Flutterby™! : WiFi cell phones 2007-11-16 17:47:19.1669+00

WiFi cell phones

2007-11-16 17:47:19.1669+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

The last few days I've been immersed in all things Apple. This has resulted in various exchanges, including at least one "this chair seems to be broken, I can't raise it"/"Steve decided that higher chairs were inelegant. Previous chairs may have fit you, but Apple no longer supports them." exchange.

I've also gotten more exposure to the iPhone, which has convinced me that a smarter phone would be cool, but that the iPhone is not the device for me. The gadget section of the most recent Law Technology News had a note on the Blackberry Curve 8320, which looks like a somewhat smart phone (but with actual buttons for the letters, so that text entry is more reliable), but that led me to something that I'd heard rumored, but have now discovered: T-Mobile has a setup where phones can use 802.11 where their coverage is unavailable. And I'm a month into another 2 years with AT&T.

That Blackberry looks cool. A friend at work gave me a 5 minute demo of his iPhone a few weeks ago, and I have admit the "wow factor" was pretty high. At this point I wasn't ready to shell out the hundreds for the phone, and I understand some of the AT&T plan options can get pretty expensive, so I decided to stick with Sprint and the Sanyo Katana DLX for two years.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-11-17 21:17:59.816537+00 by: meuon [edit history]

Required for a smart phone, high speed net connection and bluetooth modem.. Saved my buns a few time being able to get online "anywhere".

#Comment Re: made: 2007-11-18 06:39:12.163335+00 by: topspin [edit history]

I'm skeptical whether the T-Mobile HotSpot@Home service is worth the $20 unless one makes lots of calls from home or work or there's lots of HotSpots around. I don't think it works on any 802.11 network since the disclaimer says it won't work with wireless networks that have "login web pages," which is most of the "public" spaces I hit.

I'm in lust with the new Verizon Blackberry Pearl which doesn't have a QWERTY, but does the SureType thing which gets raves from friends who get them furnished by corporate, but I'll likely stick to the Windows Mobile phones. In particular, the i760 will probably replace my i730.

IMO, if you carry a pda, there's no reason not to carry a Mobile PC phone. With a GPS, you can get turn-by-turn directions in your car. It can be a portable music player. It can act as a modem for a laptop or there's software for remote PC access or tunneling or SSH and that geeky stuff y'all do. I've liked converging my pda and phone since the Visorphone days and I can't imagine life without a really smart phone on my hip.

In my case, since I'm paying close to $30/month for my land line, an extra $20 for VOIP from my cell phone would (if Comcast were actually semi-reliable) net me $8/month and give me a single phone device. It'd be different if I had reliable coverage from home.

Most of the WiFi spots I use when out have no "login web pages", on the other hand most of those places have cell phone coverage and aren't places where I necessarily want to be using a cell phone. But Meuon's comment makes me think that, since we usually have a laptop with us anyway, maybe I just need to get a Bluetooth dongle for our Linux machines and upgrade our cell phone plans.

On the other hand, that feels like overkill for those few times when we want maps while we're driving around.

I do miss some of my Palm functionality and am starting to pine for a calendar in my pocket.

Calendars in your pocket are easy. The Bluetooth dongle may resolve an issue for me. I'm finding myself more and more in places where I need to find a supplier and no access to a phone book or a usable WiFi signal.

A compromise, since not everyone wants a mobile pc, is this nifty "dual flip" phone that opens like a clamshell or a keyboard phone that a young friend has. Nice phone, funky idea.