va_rider
Wizard
Well... back in March, I got a new phone... the Verizon(HTC) SMT5800 Smart Phone (Really Dumb Phone). From day 1, the phone was a pain. It ran on the Windows operating system, and you could definitely tell. It would crash for no reason, if you sent a text message and shut the phone, it would lock up. Every once in a while, it would have problems connecting to the earpiece and microphone and the phone would make you sound like a robot. Because it ran on Windows, start-up time was abuot a minute and a half. I actually even got the "blue screen of death" on the phone a few times. The Browser was a joke... couldn't navigate the forum, couldn't access any of the text boxes.. E-Mail wouldn't send. Ever. I could receive my e-mails, but couldn't respond to any..Well, last week, the $h!t hit the fan.... Windows crashed on the phone, and it crashed hard.... It basically ate the operating system and firmware off of the phone. Every time I tried to make a call, it would have a "error" and wouldn't connect the call.
So... I finally had enough of that POS and since I couldn't make calls anymore... I went down to the Verizon store. Luckily, the guy who talked me into the SMT5800 was working. I tossed the phone at him, and told him to get it to work. He played around with it for a while, and couldn't get it to do anything. So, he made a few calls, and since the phone was still under its one year warranty, he decided to swap it out for me.
So, now, I have a Blackberry Pearl. (Kind of a chick phone.... but... it got great reviews) First off, I set it up for my e-mail which consisted of inputting my e-mail addresses and passwords... The phone did the rest. It connected to the servers and set everything up itself. Now, I can send and receive with no problems. Next, it was time to switch over all of my contacts since the guy at the Verizon store couldn't get the old phone to connect to the new phone. I sync'ed the old phone to Outlook, and then the Blackberry to Outlook. Contacts switched over with no problems, and organization in the Blackberry is much better than on the SMT. At my apartment (out in the sticks) with the SMT, I would get 1-2 bars of service, while the soon to be wife would get 3-4 bars on her phone. Now, I get 4 bars of service all of the time on the Blackberry. Just using the phone is amazing compared to that old POS I had... sound is better, reception is better, speakerphone is better, BlueTooth pairing is outstanding. On the SMT, if I was running my BlueTooth headset, I'd have to keep the phone in plain view, within about 3 feet of the phone. With the Blackberry, I can put the headset on, and walk around the apartment while I leave the phone on the kitchen counter. The old phone for some reason couldn't accept PIX messages.... this one, of course has no problem.
There are a few things I'd still like to figure out.... I have Geo-Tagging turned on on the camera, but locations are not saved on the pictures as far as I can tell... I upload pictures straight to my Zannel account, which if the location is turned on, the pictures should be placed on a map... but... that doesn't happen... unless I'm doing something wrong.
All in all.... I'll never get another phone that runs on Windows. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid Windows Vista user at home.... I use AutoCAD and Rhino3d on a regular basis, so there's really no other option... But... in that case, I have a computer meant to handle the requirements of AutoCAD and Rhino, so it's not a problem. I think Windows on a phone is just too much for the rather weak computing capabilities of a phone. I'd like to give a phone running Android a shot, but Verizon doesn't have anything like that yet. I'm generally disappointed in the phone offerings from Verizon, but their service can't be beat around here....
So... I finally had enough of that POS and since I couldn't make calls anymore... I went down to the Verizon store. Luckily, the guy who talked me into the SMT5800 was working. I tossed the phone at him, and told him to get it to work. He played around with it for a while, and couldn't get it to do anything. So, he made a few calls, and since the phone was still under its one year warranty, he decided to swap it out for me.
So, now, I have a Blackberry Pearl. (Kind of a chick phone.... but... it got great reviews) First off, I set it up for my e-mail which consisted of inputting my e-mail addresses and passwords... The phone did the rest. It connected to the servers and set everything up itself. Now, I can send and receive with no problems. Next, it was time to switch over all of my contacts since the guy at the Verizon store couldn't get the old phone to connect to the new phone. I sync'ed the old phone to Outlook, and then the Blackberry to Outlook. Contacts switched over with no problems, and organization in the Blackberry is much better than on the SMT. At my apartment (out in the sticks) with the SMT, I would get 1-2 bars of service, while the soon to be wife would get 3-4 bars on her phone. Now, I get 4 bars of service all of the time on the Blackberry. Just using the phone is amazing compared to that old POS I had... sound is better, reception is better, speakerphone is better, BlueTooth pairing is outstanding. On the SMT, if I was running my BlueTooth headset, I'd have to keep the phone in plain view, within about 3 feet of the phone. With the Blackberry, I can put the headset on, and walk around the apartment while I leave the phone on the kitchen counter. The old phone for some reason couldn't accept PIX messages.... this one, of course has no problem.
There are a few things I'd still like to figure out.... I have Geo-Tagging turned on on the camera, but locations are not saved on the pictures as far as I can tell... I upload pictures straight to my Zannel account, which if the location is turned on, the pictures should be placed on a map... but... that doesn't happen... unless I'm doing something wrong.
All in all.... I'll never get another phone that runs on Windows. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid Windows Vista user at home.... I use AutoCAD and Rhino3d on a regular basis, so there's really no other option... But... in that case, I have a computer meant to handle the requirements of AutoCAD and Rhino, so it's not a problem. I think Windows on a phone is just too much for the rather weak computing capabilities of a phone. I'd like to give a phone running Android a shot, but Verizon doesn't have anything like that yet. I'm generally disappointed in the phone offerings from Verizon, but their service can't be beat around here....
