me wide awake at 6 am.  Understand, I hadn't gone to bed until after 3 am.  So, in a totally out-of-character move for me, I went back to sleep.  Woke up at 9:45 to my boy gently taking my hand in his.  I sure do love him.  We had a wonderful morning, and there were even some surprises for me under the tree--candle-making gear and my Ojon shampoo and leave-in conditioner.  The candle-making stuff was suspected, but the Ojon was a total shock.  Not sure HOW it was a shock, considering Facebook's "targeted advertising" has been burying me under Ojon adverts for a couple of weeks now.  Hubby LOVED his hobbit slippers, so that was a happy thing.  Our boy, sadly, is finding that our computer isn't quite up to snuff when it comes to playing his new game, Skyrim.  It plays, but it's laggy and the frames per second are crap.  I'm sad for him, but I've got 20 years of "computer can't handle the game" disappointment under my belt.  It's rough, but it's one you have to learn to live with.  Still sad, though--hate to have him even a little disappointed on Christmas.

Dinner was steaks, mushrooms and onions, roasted butternut and sweet potato, mashed red potatoes with skins, and crab cakes.  Dessert was homemade brownies with homemade whipped cream, topped with ice cream and raspberries in Chambord sauce.  It was . . . not as good as it sounded like it was going to be.  The whipped cream, which hubby made, was spectacular, but the sauce just clashed with the brownie, made it too rich.  Oh, well.  Now we know.  We watched Love, Actually (another Christmas tradition, though this one makes my heart hurt a bit every time), and then watched an episode of Walking Dead, which features one of the actors from Love, Actually. 

Speaking of Walking Dead, I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  It is, for the most part, well-enough acted, and the story is playing out well.  Sort of a The Stand meets Revolution meets 28 Days Later.  All things I enjoy.  But the gore level is excessive--gratuitous, really.  And, truth be told, I'm sick to death of Zombies.  What was funny and silly, interesting and just a little scary five years ago has been so miserably overdone, so sickeningly incorporated and internalized that I really do feel that maybe it's becoming harmful.  Guess hearing eight year-olds talk about "getting that head shot" and "double tapping" troubles me.  That said, if zombie shows are the way you tend, Walking Dead is pretty good thus far. 

Had Charlie groomed this morning.  They did a better job with his face and neck this time, but utterly failed to do his ears and tail.  I guess, when you go to Petsmart for the great price, you maybe get what you pay for.  I'll trim them up myself tonight.  I do a pretty good job.  Took him to the vet after to have his microchip checked and ask why they want him tested for heartworm.  He's been on heartworm meds since before he was six months old, there shouldn't be any need for testing, but they insist it needs to be done.  Sounds like an easy way for them to make 60 bucks. 

Hubby and son are at the theater, watching "The Hobbit." I had no desire, really--I'm not a huge theater fan, it kills me that three folks at the theater with one large popcorn and three drinks is 85 bucks. There is rarely a movie I find worth that. I don't hate "The Hobbit," but it's not my favorite of the bunch, and we have a nice enough HDTV that it'll look just fine at home when it comes out on Blu-ray.


The weather this morning was amazing--snow, wind, chunks of ice (not hail, but ice), and freezing rain.  Now it's just rain, and it is POURING down!  Has been for hours, guess there are flood warnings out.  Just put on my new Christmas shirt, then promptly ran outside into this disaster to tell a neighbor that the back door to his car was open.  I remember the days when I just would have dashed over and closed it for him, but I don't really know these folks, they likely have a car alarm, and people get weird when you touch their cars anymore.  The days of sliding behind the wheel of a stranger's car and turning their headlights off for them are gone. 

Think we're finally going to thaw the turkey soup we made at Thanksgiving and serve it up. The weather outside is, after all, frightful.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!