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Smartphone = Smart Sandy

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When I first got a cell phone six years ago, I was skeptical about using them. Like many people, I was pretty much lured in by the free minutes. Of course, I soon became dependent on a freedom and flexibility of a mobile phone and enjoyed the rapidly evolving technologies. I was upgrading phones every nine months with cool new technologies anf orm factors. However, after getting a really cool phone in the summer of 2000, I stopped. Enough was enough. I had web access, voice dial, vibrating ringer, and a cool clamshell design. When the picture phones came out, I was underwhelmed. When they said you could play games, I said “big deal”. Cameras were built in and I didnt' think that alone made it worth the bother. The Blackberry devices looked to cumbersome to be really mobile and I didn’t think they were that exciting. The Palm and Pocket PC phones started to intrigue me, but they were too big and pricey. But then came the Microsoft Smartphones. Very intriguing and I was ready. But my provider at the time (Sprint) didn’t support one yet and there were still some complaints that they were very much a v1 project. Hmmm. OK, I can wait…

Well, when you are in the tech industry and own a phone for four years, people begin to talk. Heck, my car is 12 years old and I still felt more behind with my mobile phone. I was feeling a little like a dinosaur. So once I hit the four-year mark, it was time to make the change. I begged Sprint to let me know when they’d have a MS Smartphone. They said “soon”. I responded and threatened to leave if they weren’t more specific and two days after, up pops the phone on their website. Now I don’t want to say I was responsible, but hey I am a pretty persuasive guy. Great! The problem is that the phone was ~$600. $600!?! For a phone? With no camera, no Bluetooth, nothing but a pretty cool design. Suddenly, I decided it was time to step away from Sprint. I considered Verizon (where I could get the same phone at a better rate), but then I was drawn to the MPx220. Boy that’s a sweet phone. But every time I tried to pick one up from Best Buy, they were sold out. Then, out of nowhere, came the Audiovox SMT5600. It wasn’t a clamshell, so I dismissed it quickly. But the reviews were phenomenal and they promised that its form factor was great. So, I head over to the AT&T store and take a look for myself. WOW! It was one of the lightest phones I’d ever seen with a huge screen, camera, and Bluetooth.

So it has been two weeks since I picked up my phone and I don’t know why I waited so long to join the Smartphone generation. Not only checking Tennesse Titan scores, but the box scores as well. Checking e-mail while I take the bus home. Hearing the opening bars of Coldplay’s “Clocks” whenever someone calls as opposed to my boring old standard ringtones. IMing from a phone (I still need to improve my texting, though). The ability to beautifully sync with my Outlook. Watching a Shrek 2 preview when I am really bored on the bus. Rocking to U2 when I didn’t have my Dell DJ with me. Snapping a quick pic of my wife in action on her campaign when I didn’t have my camera with me. I’ve noticed that the “gadgets” of the phone (camera, MP3 player) make it like a Swiss Army Knife—no blade is incredibly sharp, but it’s versatility and portability makes it great to have around when you don’t have access to a standard knife. And I haven’t even mentioned the best part—the ability to work on applications using the .NET Compact Framework. I was experimenting with these applications several months imagining I would get a smartphone and that got me as excited about the smartphone as anything. All Microsoft bias aside, I HATED developing for the Palm using CodeWarrior back in 2000. I was trying to write apps and it made me really appreciate Visual Studio (maybe that’s what led me to take the job at Microsoft). I was planning to take the days before Thanksgiving off and writing some PDA apps on my list of things to spend my time on. This should scare my wife—the last time I was focused on writing an app for the Compact Framework, it was two plus years ago. I got so wrapped up in this side project and it preoccuppied my thought processes to the point where I side-swiped a pole while pulling out of our carport—with my wife’s car, no less. The damage is still there as a reminder of why I don't drive when I am on one of my little projects. I'm probably safer after 4-5 beers (now that would be a cool experiment :->). In fact, we now have a name for this preoccupation—it’s called “Developer Mode” and my wife keeps an eye out for it. Well, take the keys away. The smartphone is in the house…

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