I've had my unlocked RIZR on T-Mobile since the end of December 2006, and it updated to DST properly, so either the fix was already in, or the cell network determines the timebase for the phone. Now if only I could get the clock to display on the main screen; I know that's a firmware flash away, but Motorola still doesn't show a software update in their support site. I don't feel like rolling the dice; maybe T-Mobile's image would be the best route in that case?

Judging from the T-Mobile product page, they're throwing in a 128 MB MicroSD card; not bad.

Runciter: Motorola's phone marketing strategy lately has been to release all kinds of colors for their phones (first silver, then black, then blue, then the inevitable hot pink, then perhaps a gold-plated Dolce & Gabbana limited edition, Product Red edition, Miami Ink Collection pink, etc., etc., ad nauseam).

One thought is that Palm discontinued the "copper" because it was a branding deal with Cingular, which of course "AT&T Wireless" won't want so much since they're trying to plow through another brand shift.

Current Z3 owners, say it with me: KHAAAAAAAAN!!

Oh well, even if I won't have the new OS, the Z3 is still a very capable phone, and very nice when you're not locked out of doing stuff like OBEX file transfers for your own wallpapers and ringtones without using network time.

First the W315 (the one that looks like a poor man's PEBL with the giant Nextel-esque external antenna), and now a rehash of the year old SLVR. As if I needed a reminder of why I bolted and got an unlocked RIZR on T-Mobile.

Well, at least this expands their portfolio of bar/slider phones from one to two. The barely usable VX8500 (which shipped with no speakerphone!), and now the SLVR, with its VGA camera and 65k screen. And of course the red VZBorg UI.

saq: nice eFront reference. We're not too far away from that happening.

PEZ: Verizon is basically charging you to view ads, since you're using up minutes and paying whatever per-kilobyte rate they charge (is it $.002 or .002 cents per kilobyte? Hmmm...). Verizon receives data fees, charges for minutes if there's an overage, AND earns ad revenue. Brilliant!

I've decided to stop waiting for the end of term and have T-mobile send Verizon an FCC number porting request. They've pushed on us the VCast spamvertising, the Borg UI, the lack of Bluetooth, the Get It Now! media lock-in, and their sad lineup of yesteryear phones. Let's see how many subscribers VZW loses to this boneheaded money-grab.

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket." -- George Orwell

Finally, some more RIZR news. The price on wirelessimports is taking a nosedive; a month or two ago it was around $450, but now it's $299. The mobileburn page says "Motorola expects the MOTORIZR Z3 to start shipping in this half of 2006"; well, there's only eleven days left in "this half of 2006", so maybe we'll see something in the next month. Perhaps a subsidized price of $150 with 2-yr contract?

So the only non-high-end candybars that Nokia seems to be releasing are for the "mobile third world"? And CDMA? They killed off their in-house CDMA development, with Pantech borrowing the Nokia badge for some of the Verizon offerings.

It's pretty sad out in CDMA land if you're a fan of the bar or slider form factor. Between Sprint (no phones) or Verizon (all phones from Samsung, LG, Motorola, or Pantech; all of them assimilated by the sluggish red UI Borg), you can barely find two bar or slider form factors. The Chocolate VX8500 (that iPod-knockoff abortion of a user interface) is about your only bar/slider in the CDMA realm, and of course you can't just get any compatible phone for them to activate.

My current phone is a Nokia 6015i on Verizon, but I'm contemplating jumping over to T-Mobile and making them activate a RIZR (when, or if, it ever gets officially released, and the asking price takes a nosedive). I just don't like clamshells; they're annoying to hold for extended periods of time.

I miss you, CDMA candybar.