benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
 ·Charter Pipeline
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
 ·AT&T Midwest
| It's Not Worth It
At least to me, and probably most people.
Reasons why it's almost worthless:
- 2.5-3.0" Screen (too small). I have to choose between either small text or excessive scrolling.
- Keyboards are too small to use very much. I'm not even a very big guy. I can only imagine it's worse if the user has large hands.
I won't even get E-mail on the thing because of the problems I mentioned. It's just too much of a pain.
Then it costs $45/mo. for a lousy 5GB/mo.
I even tried doing this for a little while, spending a bunch of money on so little. What I did, before I gave up the Internet on my Treo, was the following:
- E-mail, a little bit. I quickly gave this up, since it takes too long to write a message (small buttons). Also, if I check my E-mail and download a new message, I won't have that message later on my PC. I'd have to forward the message to myself.
- Google Maps. This was useful, but I gave this up because I can buy a paper map for $5/map, which is far cheaper than $45/mo.
- HotSync via Mobile Internet. This took too long. Then again, only 1xRTT was available at the time. I'm sure this must be quicker via EV-DO.
Other things I tried:
RDP - Too SLOW; screen too small. Again, EV-DO/HSDPA would be quicker, but the screen is still too small.
SSH - So I could soft-reboot my server while not home. Yippee. Never mind the fact that the server would already have to be in working order to access it via SSH in the first place.
The only thing that might be useful would be a way to initiate a hard reboot. Actually, there is such a thing as remote power cycling, so it could be done. |
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Mellow
Premium
join:2001-11-16
Salisbury, MD
 ·HostGator
·Cavalier Telephone
| Screen to small is what annoys me. I have the Audiovox ppc6700 and use wifi at home to browse, but still the small screen and scrolling is such a pain I just wait to use my computer. For weather and listening to streaming radio its great, anything more in depth is just a pain.
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SurfingOC.com / GsdPhotography.com |
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huntml
join:2002-01-23
Mullica Hill, NJ
·Comcast
| reply to benc
said by benc  :Then it costs $45/mo. for a lousy 5GB/mo. I would agree that $45/mo for 5 GB is too much.
With Sprint you can get uncapped, unlimited internet for $15. To me mobile internet is worth having at that price.
quote:
Google Maps. This was useful, but I gave this up because I can buy a paper map for $5/map, which is far cheaper than $45/mo.
Big difference between a paper map and using a map program on a phone with integrated GPS capability. I used to think Google Maps and Windows Live Search for free were good enough, then I got a new phone with integrated GPS and I'll never go back.
In fact, even though GMaps and WLS are free, I am happy to pay $10/mo for a mapping program (Telenav) because it also comes with online backup and real-time traffic.
I never leave home now without it running and it saves me getting stuck in a jam once a week or so, sometimes more. |
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benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Mellow
said by Mellow :Screen to small is what annoys me. I have the Audiovox ppc6700 and use wifi at home to browse, but still the small screen and scrolling is such a pain I just wait to use my computer. For weather and listening to streaming radio its great, anything more in depth is just a pain. Hm...Wifi, I nearly forgot about that. I don't have any device that's Wi-Fi capable, and I've lacked interest since around here Wi-Fi is quite uncommon. There's Starbucks, but that's it.
As for the screen and scrolling, I completely agree. Yet, to make the screen bigger, you need a physically bigger device. So, might as well use a laptop in that case.
The only other solutions?
A) Holographic. But this is pure science fiction, at least in the form needed to make it portable.
B) Roll-up or Folding Screens. More likely, but this is still in experimental stage.
Until either of those things happen, I don't see mobile browsing becoming big. I see it as remaining a niche market. |
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benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL | reply to huntml
Oh...GPS. I can see why some may like that.
So, you can get GPS Navigation for just $25/mo. and no extra hardware?
What sort of phone do you have? |
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huntml
join:2002-01-23
Mullica Hill, NJ
·Comcast
2 edits | I have a Moto Q9c, which has integrated GPS. With Sprint you pay $15/mo for all-u-can-eat data and another $9.99/mo for Telenav (repackaged and sold by Sprint as 'Sprint Navigation').
You don't *have* to buy Telenav -- both Google Maps and Windows Live search integrate real-time navigation and mapping into their features.
But Telenav is about the only add-on program that I think worth buying a monthly subscription to with similar freeware apps in the market, because it gives you things (audible-turn-by-turn instructions, real-time traffic scanning with pop-up warnings and reroutes, different routing priorities (shortest, quickest, traffic optimized, etc.) that the free programs don't. |
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