Androids Of A Lesser God

Since getting my very first smart phone I've been exploring its capabilities as well as my own in terms of figuring out how to get the most out of this gadget.  It seems like I see this little blurb on the Android Market quite frequently for a variety of apps:

Sadly typical of AT&T to offer a lesser-quality phone to those of us who'd rather go prepaid than sign on the dotted line.  Don't get me wrong, I have no serious complaints about my little Android.  It does some amazing things I never expected a phone to be capable of.  But just as much of a source of wonder as it can be, it's also a source of frustration.

For example, I had the devil's own time trying to locate and figure out the installation of the proper USB driver so I could do more with it than just use it as an external hard drive.  It turns out that LG hasn't posted a proper driver for the Thrive yet.  I scoured the web and found this post instructing me to use the driver for the Phoenix, a nearly-identical phone that AT&T offers for their contract customers.  LG's customer service ranged from ignorant to cryptic at best on this subject, I had to feel my way around through the install process but it seems I've got at least that part of things sorted out now.

So why am I putting myself through this small bit of aggravation when I could just use whatever superficial abilities the phone has and leave it at that?  Because I haven't entirely given up on my hope of rekindling my "mad skillz" and going to school to take them several levels higher.  My interest and ambition in this area hasn't died, only been delayed while I focus on some of the other things going on in my life.  I have a natural curiosity when it comes to programming and I'd like to see just what I can accomplish in the relatively-new field of smartphone app development.

Now if only my cheap-ass Android would be a little more cooperative...