I've come to rely on my phone for much more than just calls. It is my morning alarm clock. I take pictures with it all the time. It is my wristwatch and calendar. It is my modem when I have no ethernet/wifi.

So that I am still carrying an original RAZR makes me feel just a bit crippled. I do get along OK with it, but the VGA camera is killing me, the lack of even EDGE for data use sucks, and bluetooth on this thing drives me fucking nuts (want to use bluetooth headset? might as well reboot first since 4/5 times it won't work otherwise. Want to send 20 pics via bluetooth? You have to select the recipient device before sending each one --UGH). So I'm thinking it's time for a new phone.

I had been kicking around the idea of a smartphone for a while but I've been really unexcited by everything out there. I've defiantly kept my PDA (Palm TX) and phone separate all this time but I think I'm prepared to relent, if I can only find the right device. The truth is my Palm is dying. Maybe it has cancer of the touchscreen, I don't know; but what's clear is that it is getting less reliable and less usable all the time. On the bottom half of the screen, my pen touches register about 1 mm above or below where they really are. This throws off my graffiti at times, and makes using the onscreen keyboard nigh-impossible. Then there are the crashes. I didn't used to experience them much, but now they happen all the time. Blazer is the biggest culprit but earlier I simply ticked an option in the system prefs and it abruptly reset on me.

My mind made up, now I just need to find this mythical device that will combine and improve upon the capabilities of my RAZR and TX.

Uh oh. It doesn't seem to exist. I wouldn't consider windows mobile anything unless I were to first get a lobotomy, so that's out. I want to like the Treos, but this is 2008 and I can't bring myself to buy a NEW phone running Palm OS 5. The iPhone is cool, but is more or less incompatible with my Linux desktop/PIM. Anything else I've found (which isn't much) just doesn't move me. At this point I think there is only one hope.

Android. I am watching and waiting, with great anticipation, for the first Android-powered phones. I don't know if they will fulfill my every desire, but they certainly have the most potential, and I really hope they live up to the hype because they are pretty much my last hope.

Posted by ra in gadgets and phones at 21:44 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I'm either talking about Palm's new Foleo.... or the company itself. As a long time Palm fan, I feel a little weird saying that, but honestly, if this is the best that Palm can do, then there isn't much of a future for them.

Basically it's a slimmed down laptop; definitely in terms of functionality, surely in size, and also in cost--somewhat. At $500, for a device that is currently being pitched as an email client, this thing seems targeted at a niche for sure.

So who is going to buy it? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. If I'm going to carry around (let alone pay $500 for) a device with a 25 cm screen, it needs to do a lot. At this point it does nothing more than my Palm TX does, and I carry that in my wallet!

Posted by ra in gadgets and phones at 14:52 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

MUAHAHAHA! It couldn't come soon enough, and the last day of my verizon contract is fast approaching. But even better than that, I have stepped up the end of the agony. Exploiting the text message fee increase contract termination loophole trick, I won freedom from the contract, effective at the end of my billing cycle (about two weeks from now) which is about 2 months before the actual end of the contract.

Contrary to some reports, it took only a few minutes of chatting with the reasonably pleasant verizon rep, and I didn't need to ask for a supervisor or come up with elaborate arguments to get out of the contract. It was actually rather easy. But don't get me wrong, verizon still sucks. At least now I will no longer be a contract slave, so I'll be able to laugh at their suckage from a safe distance.

Posted by ra in gadgets and phones at 00:31 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Don't take my word for it, see for yourself. Just another way in which the motorola v710 really sucks (and my RAZR rules ).

These were taken in the same place (obviously) at the exact same time.

Motorola RAZR V3 --vs-- Motorola v710













Thank goodness I only have to carry around the verizon turd for another couple months.

Posted by ra in gadgets and phones at 09:10 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)