2006: A Cellphone Odyssey

If you're wondering where I've been the last 4 days, the answer is that I've been dealing with getting a new and improved cellphone. 

Apparently deciding to put myself through one more agonizing big-money shopping decision, I finally decided to satisfy my glaring want for a PDA cellphone this week.  And for one of the few times in my life, I acted too quickly. 

My need of a PDA phone is a bit of a story.  Growing up, i used to be always late to everything.  It got to the point that friends would lie to me about when things started, so I would show up on time.  It was embarrassing, but not embarrassing enough for me to change my behavior.  I never seemed to be able to estimate with any sense of realism how long it took me to get ready and go anywhere. 

Then, while I was in grad school, my best friend got married...and I was on time for the rehearsal, but almost late for the wedding (because I had no idea how long it took to get from Ann Arbor to Birmingham, and I was supposed to be at the ceremony early since I was in the wedding party).  That's when I began to change my philosophy.  On top of that, I had the potential of getting a trainer job where my schedule would entirely be on the fly.  I remember telling Dave, "I need something that will give me an alarm when it's time to get ready to go to or depart for a place."  And Dave replied, "It sounds like you need a Palm Pilot."

So I got one: a ghetto-ass Palm m105, one they stopped making a long time ago.  And it seriously changed my life. 

I wasn't always late anymore -- and when I was, I knew I was going to be.  People I became friends with after the Palm entered my life (like Noah) didn't view me as a late person.  The Palm gave me that alert, that push I needed to realistically get ready to go when I had to in order to be on time.  I finally got a sense of when I had to leave to get to most places in New York on time.

The I went to South Africa...and my laptop died. The tools I had always used to enter data into my Palm were no longer at my disposal, because I certainly didn't bring the installation disc -- and I didn't use my own computer often enough to have a place to install it anyway.  I fell out of using the Palm regularly.  slowly but surely, my attention to the few alarms I did use it for started to waver.  I was sliping. 

Then I moved back here, and the slipping became an avalanche of stagnation.  I eventually got my own computer again, but it was too late: the Palm was no longer a part of my daily routine.  Everything about it seemed frustratingly cumbersome and alien to me.   It wasn't easy enough to use.  And when I went out at night or in other situations when I didn't have my bag, it seemed like one too many things to carry.  So I didn't.  And being back in D.C., there are still a lot of distances and travel times that I still haven't mastered.

There was one solution to this problem, but it seemed economically infeasible as well as physically unattractive: a PDA-smartphone.  I wanted to take the plunge sooner, but of course I didn't have the money at the time.   Now that I'll occasionally be travelling for work, it was time to merge all my contacts, appointments and phone into one device.  As I said to Dave, "My Palm Pilot literally makes me a better person!" 

I said that while I was ranting about how poorly-designed the Motorola Q is.

I recently decided to switch to Verizon because I am completely fed up with Cingular's horrible network in D.C  In all the places I've worked over the past year, I've never been able to get clear phone calls at work -- and considering where I work now, that's completely inexcusable.  Not being able to get calls in one of D.C.'s most important buildings was the final straw, so I said this week, 'I'm through with CIngular - it's time for Verizon."  Verizon is so good in DC that you can actually make and receive calls, as well as use the internet, underground on the Metro. 

After fiddling with the different smartphones, I couldn't decide.  The Q was thin, sexy, had a nice keyboard and a pretty screen.  I went online and read great things about it.  I talked to friends., and I decided to get it.  The salespeople told me that I could return it if I didn't like it.  I thought "even though it's not perfect, none of these phones are.  It can do most of what these other phones can, and who needs a document editor and a stylus anyway?" 

Less than 24 hours later, I decided to return it and get a Treo or a Pocket PC phone.

A lot of people complain that the Q isn't a real PDA, that it doesn't have a touchscreen or a stylus, and that you can't edit documents.  None of those are my complaint about the phone.  My complaints are that the phone is poorly designed as something to hold, the menus are awkward to navigate, you cannot highlight/copy/paste text, and the Windows Moblie OS simply sucks.  Nothing on that phone was as easy to do as it should have been, including creating appointments and editing the phonebook; this review describes my feelings vividly.  You had to push too many buttons to get anything done, and learn too many tricks to get optimal use out of it.  I knew that if the PDA wasn't easy to use, then I'd end up not using it.  I was pissed that Motorola had rushed yet another phone to market without making sure the product was high quality. 

Then again, Motorola hasn't made a quality phone since the original StarTac.   Motorola generally makes poorly-designed menus and low-reliability/durability hardware.  The RAZR sucks too -- in fact, most of the people I saw in the Verizon store were there to get new Razrs after theirs crapped out on them under warranty.   LGs generally suck in my experience also - when I was on Sprint, I once had an LG phone that was so shitty it would turn off for no reason in the middle of calls -- and when dropped, the battery would go flying off the phone even with little impact. 

After relating my Q story to Dave, he was conviced that I should get the new Treo with the Palm OS.  He was right.  I loved it right away, in spite of the dinky keyboard.  It rocks.  It's easy to use, it makes good calls, it's stunningly easy to navigate and edit features, and it has a million easily-programmable shortcuts.  It was expensive -- a lot more expensive than the Q.  But given my needs, it was worth it I think.  It's simply easier to use than any other smartphone out there, especially the Q - which wasn't designed to be a powerhouse anyway.

I spent the past 4 days dealing with this, since every trip to a Verizon store took up between 1-2 hours of in-store time. 

So here is my consumer advice takenfrom all of this: if you can possibly avoid it, never do anything in the store for any cellphone provider.  All these cellphone companies are trying to get by with cheap retail labor when they really need well-paid electronics experts doing their techincal assistance and customer service.  Most of the people working in cellphone stores are in over their heads.  They don't understand the systems they are using, they have no idea how to advise you, or what is wrong with your equipment, or any idea how to fix anything.  it's not their fault -- it's the fault of their employers.  Be patient, and don't shoot the messenger.  All the cellphone companies are like this.  Without exception.

Stay far away from Motorolas.  They are generally garbage.

Know what you want out of your phone before you get it.  If having a clear signal on the east coast is your priority, get Verizon -- and be prepared to get raped by plan costs and data service costs.  Even with my corporate discount, I'm still going to end up paying about $100 per month for 1350 anytime minutes plus unlimited data transfer for Internet.

Never let looks be a main motivator for your choice unless you don't care about anything else (like quality, reliability or durability).  If you buy a phone based on looks, you'll probably end up wiith a Motorola.

Nokias are the most durable phones, and usually get the best signal strength.  They also give off the most radiation...oh well.  Nokias usually aren't pretty, but they get the job done.

Never buy more phone than you need.  And read LOTS of reviews before you chooe a particular make and model.  It shocks me how many people lock themselves in for two years with a product that costs $100-$500 dollars that they will use everyday (and phone insurance will lock them in to the same model for two years)...yet they never bother to read anything about it.  Seriously, just use Google to find reviews on your particular model.  Dave might be able to comment on this post with good reference sites for you to use.  Phonescoop.com is one of them, as is pdaphonehome.com.  Pay no attention to the uber-nerd reviewers -- if they are talking in a language you don't understand, their opinions will apply less to you unless you are one of them.

Try to buy online.  You'll get a better deal, and a new phone is no more than a day or two.  Plus, you won't get the migraine of sitting there waiting in the store for the overwhelmed sallesperson to give you crappy advice.  

Maintain an up-to-date electronic copy of your phone book at home in Excel, Outlook or Word.  They say they can port your numbers over from your old phone, but that often isn't the case if you switch companies or if your phone breaks.  I'm glad I had my contacts in Palm Desktop and updated them before I went shopping.

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