I need a new phone
I've had my phone for over 4 years now. That is a hella long time for a cell phone. At the time I bought it for a large chunck of change and now I think it's time to get a new one, because it is literally falling apart.
Exhibit A:
The yellow outline is where there use to be a metal covering. That piece broke off and now the hinge is exposed. The pink outline is where my antenna used to be. You know what? That's an important part of the phone.
Can you see the scratches on the silver paint around the black or the numerous scratches on the silver body frame?
Exhibit B:
Yes it gets better.
The pink arrow is pointing to where I cracked the frame, so that it can bend backwards more than it's suppose to.
The yellow arrow indicates the places where the buttons from the bottom have dug into the screen area and chipped away at the paint and left large scratches in the screen.
The worst part of it is the inside screen doesn't always work. I have to open the clamshell phone very slowly or else the screen just goes blank. Definitely makes it difficult to use.
So, for obvious reasons, I was thinking of getting a new phone. The one I am seriously considering is the Blackberry Pearl.
It's has a lot of features and looks pretty decent too. And most importantly, the form factor is slim enough to slip in my pocket, wherever I go. I typically prefer clamshell designs, but I think I'll try this style and see if I like it. The innnovative part is the interface: they got rid of the popular scroll wheel in favour of a trackball (aka "the pearl"), that allows horizontal as well as vertical navigation. It also has a 1.3 megapixel camera, good battery life and can play mp3s. I don't plan to get data services though, but apps like this sound appealing to try out. It should also satisfy the PDA functions that I desire as well since my PDA (which are all obsolete now) died a long time ago.
For the cons, the reviewers said the call quality was not the best, there is no video recording, the SureType has it's fans and not-fans, and the music/video playback interface is clunky.
Something has also changed in the way I view purchases. I think of purchases as votes of approval for products I want to encourage. Like with the Wii - I think they are taking on risk to release an innovative product and I encourage that behaviour by buying their product. I like that RIM has released a consumer version of their wildly successful product and I approve of their work. Not to mention they are a big employer of Waterloo students and huge backers of the University. Maybe it's because I'm a workign stiff now, or maybe because I have a better perspective now that I'm not only a consumer, but also a producer (in a limited way). I appreciate it when the customers are discerning and buy quality products. Or maybe I'm just dumb.
Anyway, what do you think of this phone? Should I get it? Does anybody at RIM want to hook me up?
Also, anyone else make such a big fuss when deciding on where to spend your hard-earned money?
Exhibit A:
The yellow outline is where there use to be a metal covering. That piece broke off and now the hinge is exposed. The pink outline is where my antenna used to be. You know what? That's an important part of the phone.
Can you see the scratches on the silver paint around the black or the numerous scratches on the silver body frame?
Exhibit B:
Yes it gets better.
The pink arrow is pointing to where I cracked the frame, so that it can bend backwards more than it's suppose to.
The yellow arrow indicates the places where the buttons from the bottom have dug into the screen area and chipped away at the paint and left large scratches in the screen.
The worst part of it is the inside screen doesn't always work. I have to open the clamshell phone very slowly or else the screen just goes blank. Definitely makes it difficult to use.
So, for obvious reasons, I was thinking of getting a new phone. The one I am seriously considering is the Blackberry Pearl.
It's has a lot of features and looks pretty decent too. And most importantly, the form factor is slim enough to slip in my pocket, wherever I go. I typically prefer clamshell designs, but I think I'll try this style and see if I like it. The innnovative part is the interface: they got rid of the popular scroll wheel in favour of a trackball (aka "the pearl"), that allows horizontal as well as vertical navigation. It also has a 1.3 megapixel camera, good battery life and can play mp3s. I don't plan to get data services though, but apps like this sound appealing to try out. It should also satisfy the PDA functions that I desire as well since my PDA (which are all obsolete now) died a long time ago.
For the cons, the reviewers said the call quality was not the best, there is no video recording, the SureType has it's fans and not-fans, and the music/video playback interface is clunky.
Something has also changed in the way I view purchases. I think of purchases as votes of approval for products I want to encourage. Like with the Wii - I think they are taking on risk to release an innovative product and I encourage that behaviour by buying their product. I like that RIM has released a consumer version of their wildly successful product and I approve of their work. Not to mention they are a big employer of Waterloo students and huge backers of the University. Maybe it's because I'm a workign stiff now, or maybe because I have a better perspective now that I'm not only a consumer, but also a producer (in a limited way). I appreciate it when the customers are discerning and buy quality products. Or maybe I'm just dumb.
Anyway, what do you think of this phone? Should I get it? Does anybody at RIM want to hook me up?
Also, anyone else make such a big fuss when deciding on where to spend your hard-earned money?
posted by Nelson at 10:21 PM
11 Comments:
nech_neb :
A1200
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_a1200-1429.php
Nokia N70:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n70-1153.php
"I appreciate it when the customers are discerning and buy quality products. Or maybe I'm just dumb."
I agree! Not that you're dumb - that you do vote with your wallet. The only other thing you could possibly do is troll message boards and leave stupid messages like this one.
From a product point of view, I don't see the Pearl as being hugely better than any other phone on the market.
There are flip phones, and there are candy bar phones, but I don't think the Pearl is a candy bar phone, because it's too wide.
Nech_neb:
What happend with your ipod?
No matter what you need a new phone nelson -snazzy website who wouldn't want a phone with it's own fantasy music and floating out of the ocean ooohh aahh i'm convinced it's a good product!!! Vote with your wallet support local(?) business.
nech_neb,
Is there anything special about those phones or are they just good phones overall? Do you highly recommend them?
Kev,
Yeah, the Pearl isn't head and shoulder above anything else on the market, but I liked the trackball when I tried it. The form factor was pretty good, I don't even think it's too wide. Do you have any specific recommendations?
Matt,
I didn't hear about what happened to your ipod! Battery died?
Tim,
Yeah, i saw that report. Keith had it on his msn and there were widespread media reports about it. Although the study said it correlated actual cell phone usage (actual talk time) to low sperm counts, so I'm not sure if proximity to your balls during non-talk time is important...better safe than sorry though. At the same time, I can't give up my cell phone!
When that report on cell phone use and sperm count came out I was thinking about it. When you're actively talking, it's constantly transmitting at very high RF power output; when it's in your pocket, there are very short burst transmissions to maintain the network connection - on the order of microseconds. It's the constant RF output from talking that really drains your battery and pwns your sperm. If it kills sperm, just think about what it does to your brain...
Victor,
Makes sense about the transmitting mode emitting constant RF being harmful.
As for the sperm, I think they are some of the most sensitive cells in your body. It would have an effect there before the brain...so it is still indeterminate whether it would affect the brain.
Apple does that by design...that's why you can't replace the batteries...because they expect you to buy the next one before the battery runs out. Bad for consumers, but brilliant for Apple!
wait a bit on the plays for sure/zune stuff - as in, don't get those, haha... in all honesty, those freaking 1-2gb sandisk ones that are always on sale by FS/BB are decent (includes FM if i remember correctly) - if u don't mind constantly replacing the content of the player
@ The Ping (and anyone else looking for alternative MP3 players)
Have you checked out products from Cowon? This may sound like spam but I'm not associated with this company in any way shape or form. I just bought one of their products based on reviews that I found on-line and simply love it. I didn't go with an iPod based on Apple's questionable customer service and mixed reviews. I especially don't like iTunes. The Cowon U2 lets me connect it to any computer (running Windows, OS X or Linux) and copy songs to it using USB. Highly recommended.
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