Yes, yet another cellphone. Good or bad, my work has given me a cellphone. Of course this would be while I'm still carrying my boss's cellphone and Blackberry. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get an entry level LG, instead I got the LG VX8300 which as I have mentioned before is a pretty decent phone - I bought one for my wife a year or so ago, and quite like the handset myself.
The main thing this phone lacks is a decent assortment of ringtones, because of course Verizon wants you to buy some ringtones from them. The pleasant surprise is that it actually supports Bluetooth.
Showing posts with label Verizon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Verizon. Show all posts
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Motorola Q2? Nein!
Well, first some feedback about the Treo 650.
On my favorite podcast, Buzz Out Loud, it was mentioned in passing a week or so back that Treos are no longer the cool phones which everybody carries. I must agree that the latest sleek smartphones are much better looking. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the sleek smartphones run the lighter version of Windows Mobile, which is also lighter on features. They also do not have touch screens - not in itself a problem, as most things can be done on the Treo 650 without using the touch-screen and stylus. It is just the occasional third party app which relies on touchscreen input. Third party apps and the Palm OS are what makes me not mind the extra bulk of the Treo 650. After going from a plain PDA to a Treo and back to a (not so plain) PDA, this time I decided not to try to use the Treo as my main handheld computer. Instead, the Tungsten T3 remains my primary handheld for now, with its superior screen, and I transfer the information I want to have at my fingertips to the Treo, which I mainly use as a cellphone, and to look up information copied from the T3 with a simple restore from a SecureDigital Card. Okay, the first draft of this blog entry was written on the Treo, but it was pretty easy to get it from the Treo onto the Tungsten T3 and up to the PC and onto the Internet.
Admittedly that is a multi-step process and I could post this Blog Entry directly to the Internet from the Treo 650 - if I was willing to pay Verizon's exorbitant data plan rates. Frankly it would be cheaper to write the blog on my Palm TX and post it via Wi-Fi on my home broadband connection. It would take the equivalent of 3 months or so of Verizon's "unlimited" data plan to pay for a bluetooth keyboard to use with the Palm TX - a keyboard being a lot faster for me than Graffiti handwriting recognition.
Oh, and Motorola's follow up to the Motorola Q, inexplicably called the Q9? The specs sound good, but it is only likely to get to Verizon at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Maybe by then I may have tired of the Treo...
On my favorite podcast, Buzz Out Loud, it was mentioned in passing a week or so back that Treos are no longer the cool phones which everybody carries. I must agree that the latest sleek smartphones are much better looking. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the sleek smartphones run the lighter version of Windows Mobile, which is also lighter on features. They also do not have touch screens - not in itself a problem, as most things can be done on the Treo 650 without using the touch-screen and stylus. It is just the occasional third party app which relies on touchscreen input. Third party apps and the Palm OS are what makes me not mind the extra bulk of the Treo 650. After going from a plain PDA to a Treo and back to a (not so plain) PDA, this time I decided not to try to use the Treo as my main handheld computer. Instead, the Tungsten T3 remains my primary handheld for now, with its superior screen, and I transfer the information I want to have at my fingertips to the Treo, which I mainly use as a cellphone, and to look up information copied from the T3 with a simple restore from a SecureDigital Card. Okay, the first draft of this blog entry was written on the Treo, but it was pretty easy to get it from the Treo onto the Tungsten T3 and up to the PC and onto the Internet.
Admittedly that is a multi-step process and I could post this Blog Entry directly to the Internet from the Treo 650 - if I was willing to pay Verizon's exorbitant data plan rates. Frankly it would be cheaper to write the blog on my Palm TX and post it via Wi-Fi on my home broadband connection. It would take the equivalent of 3 months or so of Verizon's "unlimited" data plan to pay for a bluetooth keyboard to use with the Palm TX - a keyboard being a lot faster for me than Graffiti handwriting recognition.
Oh, and Motorola's follow up to the Motorola Q, inexplicably called the Q9? The specs sound good, but it is only likely to get to Verizon at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Maybe by then I may have tired of the Treo...
Sunday, March 11, 2007
DST Patching Away
It has been called the "Mini Y2K" (Year 2000) by some, but to me the Daylight Savings Time changes have resulted in more applying of patches than changing software code. Even at home today I spent a fair amount of time applying patches to various handheld computers. I drew the line at patching my Dell Axim with its Windows Mobile Operating System though. Sure, Microsoft had a patch for it, but to apply the patch I would have to upgrade the ActiveSync to version 4.5 on my Desktop PC (ActiveSync being the utility which handles synchronizing data between the Desktop PC and the Pocket PC).
Typical for Microsoft, as the automatic Daylight Savings Patch for Windows PCs only works on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above - it will patch run Windows XP Service Pack 1 if run manually. If you have Windows 98 or Windows 2000 then a manual patch is required, unless you downloaded one of the third-party patches.
Back to Palm, their patch didn't work on my old Treo 600 (which they said should be patched), giving an obscure "Cannot update CityTime database" message - guess they never tested it. I got two emails today, one from Palm, and another from Verizon Wireless, both about patching my Treo 650. I didn't, relying on the network to update my Treo's time.
Typical for Microsoft, as the automatic Daylight Savings Patch for Windows PCs only works on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above - it will patch run Windows XP Service Pack 1 if run manually. If you have Windows 98 or Windows 2000 then a manual patch is required, unless you downloaded one of the third-party patches.
Back to Palm, their patch didn't work on my old Treo 600 (which they said should be patched), giving an obscure "Cannot update CityTime database" message - guess they never tested it. I got two emails today, one from Palm, and another from Verizon Wireless, both about patching my Treo 650. I didn't, relying on the network to update my Treo's time.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Cellphone Research Resumed
After I had suspended my hunt for a cellphone in November last year, the Motorola Q was near the top of my list for CDMA cellphones. Since then I've all but given up on GSM, even though most of the phones I really like are GSM phones. Apart from my experience with GSM carriers who either suck ("Least dropped calls" - yeah, right) or don't have wide enough coverage, I've come to the conclusion that - in my coverage area at least - Verizon's CDMA coverage is really clear. As I mentioned previously I ended my relationship with Sprint - the other CDMA carrier - on a sour note.
A few days ago I saw a Verizon Treo 650 on sale, and did some research on it. When I had the (unlocked GSM) Treo 600, the Treo 650 was the next phone I was considering upgrading to, until my previously trusty Treo 600 crashed and was out of commission for a number of days. The interesting thing about Treo 650 reviews and Motorola Q reviews is that on both CNET.com and on PhoneScoop.com, user ratings for the Treo were higher than for the Motorola Q. The main problem mentioned with the Treo was resets (reboots), usually due to incompatible software, and with Motorola Q it was battery life, with the extended battery being highly recommended. Of course the Motorola Q is a lot newer technology-wise than the Treo 650, which has been superseded by the 700p and now the 750, but both the 700p and 750 are well out of my price range.
Now I've been trying to recall the reasons for my falling out with the Treo 600. I'd forgotten about the crash (probably a hard reset), but do remember being frustrated at the screen resolution after playing with a Tapwave Zodiac and a Tungsten T3.
Ah, December 26, 2005 I ranted about "Treo things that bug me"
The hunt..er..research continues...
A few days ago I saw a Verizon Treo 650 on sale, and did some research on it. When I had the (unlocked GSM) Treo 600, the Treo 650 was the next phone I was considering upgrading to, until my previously trusty Treo 600 crashed and was out of commission for a number of days. The interesting thing about Treo 650 reviews and Motorola Q reviews is that on both CNET.com and on PhoneScoop.com, user ratings for the Treo were higher than for the Motorola Q. The main problem mentioned with the Treo was resets (reboots), usually due to incompatible software, and with Motorola Q it was battery life, with the extended battery being highly recommended. Of course the Motorola Q is a lot newer technology-wise than the Treo 650, which has been superseded by the 700p and now the 750, but both the 700p and 750 are well out of my price range.
Now I've been trying to recall the reasons for my falling out with the Treo 600. I'd forgotten about the crash (probably a hard reset), but do remember being frustrated at the screen resolution after playing with a Tapwave Zodiac and a Tungsten T3.
Ah, December 26, 2005 I ranted about "Treo things that bug me"
The hunt..er..research continues...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Suspended Search State
Well, I know that I wrote that my "Cellphone Research Stopped" over a month ago, but just to give the suspended cellphone (re)search status:
Consumer Reports advises chosing a cellphone carrier first, and then a handset. I hadn't read this article and went about my research the wrong way around at first, although I did not bother with cellphones from carriers I don't trust or have had problems with like Cingular and Sprint.
The phone on top of my shortlist was the T-Mobile SDA. This candy bar cell phone has a 1.3-megapixel camera built-in Wi-Fi. It runs Windows Mobile 5 smart phone edition as well. However I have had problems with being unable to get a signal previously with T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile's customer service is excellent, and their coverage has supposedly improved and I really wanted to go back to GSM, I tried an experiment with their prepaid service (it is actually one of the cheaper prepaid cellphone services out there) to see what the reception was like. It seems much improved, but I would need to do more testing. As much as I like GSM, I have found CDMA to be much clearer, to the point of not being able to tell if someone is on a cellphone. This may have to do with actual handsets though, as the CDMA handsets are much newer and technologically advanced in comparison to the GSM ones. I have heard a number of calls from an older CDMA handset which sounded terrible though.
The one Verizon (CDMA) handset which I have played with and which I liked is the Motorola Q. It also runs Windows Mobile 5 smart phone edition - meaning it doesn't have a touch screen or feature Word and Excel editing. This is basically what I'm looking for: a smartphone which is more cellphone than handheld computer. It has more functionality than a normal cellphone, allowing programs like SplashID to be run as well as a few other programs, but this doesn't interfere with its primary function of being a reliable cellphone.
Consumer Reports advises chosing a cellphone carrier first, and then a handset. I hadn't read this article and went about my research the wrong way around at first, although I did not bother with cellphones from carriers I don't trust or have had problems with like Cingular and Sprint.
The phone on top of my shortlist was the T-Mobile SDA. This candy bar cell phone has a 1.3-megapixel camera built-in Wi-Fi. It runs Windows Mobile 5 smart phone edition as well. However I have had problems with being unable to get a signal previously with T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile's customer service is excellent, and their coverage has supposedly improved and I really wanted to go back to GSM, I tried an experiment with their prepaid service (it is actually one of the cheaper prepaid cellphone services out there) to see what the reception was like. It seems much improved, but I would need to do more testing. As much as I like GSM, I have found CDMA to be much clearer, to the point of not being able to tell if someone is on a cellphone. This may have to do with actual handsets though, as the CDMA handsets are much newer and technologically advanced in comparison to the GSM ones. I have heard a number of calls from an older CDMA handset which sounded terrible though.
The one Verizon (CDMA) handset which I have played with and which I liked is the Motorola Q. It also runs Windows Mobile 5 smart phone edition - meaning it doesn't have a touch screen or feature Word and Excel editing. This is basically what I'm looking for: a smartphone which is more cellphone than handheld computer. It has more functionality than a normal cellphone, allowing programs like SplashID to be run as well as a few other programs, but this doesn't interfere with its primary function of being a reliable cellphone.
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