Mobile Tech

A Phone That is Not a Smartphone?

by

I have been having a love hate relationship with my Treo 680 (well several Treo’s over the years) but I haven’t found a suitable replacement so I have been stuck with a great phone that crashes all the time. It has been driving me crazy. I know I shouldn’t get emotional about technology but I work with technology all day long and I live off my phone(s). So when I am expecting a call it would be nice for the phone to ring, and if I don’t hear the ring the voice mail chime should go off. Instead I have on more than one occasion had the phone do nothing until I think to reboot it and then get 5 voice mails.

Needless to say I am very frustrated. I need the functions of a PDA, but all stand alone PDA’s don’t have built in Keyboards, so until very recently it has been a smart phone that does everything but does everything not so great or a PDA and a phone that doesn’t do everything I want. That was until I found out that Nokia was making the N810. It is an internet tablet that has a slide out keyboard. I have been eying the N800 (didn’t have a keyboard) for a while, but no keyboard means I didn’t get it. The N810 isn’t a PDA so when I first saw it I was still stuck with my Treo (and still may be), but then I read that Access the makers of the current version of the Palm OS released a VM of their OS for both the N800 and N810. That means I can install and run all my Palm applications on the N810 and get all my PDA functions that the device was missing. In theory this sounds great. Now all I need to do is get an N810 when it comes out and see if it works the way I think it will.

In anticipation of the new Internet Tablet, I needed to get a good regular mobile phone. My current “regular” phone is a now aging Motorola Razr V3. I always liked the form factor of the Razr but the functions sucked. I can’t stand the Motorola UI. Why does each phone number for a contact have to be its own address book entry? Nokia and Sony Ericsson both have multiple numbers per contact, it just makes sense. That issue and the fact that the Razr doesn’t support high speed data I needed something new. Unfortunately finding something new wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

After some research I ended buying a Nokia 6120 Classic. It wasn’t my first choice, but every other phone I wanted first didn’t cover some basic function that I wanted. To be clear I wasn’t asking for things like video calling, or Wifi, etc. I wanted BASIC stuff like a quad band phone, aka a phone that will work in the USA on both GSM frequencies here. Apparently most of the really good phones I liked are sold as Tri band phones, and don’t have the new 850mhz frequency on them. Eventually I found the 6120. It is actually a cool phone. The initial things that I didn’t like about the phone I found ways to work around. The only thing that I don’t like so far is the fact that the keypad is so small, but that is why I have an address book!

So for now I am happy with my change. I am the first to admit that i am fickle, so since it is less than a day since I switched the jury is still out on if I keep this setup, but the real test will be when the N810 comes out and I use it and the 6120 together. Until then I will keep my Treo 680 in my bag and use it as a simple PDA. Oh and to be completely accurate about what I am writting, I know the 6120 Classic actually a Smartphone. It does have the Symbian Series 60 OS, but any smartphone without a keyboard isn’t really a smartphone to me.

Ipod Classic

by

I know, my recent posts have been all about new gear. I like writing about it. It is my guilty pleasure. So sue me. Well, actually don’t sue me. That would be bad! As readers of this site know i am perpetually upgrading. Some things more often than others. My iPod has been one of those things that I haven’t needed to upgrade in almost 2 years. (2 years in November). I had a nice basic black regular iPod 60 gig. The 80gig wasn’t that much larger than my 60gig to warrant an upgrade, and no other new wiz bang feature came out to get me to upgrade so my trusty iPod stayed with me. When Apple announced the new iPod Touch i was tempted to go with one of those, but at 18gig I wasn’t sold, but when I heard about the 160gb classic. That was another story. I can keep all my photos, music, some movies and all my documents on that.

Today i checked apple’s website and saw that the 160gb models were now “available to ship within 24 hours”. That is a usually sign that they have them in stock at the store. I swung over to the 5th Ave Apple store on the way home and within 10 minutes i was walking out with my new classic 160gb iPod (silver). Apple sure knows how to get people in and out of the store if they are buying a popular item and are willing to get an email of their receipt (credit card’s only). I don’t mind, it is faster and i am down with it.

I am now syncing the new pod with my iTunes. Then it will be time to load up the drive with my docs and stuff. After that I need to wipe my old one and get it up on ebay!

Oh, and a shinny easily scratch-able iPod is not complete with its nice protective mylar case. My new Agent 18 clear case is now on order. I just hope i don’t scratch the pod before i get it. The old case on my 60gb served me very nicely so i have high hopes for this new one! And yes i will pimp products if they actually do what they are supposed! These Agent 18 cases are awesome. My old iPod looks brand new since it has stayed in that case.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

The Curve

by

I have only had the Blackberry Pearl for a short time, but it is now out! I now have a Blackberry Curve from work, and I am very happy. Yes the Pearl is really small, but the Curve is not much bigger. It is only slightly wider. The rest of the dimensions are the same, and it has a full keyboard. That makes all the difference to me. That means my Pearl goes up on Ebay!

Technorati Tags: ,

Blackberry Pearl Hard Reset Update

by

Apparently RIM is not as smart as other hardware vendors. When you do a hard reset of a Pearl you don’t actually get all the programs refreshed to the factory default. I would argue that it isn’t a hard reset, but whatever. It boils down to the fact that when you mess up an install you can’t fix it. It took me a while, but i was able to get the lost applications back after following the instructions from this forum post.

My issue isn’t even 100% resolved since i lost the new AT&T phone theme i had with my Pearl and instead have the older not as nice looking Cingular theme on the phone since the software I was able to get the restore to work from must have been older than what was on my phone. In any case I am all better for now.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Blackberry Pearl

by

After being fed up with issues on my Treo 680 I went out and bought a Blackberry Pearl. This was an impulse buy, since it is a short term solution until work upgrades my Blackberry for me. Until then I am using the Pearl. My first impression is that this phone is small. It is the size of a regular phone. It fits in my pocket. That is nice. The call quality is good, and the screen is nice and bright and sharp. I am still getting used to the keyboard, so the jury is still out on it.

In the long term I will use the Pearl for my work email, and maybe get a larger screen PDA phone for my personal mobile. I know, why have two? Well I can’t port my personal number to my work account, and I don’t want to give up my personal mobile number. I really like it, and everyone knows it. Right now I have been forwarding my call from one phone to the other so I can keep one phone in my bag and not have to carry it all the time. But as good as the Pearl seems, it doesn’t do tasks very well. I like the Windows Mobile or Palm for that so I might get some other device. I just know the 680 is not that device. It crashes and is too dam slow just too often. I am eyeing the Apple iPhone, or the Windows Mobile 6 Treo with the newly announced Blackberry emulation software running on it that might come out this fall. I guess I am always on the hunt for the perfect PDA/Phone. So close, but not there yet!

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

I am Not Addicted to my Blackberry

by

The odds were against me. Heck I even thought I would be, but I survived the Blackberry outage with not issues. I actually didn’t know there was a problem with our Blackberry mail until about 2:30PM on Wednesday, and even then I didn’t ask about it until about 5:30PM EST. That timeline does sound weird to me since everyone said the Blackberry system was down Tuesday night and back on Wednesday but many of us at work were down most of Wednesday afternoon.

In any event I am officially (in my opinion) not addicted to the device. The jury is still out about the internet in general though!

Technorati Tags: ,

H700

by

I got a new bluetooth headset this week. I bought a Motorola H700. It is great for one simple feature that I cannot understand why others don’t include. When the boom is closed and a phone rings, I can answer it normally like I would without a headset, or I can open the boom to answer the call. When the boom mic is opened, I can answer calls by tapping the button on the side of the headset or on the phone and the call goes to my headset.

With other headsets, when they are on the call always goes to the headset. I like everyone else sometimes forgets that I have the headset turned on or don’t want to use it for that particular call but I have to fumble around since the call is already going to the headset. It is annoying.

Now all I have to do is stop my Treo 680 from crashing all the time and I would be happy with my mobile phone setup.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

To Love & Hate a Treo

by

I have had a had a Treo phone since the Treo 270 came out for T-Mobile several years ago. Since then I have gone through several 270’s on and off for almost 2 years, then used a Treo 600 with T-Mobile for around a year. After that I upgraded to the 650, and then switched to a Verizon Treo 700P. I recently switched to the Cingular Treo 680. It is obvious by the number of devices I have had that I like the Treo. I like it because it is the best smart phone around. That doesn’t mean however that it is perfect. It is far from perfect. No one has made a better smart phone yet, but the Treo has huge issues. On some days I am ready to throw out my 680. It just freezes for no reason in any application. Then it starts up again and the UI goes somewhere I don’t want it to go since I was busy continuing to move the nav buttons around or type when it freezes. So annoying. The 680 also has a habit of just rebooting once a day or so. The 700P was allot better at not crashing or randomly rebooting, but the 650 did it almost every day.

Sometimes I don’t know why I put up with it? Then I remember the cool things I can do with it such as distinctive ringtones, wireless email, call recordings, etc. I just wish something came out that was stable, and consistently worked. As good as the 680 is, it isn’t that product yet. I got so frustrated recently that I thought that maybe the Windows Mobile 750 would be better. Then I came to my senses.

For now I will suffer live with what I have, but I am always keeping my eye on any device that will improve the situation. I am beginning to think nothing will come out since I have stuck with the Treo line for years. Maybe if I get a Blackberry at the new job I will just use that? it has allot less apps and functionality but my old Blackberry’s never crashed…

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Google Maps Rocks

by

I love the web based version of google maps. it is a fun tool to use. I can spend time just looking at locations satellite photos, or actually use the system to find locations. Since I live and work in Manhattan I don’t normally need directions to and from someplace. What I do need is to just see were some address is on a map. The satilite photos do that perfectly for me.

The really fantastic part about Google Maps is the new mobile version. I downloaded the Palm Version onto my Treo 680 (and previously my 700P). It is great when actually out and about and you are trying to find a location. Today it saved the day for me when I had some time to kill before lunch with friends. The only problem was it is freezing out and I am uptown on the west side no where near were I normally am. Out comes my Treo. I tell Google maps were I am and it shows me on the map. Then I say find a business, and tell it starbucks. I figured I could get a hot chocolate and maybe browse the web while I waited for my friends. Within seconds Google Maps told me there was a starbucks only a block away from my current location. I was out of the cold in no time. That is technology working for me!!!

Technorati Tags: , ,