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What I’ve Been Up To Lately
- mazel tov to @bluenatic and @grandstreet on the birth of their baby girl 2 weeks ago
- RT @JTownCrier: Tropper? Kolko? Margulies? Balkany? Dwek? Rubashkin? NO. Moetzes Gedolei Torah condemn AVI WEISS as more offensive. 2 weeks ago
- Rorschach from Watchmen is the new Freddy Krueger http://bit.ly/7s61Cj 2 weeks ago
- More updates...
I've concluded…
that Blackberry phones are garbage and the Verizon network has great call coverage and abhorrent Internet service. This thing has maybe 2 hours of talk-time in it before it dies, the call log is constantly erasing itself, the email parsing is worse than text-only (it’s text+illegible bullshit), the lack of multiple-item select + delete makes deleting messages take forever, the web browser is virtually useless (thank God for Opera), tethering barely works and yet costs $20/mo, and EVDO moves slower than tortoises fuck. And I paid how much for this bullshit? I am a fool.
All in all, I’m thinking that when my contract’s up next month, that I should switch carriers and phones. In fact, unless someone starts delivering more than hype, I may give up on smartphones all together and go back to a straight flip phone.
Anyone got any recommendations?
hmmm i was gonna get a sprint blackberry next month when the bold comes out. i have never heard anyone complain about theirs before. hmm.
but that said, in the meantime, i love my totally functional cheap ass flip phone plus ipod touch for calendaring and whatever…
I have a blackberry, though I’m by no means in love with it. I have to say that the battery life on my (AT&T) blackberry has been excellent, though the network coverage is iffy.
You can also multiple-select-and-delete emails — click the trackball, roll it down to select multiple emails, click again and choose “delete messages” or whatever it says.
You can also go to the date at the top of the messages, click the blackberry button, and hit delete prior — that will clean out all messages before that date.
Probably lots of other shortcuts if you google them.
I also hear that (depending on model) the OS version 4.5 will have a vastly better email client with HTML support — free software upgrade when it’s out.
That being said, I”m ditching it as soon as my contract is up…
I have a BB 8703e on VZ and am quite happy with it. I’ve never had a problem with the battery. My BB is a couple years old and I still reliably get two days’ standby time as long as I’m in an area with a decent signal. I don’t make a lot of long calls, but I’m pretty sure I get more than 2 hours of talk time on a charge.
I’ve also never had a problem with the call log deleting itself.
On my pre-trackball device, you can delete multiple e-mails by holding shift down while scrolling through the list to select multiple e-mails, then hitting the delete key.
I’ve also found EVDO a bit disappointing, but I’m not convinced there’s a better WWAN technology yet. I suppose maybe a device with wifi would be preferable if you’re often in wifi range, but it’s not as ubiquitous as EVDO.
Ok, assuming everything goes as planned, I’ll be starting med school a year from now. My contract with Verizon is up in December. At that time, I was planning to get a Blackberry/Smartphone because some sort of PDA is now required for medical school and I didn’t want to carry a cell phone AND a PDA. (I was hoping for a Blackberry/Smartphone/PDA that was Wi-Fi capable so I could download all the med school apps) Now that I’m hearing Blackberry’s aren’t that great, I’m wondering what to do. Any suggestions?
What a relief! I tried very hard to get a BlackBerry through T Mobile (extra discounts, etc.), and due to their worthless customer service, I opted to scrap that plan and go with a Palm Treo (755p, I think, w/Sprint). I’m pretty happy with it, although I’d recommend using Windows over the Palm OS if you do a lot of browsing. Excellent memory and email support; minimal issues.
Go for the Treo. Verizon supports them and they are just better all around. The phone quality is vastly better, and the smartphone stuff is better too. It’s a little bigger than the Blackberry, and not as aesthetically cute, but when you run into issues like these, you’re willing to compromise, no?
yeah im thinking the same about my bb. i used to have plain old nokia phones and they were great. this thing? waaay too much fucking money to be dropping calls in fucking midtown. and no missed calls when someones been trying to call for hours? LAME! unforch i just convinced my bf to get the same phone. he’s already fed up with it after a month. stupid me.
the only reason i don’t switch back to a regular phone is that i absolutely cannot live without the qwerty keypad anymore. (at work i help the old ladies with their cell phones and it’s murder to try and type predictive text now.) when a qwerty keyboard comes standard with all phones, i might just be willing to give up internet service. MIGHT. lol
Hmmm, why is no one talking about the iPhone w/3G?
I tried the Blackberry Pearl (V) for a week and hated it. I then moved to the iPhone, it has great connection and display and usability for a handheld. Plus, they say you can crack it and then tether it for no extra charge (so long as you use less than 5GB/month)
My experience and observation working in the tri-state area is that Verizon coverage is head and shoulders above the rest.
I was standing in Liberty State Park,NJ across the bay a month ago talking on my phone. You can literally see Manhattan. And, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile users were borrowing Verizon phones to make calls. A friend shouted: “I can SEE Manhattan but I can’t even call it?” You could get a bar if you walked closer inland. So, yeah… Verizon is best for coverage.
Internet via phone is more spotty for all carriers. Especially with Blackberry. There are a lot of factors. Nothing is what it seems. But, switching carriers isn’t going to solve slow browsing via a Blackberry in many cases.
It could be your phone. It could be where you are. It could be that interference is blocking the signal. (A big issue in the city. Blackberry and iPhones are notorious signal emitters and signal absorbers. Ask any professional sound or video person.)
I know a lot of people who experience what you experience on all of the other networks. Crews on sets are constantly comparing and contrasting experiences with their devices.
The latest thing has been why so many people who upgraded to the new iPhone can’t send or receive pics to people on non AT&T networks all the time. (You get a “network not compatible” message).
What I do is pay for unlimited text. I have one e-mail that forwards to my text. That’s the only one I get on my phone. The others can wait. Those who know this, know this., and will email me knowing it will get to my phone. But, they can send an SMS text too anyway.
I use the LG Envy, and going to upgrade to the LG Voyager, which beat the iPhone in CNET and PC World and Phone Scoop head to head comparisons. Better phone. Not as pretty, but so what.
If you have to have mobile internet, phones suck for that. They really really do.
I suggest something like the Archos 5G:
http://xrl.in/dij
http://www.archos.com/products.....mp;lang=en
Sprint..99.00 everything plan-Instinct is the phone..(also CDMA) you’ll be happy.
Dan, it really depends on what you want more: talk signal or data. Most of the phones that are offered by Verizon for both are okay with signal, but not great. Keep in mind in 09 that you’ll be able to buy any phone on the market that works on the Verizon system. (Least that is what they say.) But, more often than not, problems with data on the Verizon system are due to the phone.
Recently I was in very rural Kentucky. Just north of the Tennessee border. Very very spotty cell phone, if any at all. I was able to get a Verizon voice signal pretty much all the time. But, the Sprint and other users were not. Conversely, one of the guys with a Treo was able to get pretty decent data (but no voice) from his Sprint, but there was no Sprint service in the area at all. (Piggy backing on Verizon.) So, it was definitely the difference in the phones for data/voice.
I suggest sticking with Verizon, the better coverage, and getting a better unlocked phone. Some of the Nokia 3G coming out are stellar and offer better speeds for data. It’s a trade off though….
There is no such thing as perfect service with cellular. A day of increased sun spot activity can make getting a decent signal in midtown nearly impossible. And, the solar cycle is increasing, so it’s only going ot get worse…
Me, I have a regular ol’ flip phone. But, I almost always have my laptop if I really, really feel I need to tap into some local wifi and be online.
It’s up to you. I encourage the notion that it is really okay to be offline at times, and having a crappy mess that does nothing well is not nearly as satisfying as having an okay cellphone.
But, I also confess that I do not relate to telephones. Not to landlines. Not to cellphones. It’s not my medium. So, for instance, I lust after an iTouch or equivalent, but would be unlikely to ever want an iPhone.