May 2008 Archives

As geeky as I am it's kind of funny that I've never had a smart phone or web enabled hand held device. Until the past 5 months or so I never had even a hint of a legitimate need for one. B has had a Treo for about a year now and she loves it. Not because it's great for web browsing or email (it's so not) but because it allows her to view and edit Microsoft Office documents on the go as needed. Most importantly though it runs Epocrates. That's the killer app for her. It doesn't matter how many features or bells and whistles an iPhone or a Blackberry might have, if it can't run Epocrates (and neither the iPhone or Blackberry can) then it's of no real use to her.

I've been thinking about this notion of a killer app (or killer feature) as I've started shopping for a smart phone. Really good Gmail integration is my killer feature.

As I mentioned I had no real need of such a device until about 5 months ago. It was then that I started leaving the home office more and more for meetings where I either didn't want to take my MacBook along or where WiFi wouldn't be readily available. As my work projects grew, almost all of which are web related in someway, being away from email and the web for 3 or 4 hours became an issue. Not a huge, end of the world issue, but enough of an issue that I started thinking about getting a smart phone.

Being the Mac fangirl that I am it would make sense that I'd buy an iPhone. Two barriers to an iPhone purchase though: 1) I'm under contract with Sprint (and have some holdover ill will toward AT&T from when I used them before) 2) When I've tried the iPhone in stores I've found it very, very hard to type on the glass screen. A few weeks ago an associate at a meeting let me play with his beloved iPhone. He showed me what Gmail looks like on an iPhone and I fell in love with it too. But those two barriers still exist. So I went to the Sprint store to try out Blackberries. I was, in a word, unimpressed.

I was unimpressed with the form factor of the Blackberries I looked at, unimpressed with the browsing experiences of the Blackberries and most assuredly unimpressed with the service, or lack thereof, I got at the Sprint store (both the actual person to person customer service and the larger corporate service in terms of contracts, rate plans, etc.).

Point by point on my state of being unimpressed:

1. Regarding the form factor of the Blackberry (I looked at both the Pearl and the Curve) I was just meh. It wasn't ugly or clunky, it was just, there. Not bad but not exciting either. The Blackberries are significantly lighter than B's Treo though so I guess that's one positive.

2. I do the vast majority of my email work through Gmail. So when I talk of "doing email" (as my grandma would say) I'm talking about browser work. I did the Gmail/Imap thing for a little bit but using gmail.com works best for me. Why mess with it? If I used Outlook or Entourage or whatever it is that corporate IT departments love I might have been blown away by the Blackberry trial experience. Trying to read Gmail with it though was less than happy making in general but compared to reading Gmail on the iPhone doing it on the Blackberry was just bad.

3. Since I'm under contract with Sprint I can't buy a Blackberry at the "discount" rate that new Sprint users would get. So if I wanted to buy the new Blackberry Curve I would get the "sort of discount" and have to pay $525 for it. After paying $525 for the Curve I'd have to pay $30 for a data plan. We pay $15 a month for the data plan for B's Treo. The $15 data plan isn't available for the Blackberry. Why? The employees at the store couldn't really explain it but as far as they could tell it has something to do with GPS.

So where does that leave me?  It leaves me visiting the Sprint store again today, both in person and online. Le sigh kids, le sigh. I'm totally buying an iPhone. How's that?

Let's, just for kicks, compare plans. When you go to the iPhone store page at Apple.com you immediately get straightforward information about minutes, text messages and data.
 



When you go to Sprint.com to research data plans you first must give your zip code.


Like I said, sort of.


Those screenshots sum up my experience shopping for a smartphone in a nutshell. If I go to the Apple store I can pick up an iPhone that actually functions and play with it all I want. If I go to the Sprint store most of the smartphones on display don't actually work. You can sometimes, maybe, get a store employee to show you a functioning model (normally it's their personal phone that they're showing off) but more often than not you're just supposed to get over the fact that you can't *really* try the device out. You can try one that's almost like it, or you can try the old version of it, or you can try the phone the kid working there has strapped to his belt.

To be more succinct, shopping for a smartphone and smartphone plan at Sprint has been very unpleasant. Shopping for an iPhone and iPhone plan at Apple has been quite pleasant. That has made me decide to leap over the two barriers that have thus far precluded me from buying an iPhone.

I've run the numbers and if I just keep my current Sprint plan (as it's a shared plan with B) + buy an iPhone + have an AT&T plan I will pay $235 more over the course of one year than if I buy the new Blackberry and have a Sprint data plan. $235. That's roughly a $20 per month luxury tax I'd be paying to have an iPhone. I'm ok with that. So that's barrier one down.

Barrier two I'm just going to have to take a leap of faith that I can get over typing on the glass screen. Friends and associates who have iPhones assure me that I'll get the hang of the glass screen typing. And I think that my typing on the glass screen can't be much worse than the typing in emails I get from people using Blackberries. So I'm getting an iPhone. Maybe.

Maybe? Well you currently can't buy iPhones from the Apple store. This has everyone and their brother speculating that a new version of the iPhone is just around the corner. So I'll be waiting to see what shakes out in the next few weeks with a potential new iPhone. If it comes out and is relatively affordable (no more than $399) I'll be purchasing one. Otherwise? I'll just start packing my MacBook more often. After shopping with Sprint and giving Blackberries a look I've decided, that for my needs, it's either an iPhone or nothing. Don't cry for me geeks, I'll be totally fine without handheld web access. Yes, a hand held web device would be a help to me but it's not so much of a necessity for me right now that I'd pay for the privilege of a significantly broken experience. And that's how I look at both going into a new relationship with Sprint and with the way Blackberries function compared to the way iPhones function.

So, hurry the frack up and come out next gen iPhone.

Seriously. Like $5 a month, hell maybe even $10. It's worth it to me. The internet seems quiet without Twitter. In business we've got lost opportunity costs we deal with and when Twitter is down it seems like we're dealing with lost opportunity for interesting conversations. I like interesting conversations people. Get better please Twitter. 

So my friend Mags will soon be leaving Louisville and moving back to her beloved New Orleans. While I'm super happy for her I'm bummed that in a few months I'll have to pay shipping like everyone else when I want to buy her very cool art. My latest purchase? This great Obama shirt.

A couple nights ago B and I walked to dinner. She was wearing an Obama t-shirt, one from the campaign, and she was quite the conversation starter. We could barely go five feet without someone saying "I like your shirt" or "Cool shirt" or "Go Obama!" etc. I was a little envious. "I want an Obama shirt dammit, but a cooler one, a more artistic one." In comes Mags. Not only is her shirt awesome but by purchasing it I'm supporting an independent artist and supporting the Obama campaign (Mags is donating part of the purchase price).

The big ass win in North Carolina plus the really good showing in Indiana has re-energized me toward the campaign and I'm going to send another small donation. I can't freaking wait to stroll down Bardstown Road with this kick ass Obama shirt on. Did I mention that HRC's Louisville campaign headquarters are on Bardstown Road?

Kids you too can be cool like this buy ordering the Obama stencil shirt from the art by mags etsy store. If you're not in Louisville you're almost guaranteed to be the only one in your town wearing one, which will of course make you even more awesome than you already are.