I truly wonder how much Apple loyalty is merely Gates-phobia.

Bill Gates is the devil! :-)



actually, its Balmer (aka the antichrist) you gotta look out for!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...3729713522403#

Do we really need another Mac vs PC thread? :-)

How about Ford vs. Chevy, just for a change? :-)

The market has certainly changed. I remember when Motorola's Star Tac was *the* phone to have. :-)
Posted via Mobile Device

it was a tank that always worked too, i don't think you could break the damn thing if you tried

ok... some quick comments. I could easily write a dissertation on this one, but i'll try to resist.

After being a lifetime Windows Mobile user, I switched to the moto droid back in November. Best thing I ever did. The simple truth of the matter is, Windows Mobile will ALWAYS disappoint you in the end. You'll be waiting for the next release (in this case winmo7), but when it finally comes out, and FINALLY is available on your device a year later, you'll discover that it is already 2 years out of date, and it will still be running the same flawed platform. I just can't recommend WinMo at all... and I'm a mac hating windows guy.

Moses, you seem like a tech savvy guy, so you may even be able to experiment with the custom roms for Android. I've had GREAT success with them after going through a couple day learning curve, and I really upped the responsiveness of my phone. Regarding updates, if you install a rom like Cyanogen's, he pulls his stuff out of the android source tree directly, So you DONT have to wait for it to filter down through HTC, Motorola, Verizon, etc. ... and the custom rom scene these days is A LOT better than it was in the early G1 days. There's some solid options and less chance of bricking -- I know the Droid has a recovery option that basically ensures is impossible to brick the phone unless the power fails while you are running that recovery.... and the Nexus 1 has BUILT IN support for changing roms, no hacking required.

Android is a young platform and is just now getting its act in gear... but honestly, It's on track to be on par win WinMo7 by the time it comes out.... and keep improving from there. The Droid really pushed it into the mainstream, and from that we've seen an explosion of interest, developers, and apps.

Visual Voice mail is becoming available on a lot of phones these days. It was an option for my droid, tho I use something else. I use www.simulscribe.com - few bucks a month and I get my voicemails converted to text and emailed/txted to me. if I want to listen to it, I just click the attachment in my email (on the phone of course).... but I rarely have to listen to it, its usually accurate enough not to need it.

just a few thoughts from my end...

:-) I had one of those for YEARS.... thing was indestructible and always had a signal.

Are you thinking of the MicroTac? That was the one that looked like a (slightly) smaller version of the military walkie-talkies. The StarTac was a tiny flip phone (I think it may have been the first flip phone). It's still smaller than a lot of modern phones.
Posted via Mobile Device

Nope, I meant the startac.... and yes it was the first flip phone

I meant a tank as far as construction, not size

Yeah, they were pretty durable. I think I still have my black StarTac around somewhere. The MicroTac looked like you could run it over and still make a call.
Anyway, back to topic. From the mobile news I follow, it seems more and more companies are jumping on the Android bandwagon. Seems funny, but the iPhone is IE in this market to Android's Firefox.
Posted via Mobile Device

Francis why do you subscribe to that program when google voice has a speech transcriber that does the same for free? I get my VM through email and txtmsg.
Posted via Mobile Device

Android is a solid platform, I really do like my Droid. And it isn't like any other companies could even hop on the iPhone OS bandwagon if they wanted to. Will be interesting to see what happens if it actually does come to Verizon

Well, right now I think Apple benefits from AT&T's anti-CDMA ads. Personally, I don't consider it a big deal to hang up a call, look up something on Google Maps or the web, then call back or send an e-mail (I'm on Sprint).
You're right, though: expanding to more carriers can only help the iPhone. The question is, will Apple take that step quick enough to counter Android's growing presence? I think pretty much every carrier has an Android-based phone or three by now. People like choices, especially us geeks.
Posted via Mobile Device

when I tested it 6 months ago the gvoice transcriber worked terrible compared to simulscribe.

Sorry you had some bad experiences... I wanted to buy an iPhone almost two years ago and didn't. I have been waiting since then. On April 25 I am eligible for an upgrade and will get it. Since 1987 I have been an Apple geek and love how all of my stuff just simply works together. I could care less if it costs my a little more each month. I just want it to work and it will.

I have the original iphone and have never had a problem with it, my wife has the newer 3Gs and loves it, she had a Blackberry and that was the biggest POS phone I've ever seen.

When I added my wife, daughters and son to my At&T account we paid considerably less than when we were on different carriers. AT&T is the best option on our area for coverage so I'll stick with both AT&T and the iPhone. Oh and the discount my wife gets for working at Wal-Mart makes it even better.

Just like cigars use (smoke) what you like and like what you use (smoke).

RIP, Palm. Verizon can't even give the Pre away these days at a two for one deal. Developers don't want to write for the OS etc.

Palm had it all, and pissed it all away.

It certainly looks that way, unfortunately. The Pre could have been a hit, but the lack of SD card support and no local sync option were big minuses, IMO.
Posted via Mobile Device

I was very excited when the pre came out. I had been wanting (AND STILL DO DAMNIT!!) a phone with a full touch screen and PORTRAIT keyboard. My old Samsung i730 had that and I believe it is the superior way, speed wise, to enter text. Hell, just look at blackberry.... ALL OF THEM are portrait keyboards.... yet android phones and winmo phones seem to insist on landscape keyboards :-). Anyway, I was excited for the Pre... but it never took off. Goodbye Palm, you had your chance and you blew it.

moses, I have the nexus one and it's a great piece of hardware (htc does the best job at covering your "rugged" requirement in my opinion). The Android platform and overall googliness of this phone is a pure joy to work with and it comes with access to google voice, visual voicemail (text transcriptions and a web interface as well).

Just wanted to say that going from an iPhone to WinMo is going to be a painful user experience, with android 2.1 or better you'll be liking it. Been using winmo for 6 or 7 years I think and it just sucks for finger use, caveat being I quit at 6.5, 7 might be better. If you do end up going winmo let me know, I have a bunch of add-on apps that make it MUCH more user friendly for fingers and handsome too