4 posts tagged “cellphone”
So I started looking for a new phone and discovered that my provider (Aliant Mobility, who is merging with Bell Mobility) no longer had any Nokia phones in their lineup, so I realized that for my fourth cell phone I would have to switch brands after having 3 different Nokia phones. I don't like flip phones, so that eliminated most of the phones, and I narrowed the brands down to LG or Motorola. The two models I was thinking about were the LG Shine (the flip one, since they don't have the slider) and the Motorola ROKR Z6m. The ROKR seemed sturdier and I really like the slider design, so that's what I went with.
It has a camera (still and video) and music-playing features. I don't think that I'll ever listen to music on it (or really watch video either), since that's what my iPod is for. I did try out some music with it and remarkably it has a standard mini plug so that you can use any headphones to listen to music. The phone also charges with a miniUSB plug, which means I can charge it from my computer or in the car with the same charger that I can use with my iPod and the transmitter for the radio, so that's a big plus. Strangely, the USB connecting doesn't let the microSD card show up on my MacBook Pro, so I need to send files back and forth via Bluetooth.
I also found out that the operating system of the phone is a variant of Linux, which is pretty cool and I was able to download and use the Gmail application for checking my mail which I couldn't use before. I also can add my own ringtones, which is very good since that ability is often deactivated on phones, so even though I don't think I'll have a long of songs for ringtones, I can customize things a bit. I'm still getting used to the interface and slightly-different key layout for text messaging, but I think that it's going to be a good phone.
But my newest one, which is the most sophisticated one that I've had, stopped working yesterday morning. It would start to start up, but then would stall. So I went to one of the stores that are part of the chain where I bought the phone to see if they could fix it. They couldn't and didn't have any loaner phones and it takes 2 or 3 weeks when they send phones out. The thing that was a bit annoying was that this shop is actually in the headquarters building of the phone company.
But luckily my previous phone (actually both of them) still works well, so (at a shop closer to home) they sent out the new one and reactivated the old one. The old one is faster as it doesn't have a long start-up time. It made me wonder about the added complexity of the new phone which is the first one that I've had trouble with. Sometimes (maybe most of the time) simpler is better.
It was a day where I had a cold and stayed home and rested for most of the day. But I did have to go out and pick up my son from school, so I was able to stop off and pick up a new mobile phone.
As I mentioned before I was hoping to get a Nokia phone since I love their design and functionality, but it looked as though I wouldn't be able to get one since my phone provider didn't have any. Luckily I didn't purchase last week, because when I checked again, there was a brand new Nokia 6275i which just arrived in the store today.
Now I'm the happy owner of a Nokia phone that has Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera that does stills and video, and much better web browsing too.
But one thing that was a bit of a pain is that while I could install the Gmail for Mobile Application on the phone and it looks gorgeous, there is some sort of certificate problem with my service provider, so I can't use it. But I can use Google Maps on it, which is pretty neat. So while I was a bit sick today, now I have a new phone that should result in a bit more blogging I hope.
In the strange world of cellular telephones and service providers you're locked in to using a phone and a service for large stretches of time in order to have a better deal on services and phones. So now I'm at the 2 year point in my current contract, which means that I'm eligible for a "Hardware Upgrade" as they put it. So I've been shopping for new handset.
The current phone that I have is a Nokia, which works very well and has a camera that is ok. I love Nokia phones, but my provider now only has one Nokia phone that has Bluetooth (which I want to be able to use a headset when I'm driving), but it doesn't have a camera. I don't use the cell phone camera a lot, but I want to have a camera.
But what I really want to do with a phone is to check email and blog a bit (which I do now).
So within the narrow constraints of the offerings of my phone company I've got it narrowed down to an LG 325, which is a slider phone with a camera and Bluetooth and a flip phone from Sanyo, called Katana. The Sanyo phone is newer and is basically a Motorola Razr clone. It's a bit cheaper than the Razr and has the latest Java stuff, so I can use the Gmail client as well as other cool stuff. I'll have the new phone in a couple of weeks, so now I'm thinking out loud.
It's a pain to deal with this as I'll have the phone for at least two years and I wish that I could stick with a Nokia phone (which has always been very reliable) instead of needing to switch brands.
How many of you love your mobile phones and do you do much web surfing, email, photography and blogging with your phone?
