I recently switched to Sprint's network after getting tired of AT&T's "GoPhone" service and it was the result of a greater interest in mobility concerning online connectivity on the go. Unlike Uska who's experienced the conveniences of mobile internet for more than two years now, I on the other hand have had little experience, but I would like to share some thoughts on what I think of the current mobile market and my experiences.
I am a big fan of portability and mobility in anything technological combined with a strong pragmatic idealism towards my mobile devices. My first start was with the Eee Pc Surf 701 2gb which was around the time Uska began his journey with a mobile device when he got his first smartphone, the Blackberry Pearl.
At that moment a line was currently drawn between me and him as we debated on the pros and cons of each device. My experiences with the Eee Pc 701 were quite delightful, but like with Uska's Blackberry Pearl, we both quickly felt that the devices aged quite quickly. Rim quickly started releasing higher specced phones and more competition began to emerge as the smartphone market began to expand. On the other side of things the Netbook market/mania had just begun, with higher specced machines rolling out the year after. Nevertheless I enjoyed my netbook fully for like a year and a half, and saw my productivity shift from predominantly being a desktop user, to switching back and forth without much effort. Some people have experienced this change as well when they got their Ipads this year. Mobile computing of this sort is incredibly practical in our lives, and for students and some professionals, having a computer that's so light, inexpensive, small and practical became a great help in everyday tasks. From notetaking to idle internet browsing in Santa Rosa mall, from writing essays to watching the latest remix of Chocolate Rain, the netbook quickly became a device I found myself connected to constantly. As for Uska, his addiction (note: heavy dependence) to his Blackberry became quite clear and his computer habits changed a lot as well.
After calling a truce in our sometimes heated debates on smartphone vs netbook, time passed and that brings us to today's increasingly mobile market: Netbooks being sold by phone carriers with 3G connectivity as well as Smartphones like the HTC Evo pioneering 4G in cellphones and serving as a Hotspot at the same time. Last but not least, the new tablet mania that seemed to have become the highlight in the beginning of this year.
The first smartphone I owned was the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. I have to admit that I was amazed as to how practical having a smartphone could be, and like Uska foretold, it would feed my growing need to obtain a contract based agreement with a carrier and have an unlimited data plan. By this time I had stopped using my Eee PC greatly, mostly due to the fact that browsing the internet now is not the same as 2-3 years ago. Modern websites rely heavily on Flash, and browsing on an low specced netbook has become quite a hassle. The Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic was a refreshing take on mobile computing for me, offering me the advantages of a smartphone and the portability I wished. Despite Symbian's shortcomings, I still consider to this day that it's an excellent phone. In fact, it supports Skype and supported the Google Buzz layer long before the HTC Hero, which I find pretty ironic. It does not change though that the OS is quite aged and is by no means flashy. So it finally came down to my switch to Sprint and being and open source linux fan, I was naturally leaning more to an Android phone than an Iphone.
The HTC Hero has proven to be an excellent phone as well. Though I do miss having Skype for long distance calls and I found the wait for Android 2.1 quite annoying. The phone lags quite a bit sometimes but the advantages of the Android OS are great. Now with the HTC Evo being released soon, I am already considering changing phones since the Android + HTC Sense combination has worked out so well. Not to mention that cameras in phones are a great plus for me because I dislike having to carry a digital camera with me, so the fact I can record in 720p is quite a treat. Having the phone work as a mobile hotspot is also attractive, and I might just get such data plan if I get a higher specced netbook/laptop/tablet later on. Surprisingly, Uska got an Iphone 3Gs not too long ago and now I have an Android powered device, we just love being on opposite sides... He was in CDMA, I was in GSM and that switched as well.
To this day I still don' t use my netbook half as much as I used to due to the performance issues I mentioned. Not to mention the smartphone I have can do a lot of the things the netbook can do and it has internet all the time. But I do feel inclined on getting a new netbook or tablet to complete my mobile device arsenal and the trinity of a geek: Smartphone, laptop/netbook/tablet and desktop. Like I said in the beginning, I'm a big fan of portability and mobility, so tablets quickly became quite the attraction for me this year, and more importantly, the line between smartphone and netbook has been blurred. Who knows, maybe I'll even get an Ipad too... though I have a feeling that if I do that, Uska will get an Android powered tablet...
