In reference to my last post, I was at the mall tonight with my wife and kids. I did get just a little time to look at things that interest me. The Deptford Mall has few stores for a 34 year old gadget geek man, so when I separate from my wife at the mall, I browse the cell phone stores and kiosks. I’m currently using an iPaq 6945 Windows Mobile phone, which gets the job done but there’s always something better. The first store I hit with my two year old, Caleb, was Radio Shack. I was curious about the Blackberry. I’ve been using Pocket PC’s for years and never really thought much about the Crackberries. Radio Shack has dummy phones; at least, the phones aren’t on or functional. I had a nice discussion about tech with one of the guys there, but the time came to move on. Next I went to the AT&T store, where the phones were actually turned on! I picked up the AT&T Tilt and went to town.
This phone was nice! I’ve never had the chance to play with one live before. I played with one at an AT&T kiosk once, but the screen was locked so I couldn’t do anything but slide the keyboard out and tilt the screen up. I can’t believe how fast this is, especially the 3G data connection. My wife says getting a new phone isn’t a financially smart move right now. She literally would be happy if her current phone lasted forever, but I’m the Gadget Geek Dad! I would get a new phone every two months if I could. At least, I’d get a bunch and swap between them as I see fit. I wish I could grow this blog big enough that the manufacturers would send me review units. That would be cool.
Next up, the 3G iPhone. 
It was fun, but I didn’t get to play with it for long as Caleb kept grabbing another one. I was afraid he’d manage to break it, so I didn’t get to do much with the iPhone at all. I know how it works as I have an iPod Touch. To be honest, except for the 3G data connection, the new iPhone doesn’t seem that impressive. If I could buy an older model it would get the job done. Of course, I couldn’t get Caleb to cooperate long enough to fire up Safari and see the “blazing fast” 3G speeds. I know they were quick on the Tilt.
Finally, I played with the Treo 750W. 
It actually wasn’t bad. The only thing that really sets it apart (OK, 2 things) from my 6945 are 3G and Windows Mobile 6. My 6945 plods along at EDGE speeds so the 3G on the Treo was nice, and WM6 seems like a minor but nice upgrade from WM5.
Along the way, I did pick up and play with a few live Blackberries, but nothing really stood out to me with the Blackberry enough to make me want to drop Windows Mobile (or dreams of an iPhone) for it. People who have Blackberries claim to love them, and I can hardly say I “love” Windows Mobile, but I’ve had it for so long and bought a lot of programs for it over the years so it would be hard to just drop the platform and move on at this point as I have so much invested in it.
Next I went to a T-Mobile store, but their phones weren’t
live. I sort of like the T-Mobile Wing, but the onboard memory seems a little lacking for serious use. My AT&T contract is up in January, and we’re not sure if we want to continue with AT&T or use an excuse to jump to another carrier.
It feels good to get back to the original purpose of this blog, gadgets.
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