It’s interesting how married to Operating Systems people can become. My first computer was an Apple IIGS, but then we swiftly moved to Windows. I used to join in deriding Macs, then I got one. Mac OS, especially 10 and up, became my OS of choice. However, I still used Windows (and occasionally Linux) on a daily basis. I’m basically platform agnostic. A platform is a tool, and the one that works best for you is the best… for you. There is no perfect platform for everyone, for computer or phone.

I mention this because of discussions I’ve been having with some fellow techies. This week I finally broke down and bought a Pre. The reactions from my iPhone, WindowsMobile and Blackberry using friends (Sort of sad, but I don’t personally know a single Android user – no I’ve never met Justin) were almost comical in their predictability. I even got complaints about the Pre from a fellow Pre owner… because he’s really a Blackberry user. I’m not saying they’re wrong – I’m just saying the Pre is closer to my “ideal” phone than most of those other options (In fact, I recalled a doodle I drew ten years ago and it resembles the Pre to the point of scariness).

Every phone does its job in one way or another and every phone does it for someone. The cell market is really big enough for everyone. So how about we all just calm down and let people find the right solution?

So, why is the Pre my “perfect phone” (so far, anyway?)? Click the read link and find out.

[Warning – this thing is a fricking essay. I clearly have no life.]
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Danger’s Sidekick phone is famous on T-mobile for being one of the earliest consumer-friendly synchronized devices.
What makes them so great? Every bit of data that is on a Sidekick exists on their server, which is fantastic if you ever lose/break one… all you need to do is power on your replacement, and like magic all your information is there again as if it never left- call logs, pictures, you name it.

The problem is, apparently the folks that administrate the service need to learn some IT basics.

Rule #1: ALWAYS BACK UP THE DATA!
I would think that by now anyone who administrates a network would understand the importance of frequent and redundant backups. When dealing with all of your customers’ personal information, I would expect there to be some off-site storage as well.
Turns out there isn’t.
Apparently, Danger was in the process of migrating to a new server when something went horribly, horribly wrong, causing them to lose what appears to be all their subscriber’s information.

This is bad for Danger and parent company Microsoft… they are trying desperately to correct the situation, however it appears there is no backup to be found (not even an old one) to revert to!
T-mobile subscribers for now are warned not to turn off their device until the new server is up. Otherwise, when you power the device back on, it will find a blank server to pull from and all your data will be gone for good…
Danger/Microsoft, how did you let this happen?!

Source: Engadget

Tonight was a busy night.

We managed to get a hands-one with three phones we’ve been interested in, the Motorola CLIQ, the Sprint Hero, and the Palm Pixi.

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In one of the strangest stories to hit the mobile space in quite some time, T-Mobile USA’s parent company, the mobile giant Deutsche Telekom is rumored to be in talks with Sprint/Nextel about an acquisition.

This sounds hardly likely for a multitude of reasons- first and foremost, the technology isn’t compatible with their current GSM networks. Sprint, being a CDMA carrier, uses completely different frequencies and protocols- the network could never integrate together into one, and would have to be operated as two independent providers. Sound familiar?
Yeah. Sprint did that when they bought Nextel. Nextel was built around yet another competing technology, called iDen, which was famous for its excellent push-to-talk service. When Sprint’s own attempt at a Push-to-talk service didn’t catch on (anyone remember ReadyLink?), the company made a bold move and just bought up their competitor Nextel.

Not only did the move baffle users everywhere, it apparently baffled themselves as well. What was Sprint supposed to do with Nextel? Consolidate into one network? Not possible!
How do you juggle two networks that have nothing to do with each other? The phones aren’t compatible, the towers and infrastructure are different… you’re basically left with one company trying to run two independent networks along with a totally separate lineup of phones.

Sure, Sprint/Nextel tried to make it work with their hybrid phones (superior voice & data of CDMA, instant walkie-talkie chirp of Nextel), but that unfortunately didn’t catch on as well as planned, and it didn’t help solve the infrastructure problem of maintaining towers for both.

In fact, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse was recently interviewed by Charlie Rose, and asked if he thought the Nextel aquisition was a bad idea. His response? “In 20 / 20 hindsight, it was, yes… the premium that Sprint paid for Nextel was too much.”

There is a lesson to be learned here. Competing technologies don’t blend together well. So why on earth would one of the largest GSM providers in the world be interested in purchasing the very same US provider guilty of that very mistake?
What could they possibly do with it?
Imagine- T-mobile, together with Sprint, together with Nextel. Three totally different, totally incompatible technologies with different phones and different towers, trying to be maintained by one parent company.
No, this sounds like a hoax.

But isn’t it true that Sprint was planning on selling their Nextel division? Perhaps Deutsche Telekom is interested in just that?
Still rather unlikely. Even though iDen and GSM both use SIM cards, their similarities end there. They would still have the dual-network problem to tackle, although admittedly this is better than a triple-network to tackle. Still, why would D.T. want to take on Sprint’s headache, especially when they admit it wasn’t worth it?
Numbers.
It could very well be that D.T. wants a stronger US presence. T-mobile USA is currently in 4th place as far as subscribers for national carriers. Unlike Sprint, D.T. has very deep pockets due to its worldwide presence, and the sheer number of subscribers may be worth trying to maintain both networks, even if it is not profitable at first. Still, it sounds far fetched, and besides the rumor circulating is about Sprint/Nextel, not just Nextel.

So, no one will ever buy Sprint?
No, I’m not saying that. Sprint has been losing money according to its financial reports, however Deutsche Telekom seems like a poor suitor. Fellow CDMA carrier Verizon seems more like a viable option, especially seeing how they recently bought and are merging networks with CDMA carrier Alltel.

Still, despite financial reports, Sprint appears to keep on pushing ahead with new technology and exclusive handsets… and has no sign of slowing. It is my personal opinion that Sprint itself will be around for some time still.

Still, at the mere mention of this news, Sprint’s stock jumped 11%. While I find the whole thing very unlikely, it would seem that at the very least some investors have reason to believe. Or… like so many other rumors in the wireless industry, this could just dissipate and be forgotten a month from now. We shall see…

Holy cow, what a week. Every time Mordy or I sat down to write a post, something else happened. I’m going to try to condense it all into one week, going by topic. Bear with me:
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When discussing the pros and cons of various national cellular carriers, someone inevitably throws a Consumer Reports or J.D. Power Award article in my face.

I hate when they do that. Not because I necessarily disagree with the ratings, but because the way these ratings are reached is generally flawed. There are no actual tests being conducted by professionals to compare services one way or the other… these “ratings” and “awards” are achieved by taking polls- They are asking consumers what they think about their services.

Verizon, for example, is usually rated the highest for call quality. They are built on one of the oldest national cellular networks… it should be no surprise then, that they have more towers set up than anyone else, and have the longest standing reputation. That also means that they have the most customers who have never shopped around for another carrier and therefore are unable to compare them to anyone else. For many customers who have been with them since the beginning, why would you even consider another carrier?

Meanwhile, underdog carriers like T-mobile and Sprint are playing catch up with their customer base, and chances are that more of their current users didn’t start there. That means that they’ve most likely been with other providers, but found one reason or another to try a new one. These users tend to have a more unbiased and objective opinion… They may admit that, for example, there aren’t as many towers on their current provider, but the prices and/or customer service is what they stick around for. Verizon loyalists won’t admit to anything like that because they don’t have any data to compare it to.

Not to mention another rating inflater is the sheer number of subscribers: Remember, we’re asking users to share their own opinions, based on their own experiences. Most people will cite their current provider as best because they wouldn’t still be using them if they felt differently!
Now, ask yourself who has the MOST subscribers out there?
Then ask yourself, who has the least?
Then look at those polls and ratings and see if you notice a pattern…

So technically, a brand new cell provider could pop up overnight, be far better than any of the competition in every regard, but still be rated poorly according to these test results, because the vast majority of users won’t rate them properly.

Now, I’m not saying that the bottom-rated carriers are the best, however I am suggesting these rating systems be taken with a grain of salt. I would recommend asking someone who lives in your area and has tried various carriers before trusting one of these reports. Or, at the very least, read some online discussions from hardcore users who’ve been around (www.howardforums.com is a good place to start). By the way, if you look at those forums, you’ll find a large percentage of users who feel very strongly against top-rated providers like Verizon, and won’t hesitate to tell you why.

Here are some interesting things from DigitalLook, but not exactly interesting enough to be their own article (no offense to the vendors, who were all awesome)

Note that I do have photos, but I seems to be mangling the photo functions of the blog, so I will be holding off on adding them.
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Has anyone been paying attention to the Peek? This throwback device, sold with T-Mobile e-mail service and no voice, was largely dismissed as a solution in search of a problem. In a day and age when most feature phones can at least get gmail, the idea of carrying a seperate e-mail only device seems off. I personally have been following it because I know one person who may have been the target audience, but even he finally has a smartphone (hi dad).

Backing up everyone’s doomsaying has been the various tactics Peek has taken, with sales and price cuts, showing just how badly they want to move product and make a name.

Well, now we see something new – A service-less Peek for $20. It’s interesting to see this, and makes me wonder if one could theoretically get it on a data service other than T-Mobile. It would also be interesting to see if one could hack the phone for web browsing and/or Skype.

Still, this price cut is mostly notable for being the preliminary death knell for a product that was about five years late to the party.

Well, it appears T-Mobile is finally playing catch up in the data network arena.

The folks over at tmonews.com have managed to get a picture of a sign posted outside a meeting, presumably of T-Mobile execs or some such. The sign clearly states that T-mobile will be rolling out its high speed 3G network in 27 major cities across the country, with service officially on Oct 1st.

This makes T-Mobile officially the last of the big national carriers to get 3G. This is sad because other carriers have had 3G for years, and are already announcing plans for 4G data. T-mobile’s rollout by Oct only includes 27 cities, and a fuller rollout will probably take them well into 2009- But by then, I wouldn’t be surprised if some form of 4G were already here.

The irony as I blogged about here recently, is that T-Mobile was once regarded as up at the top of the data network game. Back in the days when 2G was standard, they brought us the first Blackberry with voice, the first Pocket PC phone, popular exclusives like the Sidekick and Dash (Excalibur), etc…

The other big GSM networks got EDGE (2.5G) first, and then T-mobile sorta dragged its feet into last place with that too. Now its like they’re reluctantly bringing 3G because they’re the only ones who don’t have it yet.

I was sort of hoping that they’d just skip and jump straight to 4G or something. *Sigh*
Its almost like, why bother, T-Mobile? Your network will be obsolete by the time you finish!