Ok, so it's been a while ...

[binidj]

... in my defence, life has been, well, somewhat disjointed of late. Nothing hugely dramatic, just minor health stuff, minor domestic stuff and the occasional threat of nervous breakdown. We hope to resume normal service as soon as possible etc. etc.

Anyway, this is absolutely not intended to be an(other) emo post ... therefore please keep sympathy replies to yourselves, they are not what I need right now, nor do I need hugs, fluffy animals or anything to "make me feel better". And yes, this applies to you.

So what I actually want is some advice. My poor old Palm E2 has seen better days and I'm starting to get an inferiority complex every time I get my mobile phone out, so I'm looking for, yes you guessed it, a smartphone. Now this is where you come in, listed below are what I see as my current choices with attendant dilemmas attached to them. I'd appreciate any advice you can offer regarding these dilemmas. With a bit of luck, between us, I will soon be sporting a smartphone that will be the envy of all of Christendom.

• Android
  Currently my favourite, Google's open source OS ticks a number of boxes and promises both longevity and an expanding range of apps. Also these phones seem to be the only ones with slots for memory cards. Downsides are that I'm struggling to find any unlimited data contracts for these phones, also many of the phone manufacturers are unknown to me and I fear the unknown.


• Palm Pré
  I recently heard that Palm were in quite a bit of trouble and likely to go bankrupt in the very near future. Although the Pré looks like it's a fantastic phone, I don't want to get saddled with something that will receive no support in the future. Also I'm a little concerned that the range of apps might be a little limited. I want a balance of fun and practical apps and I can't see me wanting very many but I shall be quite miffed if the ones I want aren't there.


• Apple iPhone 3GS
  I've seen iPhones and they are, indeed, pretty; also they have more apps available than I've had hot dinners. However I am very worried about the proprietary nature of the machine; most particularly, if I want to play music, I don't want to go via iTunes ... this seems symptomatic of the Apple mindset, "if you want it, you can have it, but on our terms" ... frankly I want no part of this.

To be honest, despite it being my least favoured option, I can see me ending up with the iPhone ... this makes me a sad panda.

In other news, come to Odyssey it will be amazing. Of course it will be even more amazing if certain members of the story team get off their well-upholstered arses and start writing ... but as I said above, that's a work in progress.

Comments

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

The iPhone syncs fine with a PC - there is a slightly annoying habit for the microsoft camera/scanner function to appear before iTunes wakes up, but if you just ignore it, you just sync as normal.

While you have to download updates to the software and apps through iTunes, you can quite easily buy music from elsewhere. Yes, it downloads into iTunes, but you don't have to buy from iTunes.

May main gripe about the iPhone, which like jfs I love, is the lack of multitasking.

I would imagine with any of the other phones, when you need to upgrade the OS, it will be so large that it will have to come down the web rather than across 3G, so you will be toed into someone's proprietory software, be it Apple, Microsoft of Google.

I understand that the Nokia N97 is pretty good from those what have one, and that nice Mr pax_draconis has a fancy smartphone of some kith, kin or kine, which may be of use to you.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I've not actually found the lack of multitasking to be an issue, because it does multitask enough.

Mail is push, so that downloads in the background. Music / podcasts can be played while other things are going on. Safari keeps track of webpages open as you switch between applications. Copy and Paste works across apps.

I've not hit a situation where I've felt the need to have two apps open as opposed to just reopening the ones that I need. Mileage obviously varies.

[invisible-al.livejournal.com]

Likewise I've not run into a situation so far where I've missed multitasking, switching between stuff is pretty smooth. And only downloading one thing at a time makes sense on a mobile connection.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

By and large I think I agree with you. As I say, it's only a minor gripe, but when I am using an app and the phone rings, it would be nice to simply answer the call and then carry on rather than restart, similarly closing everything down to reply to a text can be annoying, though not a critical issue.

[skelneth.livejournal.com]

He and Nic have HD2's