Blackberry gripe

On Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:10:19 GMT, Art S wrote:

> "Traveling Man" <none@none.com> wrote in message news:stxeiuzdaev8$.9pzsd0oxphna.dlg@40tude.net...
>> On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:53:38 GMT, Art S wrote:
>>
>>> I will also explore getting a dumb phone and buying a PDA. Savings appear
>>> to be around $800: $100 (or more) for the phone, and $700 that doesn't need
>>> to be paid in data charges for the two-year contract period. Cost of a PDA with
>>> WiFi: between $200 and $300.
>>
>> I've been doing that for several years now. I have a Dell Axim that I can
>> dialup via bluetooth on my V9M whenever I'm not near a WiFi access point.
>>
>
> If I recall, that still entails a data charge, correct?
>
> Art

No, I'm on ACII which just uses minutes. I also have Mobile Web which
probably disguises my web access as well.

At 06 Jan 2009 01:13:20 -0500 Peter Pan wrote:

> > As for separate devices, I played that game for too many years to
> > want to go back. When my AT&T Tilt was stolen in Cancun two weeks
> > ago, I went back to my old Dell Axim Pocket PC and Nokia phone for
> > almost 48 hours before buying another Tilt!
>
> You may want to consider a plan B... I still have a dell axim and e815
with
> bluetooth, but now use a nokia n800 tablet (with both wifi and
bluetooth)...
> Both devices can do the skype/vonage etc thing (but the speed of
Bluetooth
> sucked big time)...

My AT&T Tilt also does VoIP just fine, and without a second device (a
separate phone) to connect to when there's no WiFi nearby.

> (the nokia n800 now n810 is linux based, but there are
> thousands of free programs for it (including an office substitute),


I'm familiar with the Nokia Tablets. I like them, but no built-in phone
capability makes it a deal-breaker for me. Like I said, I'm not going
back to a separate PDA and phone. (Also, for all it's brilliance, the
N8x0s is particularly crappy at PIM management.)

> have a
> 1tb usb drive and printer on my home net, that I can use, havent used
the
> pda since i got the tablet, nor the cellphone)


So, you never leave the house? ;-) Or do you live in an area with muni
WiFi so the tablet can stay connected?

My only big gripe with the Tilt is lack of Infrared. I have a couple of
paperback book-sized battery-powered IR printers I use for travel or in
the car that the Tilt can't use, but my older PDA devices can. Printing
remotely to my home printer is easy enough, but that doesn't help when
I'm on the road!

I still can't figure out why Nokia, the world's largest cellular phone
maker, has never thrown a GSM radio into the N8x0 series tablets. After
the iPhone debuted and the world was scrambling to make the next "iPhone
killer", you'd think _someone_ in the tablet division would say "um,
boss, we've already got a touchscreen device with a higher-than-iPhone-
res 800x480display, a real web browser, and media player, plus it has a
QWERTY keyboard, the most requested 'missing' iPhone feature- we can
stick a GSM/3G radio and dialer software in it and have it ready to sell
as a smartphone in 3 months..."

Even as a niche market device, a cellular N8x0 would kick the teeth in of
something like HTC's "Advantage" (essentially a Windows Mobile-based
"laptop" with built-in cellular connectivity that sells for $1200.)

> FWIW, my sister has a storm from work, she and I both like the tablet
> better...

....until you need to make a call when no WiFi is around, that is! ;-)

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 06 Jan 2009 01:13:20 -0500 Peter Pan wrote:
>
>
> So, you never leave the house? ;-) Or do you live in an area with
> muni WiFi so the tablet can stay connected?
>

Actually, I full time in my RV (cept when I'm visiting my sister this year,
I live in FL, visiting her here in Baltimore till after New Years, then go
back to where it's warm!), so in essence I take my home with me, not travel
by plane or car.... The one unit (thats a node on my wireless network with
storage/printer/usb phone etc is in the RV, so I just link/bridge to
whatever internet access is available where I am, but have all the main
stuff in the rv no matter where i go)

as for wifi, I keep the e815 cell (Alltell) that I can tether/use via BT,
but haven't needed it in about 5 years, oddly enuf, i was in the yukon on
wifi, but there was no cell service!

>
> ...until you need to make a call when no WiFi is around, that is! ;-)

Odd that... Havent been anywhere in years with no wifi, I'm sure there are
places, just haven't found any yet... guess I've been lucky....

"Peter Pan" <PeterPanNOSPAM@MarcAlanNOSPAM.info> wrote in message
news:7dmdneLcYOewBP7UnZ2dnUVZ_s7inZ2d@earthlink.co m...

>> So, you never leave the house? ;-) Or do you live in an area with
>> muni WiFi so the tablet can stay connected?
>>
>
> Actually, I full time in my RV (cept when I'm visiting my sister this
> year, I live in FL, visiting her here in Baltimore till after New Years,
> then go back to where it's warm!), so in essence I take my home with me,
> not travel by plane or car.... The one unit (thats a node on my wireless
> network with storage/printer/usb phone etc is in the RV, so I just
> link/bridge to whatever internet access is available where I am, but have
> all the main stuff in the rv no matter where i go)

IME, RV parks seem to be pretty good about offering WiFi- I'm not surprised
you find a lot of connectivity.

>
> as for wifi, I keep the e815 cell (Alltell) that I can tether/use via BT,
> but haven't needed it in about 5 years, oddly enuf, i was in the yukon on
> wifi, but there was no cell service!

Ah, the irony... ;-)

That's actually why I like VoIP integrated in the cellular handset. I was
in Mexico last month, where roaming on T-Mobile was $1.49/minute, but using
Skype over the hotel's free WiFi was $0.02. Among those of us in the lobby
making VoIP calls with computer headsets, or simply yelling at their
laptop's integrated microphone, I was quietly sitting in the corner chatting
on my usual phone, using the WiFi.

Similarly, earlier this summer I was in a hotel in Bellevue, Nebraska, where
I couldn't get cell reception inside the hotel, so VoIP again came to teh
rescue. I simply forwarded "when unavailable" my T-Mo service to my VoIP
number and turned WiFi on. When there was T-Mobile service (outside when
the wind was blowing in the right direction, whatever, etc.) it would ring
my T-Mo number, when I lost service (anywhere in the hotel) it would roll
over to VoIP.

T-Mobile coverage in Omaha is about the worst of any city I've ever
encountered in my eight nears with T-Mo. T-Mo doesn't sell service there,
but has a VERY small native coverage footprint there, (apparently built to
avoid losing their spectrum license for the area,) so they don't allow
roaming, even in the suburbs where their coverage evaporates. Ironically,
their coverage in rural Nebraska is excellent because it's provided by
roaming partners(Viaero Wireless and Alltel) via roaming- it's just in the
Omaha and Lincoln metro areas it falls apart!

"BrianT" <brian@NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:49GdnX3tN6mAgf_UnZ2dnUVZ_ojinZ2d@supernews.co m...
> isn't this somewhat like buying a car then complaining that you have to
> pay for gas too?

Gas doesn't cost 10% of the car value per month.

Verizon Curve on eBay = $350

Monthly Curve Fee: $25 to $45

QN wrote on [Tue, 6 Jan 2009 19:05:28 -0800]:
> "BrianT" <brian@NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
> news:49GdnX3tN6mAgf_UnZ2dnUVZ_ojinZ2d@supernews.co m...
>> isn't this somewhat like buying a car then complaining that you have to
>> pay for gas too?
>
> Gas doesn't cost 10% of the car value per month.

It did a few months ago.

The point is it's the "cost of ownership", if you want or need all those
bells and whistles that's what is takes to own a Blackberry/PDA that
connects to the Internet.

">
> Gas doesn't cost 10% of the car value per month.
>
> Verizon Curve on eBay = $350
>
> Monthly Curve Fee: $25 to $45
>
>

At 07 Jan 2009 14:01:05 -0600 BrianT wrote:
> The point is it's the "cost of ownership", if you want or need all
those
> bells and whistles that's what is takes to own a Blackberry/PDA that
> connects to the Internet.


Except that the "cost of ownership" is arbitrarily set by Verizon. A
Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone, while perhaps less useful without
ubiquitous internet connectivity, doesn't REQUIRE a full-time connection
for many of its functions, yet Verizon now forces an optional service on
those customers.