Motorola’s CEO steps down due to disappointing financial performance (I still haven’t replaced my Motorola KRZR, which, combined with the optional desktop software, is one of the worst-engineered products that I’ve ever bought).
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/12/lead_07ceos_Edward-J-Zander_HSW9.html shows that the guy has gotten paid more than $10 million per year to deliver financial performance equivalent to the S&P 500 (the “relative to market” score of 99). I’m wondering if Motorola shareholders are in as much pain as I am when I have to use their company’s product.
So… what to buy? I still want something like my old Treo 270: flip-phone design and real keyboard. Are there any new exciting phones out there? I looked at the Helio but rejected it because its address book can’t sync street addresses, only phone numbers. It would be nice to have a phone with a really good camera. I don’t mind a bit of bulk and weight.
I don’t have one, but most real people who own the device-which-shall-not-be-named seem very pleased with it. Probably not the greatest camera out there, but obviously well-engineered and well-designed. Or were you hoping for something with more bulk and weight?
I know you’re a big fan of flip phones, but have you considered the Nokia E70: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_E70 ? I find it spectacular and so does Maddox: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
I hope you’re at least considering the iphone — I’m not mac zealot by any means, but I have been blown away. I use the iphone for home and a windows-mobile samsung blackjack for work, and the iphone’s design advantages become readily apparent when going back and forth. As for windows mobile, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It’s as if nobody who engineered it ever had to use it.
iPhone? The rumored new version with high-speed network sounds good, but I’ve seen a lot of articles from folks who never could get accustomed to the touch pad. A lot of iPhone users are still carrying Blackberries.
The Nokia E70? That Maddox guy is convincing, but I think it isn’t a flip phone. It still can make or answer calls accidentally from one’s pocket. And isn’t it due for an update? Finally it might be nice to have a dreaded MSFT Windows phone so that at least it will sync with my full address book/calendar (though in truth I seldom use Outlook for anything else). I thought that MSFT might have fixed some of the problems with Windows Mobile, but I guess not…
It is probably possible to make/answer calls on the E70 accidentally, but the little green button is pretty hard to accidentally hit and it defaults to any-key-answer off. I do run the automatic key-lock, so it’s safe to do anything with 30 seconds after I stop using it. The sync is perfect with outlook addressbook and calendar. It’s probably due for an update, but an maddox so daintily demonstrated it never got a sales push and essentially flopped. I don’t know if they’ll try another “gull-wing” phone.
I’ve had an iPhone from day one, and have no problems with the touch pad at all. IMHO, it quickly becomes a very intuitive interface.
The only problems I’ve had are a few crashes — Safari mostly. But once while still running 1.0 software the phone crashed during a phone call and the whole device rebooted.
It’s been dropped dozens of times and rides around in my pocket most of the time. The backlight is bright enough to show through the thickest ‘finger grease’ so that’s not a problem. It’s pretty durable.
I’ve found the lack of 3G support not a big issue — most of the time there’s a Wi-Fi connection you can use. But if not, the speed of the pokey AT&T data network is sufficient for email and light surfing.
Late response, I know, but I wanted to respond a bit to your iphone comments, philg.
I had a couple of Blackberries before my current iPhone, and I mostly have used them for data and typing.
I think that overall, the error rate of typing on the iPhone is 2x that of the Blackberry, and the average typing speed for me is around 75% that of the Blackberry. The autocorrect feature works very well, but depends on you typing the correct number of letters. Note that these stats are subjective; I haven’t measured it.
So typing is somewhat inferior, but what is far superior is: iPod functionality including great video (Blackberry has none), web browsing (the iPhone really does have Safari built in, while the Blackberry is basically lynx). Particularly when you’re in a wi-fi zone, browsing sites is very pleasant. I also prefer the iPhone’s IMAP usage to the BB’s proprietary approach, even though it wastes bandwidth, because it lets me browse any folder I want at will (with the BB it’s more of a “subscribe to this mail folder in my inbox” approach to mail).
Highly recommended, unless you type at least 10 emails a day and wouldn’t ever listen to music, podcasts and audiobooks.