I accidentally put myself in a bizarre cell phone situation. I’ve been trying to get a new phone that I like, but between the iPhone announcement and trying to figure out if I should sign up with Cingular, I’ve been thrown off course. My existing phone is about as old school as it gets (except for Mike, who still buys OG Motorola StarTacs from eBay): The LG VX1. I actually like this phone a lot, call quality is great and I know the inside an out. But I want a calendar and stuff. So I went to Amazon and got the BlackBerry Pearl with T-Mobile.

It’s a great phone, I had a good time with it. But then the iPhone announcement came out and I thought maybe getting on the Cingular train early would be a good idea. So I returned the T-Mobile Pearl and got a Cingular Pearl. Still with me? So that was going pretty well until I read the fine print: it was going to cost me $250 to port my existing cell phone number (which I have had for 5 years) over to Cingular. What’s up with that? So then I was thinking maybe I’ll stick with Verizon until the iPhone comes out …. I ordered the LG EnV, it looks like a good and somewhat smart phone.

And it is, in terms of form factor, and the keyboard is pretty cool. But the the software is crap, I could tell that within about 8 seconds. And who wants a phone that is going to annoy them every time the click a button? The LG EnV is terrible, don’t even bother.

On Sunday I decided I would just suck it up and get an SK3 to hold me over until iPhone time. I thought it would be too big but it’s only a bit bigger than the LG EnV. And it has SSH. And it has that little notepad app that sync’s over the web. And it’s got “real web browsing” just like in TWIL’s video. I don’t understand why anyone would even try to surf the ‘net on a freakin’ cell phone but whatever.

So at this point I am carrying three devices, the VX1, the EnV, and the Cingular Pearl, all of which have to be returned except for my good old VX1, and this is the best part … None Of Them Work Right Now! In my infinite wisdom I gave T-Mobile my cell number for number portability, and they did it already, before I even have my SK3!!!! It’s a good thing I have very low expectations about T-Mobile customer experience. My SK3 is in a UPS facility in Oakland right now so hopefully I will get it soon.

I like the fact that you can play these carriers off of each other and see if you really like the tech before you commit to it. In all I’ve played with about $800 worth of gear and 3 separate 2 year cell phone contracts that each would cost over $200 each to break, but they all have a 30 day return period so everything has been free. As my friend Tom says “Sometimes capitalism works” :-) Amazon is the best experience I have ever had with cell phone purchase, I highly recommend it. It is sooooo much better than dealing with retail at a cell phone store, and I think the Amazon website is also way better for web shopping than any of the other carriers’ websites. Sadly the SK3 is not available on Amazon, I had to suck it up and log in to the T-Mobile website. And I actually had to pay money for the Sidekick. What’s up with that ?!?!? :-) Cell phones are essentially free when you buy from Amazon, they give you a $250 instant rebate and a bunch of other kickbacks.

Link to T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl
Link to Cingular BlackBerry Pearl
Link to Verizon Wireless LG EnV
Link to T-Mobile Sidekick 3

Filed under: all talk, gadgets | 6 Comments