The last six weeks have been pretty insane! I will stay relatively cryptic about the details, but, as my friends already know, I have changed jobs twice in that time period. The job for which I left HUGE seemed like a great opportunity, but I found myself highly uncomfortable in the position. A more-than-suitable alternative (in the form of Practice Technologies) happened to make itself available (as I was figuring out that I had accepted the wrong job for me), so I made the jump. It was a very difficult decision, but, on the same token, I knew for sure that I was not in the right environment.
Aaaaanyway… an incidental side-effect of this unusually rapid job hopping was going through two work-sponsored phones in less than a month. Which made me realize a much more minor mistake than accepting the wrong gig: having a phone and phone number that I did not own.
Verizon
Immediately upon tendering my resignation from ‘mystery job B’, I went to the Verizon store. Fiscally-retarded as I am, I had maintained an account with Verizon for the many months HUGE had been providing a phone, so it seemed like a logical choice to reawaken the relationship (plus, they’ve always actually given me pretty good service). The clerk did some math to figure out that I’d spend less money if I paid the cancellation fee on my old account, and started a new 2-year contract. If I ever mail in that $50 rebate, I will have gotten a really good deal. And it’s worth noting that Verizon was the first provider to offer pro-rated cancellation fees, a customer-friendly policy.
Motorola Q 9c
On my roommate’s recommendation, I went for the late-model Motorola Q, a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone, similar in shape to a Blackberry. Having used a couple of pocket PC-type phones in the past, the smartphone is a welcome departure. In fact, I’m sad that I didn’t get a smartphone sooner. Most importantly, the smartphone’s ability to function as a phone is vastly superior. Even though the numeric keypad is superimposed on the alphabet keys, I can start typing a number (without hitting ‘function’) OR a name, and the phone instantly and magically figures out which I need. It’s not rocket science, I suppose, but I am very pleased with that interface feature. Originally fearing that I’d miss a touchscreen, the smartphone has brought me in the direction of near-loathing when it comes to touchscreens on handheld, pocket-borne devices. It’s small. It’s not exacerbating the hole that my pocket PC wore in my pocket. I can always use it with one hand. And say what you will about Microsoft, but I actually kinda like Windows Mobile 6; the user interface is almost completely intuitive, it’s fast, and there are tons of available applications.
bluetooth headset
In 20 days, it will be against the law to talk on the phone while driving in California without a hands-free device. A generic bluetooth headset and car charger were just a few extra dollars, so I got them. Windows Mobile 6 puts the bluetooth setup right on the home screen (or did I set that up? whatever), so it’s very quick to get set up as I begin either leg of my commute. The Q has superb voice-activated dialing, so I pretty much only ever touch one button (one that is ergonomically findable, keeping my attention on the road). I’ve spent more time talking to my family in the last 2 weeks than I had in the previous month. Go bluetooth.
Plaxo…
Sam clued me in that Plaxo had some mobile integration capabilities. Visiting their site for the first time in a while, I was impressed at the number of services they currently integrate. Plaxo is now pulling in both my Yahoo! and Google address books (in a read-only fashion: it does not update remote accounts), as well as my Google Calendar. Plaxo used to pull Yahoo! Calendar, but support broke and/or was discontinued at some point. I have continually heard rumors that a Yahoo! Calendar API is coming; if that ever happens, hopefully Plaxo will again pull in that service. Plaxo also used to directly pull in LinkedIn connections, but it looks like LinkedIn gave them the smackdown. It’s still possible to export your LinkedIn contacts to CSV, so I don’t see this as being a huge deal.
…Plaxo Premium
For me, there were two reasons to upgrade to Plaxo Premium. First is Windows Mobile Sync. Mobile Sync is what drove me to Plaxo this time around, and I don’t mind paying for useful premium services. Plaxo for Windows Mobile was easy to install on the Q, and I only had to run it once for a simple initial setup. The second bonus of Plaxo Premium is address book duplicate removal. This seems like a less-likely candidate for a ‘premium’ designation, but I’m paying anyway, and I enjoyed removing/merging duplicates through their fairly effective interface.
Yahoo! Go
This neat little program is a simpler, often better, interface to the Yahoo! family of services, including mail, address book, calendar, Flickr, maps, and news. One highly impressive feature of Yahoo! Go is the ability to dial people directly from your Yahoo! contacts. Browsing Flickr is also straightforward and well-geared to a device with a small screen. Both contacts and Flickr suffer a similar problem, though, in that you can’t save a contact or a photo to your phone; to get them, you must return to Yahoo! Go. I wanted to save a Flickr photo as my screen background, and no dice. I suppose I could use Opera Mobile to do that…
Opera Mobile
Possibly the biggest no-brainer in the Windows Mobile third-party software space is Opera. Internet Explorer for Mobile truly sucks ass, and Opera Mobile truly kicks ass. Everything renders better, and Opera supports javascript. IE is in the stone age, and I’ll leave it at that. Download it, and when your 30 day trial is over, cough up the $24. It’s well worth it. The web geek in me also appreciates Opera’s role as a standard-bearer for web standards, so I almost revel in tossing them a few bucks.
GMail / IMAP
GMail, which I use exclusively as my work email client, offers IMAP. I set up Outlook on my phone to pull mail from GMail every 15 minutes or so, and it’s working swell. It’s oddly convenient that work email comes to Outlook on the phone, and personal email is inside Yahoo! Go.
Maps? Google?
The Google Maps application works, for the most part, but has let me know that the pseudo-GPS functionality is not available on my phone. I have a sneaking suspicion that Verizon’s desire to sell me the VZ Navigator application/service is behind this feature-squelching, and, if that’s true, shame on them.
Overall, I will go so far as to say that I have never been so happy with my phone situation.
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