[About XDA developers] cajunflavoredbob:
My first time here

I first came to XDA after getting my first PDA as a gift. It was a (HTC made) HP iPAQ 1945. It was my first time using a WM device ever. I was wowed by the ability to take any of my documents with me and to be able to beam them wirelessly via infrared or BT. It wasn't long before the interface left me waning more, however. I searched around and found some decent themes on XDA. This was around late 2004 or early 2005 as I recall.

I began reading up on all the cool mods and tweaks that this site had to offer for the platform. I came in every now and then for a while until I finally registered for an account in March of 2005. About a year after that, I ended up replacing my old bar phone with another iPAQ, this time, the cellular service-enabled HP iPAQ hw6945.

It had everything I wanted. It had a decent processor, a small amount of user upgradable RAM (if you have decent soldering skills), an amazing keyboard, and several other wireless services like cellular, WiFi, BT, and GPS. The downsides to the phone were it's enormous girth and its relatively crappy screen. It was a rather large, square 3" screen sporting a terrible 240x240 resolution. Even now, I still play with it every now and then and wish HTC/HP had gone with a nicer 480x480 screen.

I kept this device for several years, since, back then, you didn't HAVE to upgrade your phone every year to keep up with the times. WM devices were good for the consumer in that they were long lasting. It wasn't until 2010, almost four years later, that I finally got a Rhodium to replace my iPAQ. I simply fell in love with the keyboard, as nearly all Rhodium owners will tell you. I then came back to XDA to learn more about it. I decided to change my username for the third time and make it something less specific to the device I had at the time. That's how I came about with this name.

My Rhodium was plagued by problems of software that was not properly designed to run on such a low powered device. It ended up being pretty slow after a while, and HTC Messaging client didn't help much either. I went from my iPAQ, which booted completely in just under 15 seconds, to my Rhodium, which took a whopping 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) to boot into a usable state. I know there were several mitigating factors to attribute this with, but it was still a PITA.

I finally decided to flash my first custom ROM after reading about it for a couple of weeks. I picked NRGZ28's Energy ROM in the regular Energy flavor. I did that a few times, and soon realized that I was developing ORD. I played around with all of his different themes. I learned how to properly backup my device, and restore it. I learned how much I had fallen in love with the GTX theme. I even found the perfect radio for me in my area. It was a wonderful time for me.

The best part was that now I could actually assist users here on this site. Before then, I didn't have the knowledge to assist in much. Now, I had my business and education to propel me into this service along with the valuable information I gained from this site. I continued showing others "the light" for a while, and finally decided to give the Leo a try after having to replace my Rhodium so often do to sliding keyboard issues.

I use my Leo almost everyday now. The horse power is plenty enough to keep it moving in this increasingly hardware driven market. It runs nearly a dozen different operating systems. It blazes through most of the computing tasks I give it, and doesn't even blink at any program or app I throw its way. However, it isn't without flaws. The sound quality is severely lacking, as is the call quality. A lack of keyboard hurts, but Swype is a decent compromise. The battery life is nowhere near the two days I used to get from my Rhodium, but it gets me through the day, at least. I've just learned to always have a spare battery on hand, just in case.

That's my story here. What's yours?