Last July, the twins, turning 12 and entering junior high, got cel phones so we can stay in touch. Recently, Madeleine dropped hers in the toilet. Well, at least we thought so. It turns out she dropped her sister's in the toilet. We assume it was a clean toilet based solely on the fact that Madeleine was able to fish it out and she is the most germphobic of all of us.
I took her off to the store to buy a new one. If you are not signing a new long term contract, there are no deals. Offering to extend your current contract for 20 years will not help. The cheapest phone with no web access and hardly any other features, which we had originally gotten for free, was $149. About $100 more than the overpriced amount I was expecting to pay. I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I came home, did some research and found a refurbished Handspring Treo for $149. What a coincidence. Concerned about "refurbished" and concerned about not buying through Sprint, I placed the order.
I got no box and no instruction manual but otherwise, I can't tell it's refurbished. Switching the number to the phone was easier than activating my first cel phone (mumble, mumble) years ago. Then I switched my phone to Amanda's number. Also easy. The Treo works quite well, making blog reading easier and allowing me to comment, too.
I have noticed somethnig quite interesting. Email is delivered differently depending on whether I am reading it on the desktop or on the Treo. First, I noticed that the identification of the sender sometimes differed. Today, I got an email on the desktop that read Click this link. On the Treo, it says Cut and paste this link into your browser. Nothing nefarious just an interesting technology side effect.
Posted by Justene Adamec at June 5, 2004 06:46 AM | TrackBackCare to share how much the service costs to blog and maybe upload a few pictures with the thing?
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at June 5, 2004 02:48 PM (Permalink)Web access is either free or $5 a month. If I tried to explain why I'm not sure which, you'd doze off.
I got the older one without the camera. Phone and palm pilot. I was really nervous about the refurbished bit so I went for the cheapest that worked with Sprint. Now I'd go for the camera. Next time daughter breaks a phone, I'll give her this one and get the better version. Could be any day now.
Craytonelectronics.com
Posted by: Justene at June 5, 2004 02:58 PM (Permalink)But, how much is that going to cost if you actually tried to blog with it? What if you visited google and drudge and lots of other web sites in your endless quest to keep your bloggees informed and entertained? For instance, Sprint seems to be saying for $100/month you get 300Megs of transfer a month. Is there some trick to get more traffic for less?
Posted by: The Lonewacko Blog at June 5, 2004 08:55 PM (Permalink)You're talking about something that I don't use so I am not sure how to answer. My blog remains hosted by verve with an MT installation. I can get in from any browser by going to the blogging page. On the treo, I pay for access to the net only, not storage.
So I buy minutes. I buy a lot of minutes because I really don't want to wonder if I am going over or not. But all of the plans include unlimited weekend and after 7pm.
Posted by: justene at June 7, 2004 11:15 AM (Permalink)