I’ve decided that the safest thing to race out and buy “the day it comes out” is any book by Jeffrey Eugenides or any Sloan, Built to Spill or Band Of Horses album. That’s pretty much it. Five years ago I probably would have raced out and gotten myself in line for an IPhone on the day it was released. Now I’m not so much into “having it on the first day.” Don’t get me wrong – I’m a gadget freak, just ask my poor wife. The minute she gets herself accomodated into a remote control, there will be a new one. The week she’s comfortable with Apple TV, I’ll hack Boxee into it. So by no means am I turning into a luddite. I’m just a little more mild, given a) the economy and b) priorities.
So I’ve been struggling on this IPhone/Blackberry Storm thing, building up to last Friday, which was the day I was eligible for a new phone. My decision? I very well may wait it out. I’m now month-to-month on my Verizon contract and that’s pretty comfortable, knowing I’m not locked into anything, especially given the state of the nation. Blackberry’s Storm is more like a light rain, it seems. My experience with it so far has been underwhelming and buggy. Hey Verizon store, the display phones are supposed to work seamlessly! The IPhone looks so sweet, but I’m not sure it’s sweet enough to switch to AT&T and lock myself into something until 2011. Someday the carriers will get it and free their customers from the shackles. If you want a great write-up on all this, just click here for some professional writing courtesy Om Malik – he’s basically saying what I’m trying to say, only more clearly.
So my decision right now: no decision. I reserve the right to change my mind anytime.
However, the idea of completely getting rid of cable TV came one step closer to reality this weekend when I discovered this site. Live sports via torrents! Not sure this will feed the appetite, but it could be a start. It’s also an indication that I need to do more web-digging.
really like my new LG VU. A lot of good features, cheap, and I don’t have to spring for the $30 per month internet plan required for the iPhone. I think Verizon has a similar touchscreen phone now. (is it the Dare?)
@frank
do you also use it as an MP3 player, though? can you get outlook mail on it?
It does not have an outlook ap, as such, but I was easily able to go to my https://mail.fishman.com/exchange outlook webmail and do my work email using the html browser through the internet. The sizing on my screen sucked a bit for heavy email use. I didn’t mess with it to see if it was easy to set this differently. The iPhone has an email ap that works better than webmail. On the other hand, the yahoo email ap for my vu is quite awesome.
I bought an 8gb micro sd online for $20 . The optional usb cable (bought through eBay for 2 bucks instead of with the phone) let me direct connect to the computer. I didn’t go for the bluetooth option.
Using the memory card for mp3 was fine, but it just doesn’t have the satisfaction of using an iTunes ap on an iPhone. That said, the 16gb iPhone is expensive, and I have virutally no use for a 16gb mp3 player. Ugh. I have a 250gb device that handles my needs. I don’t like having to decide what to load on my player. I want to have a whim about what I want to listen to and then play it. That means keeping my whole record collection on the player, thank you. So, I’m not looking for much on my phone. I just use it as a portable mp3 device if I have some random things I feel like listening to (podcasts, books on tape, rough mixes) in the car without having to load them into iTunes.
update: I did some research and it seems like the Dare might not work with 8GB. I was able to use this on the VU with a firmware update, but you may only be able to use 4GB max. Not much room if you want a serious mp3 player.
I’m loving my Samsung Omnia with a Winterface mask of WM. I don’t play music on my phone (isn’t that what my iPod fatty nano is for?), but it will accomodate a 16G MicroSD card. I have a Sloan song for an alarm… Any guesses which one?
Oh, and the phone has great reception, Opera Mobile browser, and Outlook.