Random recommendation requests...

[nolly]

Plants: I have half a dozen large pots on my patio. I'd like to plant them with something that will form a privacy screen of sorts to replace the gate that used to be there. I'm more interested in a psychological barrier than a physical barrier, something to indicate "My space starts here." It's west-facing, not much shade (maybe some in the mornings?). I want something relatively hardy and low-maintenance -- it doesn't have to look it's best with minimal attention, just be hard to kill. Native is a bonus,but not required. Something that grows to around 4 feet, alone or with a trellis, is ideal.

Tech: My ideal gadget does not exist (yet), but sometime soonish, it'll be time for a new phone -- and it's really past time for a new PDA. Ideally, I'd like one gizmo to do everything I want, but I don't think that exists yet, at least not at a reasonable size & price. Maybe I can do it in 2? Here's what I want:
-- phone capability
-- SMS capability, ideally with a QWERTY keyboard
-- net access, both WiFi and carrier-based
-- web capability, with a usable screen and QWERTY keyboard
-- GPS capability, including audio routing
-- scheduling capability
-- contact database
-- camera (least important)
Any recommendations?

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

There are varieties of dwarf bamboo that may be exactly what you want. Just make sure it doesn't escape from the container. Visit a nursery; emphasize that you want to grow it in containers.

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

-- phone capability
-- SMS capability, ideally with a QWERTY keyboard
-- net access, both WiFi and carrier-based
-- web capability, with a usable screen and QWERTY keyboard
-- GPS capability, including audio routing
-- scheduling capability
-- contact database
-- camera (least important)

The only feature that my Sidekick 2 does not have is the GPS capability. However, the Sidekick 3's should be coming out in the next couple of months (T-Mobile recently stopped selling the Sidekick 2). If you want to check mine out and play with it, let me know.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Well, it's also somewhat larger than I'd prefer, and I don't know if Verizon will carry them. I'm not totally tied to Verizon, but enough of my friends and family use it that losing the free in-network calling would be significant.

[krow.livejournal.com]

My Treo both sucks and rocks and can do most if not all of the above :)

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

Have you checked out the Samsung Q1 UltraMobile? You'd have to make do with a VoIP setup for telephony, but it'll do everything else you list, and then some.

I'm a Mac guy and I'm lusting after one of these if Apple doesn't come out with it's rumored tablet Mac soon.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Looking at it online, it seems both pricy (I'd rather spend that kind of money on a MacBook) and an awkward size -- too big for a batbelt or pocket.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

You could try our new phone, the Strobe. The only downside is that it seems to be only available from Virgin Mobile so far but I think Verizon is getting it at some point.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Definitely a possibility!

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

Verizon will not carry them. T-Mobil has an exclusive contract for nationwide carriers (some regional carriers have them under the Hiptop name).

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

If you already have a Verizon phone, I could reprogram a new one to match your current account, probably.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

>> Maybe I can do it in 2? Here's what I want:
>> -- phone capability

My phones are life safety devices -- I carry two in my vehicle (if not person) at all times. Therefore I separate my phone purchases from my PDAs. I look for durability, tri-mode functionality, battery life, ease of dialing under stressed and low-light conditions, and certainty of "silenced" and "vibrate" features working properly.

As far as I am aware, no super PDA-phone is trimode capable.

-- GPS capability, including audio routing

That said, look into the new Verizon V325 with Navigator option. It has GPS and audio routing built in, and the performance is actually quite impressive. However, its maps are downloaded using airtime minutes and you have to pay for the app on a monthly recurring charge.

>>-- SMS capability, ideally with a QWERTY keyboard
>>-- net access, both WiFi and carrier-based
>>-- web capability, with a usable screen and QWERTY keyboard
>>-- scheduling capability
>>-- contact database

Any of the current Verizon PDA smartphone lineup can do this. I think highly of the Samsung unit, but it's gonna cost you both in unit cost and in associated service plans.

Instead I use a cheap (i.e. replaceable) HP iPAQ with built-in 802.11b and an external IR keyboard, which gives me all but SMS and carrier-based Web access. I SMS using my phone anyway, but also use E-mail to SMS gateways from my PDA as needed.

Note however that I always have access to broadband wireless on my laptop, so I can do without a super-PDA.

>> -- camera (least important)

Anything that can do the above often includes a camera, much as an exotic sports car usually includes a good AM-FM radio.

Good luck. My biggest "real" cost is neither purchase price nor monthly charges, but the annoying level of self-tech-support and reading endless user forusm to fix problems that manufacturers should have hashed out prior to shipping kludged products.

Read reviews carefully. What one reviewer thinks is great, may be junk -- and vice-versa, based on prejudices and needs rather than the actual quality of the product.

[erik]

While small size is not on your list, I see from comments that it is improtant...So the Sidekick is sort of out (as I see from comments you've already decided).

From my research, you're not going to get anything close to the Uberphone you're describing while staying with Verizon; Verizon doesn't have SMS, which most of the rest of the world uses; so the very coolest phones are only designed for SMS (Cingular and T-Mobile are the SMS carriers in this country).

All that having been said, I'm also looking for a new handset and possibly a carrier to go with it, and have sort of settled on the Nokia 9300 (it was that or the Sidekick and I think it's too big too). It has most of your feature list and is phone-sized.
But you'd have to either go with Cingular and buy it from them for a discount or buy it full price off ebay and go with T-Mobile.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I didn't list small size because I know I'm not going to find a really small one that does much of anything extra, but I do want something I can wear comfortably.

Verizon doesn't have SMS

Say what? I send and receive text messages from my Verizon phone regularly. Do you mean GSM? I am willing to change providers given sufficient motivation, but the gain has to be enough to overcome the loss of most of my calls being in-network and therefore free. (i.e. a reasonably priced plan with lots of minutes available, for starters.)

[erik]

Yes, I did mean GSM. Sorry. I need sleep.

The 9300 is a little larger than the current crop, but it's perfectly reasonable in size.
The 9500 adds a camera and WiFi, but it trips my "too big!" triggers.

[ijs-koningen.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at the Nokia 9300 too, but I might wait for the 9500 to get the camera. But I'd have to go into the store to play with one. (Then come in and order it off the website, because I get a corporate discount.)

You can get some nice discounts/rebates with Amazon, but Amazon and Cingular haven't worked out number portability, so you'd have to get a new number, which may not be an option for you.

[erik]

There's a Nokia kiosk in Woodfield that has both of them out for playing with side by side.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

I won't recommend it (or against it) and I know nothing about it other than this article, but this may also be an option for you.

Motorola Unveils 'Q' Cell Phone

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

so the very coolest phones are only designed for GSM (Cingular and T-Mobile are the GSM carriers in this country)

I disagree. :) Kyocera phones are much cooler than any of the phones used by Cingular or T-Mobile that I've seen. :)

[erik]

I have not seen any non-GSM phones I would call "Uberphones" with every bell and whistle you can think of. I've seem PCS phones with some cool features, yes. that one you mentioned earlier, the Strobe, is pretty cool. But it doesn't have Bluetooth or mp3 ringtones, and it says its "data capable," but doesn't say anything about WAP...Wait, yes it does down at the bottom. Sorry. I suppose it depends on your definition of "cool," too.

[ijs-koningen.livejournal.com]

Well, I probably couldn't find Woodfield on a map, so I might venture to the Cingular store downtown. If I can find that.

I currently have a Sony Ericcson T68i, which I love because it's so tiny and lightweight. But the volume slide button broke off, and there's no QWERTY keyboard. Which would be cool, but I should be realistic about how often I'd use it. Thus I'm glad someone else asked about swank phones, and used the proper terminology rather than "does lots of corporate tool stuff".

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Well, they have a terrible website, and it doesn't look like there's any kind of GPS, but I'll probably play with it in the store a bit and see what I think; I'd be OK with a separate GPS unit, since I mostly want that in the car anyway.

[erik]

I probably couldn't find Woodfield on a map
I bet you could; it's visible from space....

I know what you mean; I have a Sony T300 that I dearly love, but it's getting old and tired and seems to loses track of the towers an awful lot.
And since most of what I use it for is SMS, a QWERTY keyboard would be nice....

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I want the QWERTY in combination with web access to do things like Google random questions when I'm out and about, and check my LibraryThing DB from the bookstore so I don't buy books I already own. :)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll look for that,

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a cheap phone, and Bluetooth and mp3 do add a bit to the cost. I don't think we have any other phones with QWERTY keyboards until next year sometime though. I was thinking of cool in terms of appearances, not so much features since it seems like all phones have pretty much the same set of features.

[erik]

It does seem that way.
There's a core clump of features pretty much all phones have these days, and then a list of "bonus" features; some phones have mp3 ringtones...some have bluetooth...a few don't have cameras...a few have QWERTY...etc. Her wishlist of features includes pretty much all of them. And the only phones I've seen that have many many many features are GSM.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't care about mp3 ringtones. Bluetooth would be nice, but I've been getting by just fine without it. I use the camera on my phone more than I really ever used a standalone camera, but it's not an absolute must. QWERTY + 'net is what I feel most strongly about, followed by a usable scheduling system and GPS.

[ijs-koningen.livejournal.com]

I think GSM phones tend to have more bells and whistles because GSM is more popular in Europe and parts of Asia, where consumers demand much more from their phones than Americans dream of. A couple years ago, my old boss was telling me that in Germany people could point their cell phone at a Coke machine to buy their fizzy sugar water. In America, we think a camera is nifty.