Hell Phones
November 25th, 2008Choice Equals Pain
Technology is giving me ulcers again.
My old LG phone has not been right since I put it in the washing machine. I would like a new phone that has a decent camera, a comfortable texting keypad, and PDA features to help me keep track of things I’m supposed to do. I’d like to be able to plan things on my PC and then shoot the data into the phone so it can remind me to water plants, go to the dermatologist, pay bills, and so on.
That’s about it. I think playing music on phones is pathetic. I’m not all that interested in video. I can’t see myself watching TV shows or movies on a tiny screen I have to hold in my hand. I just want a small object that will place calls, take photos, and be responsible so I don’t have to.
Man, are the choices confusing. First of all, AT&T (the only network that functions on my block, so please don’t make my ulcers worse by suggesting other carriers) has a limited selection of phones here. I can buy other ones on Ebay, but I’m worried that AT&T will somehow find out I’m not using a phone they offer, and they’ll shut down my service and have me put in a concentration camp. Assuming the phones work, the options are so confusing, I have no idea what to buy.
I can get a Blackberry 8100 for a reasonable price, but it’s bulky. I can get a Sony W760a, but it seems heavy on music and other BS I don’t want. I can get an LG Vu, but I worry about texting on a touch screen. And there are tons of other phones I haven’t even looked at. And every “top ten” list has ten different phones on it.
The Iphone can be had for a fairly low price, but I think I may have to pay extra for service. And it’s Apple, so if I buy it, I’ll start craving organic food and boys.
I can feel my hair falling out. I may give up and buy a Bic pen and a pad.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:03 PM
You can also get the BlackBerry Bold on Amazon for $149 after the $100 rebate..not too shabby.
Yeah, it’s a little bulky compared to pansy phones, but compared to a .45, it’s a feather. You get a GPS, WiFi, MP3 player, camera, etc.
Unfortunately, to do much of anything beyond text messages you need a data plan add-on. This holds true for Blackberries and iPhones.
The iPhone is great for web stuff and other multimedia stuff, not as good as some others for call quality/reception.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
treo 700 wx. had mine two years. easy to use and sync with desktop. browse web. email. text. comes with sd card slot so you can carry thousands of pics. I use mine as a ballistics calculator. i’m posting this with it now as I sit stopped in traffic.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
All PDAs have issues. Know that going in.
Sounds like you’re a good candidate for a Blackberry Pearl. Easily the smallest PDA I work with. (And I work with all of them.) The downside is the two-letters-per-key keyboard. But I’ve heard from my users that they figure it out pretty quickly.
Note that you’ll need data service if you want to do wireless sync, but you can also ditch the data service and do wired syncs without any problems.
Beyond that, I usually recommend the Blackberry Curve to my users. Easily my favorite of all the devices out there.
Windows Mobile devices are okay, but troubled. Yes, even more troubled than a Windows PC. The OS is huge and slow, and they’re prone to far more lockups than the Blackberry.
Palm Treos are brutally unreliable. Stay away.
iPhones are super nice, but are horrible for battery life.
Email me if you have any questions. This is one of the things I do for a living.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Hey Steve,
I recently got an iPhone. You do pay extra for the data service (internet) but if you want internet that cost is a constant.
You will either love the touch screen keypad or hate it. You may be better served with a Treo. I had the Treo 650 before I got the IPhone. The Treo is bulkier, but it has a nice keyboard, and does everything you are looking to do.
hmm I see the previous commenter does not like the Palm Treos. I had mine for 3 years, with no issues. Really I couldn’t kill the thing.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:29 PM
I appreciate all the info. I am inclined to get a Blackberry Curve and sign up for two years to get a discount. I never sign contracts, but I never change providers, so in the end, I’m getting screwed.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Phones do no (yet) have “decent cameras”. At best one can get a “minimally terrible camera”.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:20 PM
I guess pointing out the obvious could be considered a legitimate hobby.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:46 PM
NYCChris, you’re lucky. I’ve maintained roughly three dozen Treos over the past couple of years, and 95% of them have been a gigantic pain in the behind. I’ve had probably a 30% keyboard failure rate, and incessant lockups on all but a few. Plus one day I noticed a random stranger in the skyway pulling the back off his Treo, and I knew he was going for the reset button. When people have to hit the reset button at least once a day, that’s a bad sign.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:31 PM
the curve is nice. less flexibility and fewer applications than the treo or palm. I have some trouble with my palm about once a week, and I push the reset button and its fine again.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:06 PM
I’ve heard very good things about the Blackjack II, including that it’s very light and does well in front pockets for a candy bar phone. For something a little bigger, AT&T’s version of the Moto Q 9 is very good, albeit larger and heavier than the Blackjack II. Advantage of the Q is standard mini-usb and headphone jack interfaces rather than the proprietary ones on others.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:33 PM
I have owned both touch-screen and non-touch-screen Windows Mobile devices. Assuming a fast enough CPU, they run pretty fast. 624MHz ARMs are pretty darn nice.
The Samsung epix, as far as I know, is a touchscreen Blackjack 2 with a slightly larger screen. I really prefer a touchscreen, myself.
YOu can pick up a BJII at Wal-Mart for $20 with contract. The Epix, being brand new, is probably a couple hundred dollars. Neat trick tho: you can usually fairly easily talk the guy into giving you a big discount on the phone (I got my BJII for $200 off) by letting him lard up your plan with lots of options. Then you go online and delete them all.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:37 PM
I just got off the phone with our IT guy.
We have 132 Treo 700 wx phones in our corporation. We have about 70 Blackberries. The blackberries are relatively trouble free. They don’t have removeable memory cards, and the engineers like those, so the engineers all have treos. We have had one keyboard failure, and Sprint replaced the phone, free. (Sprint is the most hellishly bad phone service I know, so I think they HAVE to have good customer service) Otherwise we have zero trouble with the Treos, other than a user-reset every once in a while, invariably caused by running a lot of complex third party apps or the Sprint service itself. Our IT guy suspects Keith’s co-workers are morons, and he should tell them to wash their hands, or he should find a better place to work.
I bought the wife and daughter the Palm OS treos. They are a bit more stabile- (they have never had to reset theirs) and they work fine. Plus the battery life is good, I get two solid days of digital.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:30 AM
I have had very good luck with Blackberrys and Nokias. I am trading out an old and much-abused Blackberry for a Nokia e71 to be able to use it with my own IMAP mail, but I see nothing wrong with Blackberrys.
And speaking as someone who drops phones a lot, they are durable.