The Life we call ‘Ithaca’

I believe I first became a cellphone owner in 2000 – well, I began using my dad’s cell phone in 2000, and then got my own in 2001.  Regardless, both of us were Sprint users, for him because he got a great corporate discount via his employer and for me because I only knew of Sprint at the time.  This was way back, so far  that I was able to choose the last four digits of my cell number (have you ever noticed that the last four digits spell out ‘D-A-V-E’?).  Can’t do that anymore. **CLARIFICATION: MY NUMBER HAS NOT CHANGED**

I stuck with Sprint out of convenience, but I’ve never really been happy with them.  Their range is spotty, their customer service is tied with the worst on the planet (Lenovo is the other contender), and you just don’t get much for your dollar.  Sam also belonged to Sprint, but had similar complaints.  Since moving to NY, we’ve become increasingly frustrated…and following a billing fiasco that lasted over two months, we finally terminated our contracts.  Adios Sprint.

The best range over the country is Verizon, which is with who we went.  Verizon has its own reputation – nickel and diming you for every tiny option, forcing you to take certain plans if you have certain phones – but their customer service is good and their range is the best.  On top of it, Sam and I both get corporate discounts of our own, so the deal works out in our favor.

Above – on the right – is my old Sprint phone which has served me well.  On the left, my new pocket computer.

Integrating the computers with which I’m involved has become an increasingly important thing for me, and this phone allows me to do so.  It is the Samsung Omnia, but more importantly it operates on Windows 6.1 OS for phones…which means I can sync my email, create and open anything that Microsoft Office creates – even remotely access my work or laptop computers!  Add a 5mp camera and a phone on top of it, and I was sold.

There is a hell of a learning curve with the phone however, tantamount to learning a semi-new operating system. I’m hoping that this doesn’t translate into significant learning curve ‘nickel and dime’ fees at the end of the month.

As for Sam, she wanted the ability to hack into IBM’s mainframe and use some of their supercomputers to predict celebrity gossip – so she needed a phone with a touchscreen and a keyboard.  She ended up getting the above, a Cray supercomputing CX1 (look it up) that opens to reveal the Qwerty touchpad.

It is difficult to describe the size of this beast, which does not phase Sam who clearly understands its fullest potential well before I can.  In the meantime, I set it next to a 79 Bonneville to see which one is larger:

It’s pretty close.

At the end of the day, there’s a tiny piece of me that is sad to see Sprint go, but it is quickly digested by the larger piece that can now check email and surf the internet at the touch of a button…or three – I’m still learning how.

Goodbye Sprint, hello Verizon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 10:28 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.