Up In The Cloud

A quick real life example of how living in the cloud made my life easier.

This morning the new Android update (multi-touch) was pushed out to my Nexus One. I updated my phone while laying in bed and half asleep. When I updated my phone I pushed out the update on top of the Lock 2.0 application that was running (this app allows you to open you phone similar to the iPhone's interface).

After the update I could not get to my home screen, make phone calls or access any of my apps, I was stuck on top of the Lock 2.0 app (I have no idea what caused this to occur). What I did next was something that would have been a last resort on any previous phone I have owned, I wiped everything off my phone (contacts, pictures, applications, settings, etc...) and restarted.

Normally when doing this I would have found myself in a labor intensive process of having to input my contacts, re-download my apps, and I would have been without my pictures.

As I restarted my Nexus One I was brought to the home screen which I was initially brought to when I first opened my phone out of the box. From here I simply followed the setup process, sync'ing my Google.com and Gmail accounts. In less than five minutes I had everything restored back on my Nexus One - contacts, pictures and all of the apps I had previously had on my phone prior to wiping it clear.

While the error I encountered was a bit of a pain, the cloud relieved 99% of the pain I would have gone through in getting all of the data back on my phone. In less than 10 minutes I was back in business thanks to my data sitting in the cloud.

I have always understood the power of the cloud and I use it as much as I can for collaboration and portability in my personal and professional life (gmail, google doc, cal, etc...). Today really helped me understand the true implications and power of the cloud in my day to day life. No longer do I worry about losing or leaving a phone and feeling completely stranded and cut-off from of all of the data I had put into my phone.

Free your data and free yourself.

Long live the cloud!