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My Phone Rocks.

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Verizon Audiovox xv6600I got my new phone today, and it is just so cool. 

After 1 year at Microsoft, surrounded by people who have Smart Phones and PocketPC phones and being told by countless people, "Dude... you have got to get a real phone", I finally got one.  I chose this form factor because, frankly, I just can't see the use in the Smart Phone form factor.  I like to be able to read my emails, but more importantly, I need an intelligent means to respond to them. 

I liked the Samsung i700 for Verizon, but the keyboard on this one was the real draw for me.  I have never really been a fan of inputting data on a PDA (my handwriting is generally a bit too sloppy for the transcriber), so the slide-out keyboard on this is really nice and is suprisingly easy to use. 

I am pretty cheap, and have gotten by with my simple little phone for awhile now, but after one day I cannot imagine going back to that device.  The benefit of synching my calendar, looking up a contact, tapping the contact, and it dialing them is, to me, immeasurable.  No more trying to look up numbers on my TabletPC while driving to customer sites, then dialing them on a separate phone... you can imagine the number of "Holy Moses!" moments I have had.  Worse is when the TabletPC runs out of juice and I am trying to fumble with my laptop while driving... the sun always flushes the screen out, so I have to pay that much more attention to the machine instead of my driving to locate the contact at 1400 x 1500 resolution.  No more turning on my laptop after I get out of traffic to see I am dangerously close to being late for a meeting.

The only thing I will miss is the integrated camera I had on my old phone, I did use that occasionally while traveling to send snapshots home to my wife via email.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 03, 2005
    I like that phone too, but I'm never more than 30 minutes away from a Wifi network so answering back isn't as big a deal as you might guess.

    Also, did you see the Bluetooth keyboard for the Smartphones?
  • Anonymous
    March 03, 2005
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2005
    Love the look of the phone, but what makes it better than the i700? And what is happening in a couple of weeks (see post by Vern). I have to quit procrastinating and get one, too...
  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2005
    So how's the battery life and the ring volume? This review said some bad things: http://davesipaq.com/articles/Verizon_XV6600_Reviews/1.html

    Also, are you using it for internet for your laptop?
  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2005
    I'd love to get that thing, but there's just no way I'm dumping $599 bucks on a phone. I already have a year left on my contract so it's not like they'll even entertain the idea of giving me a discount either. :(
  • Anonymous
    March 05, 2005
    The battery life is somewhat depressing. I drove from Atlanta to Alabama for a customer meeting yesterday (3.5 hours) and talked almost nonstop on the phone on conference calls... and the phone was dead by the time I got there.

    I didn't buy the car charger, as I have a power inverter, so I just plugged the cradle into the inverter. Since I drive a lot in my truck to customer sites, the power inverter is a great purchase as it powers my laptop as well.
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2005
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    February 17, 2006
    Since joining Microsoft, I have been hardware challenged, putting it lightly.
    I joined Microsoft 2 years...
  • Anonymous
    July 02, 2008
    It's been a long time since I said my phone rocks... three years, in fact, since I actually liked my