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If you have spoken to me in the last year than you have undoubtedly heard me complain about the state of smart phones. I have tried them all. The Treo is the worst -- I had three of them break in six months, maybe that’s why they are called Treo -- and the HTC TyTN is a big brick of a phone with limited battery life, a worthless Microsoft operating system, and the least intuitive design of any device to be called

smart

After much trial and ever more error I finally found the phone of my dreams: The Blackberry Pearl. It's small, sleek, and most importantly it just WORKS people. I had it up and running in 10 minutes and it has never crashed. The only downside is the keyboard -- it has two letters on each button and uses an algorithm to determines which letter you are trying to type. It is very good, but it took me a few days to adjust and trust this feature.

The best part about this story is that the Pearl was only $200. 75% less than the HTC TyTN which I’m going to sell on Ebay.

Posted by Myron Gushlak at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whenever I have free time I like to go out on the boat to cruise around Cayman. Unfortunately, I spend more time in airports and in front of the computer than on the water. To escape, I look at websites about boating.

One of the best can be found at www.panbo.com. Panbo is Gizmodo for boats minus the bitter Generation X angst. The reviews of new products are always interesting and I enjoy the user comments about actual experiences with the products. These types of user reviews are infinitely more valuable than a product brochure or a simple in-office review. Panbo has saved me a lot of money over the years. So there you have it friends -- a shameless plug for a web site I love.

Posted by Myron Gushlak at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I appreciate fine timepieces. To be perfectly clear -- a fine timepiece is made by hand. It has a "movement" made of around a hundred tiny pieces that are put together by hand by German and Swiss guys named Hans or Meyer. These guys have big white mustaches and fat sausage fingers. Hans and Meyer work on one timepiece at a time using tools that were also made by hand with techniques that were handed down father to son for over a hundred years. They rarely make more than a few hundred of a given timepiece before it is retired from production.

Watches are made of plastic or have plastic parts inside of them. They are put together by machines. Watches have a battery. Watches have a digital read out or glow in the dark hands. Watches have a brand name that people recognize. If you buy a watch, even an expensive watch, there is a good chance that you will run into another guy wearing your watch at a meeting or at a party. If I were to get a timepiece it would probably be a Patek Phillipe or A. Lange & Sohne.

Posted by Myron Gushlak at 3:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arrggghhhh. The problem with the Treo 680 will not go away. Cingular gave me another phone but I'm willing to bet it will have the same problem. I looked at the other Cingular offerings -- the Blackjack and the Pearl, but am not ready to make the jump from Palm yet. The Blackjack is a brick, but the Pearl is a very nice looking phone. I'm not sure about the keyboard (two letters on each key), the battery life, or the ease of configuration on my email server though friends tell me "once you go black(berry) you never go back". I'm going to in Frankfurt in a few days and may pick up a Treo 750 GSM. I will keep you posted.

Posted by Myron Gushlak at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been carrying a Treo 650 for the last two years and was definitely ready for an upgrade. The 650 was so close to being the perfect smartphone -- it is just a bit too big, the battery life a little too short, and it's operating system somewhat buggy (I had to reset it a few times a month). That's why I was so excited about the Treo 680. I preordered the sucker!

Continue reading "Palm Treo 680" »

Posted by Myron Gushlak at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)