[ale] HOW2 choose an organizer/phone ?

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:51:09 -0400
"Courtney Thomas" <courtneycthomas at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> 1-a good buy
> 2-will allow wireless downloads from the net and not require more
> than a DSL connection [no special provider]
> 3-will have enough storage to download books
> 4-will interconnect with a computer to permit moving stuff back&forth
> 5-a big enough & bright enough screen to permit reading w/o spending
> time scrolling each page
> 6-a moderately usable keyboard
> 7-rechargable
> 8-audio capable w/headset
> 9-maximally flexible [not Kindle]
> 10-will have enough RAM to function adequately
> 11-Linux driven OK but not necessary
> 12-used  OK

I highly recommend a G1.  If you want a device that is completely
unlocked you can purchased an unlocked version directly from Google,
for a bit extra, but it will work on all GSM networks and not just
T-Mobile's network.

It is a fully functional Linux device with a custom interface, and it
will let you use up to a 16 GB MicroSD card for storage.  It is more
powerful than any other phone that _I_ have had, and I am enjoying mine
greatly.  I plan to start writing software for it at some point in the
near future, assuming I am able to clear some other things off my
plate first.  You can move data to/from it very easily by using it as a
USB Mass Storage device, and you can also get software for it pretty
quickly from the Android Market, which is built-in to the phone's
software.  There are also applications for it available on the Internet
to extend its feature set to do things like open MS Word documents or
PDF files and view them on the phone, though I haven't personally
tested any of them (yet).

> Is there anything on the horizon better & worth waiting for that's
> not exorbitant  ?

> Any caveats regarding particular products, as well as necessary or
> highly desirable features not covered here  ?

Currently the only Android device out there is GSM, so if you have a
phone provider that is CDMA, you'll have to wait a while to get it.

I highly recommend against Windows-based phones; my last phone was a
Windows-based phone, and as could be expected, it eventually got some
sort of a stupid virus.  Thing is, I didn't download any content, not
even so much as an MMS, since the last time it was hard-reset.  And
it's required several hard resets over the time that I have owned it
(approximately 8 months).

	--- Mike

-- 
A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.
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