MobileDan’s Weblog

It’s been a bit since my last post…

I’ve been slacking…

Sorry!

Ok, in a nutshell…  in about May I received a Nokia 5800 Xpress Music… I’ve already posted about that here, but in the following months (it’s all actually been a blur) I received a N79… it was pretty nice, but like i said in my last post, I cannot go back to buttons… Maybe I am broken?

It’s actually a shame, because I really wanted to like that phone, but have found that I am completely touch screen from here on out…

Unless the N86 can win me over…

Enter the N97!

I was asked to go with the Wom World / Nokia 24/7 tour with such bloggers as

Matthew Bennett

Jonny Bruha

George Kelly

Andrew Currie

What an experience!  the task was to pretty much go 24/7 using nothing BUT the N97, its GPS, the amazing 5mp Carl Zeiss optics camera, the comfortable slide out (or pop out whichever you prefer calling it) keyboard. 32GIG! of installed memory with the option to upgrade another 16 gig Micro SD card, the home screen with the widgets which made using the phone’s features that much easier because they were all accessable from the home screen… ie. the facebook app, the weather app, up to 8 contacts on shortcut, up to 8 apps on shortcut…  all around, I fell in love with the device…

But, what was more exciting than that…

I was tasked to be the ‘wrangler’ of the above mentioned bloggers, or “voices” as they put their devices through rough and tough trials!

For those readers who didn’t happen to follow the Nokia N97 24/7 campaign, we all met in LA, traveled to SF then off to Chicago and finally ending in NYC! They were tasked to push the device to it’s fullest, we used public transportation, hiked around town, and to most of the touristy places, seeing and doing as much as we could do… all said and done, the 5 of us generated about 20 Gigabites of content!

All in the course of 2 weeks…

We drove up the Pacific Highway and had amazing conversations, we attended BarCamps in all of the cities we visited. and discussed amongst other things, where we see the future of mobile technology (usually at the expense of me being called a mobile addict, always having my eyes on my phone… (i’ve gotten better about texting and surffing while I drive guys! Which is a serious safety concern throught the world, and really isn’t worth the risks taken!)  )

It was a great experience, and I look forward to many more!  Please take the time to visit the above bloggers’ websites as well as My new employer’s website, 1000heads / WomWorld/Nokia

That’s right!  Welcomed to the UK by 1000Heads, who run WomWorld/Nokia, I am the new Voices Executive for the US!

I am writing this post, from a bus (with Wi-Fi!) from Oxford UK to Heathrow Airport, returning from my 1 week of training here at both the Milton & London offices!

I am excited to see that there are going to be exciting changes and improvements in the US market for WOM World/ Nokia and that I can be a part of it!

Expect a lot of more postings regarding this, although I am wondering if I should post this to my personal site instead… and keep the format and information found on mobiledan as it was… (with more updates of course )

With that, I end this posting, but look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Daniel Silvers

MobileDan

dandandan

So, when I decided to write my last post on emoze I had to break out the only phone I have for now, being Jonathan Greene’s N78 that I still need to get back to him, AND think of an appropriate gift, seeing as I’ve been borrowing it for… oh… 6 months! (Please leave ideas for things if you have any)

BACK to the story!

So, emoze is in the process of releasing a version for the 5800, but for now, I don’t have one, so I had to fire up the N78…

Buttons… Wow…

I don’t think I was really expecting to like the Nokia 5800, I was kinda iffy on the whole touch screen thing, being that I drive and text so much, but I had already known that I HATED QWERTY, although I did kinda like the E71, It was QWERTY and that was a deal breaker for me… (that, and the pink hue on the photos…)

So, Yeah, I LOVE this phone… I am reassured every time I pick up the iPhone, every time I have to show my father how to do something on his N75, and every time that I use any other phone…

But the funny thing was that using the N78, which is a SOLID device I must add… I really felt like using a rotary dial phone… after using Touch tone for so long…

That’s how archaic it felt to my hands…

Sitting here at my computer, phone on lap, I just touch the screen on the 5800 to wake it up to see if I missed anything… I did it 3 times to the N78, after catching myself doing it the first time, calling myself stupid, I still managed to do it 2 more times!

It’s just that smooth!

One beautiful, solid phone this 5800 is!  AND it’s just the basic model!

The N97 is going to have so much more in the way of social networking, and after just seeing this phone, I know it’s going to be AMAZING!

As I wrap up my visit from the Nokia 5800, I am again comforted in the fact that Nokia is producing quality products, with the user in mind, never really outdating a model with a newer or flashier one before the last model has seen it’s glory.  Which I must add is my #1 pet peeve with one specific company for releasing a newer version of phone or music player a step up for the same price as the last model, JUST after I have purchased mine…

Thanks…

My N73 which is a few years old can still hold its own in the wild, as well as the N78, and any other model released…

Even the N95 which was the flagship phone for many years, is still very competitive, even with the release of the N96 and the up coming release of the N97.

So, back to rotary dial for me… buttons, buttons and buttons… until I get the N97!  my only problem, and I’m sure it’s across the board, is the pricetag… but for what it’s worth, my feelings on the economy and such, is that instead of purchasing a flashy camera AND phone… get your moneys worth, Function over Form!  look into the Nokia devices, I’m sure there’s something that can fit your budget… the lowest camera resolution of 3.2 usually comes with Carl Zeiss optics which alone makes it a great camera, mixed with all the features of S60 and a solid build, and the fact that firmware updates are always coming out to help your phone keep up with the times… Nokia = sound investment

Until next time…

MD

Wow, I really didn’t give this phone a chance… Every time I saw it, i played with it for about a minute, then passed it on…

Not impressed I’d say…
Now, I want one of my own, and I hear that Amazon and Dell are both selling them pretty cheap…

On with my actual writing, and not my babbling about it…

This device is solid, lots of internal memory for applications and storage
I could definitely see my brothers and friends and even my parents using this phone, It’s very straight forward, the camera is amazing in good light outside for taking quick snap shots, and it’s got everything that I have come to love with S60!

Currently I have installed on the device:

Palringo, Fring, Photo Browser, ScreenSnap, Sports Tracker, Gmail, Google Maps, Qik, JoikuSpot, Shozu.

I took the phone with me on my trip to Denver and up the mountain and the only problem I had with the phone, I had corrected before I left

First off,

I thought the battery life was short before I left… I think that I just use the phone too much… in the last 3 weeks of having the phone I have used 19hours talk, and over 500MB of data transferred, so… maybe I just need a bigger battery…

using the touch screen with gloves on was simple, and uploading via Shozu to my blog, my Ovi account as well as searching through the Facebook site on the huge screen made it really easy to go a whole week without using a computer.

This is what I look for in a device, something that can keep me on the go, and also keep me in the know!

I would recommend this device for anyone who is looking into a new device, is interested in listening to music with the included 8gig micro SD card, and anyone who would like to view the web in a really nice size screen that can also fit in their pocket!

The camera is a 3.2Mp Carl Zeiss optics lens which takes amazing photos in daylight, and decent up close shots with the led flash…

there are a few things that took some getting used to, like only having 4 items on my standby screen, but for people who talk a lot you could substitute that with people you call frequently.

searching for a number was pretty easy, just select contacts, then tap the type screen, and choose the first letter, then it automatically gives you the next available second letter and so forth and so on… or, you could just scroll down till you find the name you are looking for…

you can also easily manually enter the phone number of course.

by losing the other options on the standby screen, you also gained some other media shortcuts… By tapping just off the screen on the top right, you are given your media options: Music, Photographs, Share Online, Video and Internet browser.

Tapping the time you can set your alarm and access connectivity options such as network, LAN, Bluetooth amongst other connectivity options.

I really like this device, and at the price point of under $350 I don’t see why you would get any other touch screen device at all! Or at least not pick up this sweet device!

as a repost from the Nokia Daily News

I would like to point out that as I gathered, and I may be missing something…

Howard Forums has a running thread, and all that I was able to get out of it was from a user “sr1329″ who stated

“The one thing FP2 brings is a whole new access point management system that can switch from 3G to a known Wi-FI access point if you get close to one. Where it fails is that when you leave the range of that access point it isn’t very good about switching you back to 3G. It will just say connection dropped or something like that. The next time you access data it will ask you again for the access point you want to use. “

Let’s do a comparison for $hits and giggles…

Mobile user “A” purchases a brand new E71x from AT&T with a 2 year contract for $99 for the actual unit and the required data plan of $30 per month your total cost(leaving voice out because we’re assuming that Mobile user “A” and “B” will be getting the same voice plan) would be $819.99 ($99.99 for the unit, PLUS the additional $720 for just data alone, )

Compared to

Mobile user “B” (the smart and savvy shopper who purchased their unit “unlocked” from, say… Dell.com for $340)

Mobile user “B” purchases the unit, unlocked for $340, at a much higher price then user “A” of $240.01 but aside from the FP 2 I can’t see why there is THAT much of a difference, when the ends justify the means… Let’s examine further… Shall we?

Mobile user “B” now has to purchase a rate plan (we’re assuming the same rate plan as user “A” here, so the difference is the data plan…) user “B” can purchase the $15 data plan, for the same unlimited data as user “A” above for a total cost over the 2 years of the contract of $700 ($340 for the unit, PLUS the additional $360 for just the data alone…)

Wait! Did user “A” pay $720 over the 2 years and user “B” only paid $360 FOR THE SAME DATA? another example of why it pays to be a smart shopper… they give it to you cheap in the front, but you take it in the rear!

AT&T DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THS!

Come on people, When will you wake up?  Sure, What’s a little $119.99 over 2 years when you can get FP2 on your E71?

Well, what’s to say that Nokia can’t do an OTA (Over The Air) update?

plus, you won’t have the AT&T branding of, disabled Nokia keys, un-movable (or deletable) menu items…

The device was made in such a way for a reason…

If you want it cheap, and as a knock-off, (which is how I view branded devices)

Then please buy this unit

Sincerely yours…

MobileDan

So, I think I’ve gotten my own self to believe that I am possessed…

The 5800 has been shutting off on me!

Well, this time, I Googled the symptoms Nokia 5800 shutting off” I found this

Turns out, the battery terminals on the 5800 are raised off of the back of the mother board… leaving a bit of play between the terminals and the battery… so, if the phone is jogged, or squeezed, the battery terminals loose their connection, even for but a moment, it’s enough, and it’s enough frustration for the user…

This might not be the case for ALL 5800 phones, or even all the users, but for those of us who it does deal with, here’s a solution!

What I did was I took the corner off my pack of cigarettes (I know, I’m trying to quit!) and I placed it under the battery, where the terminals are… Seems to have done the trick!

Hope this helps… I can’t claim this, all credit should go to damolee who is a sage at Nokia Support Discussions. I can only link my video and elaborate to the original post…

I think this could be a huge recall problem, so I hope someone can get something together, because this device really is a beautiful thing…

One Idea I have is for Nokia to send out stickers, to a certain thickness for dealers, repair centers and any consumer who asks for one. Have a specific location picked out on where it should go, and that should do.

for the units not yet sold, maybe a thicker battery? Maybe install the sticker where it’s needed?

I would really like to know why the battery is upside down though…

MobileDan

OK, so last night didn’t count… I got the phone opened up and played with it, but I didn’t really leave the house with it…

Today I did…

I am on the road a lot… at least 600 miles a week, and I still need to be connected… OK, you got me again… I don’t NEED to be connected, I WANT to be connected… I’m out there trying out these devices, making sure that they can handle whatever anyone can throw at them, and being the multi-tasker that I am, who better to do it then me?

On with it!  As I mentioned before I was against touch screens… but I think it was made up for by the addition of the Alphanumeric Keypad…

One problem I found today was when I was using Palringo to talk to friends I got annoyed at the steps that I had to take just to post anything!

I have organized some screenshots (Oh, before I forget, there is a really sweet app for that http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/How_to_take_screenshots_on_the_Nokia_5800_XpressMusic.php)

On with the screenshots… with my commentary…

The first thing to realize when entering any information on this phone, is that there are 4 different ways of entering text!

Handwriting

Mini QWERTY keyboard

Alphanumeric Keypad

And of course Full Screen QWERTY, which I could not show because the screenshot I am using apparently does not do so well in rotation mode…

K, now that that’s out of the way…

Here is my main buddy list, I’ll go ahead and select Ping.fm, Lets now update my status…

Now that I clicked that buddy, I want to type to it, I tap the part that says “Type Message Here” and it brings me to the screen below me… (I know the top part is hard to see, I am sorry…)

Next I am brought to this screen, this makes no sense to me, because I cannot DO anything with it, since I don’t actually have a keyboard… So, again I am forced to tap it again… I think it does this by default, thinking that I might use the Handwriting, but when It’s not in that mode, I really wish it could cut this step out…

After tapping the screen I am brought to my last used setting, the Alphanumeric Keypad

NOW I can finally type out my message…

finish typing, tap the green check mark and…

Back to this screen, this redundant screen… this damn stupid screen…

I next have to tap the options button

And hit Ok…

Which brings me back to the actual Palringo application screen with my text entered…

I next tap the screen where it says “Send”

And Voila!

My status is updated!

Versus on the N78 I would have been able to type in the fields and just hit send…

I don’t mind a few extra steps, but I really wish I could take out the Handwriting screen… or at least not have it be default…

I also have this problem when sending texts…

I’ve gotten it down though, and am pretty quick about it.

The learning curve was very short, and I definatly prefer this over QWERTY, and I fear that I am alone on this one…

UPDATE:

As per Ricky Symbian-Guru suggested below, I went and downloaded the native Palringo app

So much better using the right tool for the right job, here you see how much better and more efficiently this works!

Off the bat, this application makes better use of the screen.  I can’t believe that when I went to download the app, it gave me the other one…

Here, we can use the plecturm or our finger to scroll around, and hold on the contact we wish to talk to…

sending a message, from this screen…

…will take you to your default text entrly

leaving more room for typing, reading and less room for extra, unnecessary buttons

There you have it, Palringo v.99 for Symbian S60v5

Keeping up with what the users want and need, even as they themselves find something new that they MUST use!

First impressions…

I like buttons… I like T9 buttons to be more precise… I don’t hate QWERTY, I just don’t like it very much…

for the same reason that I don’t like most other 2 handed devices… or things that really distract me, or my eyes from the road…

I think I’ve become a master at driving and T9 typing… My Perry Farrell vision is amazing…

Anyway…

The package arrived… turns out it’s a 5800 XM NAM!

I get home, sync the phone from the N78, seems to have taken a bit longer then usual, and I think it was because it was also syncing all my music from the 4 gig card over to the 8 gig card…

I walked around the supermarket in a daze, checking out all the neat things that could be done to change the experience of the phone… the home screen theme of contacts bar, having 4 main easy to touch and call contacts, seems cool, if I had more then my GF that I called on a regular basis… maybe more like 12, fill up the whole screen… but 4 is better then none…

I really like the feel of the screen, if that makes any sense, since it’s the screen that feels me… It reminds me very much of the screen on my N800 Internet Tablet, responsive enough for handwriting, I think I could get to like this phone!

Texting has proven to take a bit, when sitting down, I can easily turn the device to use the full screen QWERTY, but this is not so handy when driving, which I do a lot of… the mini QWERTY keyboard makes me feel like I should be using the included guitar pic or stylus, or keep going back and forth deleting my errors… there is also handwriting, but I haven’t set it up yet… but wait…. there is also the option for an Alphanumeric keypad… that is about as close to T9 as I am going to get… well, it is, but it does not have actual buttons, but… it is T9!  I am very very happy.

downfalls… no sportstracker… BOO… no contacts on Ovi, and no Conversation and no Nokia Email… so far… I need to find other things that I CAN do with this device… expect more updates as I start playing with this device more and more… for $338.39 from Dell Small Business, it’s so far sounding like a sweet deal!

As I posted earlier about borrowing Jonathan Greene’s N78 and how much I liked it!

Reading through my blogs I also stumbled upon a posting in which I ranted, but also made a statement about “…the winner (for me) will then have to compete against the N96 and N78 (can I get them both at the same time?)”

Having the N78 and N96 next to each other I couldn’t help but think that the N78 is like a baby brother to the N96…

A lot of the features that I had gotten used to in the N78 were still there in the N96, and a lot of the things that I liked about the N95-4 were incorporated into the N96.  All in all, the N96 should’ve been a front runner, but unfortunately it was not so…

The crashing drove me crazy!  literally 3 crashes per day!

Coming back to the N78 was a simple switch, and I am back to no problems with a solid device.  Not that I don’t foresee the N96 coming into it’s own, but the N78 is a fully matured device.

I can still play music on it, and I can use the FM transmitter if I so desire, it’s simple, I load the music player, start playing a song, hit the options button, go to FM transmitter, and select a station!

The drop back to 3.2MP camera wasn’t felt as hard as one would expect, at least I’m not going back to 2.0!

I still have Wi-Fi, I still have GPS and I still have S60 in general for all of it’s greatness!

I really like the feel of the flip out phones (N95 and N96, as well as the N85) but for now they are out of my price range

Last week I purchased my own N78 for US3G phone for $268!  comparing the two devices they obviously look the same, but the N78 US3G seems smoother, the navi-wheel seems to be much smoother, and it does this cool thing (excuse my ignorance for not knowing the terms, I’m just a user after all ) when I hit the camera button, the screen shrinks and spins! it’s more animated then it’s European brother… I really enjoy this phone so far, and expect nothing but love from and to it!

I am not working as much as I would like, and whatever I spend my money on has to be worth it, and right now I opted for an older model, I set my limit at $300

Going back to a point I’ve been stressing a lot recently in my blogs, even though it’s an older model, it’s not forgotten about, it’s still sold, it’s still updated, and it’s still performing extraordinarily well compared to other phone manufacturers models where they forget about older models once they release a newer model…

I’m happy with this purchase!  and I’m looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it!

What older model phones are you using, and how do they compare to what others’ are releasing now?  I’d like to know!

As a part of my trial of the N96, I was trialing  NokiaviNe, I was also asked to do a mobi-documentary… a sort of “Day in the life of”

I have seen some other documentaries and chose to do mine a bit different.  I’m not up for video editing just yet… so bear with me

Using the N96 for music and as a camera, NokiaviNe for tracking and choosing one not so crazy day to track, I set out to document a part of my day.  Due to the nature of my current work, I cannot film inside clients houses’ so I more or less did updates to and from the job.

One of the things I like about “viNe” is that you can see the icon for music, photos and/or video and then click on that icon to see it via your browser.

As of now, I cannot search for my “viNes” or myself by username, so I have to zoom in on my area and find the specific “viNe’s” that I want to show for this post…NokiaviNe is still working on ways to be able to link to “viNes” so I am going to include screenshots of the NokiaviNe website.

Back to the task at hand, “A day in the life… Gosh I get sidetracked easily!

Zooming in on the Westchester County New York area I can see that I’ve posted a bunch! And that there are others around me also posting a lot as well!.

My day in my life viNe

Zooming in further I can pick out some of the videos that I posted, and can even view them on the page!

This video shows how I take the above picture…

Here are the rest of the videos I posted…eNjoy!

Driving though Westchester in morning traffic…

Finally with my boss, letting him do the driving…

Entering the city, Harlem River Drive, driving under I95 and the extention for the George Washington Bridge…

CrAzY  cAbBiEs!

Going to get eqiptment from the truck, and a blended video,

The last video kind of bleneded together, weird, I didn’t edit them, it just kind of worked out that way…

Hope you enjoyed this, I will next try to learn video editing whenever I get a chance!

Take care, and thanks for visiting!

I am not a market analyst, I am not a tech guru, I am not even much of a consumer, but what I am is an end user… I think that this means a lot.  It does to me… I matter a lot to me, and what I choose to spend my money on is a well thought out process of want vs. need (sometimes )

Tonight I had a discussion with my friend Serko from MobileDivide (please excuse the cursing, it was a private conversation that he has allowed me to share parts of)

SERKO: hope we get to play with the N97 on Tuesday!

Me:  That would be nice!

SERKO: I’m beginning to lose faith in Nokia too much rehashed BS

Me:  I hear you. But I don’t need a new phone, I need dependable

SERKO: definitely!

Me:  And, if the 95 is tried and true after all these years, so be it

Me:  That’s why I bought the 78

SERKO: Yeah I want an N85 in all Black with a Xenon flash

Me:  It’s exciting to see new, but I’m broke, and I can’t sell my parents, brothers or friends on something that’s not ready… Something that needs Fw updates and whatnot

SERKO: sure man totally understand

Me:  I can’t buy new yet, not patient enough. I’ve gone thru hell with this 96… So many freezes

SERKO: I want ATT to release a NAM 5800 for $99

Me:  Na, They raped the 75, I want them to NOT fu*% anything I want up

SERKO: well I flashed my mom’s N75 awhile back with an unbranded firmware build and it’s unlocked officially

Me:  Until they realize they can’t stick their d!*% in everything before they pass it out, I’ll pass

SERKO: lol OUCH!

ME: I sent 4 of them back until I got an old fw… That didn’t have their tabbed home screen. F*%k them, I’ll pay the money (for unlocked)… I think the tube will be under 300 Then practically give them away unlocked.. Without contract… If they (Nokia) can take that hit, it’ll attract a lot of people. But it had better be road ready! Don’t race to just sell it… Get the download store ready for it… Apps that work properly with it. Get everything symbian signed and verify it works with the tube

SERKO: sure man I agree, though I kinda feel weird going backwards in terms of Camera MP

Me:  I’m happy here at 3.2… Xenon is a big jump forward too!

SERKO: If they can get the 5800 to $249 on Amazon I think they’ll have a field day!

Me:  Not on Amazon! At the Nokia store

Take away any chance for people to sell for a profit

Draw people to the store… get people to see everything that Nokia has to offer… It’ll be in time for the 4th generation iPhone… (insert laugh) They can catch all the late adopters.

This started a fire that I let dwindle… A few months ago I spoke about my rant on Nokia’s attempt (or lack of one) in the US market. Amongst other things that I spoke of in that blog, I commented on my ideas on how to win over this finicky market…

The US market was lost by Nokia on so many fronts, but mostly the thing that I think did it in was the iPhone… I see too many people using it, and while I think it’s a great invention, It’s got nothing new, but things that I have seen and not marketed within S60.

Nokia is now fighting a multi-theatre war, one in trying to win consumers over with Nokia phones, and the other with trying to sell manufacturers and consumers on Symbian S60…

I get confused sometimes… I would really love to get my hands on the Samsung INNOV8 so that I could compare what Nokia and Samsung do with the same OS.

But, for now, I am a Nokia Fan-boy I guess…  I just see how the US consumer is inundated by a new phone ad daily, and it’s flash and shine… whereas I have convinced my family on how with the economy it’s less about form and more about function!  (Not that I don’t like the form of Nokia phones! they’re just not marketed as “sexy”)  My 67 year old father is using OVI to sync his calendar, contacts and photos that he was taking with my old N73, he seems to be getting by fine, and once he gets into his own routine I think he’ll figure out how much more is possible with it!

I think that the problems that I’ve had with demoing new phones is that the hardware is there, it’s flawless!  The problem is that the firmware needs to catch up, and most consumers aren’t willing to have to go through the trouble of having to do this weekly or monthly if and when there is an update…

I’m in the market for a new phone, and I want something that I don’t have to complain about, something that when I’m showing it off to people it isn’t freezing up or worse yet, restarting mid load of an app!  I think that Nokia is in a good position to release the 5800 tube, if they can get everything to work seamlessly, under normal use or under strain by a power-user! Something that shows what the download store is meant to do, show that it works great out of the box, and show that It’s possible to replace so many things that you’ve taken for granted in Nokia.  And with OTA updates, your phone will soon be able to learn to do so many more things!

Nokia: Take a price cut, and offer it without a contract for a competing price as the iPhone is with a contract!  it’s a base model, it’s NOT an Nseries, let it pave the way for the N97!

I don’t think that anyone knows how to conquer the US market, you hold your ground until something else flashy catches these consumers eyes… Grab their attention and hold it, and release something new and different, don’t release an updated version months down the road… Nokia to me hasn’t been like that, I love that my 2.5 year old N73 is still much better then most everything non Nokia, and that’s not just because of the 3.2MP camera!

The average consumer doesn’t care about their network so much as that it works!  I think that because the frequencies are so different in the different markets, it’s gonna take until we get to something like  5G (insert laugh here…) for all of the frequencies to match up, which I think is another problem, not only do manufacturers have to make one product for one market, they also now have to adapt that product to work within the US frequencies which are trying to catch up with the  GSM community…

One key reference website that I use is GSM Arena it lets me choose by manufacturer and sort results by frequencies.  AT&T for instance is 850 and 1900 GSM and 850 and 1900 UMTS… as explained here 2G is GSM and 3G is UMTS also called WCDMA and HSDPA I don’t know much about any of this but I know that I am seeing 3.5G on my screen and am happy to be able to use data and voice simultaneously! AT&T works great for me, I had problems with T-Mobile in my area and don’t foresee myself going back, but, I only use AT&T for service with voice, data and text, any other features they offer I am currently able to get through other services.  I still think that the providers should find a way and offer Spinvox, as I’ve been using it and loving it!

What I’m getting at in my last is that I understand that we are a hard market to please, and with that, it’s a gamble to make a product version for us that may or not sell as it does across the pond… once that is settled I think it’ll be easier for the companies, but for now, we need something on the high and low end to WOW us, to make us jump up and stand in line, and once we’re in line, and have the product, we don’t want a slap in the face when the same thing is re-packaged with more features and re-sold… just upgrade the firmware!

I will revisit this blog in the near future I am sure…