Google me this, boy wonder...

So, expecting my first income tax refund in about four years and wanting to do my part to stimulate the economy (but mostly wanting to keep up with the iPhone-flaunting Gweekers and Dr. Burn*), I went down to the T-Mobile emporium the other week and got myself one of those Android G1 OpenSource GooglePhones.

It's pretty cool, what with its little magic touch screen and all. Since it's a GooglePhone, it has a right-on-top Google Search Bar as well as the iPhone-like slidey tray o' applications (many of which are free, because open source, ya dig?). It's also got what I like: an actual QWERTY thumb-board, instead of just an on-screen virtual keyboard. (Yeah, I know it's not as kewl as the iPhone, but forgive me my sausage fingers.)

The phone functions are easily accessed, with a keypad and favorites and recently-called numbers, all the usual features. It gets really good reception and has great sound, too.

But the coolest of all things that I have on it now is comics! I downloaded Atomic Robo, an indy comic that has been reconfigured for reading on the phone screen. I thought it would be totally lame, but this particular artwork is clean, simple, and straightforward, making the piece a pretty good match for the small display. Of course, I'm reading one panel at a time, which takes out a lot of the pacing and mood delivered by page layout, but for a little waiting-for-the-bus diversion, it's pretty sweet. (Maybe that it's about a wisecracking robot adventurer, built by Tesla, who fights a Nazi mystic in the Himalayas helped, too.)

Ha! Who's old-timey now? Now gett offa my lawn.

*Dr. Burn told me a funny iPhone joke:

You know what's really cool about an iPhone?
What?
Everything!