Wireless Update - The Relentless March of Technology
Those who know me are aware of my love for gadgets. My foray into the gadget tech field began as a wireless developer in 1999. The RIM 957 with a wap web browser from GoAmerica was my first toy. I received FREE service as a result of my involvement in a Sales Force Automation project across multiple companies.
The original 957 model utilized the then Bellsouth network, while the 857 RIM used the Motient system. Irrelevant pieces of information.
Zooming forward to 2005: I dropped my beloved Treo 600 into the toilet. Bloop Bloop Bloop. It lasted about five seconds. I fished it out and put it in front of the blow dryer on low for about 45 minutes. Then, I put it in the back window of my car and let the sun bake out the remaining moisture. A few weeks later, I fired it up and it worked, sort-of. I could only make speaker-phone calls because the ear speaker was fried.
I bought a palm lifedrive to replace my Treo and grabbed a backup GSM phone off the shelf at home. I used T-Mobile and keep about five phones around the house just in case. I carry one extra with me when I travel.
The lifedrive is a new palm based on the Tungsten T-5 with the addition of a 4gb harddrive. It's turned out to be a disappointment. It has Wi-fi and bluetooth, but it simply is not ready. It's too bug ridden and my list of problems are not worth repeating.
My employer offered a unique plan from Nextel wherein they give me $50.00 and a new blackberry 7520. I couldn't turn them down. One big reason for the change is that most of my family has Nextel. Since I live in Hurricane Central (Florida), the thought of at least having direct connect available when everyone else has nothing is really appealing.
I've decided to keep my Blackberry off of the corporate infrastructure. This means that instead of synching with our corporate system in real-time, I will sync with my laptop. The advantage is that I can still hook into our company email along with (yes count-em) nine other mail accounts. The drawback is that the reply-to looks like it is from BearingPoint. But, since this is primarily for business, it is appropriate. Now, I never lose another appointment, task or other nuance of my job.
But, the Blackberry cannot completely replace the palm. I have documents-to-go premium edition which permits the creation and editing of word, excel and powerpoint templates on the palm. I also have an external keyboard which makes typing fast and easy. I use SmartList to Go which allows you to sync to a datastore on your desktop. I also had a copy of quicken and a chat client on the palm. Both I used quite often.
I am experimenting with a new chat client called "IM+" for the Blackberry. It allows users to login (one logon per type) to AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber and ICQ. I'll let you know how it works out.
For me, the 7520 has allowed me to use a bluetooth headset and keeps me in the know with my corporate and private email.
Another big reason for my change was a lack of TMobile signal in Washington DC. Nextel has 398 of the top 400 cities covered.
I highly recommend it.
The original 957 model utilized the then Bellsouth network, while the 857 RIM used the Motient system. Irrelevant pieces of information.
Zooming forward to 2005: I dropped my beloved Treo 600 into the toilet. Bloop Bloop Bloop. It lasted about five seconds. I fished it out and put it in front of the blow dryer on low for about 45 minutes. Then, I put it in the back window of my car and let the sun bake out the remaining moisture. A few weeks later, I fired it up and it worked, sort-of. I could only make speaker-phone calls because the ear speaker was fried.
I bought a palm lifedrive to replace my Treo and grabbed a backup GSM phone off the shelf at home. I used T-Mobile and keep about five phones around the house just in case. I carry one extra with me when I travel.
The lifedrive is a new palm based on the Tungsten T-5 with the addition of a 4gb harddrive. It's turned out to be a disappointment. It has Wi-fi and bluetooth, but it simply is not ready. It's too bug ridden and my list of problems are not worth repeating.
My employer offered a unique plan from Nextel wherein they give me $50.00 and a new blackberry 7520. I couldn't turn them down. One big reason for the change is that most of my family has Nextel. Since I live in Hurricane Central (Florida), the thought of at least having direct connect available when everyone else has nothing is really appealing.
I've decided to keep my Blackberry off of the corporate infrastructure. This means that instead of synching with our corporate system in real-time, I will sync with my laptop. The advantage is that I can still hook into our company email along with (yes count-em) nine other mail accounts. The drawback is that the reply-to looks like it is from BearingPoint. But, since this is primarily for business, it is appropriate. Now, I never lose another appointment, task or other nuance of my job.
But, the Blackberry cannot completely replace the palm. I have documents-to-go premium edition which permits the creation and editing of word, excel and powerpoint templates on the palm. I also have an external keyboard which makes typing fast and easy. I use SmartList to Go which allows you to sync to a datastore on your desktop. I also had a copy of quicken and a chat client on the palm. Both I used quite often.
I am experimenting with a new chat client called "IM+" for the Blackberry. It allows users to login (one logon per type) to AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber and ICQ. I'll let you know how it works out.
For me, the 7520 has allowed me to use a bluetooth headset and keeps me in the know with my corporate and private email.
Another big reason for my change was a lack of TMobile signal in Washington DC. Nextel has 398 of the top 400 cities covered.
I highly recommend it.
posted by Ray Moser at 1:12:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home