Tag: t-mobile

 

What to do, what to do (Epilogue)

I only had to see the dimensions of the Blackberry Curve 8900 to know it was my new Smartphone.

For a couple of months (here, here, here and here) I’d been debating switching cellphone companies instead of upgrading my phone with T-Mobile, but for one reason or another I just couldn’t bring myself to switch (usually money had to do with it, other times it had to do with anal retentiveness from AT&T).

8700g (left) and 8900 (right)

8700g (left) and 8900 (right)

But like the introduction to this post states, I was sold on the Curve the moment I saw the dimensions. it mirrored what I already had with my Blackberry 8700 — actually it was smaller by millimeters and lighter by loads and my 8700. Yeah the OS is something that old time BB users have to get used to, as does the trackball-versus-track wheel stuff. But it’s a smaller leap than switching carriers and equipment standards all together.

And with deals going on from T-Mobile regarding trade ins and installment plans… well, it spreads the hurt out and makes it a little more tolerable.

I’ll try to post more about the device in the near future but then again? It’s a smartphone, it’s inanimate… It’s not like it will grow a cape and leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Will it?

(k)needful things

I guess my most eventful day in Los Angeles in October was my last day in the city. It was not out of enjoyment, but out of “this would only happen to me — lets see how I handle the challenge.”

Yeah, Johnny got himself into a bit of a predicament in La Cuidad de Angeles. Again.

One of the stories I bestowed upon readers of Stonegauge was my venture to the T-Mobile store at Hollywood and Western. What I didn’t happen to mention is what caught up with me upon leaving the store.

Walking is something people take for granted, and knowing I haven’t done all that much of it prior to the trip (though I was in much better shape than a year earlier) I sort of set myself up for my body reacting in an adverse way after the umpteenth mile was registered on the old pedometer.

As I left the store that Friday afternoon, my mind was on lunch and trying to decide where I would go to at the 7th and Fig plaza once I got back downtown… I was leaning towards California Pizza Kitchen and maybe having a cocktail with lunch while blending in with the business crowd. I reveled in mixing in the the business people and seeming like I was just part of the normal financial district workfor–

Ow.

I didn’t trip. I didn’t stumble. I did not fall. I didn’t knock into anything. I did not get hit by anything or anyone. There was no pop. There was no snap.

Ow.

Every step I took started to result in a knife-like pain near my knee. My mind wanted to be on other things but…

Ow.

I was hungry, I thought it would be a good choice to get lunch and rest and figure out my next move after I had sat down for a few minutes and put some nutrition in my belly. I crossed Hollywood Boulevard with a limp while leaning on my cane and headed towards the Metro station.

The escalators down to the station were halted and I looked around for the elevator down to the station to no avail. Walking, climbing stairs, generally further stressing the knee with every step I took while scouting for that damned elevator.

I soon gave up and climbed the concrete stairs down to the station, and hopped on a train back toward Downtown… Of course, the train was packed and I had to stand the entire time.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

…and upon arriving at 7th Street Metro Station, I learned a tactical lesson that I need to heed from that moment on. My mind was on lunch, my mind was on my knee, my mind was on the pain… My mind was not, however, on the fact that there are two platforms at the Julian Dixon Transit Center. Taking the wrong escalator will lead you to an exit point on Hope Street — several blocks away from where you intended to be at the 7th and Fig exit point.

“I think that cancels lunch,” I said with a huff in the empty Blue Line section of the station. I couldn’t make up my mind several times what to do — retrace my steps and correct any mistake I may have made or just leave and deal with what is in front of me — and must have walked another quarter mile inside the station while trying to make up my mind.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Stupid. Ow. Ow.

Back at the hotel — after a few hundred Ow’s from my elongated walk — I tried my best to sit still but couldn’t quite relax. I grabbed lunch in the Galleria and tried to figure out how bad things were. I knew it was likely just a strain but I still had plenty of walking to do before I’d be back in Tampa. Sometime later in the afternoon I asked the concierge desk where the nearest pharmacy was — and after explaining my situation, they pointed me across Flower street to the Uptown Drugs and Gifts shop. They didn’t say WHERE across the street… just across the street.

Now, if I had more free time, I would have loved to have gotten lost and walked around downtown and explored things. On a bum knee? Walking and walking up several stories of steps from Flower street to teh base of the Library Tower, back down to the intersection of Fifth and Flower… Well, it was a lost and found experience that I could have done without.

G1, gee whiz

So I got to the local T-Mobile store today at Countryside Mall. First time I had actually found the location of the store inside the mall (it kept moving). And what do you know? Launch day for the G1! Who would have thunk it.

While I didn’t toy around as much as I would have liked to with the HTC G1 as I would have liked (and they had 3 dummy models and one working model), there was one problem with the device that kept me on the fence with the phone: the keyboard.

Folks, those keys are not raised in any way – they seem flush with the rest of the device. While the bottom of the phone has been remarked as a hindrance to typing, it’s the keys themselves that seem to be a problem. I am basing this off scant use, of course, but also by comparison to the Blackberry 8700g’s keyboard. While having a large display on the G1 is superawsomecool and all that other stuff, that keyboard is a pain in the ass to type on.

Of course, in comparison, I didn’t like how ultra-compact the Blackberry Curve 8330 has turned out to be in person. It feels smaller — not just thinner — than my 8700 and squeezes the keys together even tighter.

I dunno folks. I dunno. I told the sales person, and I am honest about this, that i probably would have bought the G1 today (and learned to live with that keyboard) if I wasn’t curious about the new Curve / Javelin that is due out from T-mobile before Christmas.

We’ll see

What to do, what to do…? (ongoing)

All right, I don’t usually post polls here on der Stonegauge but I’m putting a poll up and inviting everyone in for discussion (yay discussion!):

So, as my previous entries on this PDA future discussion have told, my contract with T-mobile expired. I’m really interested in upgrading my Blackberry 8700g, I’m on a data-only plan due to hearing problems and (this hasn’t been stated here) T-Mobile is sadly the optimum cell provider for me because their data only plan comes with no additional costs (unless I make calls) compared with AT&T or Verizon (both cell networks require you purchase separate plans for text/sms messages, AT&T requires you to jump through hoops in order to enjoy data only iPhone use, Verizon is extra costly, AT&T has unclear policies and usage charges for non-national data)

So chime in, people, about hosts, but this poll is about phones. I’ve narrowed it down to upgrading to 3 models (all of which I can attain from T-mobile, but I invite other suggestions):

The HTC G1
The Blackberry Curve
The Blackberry Javelin/8900*

[poll id=”3″]

(The Javelin has not yet been released to the public)

You would think they knew SOMEthing

One of the minor treats being in Los Angeles late this week was the ease of gettign to and from things I wanted to check out without having to bum a ride, or take a cab. There were a few things I wanted to get done out there with national stores that I couldn’t get done here in Tampa Bay because of the disconnect and provincialism of the Greater Tampa Bay area.

One of those things was trying to find a T-Mobile store and get a demo of the G1, the Google phone. There were supposed to be demonstration versions of the phone in-store in several markets including Los Angeles. Places where they could utilize 3G technology and what not.

So, I got to Hollywood and Western and took a little amble over to the T-Mobile store… A nice place tucked away in a larger shopping plaza. Walking inside, I was almost immediately greeted by a sales rep. The problem was, and this seems to be a trend, the sales rep deffered me to their web site in dealings with the G1.

I shrugged it off and brought up the Blackberry handhelds. I told them that I have no access to a store where I am from (which is not outside the truth) and this would be my chance to check out a handheld in person. I also brought up the enigmatic Blackberry Javelin, which is to be the successor to the Curve. Once again, I got a rather clueless response that meets with the trend of an uninformed company rep.

That’s not trying to get on the Rep for not being able to answer my questions — I’m not deliberately trying to shoot the messenger here. I am more surprised that T-Mobile does not try to pass on information down to it’s staff in a timely manner. Keep them informed, keep them assessed of changes and the situation.

Never the less, the trip was a waste of time. I got to check out the Curve in person but I didn’t get anything I can’t get somewhere else.

what to do, what to do…?

So, the contract for my Blackberry 8700g and my Tmobile account comes up for renewal at the end of September. For two years I’ve been pretty much happy with what I’ve gotten (sans a few aggravating moments here and there). I’m wondering if I should simply renew? Renew and replace my blackberry with another model? Or perchance I should jump ship?

My blackberry is worn, the trackwheel is functional but barely — and tends to stick when scrolling through web pages or my menu. Real pain in the ass to deal with if I am trying to browse the web or just navigate applications on the Blackberry desktop menu. Then you have the fact there is no camera built in like just about every other cell phone or handheld out there and it seems just a little to antiquated.

So if I upgraded the Blackberry and Kept T-Mobile, I’d likely switch from the 8700g to the Curve. The interface seems straightforward like the 8700 and what not. No big learning curve (no pun intended). There’s a built in camera and what not. Bells! Whistles! But not bleeding edge.

The other alternative is for me to let the contract expire and go with another carrier with another device. Of course, the IT device right now is the iPhone and only one carrier has it — American Telephone and Telegraph. Unlike T-mobile, AT&T doesn’t straight out offer people in circumstances like myself a data-only package. No, in most cases you have to buy a standard package with the iPhone even if your hearing does not leave you capable of utilizing the phone itself on the device.

AT&T does offer data only, deaf packages for the iPhone but you have to jump through hoops in order to get it. I don’t even want to try to figure out the swing-time it will take for someone in the offices to read over signed documents, proving my deafness, and then approve the data only plan. It’s certainly not user friendly (or enabling) to only offer the application to those seeking them for phone use alone. Some people — even the hearing — would like a convenient, mobile means of surfing the web, texting and utilizing mobile media… All while not paying out the rear end for a laptop that is too bulky to utilize for simple mobile applications.

So as it stands at the moment, T-Mobile looks like it’ll be getting my business again by default. Anyone else have suggestions?

Bye Bye T900, hello Ogo

Well, after sending the T900 TalkAbout back to who it belonged to, I was hit pretty hard with wondering “What now”with regards to my wireless future. Should I go out and just get another T900? Should I look into something else like the Danger Sidekick II from T-Mobile? Or was there a cheeper and simpleer solution out htere that was an upgrade of the T900 and yet wasn’t filled with too many add ons, mediocre service and foreign support.

That’s about when I went into 7-11 and was introduced to AT&T Wireless (now Cingular) and their Ogo messenger.

It’s not the neat little small device that I am used to with the T900… but then again it isn’t limited to just sending emails / text messages at 1 message per 500 Characters. It does Pop3 email, it also can be configured to get both AOL IM messages and Yahoo messages so you can chat realtime depending on how your strong your signal is.

While it’s not a cell phone and certainly isn’t for those who rely on the phone – it fills a niche with me.