Today, I got my New Every 2 phone from Verizon. For the last two years after deciding to get a plan with Verizon, I have used the free Samsung phone that came for free at the time in which I purchased my plan. My little phone was okay aside from horrible sound and its inability to properly recognize its voice, not to mention the occasional lost message and the occasional lost text. All in all, though I tried to remain positive about its prospects, my old phone did not treat me properly.

I discovered this today whenever my fiance and I decided to purchase a twin set of Motorola Droids with the New Every 2 and Verizon’s current “Buy One get One Free” marketing campaign; the guy even threw in some accessories for 20% off.

At first I was very critical about smart phones and could not imagine that they actually had the impact on small business as they would, until I began to discover the worth of my Droid.

Is this post Droid-specific?

In a sense, yes, but in a sense no. The only point I wish to stress is that freelance designers will find life much easier once they have acquired a smart phone of some sort for themselves. I chose a Droid phone because I prefer Verizon’s coverage, but one could always go designer and get an iPhone, or perhaps purchase one of many Blackberries or Palm Pres. Any intelligent design will do, provided it offers simple tasks for email and web browsing. However, this post is going to be written from the point of view from a person using a Droid.

Point One: Email, email, email.

I cannot stress how important it is to stay on top of emails, especially work-related emails (yes, personal emails are great, too, but this is a work-centric post.) Sometimes, I might find myself being emailed by a client needing something urgent – someone somehow managed to bypass security and hack their server, or they wish to move their site to another server and need me to configure the site again. Whatever the reason, the Droid (depending upon the model you get) allows you to manage around five email addresses, and you can customize your main email address to have a different ringtone from your others. I chose to customize my personal email address to have a one ringtone while my business account has another one – it’s all a matter of preference. And because you can have more than two accounts, this is great for freelancers who work more than one job or manage more than one site’s address; you can either have them all forwarded to one address, or set up one account for your day job and another for your freelance job, and then a third for personal. Cool!

Point Two: Social Networking

Networking is very, very important for freelancers, though I’m sure they know that. Clients tend to be drawn to your business through networking, so why wouldn’t you want to be able to keep in touch with your network while on the go? I’m personally using Facebook’s app as well as Twidroid (free version currently) in order to keep in contact with mine.

Point Three: Web Browsing

Yes, in many cases this can be better for wasting time while waiting for some appointment or for wasting time when one should be working, but I think that web browsing has its own place as well in productivity. When I need to look something up on the go I can just grab my phone and look it up – this can be great for looking at my latest feeds on Reader (my way of keeping up with the design industry) or for my last point with social networking.

Point Four: Contact

A phone is supposed to be your way of keeping in contact with people, and I have found that your average phone may or may not have issues with it. Note in my anecdote earlier how I stated that my original phone would “loose” voice mails or other messages. This is usually because the technology for this phone is nowhere near as decent as the technology for some of the current smart phones, plus it has far fewer options – oh, not to mention the nasty hardware issues that can come with these phones. In addition, many smartphones allow for IM – while this can be bad if one were to abuse it for personal uses, I have found IM to be a great tool in speaking with clients when it comes to current projects and quickly relaying ideas. Perhaps its not as great as a phone call, but it has its place somewhere between your average call and an email.

Point Five: WordPress

I say WordPress, but what I really mean is your blog and site in general. You may have it called to your attention that something is going on in your site and needs attention immediately, in which moment you can whip out your phone, pull up your site, and immediately see what needs to be done and speak to the appropriate people – all while finishing up in the grocery line at the local store.

Or, in my case, I found it to be worth it through WordPress’s blog application. It allows you to update your blog as well as moderate comments, as well as a wealth of other things – definitely worth checking it out for either Droid or iPhone.

However, danger! danger! danger!

The only issue I can see with your average smart phone would lie in the use of the phone as a distraction tool through the use of personal accounts. While the personal accounts can really be taken advantage of through the phone’s bells and whistles, I think that with a little bit of discipline, a smart phone can make your freelancing experience that much more efficient.

I held back from getting my own phone due to the restraints of the cost; most smart phones go for upwards of five hundred USD, a hefty price. However, by taking advantage of special offers such as New Every Two or discounts offered through the signing of new contracts, you will find the price of the phone reduced dramatically – in addition, yes, the data plans can be expensive (I am paying $90 for Verizon’s personal use plan with 450 anytime minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited email and web use), but they are very much worth.

So, if you are the type of freelancer who is constantly on the go with a busy small business, then I strongly advise the purchase of one of these phones, especially the Droid. You will find that not only are these phones absolutely COOL!, they will definitely help you find that great value of keeping in touch with your network and freedom to go where you choose!