Phone #3

I'll be sticking with this one (T-Mobile won't accept returns after you've taken your third phone, even if you're within the 14-day return window). The battery life on the Blast turned out to be horrendous... went from fully charged, just unplugged the charger to "low battery" in less than 16 hours. And (like I said last post) the e-mail features weren't working for GMail or for my Bellsouth e-mail (well, I could read, but not send/reply/forward). And when I tried to use the TMobile "web sync address book" (which is supposed to allow you to edit and sync your phone's address book through the T-Mobile web site) to change something in the Blast phonebook, the phonebook broke. I couldn't enter any starting letter from "M" onwards, or scroll in either direction past the apparent broken location in the address book (in the M section). I decided that with all these issues, mainly the battery issue, that it really wasn't worth my time or the extra money for the Blast, so I got a Samsung t429 instead.

TZones will let me get to my e-mail. The camera, while still only a VGA camera (and not a match for the camera on the Blast), is better than the RAZR camera. Interface is familiar (to me) Samsung. Display resolution is not as good as the Blast, and it doesn't have the Suretype keypad (which I had started to get used to and like on the Blast), but the battery life is supposed to be much better (haven't fully charged the phone yet, it's charging now). As a note to anyone considering this phone: it does have Bluetooth, but it's only for devices... it doesn't seem to want to transfer files via the Bluetooth. Meaning you'll have to send your pictures via picture message to send it to your computer or somewhere. And you'll have to find another way to get your ringtones onto your phone (check out this site for a convenient way to upload your MP3 ringtones to your phone, and Audacity is a great, freeware way to grab a clip from your favorite MP3 file to use as a ringtone).

One of these days I'll probably want to upgrade to a more data-ready phone, but I don't know when TMobile will unveil their 3G network, and when they do, most current phones won't work on it anyway, the exceptions being the Samsung T639 and Nokia 6236 (the latter of which is actually available at TMobile already, and the former apparently in some places like New York City). Perhaps I should have checked these phones out at the TMobile store (although I'm not sure either is available in my area; pretty sure the T639 isn't, not as sure about the 6236), but (even if available) they are more expensive than the t429 (and require a rebate to get the listed purchase price anyway). Plus they're still TMobile phones... meaning the Java interfaces are (probably) locked down and unable to access the network. If and when I upgrade to a 3G phone for TMobile, I'll probably get an unlocked version.

Anyway, enough of my phone(y) stories... I should get some sleep before I have to get up again and go to work in the morning. Oh, and my right pinky toe, which I think I broke about three months ago, is hurting me quite a bit tonight for some reason. Ah, well, until next time...