• Web access
• Color screen
• Built in camera
• Sync with outlook on my desktop/laptop
• Bluetooth
• Infrared port
• Voice dialing
• Some fun games
• And maybe some other goodies

What I wanted from the cellular phone carrier was the following:

• Good mutli-phone plan (Family shares the minutes)
• Good price for my data plan. (Web access for my PDA and Laptop)
• At least as good coverage as I have had in the past
• Good customer service

With all these needs I was off to find my new cell phone and carrier. I tried to approach this realistically because I knew I could not get everything on my list and some of my needs for my cell carrier were subject to debate and opinion.

The Phone
I started my quest by looking for the cell phone first. There were a fair number of phones that met most of my requirements but when it came to the connectivity, Bluetooth and infrared, the list got really short. There are not many phones available with Bluetooth capabilities. I was very surprised considering Bluetooth has been available for some time. If you are not familiar with Bluetooth check out this link for more information <>. In short, it is for short-range communication between devices. I wanted a Bluetooth enabled phone to allow my PDA and my Tablet PC to connect to the Internet. With Bluetooth in my PDA and a Bluetooth card in my Tablet PC, I can connect to the Internet from anywhere I have cell phone coverage. The pricing of this service is challenging to figure out. It is challenging because most of the cell phone carriers charge by the amount of data that you use. I wanted a plan that allowed me to use an unlimited amount of data. I did not want to worry about going over my allocated amount. If I went over my allotted amount the cost was quit expensive.

I also wanted infrared on my cell phone so I could use it to synchronize with my Tablet PC and transfer data to other devices that support infrared. Infrared is a much older technology then Bluetooth but it is supported by almost all PDA’s and many laptops. With this feature, I allow myself more flexibility in exchanging data with other infrared devices.

The phone I ended up purchasing was the Sony/Ericson T68i, which met most of my requirements. If you would like to see more details about the phone, go to sonyericsson.com and go to the products tab to find the phones specifications. I am not saying this phone is for everyone but it did fit my needs. The phone is very small and easy to carry around, but the keys are very small so the dialing is not the easiest on this phone.

The Cellular Provider
The cell phone provider I ended up choosing was T-mobile. One of the main reasons for choosing this carrier was that if you have a phone account with them you are able to sign up on their data network for unlimited connectivity at a price of $19.95 a month. This is one of the best prices by a cell phone carrier for data service. The family voice plans were also competitive and better then my past carrier. One service I liked was the free T-mobile-to-T-mobile calls that the family plan offered. This allows me to call my other T-mobile phone on the plan or others on this plan and the minutes are not subtracted from my standard voice minutes. I understand this is getting to be more common with cell carriers.

Where did I buy the phone?
One of the last decisions I had to make was where to buy the phone. Some of you may be surprised but I bought my cell phones (one for myself and one for my wife) from Amazon. They had the best prices. I ended up getting $100 dollars back for each phone I bought. I was able to pocket $101 dollars per phone because the phones were $99 and T-mobile had a $100 rebate as well as Amazon having a $100 rebate. I do not know if they are still running the rebates but I have noticed that Amazon is very aggressive on their cell phone pricing. One bonus was that I received a free bluetooth headset with each of the phones. These were valued at about $79 each.

I have had the phones for over a month now and here is my experience so far.

I am happy with the features on the phone. I did not think I would use the built in camera that much but I am using it more then I thought I would. My two-year-old daughter really likes to see herself on the camera. It keeps her entertained so I am happy. Like any change, there are a few things that I am still getting used to but overall I am happy. If I had to say something negative it is that there may be too many features in the phone and the documentation is not great.

The Bluetooth headset has been reliable. The main issues are the battery life and it occasionally gets disconnected from my phone. Overall, I do like the convenience of not having a cord hanging from my ear.  I have also been able to use the headset with my Tablet PC to record voice notes and use a little voice recognition to control my Tablet PC.

The Bluetooth data connectivity using the phone with the Tablet PC/Pocket PC has been very reliable. The speed and setup are my only issues. When I bought the Bluetooth card for my Tablet PC, I spent about 3 or 4 hours trying to get is set up with the phone. It turned out that that Bluetooth card was not very reliable with my Tablet PC cell phone combination. I had to get another brand of Bluetooth card and that one worked fine. I had no problems setting it up. My next issue was not being able to get into secured web sites from my Tablet PC or Pocket PC. I had to talk to 3 different technicians until we configured my phone to allow secured web sites to be accessed. I have to say every technician I talked to was very helpful and polite. This is not the same experience I was used to with my last cell phone provider. As far as the speed, I am averaging about 35-50 bps. With a good cell phone signal I am getting almost the speed I would get using a phone line. The better my signal, the better the speed. I would like the faster speeds that I hear advertised on the commercials and in the ads but I am realistic about the speeds I will actually get.
 

Bottom line is I’m happy with the purchase and the service so far. I have to work on using the cell phone to fax from my Tablet PC and Pocket PC. I understand from the documentation that is possible to fax using the phone. I will update you in a future article.