They finally did it…

by jbreazeale on June 8, 2009

Mobile meh…

Eric and I are both into technology and we love our gadgets, but until recently we really haven’t been that into mobile stuff. (This could have something to do with Eric putting his last two phones through the washing machine…resulting in us now having the “free” phones from Qwest.)

The moment of truth…

Well, a few months ago, we received this postcard that basically said “Hey you, get off our wireless service. Seriously, we won’t charge you any of our ridiculous termination fees, just go away.” Ok, that’s not exactly what it said, but you get the idea. Qwest sold it’s wireless business to Verizon over a year ago and were definitely ready to get rid of those of us who hadn’t made the switch.

So the free (and really, really dumb and slow) phones would have to go and be replaced by something, but were we going to stick with our standard el cheapo mobile strategy or would we finally cough up some real dough for a real phone (iPhone/G1/Palm Pre).

Choices, choices…

We’re fortunate to have an AT&T, Sprint, and Cricket stores within a mile or so because, you really do have to put your hands on the hardware to get an idea of whether it’s the right phone for you.I also made a side trip to a T-Mobile store for the G1, but heard such awful things about T-Mobile service, that I ditched that idea pretty quickly. (Really, everyone who mentioned T-Mobile, hated it. I couldn’t really argue with that, could I?) Verizon was also tossed out pretty quickly due to price.

The early leader (after the G1) was Cricket. I really liked their pricing models – everything’s unlimited, you just pay as you add a service – they were easy to understand, fair, and reasonable (unlimited talk, text, and long distance for $35/mo.) Plus, they don’t require a contract. It’s pay as you go or pay monthly – much more attractive when you’re a little uncertain of the carrier or how/what services you’ll be using. The only drawback was in their meager selection of phones (and the fact that I couldn’t actually find any of my friends who were using Cricket and could comment on their local service/reliability/etc…)

Since I’d heard rumors of the Palm Pre a few months ago, I was holding off on making any purchasing decisions until I’d had a chance to check it out. It looked like it would have some awesome features and I was really excited about the QWERTY keyboard, but in the end it was the keyboard that killed the deal. It felt really cheap and the keys were really small. Ick.

Well, after my disappointing experience with the Pre, I walked next door to take another look at AT&T. I checked out all of the Blackberries — the Bold was really nice, but also very large and square, and once you started getting smaller in size you really lost the keyboard advantage — and the other smartphones, touch screen phones, etc. before going back to the iPhone display.

And the winner is…

The iPhone 3Gs. Really, it wasn’t even a contest once I held the Pre in my hands and especially after the WWDC announcements today. The features are unbeatable, it’s the most fun and the easiest to us and it really is the best in its class. Now I just have to shuffle around the budget to squeeze in the AT&T charges and we’ll be ready to go. Apple, here we come!

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