bucky, is it the newish Windows Mobile? I'm not as up on all this as many of you, but that got really smiley reviews everywhere I looked. is it so bad

no, i'm still on the prior version. but no matter how good the new version may be, app support is still negligible. Look at all the apps advertised these days:

FOR iPHONE, ANDROID, AND <about> BLACKBERRY

The "smart" part of smartphone is all about the apps.

I picked up a Sony PRS 350 e-reader.

They are currently on sale now at Dell for $125

http://tinyurl.com/6jgxkwb

Its a touch edition, 5 inch screen.

This is the first e-reader I've ever purchased, so I can't compare it to the Kindle, but one of the reasons I bought it was because it was on sale, and because I wanted an e-reader. The Kindle is about $15 more, and its slightly larger. I already had a ton of ebooks in ePUB format that I had been reading on my iPhone, so I just needed the reader. The Sony model above reads PDF, ePUB and notepad format, which is nice. I loaded a few books into it and played around, and I like it so far. Comes with a stylus for making notes, bookmarking is easy, etc etc.

I'll have to wait to see how the battery life is, how the experience is as a whole, but for what I wanted (very portable, basic stuff) it seems fine so far.

FTN wrote:I picked up a Sony PRS 350 e-reader.

They are currently on sale now at Dell for $125

http://tinyurl.com/6jgxkwb

Its a touch edition, 5 inch screen.

This is the first e-reader I've ever purchased, so I can't compare it to the Kindle, but one of the reasons I bought it was because it was on sale, and because I wanted an e-reader. The Kindle is about $15 more, and its slightly larger. I already had a ton of ebooks in ePUB format that I had been reading on my iPhone, so I just needed the reader. The Sony model above reads PDF, ePUB and notepad format, which is nice. I loaded a few books into it and played around, and I like it so far. Comes with a stylus for making notes, bookmarking is easy, etc etc.

I'll have to wait to see how the battery life is, how the experience is as a whole, but for what I wanted (very portable, basic stuff) it seems fine so far.

We have a Sony and a Kindle--The only big advantage I can see with the Kindle is wifi. I think the Kindle is a little bit easier to read, and it's easier to use amazon to put books on the kindle than to use Sony's software to put books on the E-Reader.

Bucky wrote:no, i'm still on the prior version. but no matter how good the new version may be, app support is still negligible. Look at all the apps advertised these days:

FOR iPHONE, ANDROID, AND <about> BLACKBERRY

The "smart" part of smartphone is all about the apps.

case in point- the new MLB-TV stuff was announced today. Iphone, Ipod touch, ipad, Android, Boxee, Roku, PC, MAC, LG and Samsung TVs and DVD players, even PS3 for neptune's sake. But no windows mobile.

I know it's semantics, but the new Windows Phone 7 OS (which, I grudgingly admit, is freaking awesome) app store should have the app soon, according to a friend of mine who develops for the platform. Hope so...

I have had a long history of the iphone earbuds conking out on me. Considering I've had 3 different models of iphones, I would guess I've probably averaged 5 earbuds per phone. Needless to say, I was VERY tired of pleading to the Genius Bar geeks to replace my buds (which they always did- to their credit). So I did I little digging around and found these bad boys:

http://www.amazon.com/GOgroove-Wireless ... 1928BLLV4J

Wireless. Bluetooth. Comfort. Simple. Cheap.

Best purchase of 2011 so far.

I really like the e-reader btw

meatball wrote:I know it's semantics, but the new Windows Phone 7 OS (which, I grudgingly admit, is freaking awesome) app store should have the app soon, according to a friend of mine who develops for the platform. Hope so...

I had been looking at WP7, but the lack of Asian language support right now is steering me away. But overall, I thought WP7 was very smooth.

If you subscribe to MLB.TV premium package, is there an additional cost to download and use the mobile application? I only have experience with MLB.TV on PS3.

Yeah, I read a review written by a die hard iPhone guy (Engadget or TechCruch or one of those) and he was saying he wanted to hate WP7 but just couldn't bring himself to do it. His most interesting point was that WP7 doesn't try to be iPhone, it has its own mentality and method of delivering on the UI (as opposed to Android, which is arguably iPhoneish).

friend loves the WP7. trying to get his job to buy him one.

if you have an Android device and want something different then the standard "sense ui" type thing, this might be up your alley - http://slidescreenhome.com/

Bucky wrote:

Bucky wrote:no, i'm still on the prior version. but no matter how good the new version may be, app support is still negligible. Look at all the apps advertised these days:

FOR iPHONE, ANDROID, AND <about> BLACKBERRY

The "smart" part of smartphone is all about the apps.

case in point- the new MLB-TV stuff was announced today. Iphone, Ipod touch, ipad, Android, Boxee, Roku, PC, MAC, LG and Samsung TVs and DVD players, even PS3 for neptune's sake. But no windows mobile.

The thing that annoys me with the MLB app is that a separate license is required for each device. I wish it was like XM online, where you can use your sign on to access an iPhone, a BB, or a PC, all for one charge. I need it on my BB to use it at the office, but the app is so much better on the iPod touch.

jurassic5 wrote: I only have experience with MLB.TV on PS3.

How did that go? I'm looking into getting MLBTV on the PS3.

It's going to be a long time before I'm willing to believe that WP7 doesn't suck. Literally the only Microsoft product whose user interface didn't routinely piss me off was Excel prior to v2007, and then they went and added the goddamn retarded ribbons.

Besides, I like the fact that Android is a relatively open platform, with all the warts that brings with it.

phatj wrote:It's going to be a long time before I'm willing to believe that WP7 doesn't suck. Literally the only Microsoft product whose user interface didn't routinely piss me off was Excel prior to v2007, and then they went and added the goddamn retarded ribbons.

Besides, I like the fact that Android is a relatively open platform, with all the warts that brings with it.

I hear you. Trust me. But after a day using it I was hooked, against all instincts otherwise. I now use it as my primary phone, and it's hard to go back to Android when I have to.

phatj wrote:It's going to be a long time before I'm willing to believe that WP7 doesn't suck. Literally the only Microsoft product whose user interface didn't routinely piss me off was Excel prior to v2007, and then they went and added the goddamn retarded ribbons.

Besides, I like the fact that Android is a relatively open platform, with all the warts that brings with it.

This is one of those moments when you realize "Oh crap, I sound like my {insert old man}"

"There was nothing wrong with DOS and function keys, then they added all this mouse shit and started treating me like a child with all these pictures and arrows"

laf837 wrote:

jurassic5 wrote: I only have experience with MLB.TV on PS3.

How did that go? I'm looking into getting MLBTV on the PS3.

I had no problem with it. The HD feeds looked great on my TV. I'll be watching most of the Phils game on the PS3 again this year. I sometimes watched it on my computer, but preferred the PS3 better.

meatball: which WP7 phone do you have?

jurassic5 wrote:

laf837 wrote:

jurassic5 wrote: I only have experience with MLB.TV on PS3.

How did that go? I'm looking into getting MLBTV on the PS3.

I had no problem with it. The HD feeds looked great on my TV. I'll be watching most of the Phils game on the PS3 again this year. I sometimes watched it on my computer, but preferred the PS3 better.

meatball: which WP7 phone do you have?

LG Quantum

So does anyone have an idea what phones would be good for a world plan? By phone standards, my iphone is ancient at this point and my contract runs out in May. I want to get a new phone and it has to be something I can use in switzerland. I'm also hoping it will still allow me to stream the phils games or other data-intensive items without charging me a ton.


So I guess I'm looking for a phone that has the capability to use an unlimited world data plan at a reasonable price, if such a thing exists.

VoxOrion wrote:

phatj wrote:It's going to be a long time before I'm willing to believe that WP7 doesn't suck. Literally the only Microsoft product whose user interface didn't routinely piss me off was Excel prior to v2007, and then they went and added the goddamn retarded ribbons.

Besides, I like the fact that Android is a relatively open platform, with all the warts that brings with it.

This is one of those moments when you realize "Oh crap, I sound like my {insert old man}"

"There was nothing wrong with DOS and function keys, then they added all this mouse $#@! and started treating me like a child with all these pictures and arrows"

I know I sound like that, but here's the thing - I never was a DOS user. My first "real" computer (I played with a TI-99/4A for a while), starting in around 1988, was a Mac, and I was a whiz with that thing. So I'm very comfortable using a mouse. But even with that old Mac, I learned the keyboard shortcuts whenever possible, because Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V (or whatever the Mac equivalents are now; I haven't used Macs regularly since 1993) are way the hell faster than their mouse equivalents. I can run circles around most of the people I work with because I'm super-efficient at the simple stuff. When I started using Windows PCs, I learned to get at all the menu choices without using the mouse as well, as that let me access certain things efficiently even if they didn't have dedicated keyboard shortcuts. But the Ribbons in Office 2007 and later screw that up. Everything that I had memorized no longer works, and a lot of the new equivalent commands take more keystrokes. Makes me want to punch things. Especially if those things are Bill Gates.

/thread highjack