When I first got my Blackberry, I was stunned and appalled that it would not sync with my email on the server. How ridiculous!

This meant that if I did not manually delete my mail from my phone, (choices were one at a time, or “entire day”) then over time it would fill up with hundreds, even thousands of emails.

Nearly a year and a half ago I mentioned the Google phone was coming, and to everyone’s surprise, it has taken incredibly long.

I picked a great day to drop my Blackberry in downtown Portland… One of the best phones I’ve ever had, (8703e) bounced once then landed in a 3 inch deep puddle.

It worked for about a minute, then the screen started flickering, then it made a little fizzing sound, and that’s the end. I KNOW I should have dried it out in a bag of rice for three days, or something, but c’mon, i had to try it, right?

My time wouldn’t stay set on my Blackberry, which was driving me crazy. Apparently nobody has told Verizon and Blackberry that daylight savings time came early this year.

In the options - 8 times section, of my Blackberry settings, in addition to changing the time to be correct, I had to choose the date/time source to be set to “off”.

*update  3/08 - issue resolved - Blackberry syncs with POP mail

Yesterday was the first full day with my Blackberry 8703e. Yes after nearly 6 full months with my old phone, (the ever so fragile and sluggish VX6700), I decided to get a new one. When it arrives, I’m listing my latest insurance replacement phone on Ebay to sell to someone with more time (and sticky stuff) on their hands.

It was reported today on Good Morning America (or some morning show) that there is a new ringtone for cellular phones that are inaudible to adults.

The ramifications for this during school classes and elsewhere will likely be pretty widespread.

While I find the technology fascinating, there are some things that are just wrong. In my opinion, this is one of them.

I just went to make a phone call, and the screen of my XV6700 says this… 

“Internal Use Spy”

hwnd: 7c078c50 style:

10008004 ex:4

Title: Phone - Class: dialog  Window [0,26]-[240,294]

Client 240 x 268

hwnd owner: 000000

Do you want to dump the parent?

Yes / No ?

I just bought a “new” version of Voice Command (July 2005!) and I incorrectly assumed that Voice Command would work via Bluetooth by now, and frankly, I’m shocked that it doesn’t.

Although the software is great, and will announce upcoming appointments, and react to spoken commands quite well, it’s amazing that you still have to physically pick up the phone and push buttons to initiate the program, even though you’re connected wirelessly via a BT headset.  Come ON, Microsoft, get it together already!

 

I finally did the unthinkable. I upgraded my phone before I was eligible, and that cost me an extra $250. Why?

To recap, In July 2005, I did an upgrade from my 2 year old Kyocera 7135 clamshell PDA/phone to the brand new Samsung i730, which had a full keyboard, broadband internet access, and the Windows Mobile OS.

I was lucky enough to just spend 10 full days in Puerto Vallarta. Sorry I didn’t write… However, now that I’m back and well rested, I thought I’d share some travel tips…

Brad Franklin, who used to be the store manager of Cyber Exchange and MPH Computing in Portland is now living in Boise Idaho. He helps people get their PDA/s Palm Treos, Blackberry devices etc. to call, synch with Outlook, stream internet, check email etc. Save yourself the frustration. If you need help in Boise with a PDA or cell phone, Brad can figure out your problem, and let you get back to work. Visit his site now

Today, I synched my Palm treo 650 phone and left home. On the road, I tried to make a call, and all of my contacts were blank, gone, missing, etc. The appointments were there, but all the contacts were gone. To further frustrate and confuse me, the categories for the contacts were all still there! WTF is that all about?