Recording vacation memories is so much easier these days.
I remember my childhood when my parents would drag along a Big Ol’ Movie Camera to capture my brother and me doing something cute while we were on vacation. Then, sometime later, Dad would set up the Big Ol’ Projector and screen and invite the relatives in to be bored by the silent films he had shot.
Thankfully those days are long gone, replaced by mini digital cameras. Now, the cameras are being replaced by even smaller, but much smarter, phones.
As a PC person (vs. a Mac user), I have a Droid X. It takes OK photos. I also have a Samsung smartphone for work that takes slightly higher quality photos and videos. But neither compares with the HTC Rhyme.
HTC sent me a Rhyme to use during a photo seminar at an education conference for TravelingMom.com bloggers aboard Disney’s newest cruise ship, the Fantasy.
The phone overall is smaller, lighter and far more powerful that either of my other phones. The camera has enough camera settings to impress the professional photographer running the seminar but was still easiest enough for the most technologically-challenged among us to use.
I took this photo on the spur of the moment as I looked up and saw the sun glinting off the tube as this mom and child floated past on the AquaDuck (the cool water coaster on board Disney’s biggest ships, the Fantasy and the Dream). Nice, huh?
Since I’m a PC person, syncing the phone to my laptop was easy. My fellow Mac using bloggers did not fare so well. It took several tries before they were able to get the Rhyme to talk to their Macs.
Unfortunately, the phone has to go back in a week.
Tip for phone camera users: When you park at the airport or zoo or any other large parking lot, pull out your camera phone and snap a photo of the parking sign. It will make life so much easier when you head back to the car at the end of a long day (or a family vacation) and can’t remember where you parked.
Please note: I was paid a stipend by TravelingMom.com for writing about the HTC Rhyme, but the opinion voiced here is all my own. I would keep this phone if I could and will strongly consider buying it when my Droid X dies.
