My LG, a “Feature Phone” Verizon calls it, with Internet access just
had had its camera die. I don’t use the camera much but it’s nice to
have. About all I’ve used the Internet for is Doppler Radar when
cruising in cell phone range while thunderstorms are forecast.

They don’t carry the phone at Verizon any more so I’m faced with
choices:

Door #1: Keep the phone and plan I have and live without a camera.

Door #2: Keep my current plan but go to a clunky phone I don’t like
with a camera of poorer quality.

Door #3: Upgrade to a Droid phone for about 100 bucks and a 30 dollar
a month increase in my bill which would give me email on the phone,
and all the cool new stuff as well as a camera with more resolution
than my current real camera as well as usable video. This also
requires committing to a new 2 year contract.

The reason I’m posting this here is that I expect to be doing the ICW
Bahamas thing next fall. Will any of that Droid stuff via Verizon do
me any good in the Bahamas?

I’ll be in Canada most of next summer which they assure me will be
just the same as the US with a plan upgrade except for possible huge
roaming charges if I do too much Internet and data stuff.

It would be nice to have email on the phone so I’m not dependent on
marina’s for WiFi. I’m not sure it’s worth 30 bucks a month though.
Being out of touch is one of the nice things about cruising.

Does anyone here have experience with the slide out keyboards in a
salt water environment? The sliding contacts look like one drop of
seawater would put the thing out of business. I would like to get a
phone with a keyboard because I’ve found the touch screen on mine
rather difficult to use when it’s humid or cold. Should I go with a
fixed keyboard that has a full membrane over it?

--
Roger Long