Tag: cellphones

Been a while

No excuse really. It’s been over a month since I posted last, and plenty has happened in that time.

I started writing letters finally, long after their recipients moved away and I said I’d write. As it turns out, this is a hobby I really enjoy, and I’m trying to make it a regular pastime. I like being able to sit down a collect my thoughts on a piece of paper, and then send it off to someone.

I want to be writing more in general, both here and elsewhere. I’m going to keep to a weekly letter writing habit, and I’m thinking I’ll try to update here daily through October. Old entries are a huge resource, but not worth much when I don’t post anything.

This should be made easier by another new development since I last posted – my new phone. I had to finally put down my trusty N95, and grabbed a Galaxy S2. There’s plenty wrong with it, and there’s a lot about my old phone I miss, but I do like being able to use a phone that is actively being supported. In fact, I wrote most of this entry from my phone today while I was on the road (chill out, I was the passenger).

Phone

The Atrix is out, and though I was pretty convinced it would be my new phone, I’m reconsidering. Largely because of Motorola’s lockdown on the phone. It’s been rooted, but no custom ROMs yet. I’m not sure if I’d even be interested in it if it was freed up. There was a phone that Nokia was going to release which was tentatively called the N9-00. It would have beaten the hell out of the Atrix, and had a far more robust operating system on it. And most importantly, it had a physical keyboard. I’m still not sold on software keyboards. Moreover, I don’t yet see the need for me to get a new phone. I really want to play around with Android, and I’ve even considered the possibility of developing apps for it, but my current phone really does fulfill all my needs. It’s approaching four years since Nokia released the N95, and there hasn’t been another device since that could stay as relevant for as long as it has. I need to work to keep my gadget lust in check, and stay practical.

I found my new phone

And probably, my new computer. The Motorola Atrix, announced at CES the other day, is the phone I’ve been waiting for. While it isn’t exactly as I hoped it would be, and their laptop accessory is horribly executed, the “webtop” dock they have is pretty damn near what I wanted. I’m really hoping AT&T doesn’t mess up the operating system too much, because the potential of this hardware with untainted Android installed is incredible.

If they were to rework the laptop version to be a bit thicker with more battery life, and move the phone to serve as the trackpad, it could be usable. Or just make the keyboard all-in-one I envisioned.

N95

I’m getting a new phone. I’m really excited about it. I’m definitely a gadget geek, and this is seriously gadgetier than anything else I’ve ever had. The Nokia N95 is a ridiculously impressive phone, which is surprising considering it was released two years ago. In a field where new devices are announced weekly, for a phone to be released, and stay on the cutting edge for two years is amazing. This phone has more functionality than my laptop, and it fits in my pocket.

This is my substitute for a laptop this summer. It can shoot, edit, and upload VGA video; act as a wireless access point for whoever brings a laptop; geotag photos and throw them on flickr; and stupid amounts of other things. I’m really anxious to get it, so I can mess around with it, but buy.com is taking forever to ship it. That’s where I am right now.