RealGM

Alright, so I've had to endure a bit of ribbing by people I've met on here who have seen my cell phone...

Well, no longer. I finally finalized ordering my new phone and plan on New Year's Eve, and much to my surprise it arrived already this afternoon.

Anyway, I've had the same exact Sprint PCS phone plan since 2001.
500 anytime minutes
Unlimited Night and Weekends starting at 8pm and going until 7am
Unlimited Wireless Web Access
Sprint PCS Voice Command
Sprint PCS Business Connections
A coverage area on Sprint;s network anywhere in the continental U.S.
and all the standard bells and whistles one got with their cell phone plan back then
I was paying $55/month for that

Here was my phone:

I actually started off with a Samsung flip phone in 2001, but I didn't really care for it and liked the speakerphone feature my friend had on the phone he got that just came out in 2002, so I switched to one of those, the Sanyo SCP-4700 pictured above.
It was a good quality phone. Very durable. Excellent reception. Extremely long battery-life. One of the nicer displays at that time. A good speakerphone. Text-based web browser with limited image capability.

This past April though, the Wireless Web feature of the phone stopped working because Sprint was no longer supporting it (very annoying) and for the past three months it stopped being able to receive text messages. And the reception was no longer excellent. Sometimes my phone wouldn't ring, but yet I would have a voicemail. Or I would have a voicemail, but it wouldn't alert me until the next time I made an outgoing call. Frustrating things like that which started making the phone unreliable.
Oh, and on two separate occasions in the past 6 months, people made Zach Morris jokes when I would use my phone. People were especially bewildered by the antenna that you pull up when you use the thing.

I always said I would be getting a new phone and plan once I got around to finding the right phone and plan that suited my needs. That day has finally arrived.

I'm still with Sprint.
I went with the HTC Mogul PPC-6800
It is a PocketPC or Smartphone, PDA/Phone hybrid, etc.




I'm sure someone will point out that it isn't really any smaller than my old phone, it just has slightly different dimensions.
Screw you, I say
This is an awesome phone. I did an extensive amount of research on this (which is why it took me so long to get a new phone, I like to be thorough) and this is better than the iPhone in pretty much every way that would be significant to most people, or at least that would be significant to me. It really is not that big compared to some phones, and it is roughly the same size as an iPhone I believe (perhaps slightly smaller even, now I forget).

It retails for $550.
Obviously no one ever pays retail for their phone, because they get a significant discount with a two-year service agreement. So you can get this phone for $400. Maybe $300 in some cases.
I guilted them into giving me this phone for $175. They do kind of owe me.

And here is my new $50/mo phone plan:
- 1250 Anytime Minutes
- Unlimited Text Messaging
- Sprint Vision or Power Vision Included Free
- Unlimited Web access
- Unlimited email and instant messaging - AOL, MSN and Yahoo
- Unlimited Sprint PCS Picture Mail(sm) with Video Mail
- Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes Starting At 7PM
- Unlimited Mobile To Mobile Calling
- Nationwide Long Distance
- Voice Mail
- Caller ID
- Call Waiting
- Numeric Paging
- Three-Way Calling
- Call Forwarding ($0.20/min)
- Sprint PCS Directory Assistance ($1.40 per call, plus airtime)

I will do my best to get this thing set-up so I can bring it with me on Friday night. That has suddenly become my top priority between right now and tomorrow night

Does anyone have any pointers on how I should proceed? I have never set up either a PDA or Smartphone before, and I have also never switched cell phones myself before. I am very adept when it comes to computers and technology and I'm sure I can figure most of this stuff out eventually (especially with the assistance of the provided literature and website), but I thought I'd check to see if anyone here had any tips that I might not think of while setting this up.

For example, I do not believe there is a way to transfer my phone book from my old phone to my new phone, which is unfortunate because that would save me a significant amount of time (I have almost 200 entries in my phone book). So I'm going to have to do that manually. What would be the easiest way to input that data into my PC so I can then import it into my new phone? Outlook?

I've suddenly started to become a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of getting this thing up and running the way I want it to. I haven't even finished taking it out of the packaging!


So, any thoughts anyone might have on this will be greatly appreciated.

I will just have to make sure that I don't completely counteract all the increased productivity tools by spending too much time using this thing to go on RealGM wherever I happen to be
But I must say that I am looking forward to being able to post in the game thread from while sitting in my seats at the BC.

Congrats Dan. I cant help but think it will be like that video Twirl posted of Caliendo as Andy Rooney with the IPhone.

You should tell them to hook me up with that price/deal.

I needs me a new cell phone plan in like 2-3 weeks.

Kohl Is A Mome wrote:Congrats Dan. I cant help but think it will be like that video Twirl posted of Caliendo as Andy Rooney with the IPhone.

Much improved from your old cell phone, GAD.

Damn Dan, I remember you telling me about it and thinking it sounded like a good deal but seeing it all written out has me jealous. $50 a month for all that sounds crazy good. You will have to let me know how fast the internet is on it when you get the chance. I am still thinking about the blackberry curve but have to wait to see what my company wants me to do since they pay for it anyway. On the plus side, my boss did tell me today I might be getting a new laptop. That would be sweet. Knowing him though and how things work out around here, I should be getting that new laptop in about 2 years anyway.

For those of you who don't know GAD, this is what he looked like:

Congrats GAD - you sound like me making a purchase. My wife makes fun of me for the extent that I research new purchases, but I like knowing that I made the right choice, and hate parting with my money.

Unfortunately I'm working on buying a car right now, and have already spent probably 15-20 hours. I have no idea what I'm getting yet, but at least I *think* I still have plenty of time before my current car dies on me.

fam3381 wrote:For those of you who don't know GAD, this is what he looked like:
(picture)

Damn Fam you didn't need to go and kill GAD for his phone.

you should be able to go to a sprint store and pay a small fee for them to transfer the numbers for you...i believe, you should probably call ahead to check on the validity of my claim

OMG stop the presses GAD got a new phone...

You can finally receive my Texts now....

Notice how fam and me basically just posted the exact same cell phone one minute apart?

Nice phone.

A "smart phone" would make a lot of sense for me. It would keep me from having to carry around both a PDA and a phone. Condensing them into one would make a lot of sense. But I think I'll end up getting the Rokr. In fact, I think I'm probably getting it tomorrow.

MikeIsGood wrote:Nice phone.

A "smart phone" would make a lot of sense for me. It would keep me from having to carry around both a PDA and a phone. Condensing them into one would make a lot of sense. But I think I'll end up getting the Rokr. In fact, I think I'm probably getting it tomorrow.

i got a rokr z6 a couple months ago and i love it, the only thing that bugs me is that the voice dialing system isn't as smooth as it used to be

wichmae wrote:OMG stop the presses GAD got a new phone...

You can finally receive my Texts now....

No, not quite yet.
I have to get this thing set up first.
Like I said, it is still in all of its packaging basically.
All I've done so far is hold it in one hand while holding my old phone in my other hand to compare the two. That's as far as I've got

Oh. My. Gawd.

SupremeHustle wrote:(picture)

Oh. My. Gawd.

it looks like a cordless phone

jerrod wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




it looks like a cordless phone

I commend him on the new phone, though. And the service plan is nice, too.

I've been down with Windows Mobile for about a year. It's cool if you don't try to get too crazy with it. Plus, I can't see myself ever having a phone without a QWERTY keyboard again. I don't text a lot, but I email like it's going out of style.

Anywayz, I'm a free agent on the cell phone market. Got some tough choices to make. And just like Adam, I'm getting a new whip, too. I'm like Deep Throat with a budget.

deepthroat wrote:And just like Adam, I'm getting a new whip, too. I'm like Deep Throat with a budget.

Deepthroat would be rolling in his e-grave if he knew what kind of low priced cars I'm looking into.

I looked at the same phone. I decided to go with the Iphone. To each there own but you dont know what you are missing!

trwi7 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-





Much improved from your old cell phone, GAD.

(picture)

The good ole' Zach Morris phone.