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  • Member Since Feb 23rd, 2006
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Recent Comments:

ATT 3G coverage isn't as good as Verizon, and the ads were CLEAR that it was a 3G map. Now, if ATT is telling people they need 3G for voice service, then of course people are going to think they won't have general coverage (and I have heard a rep tell me that). So, it's a bit of 3G marketing gone bad.

But ATT has the answer to all their problems in their hands! FemtoCells! All they have to do is make them super cheap, without service cost and open. Say, $50 with a 2 year contract extension. I would buy one in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd probably by 3 and put them at my relatives' houses where coverage sucks. If that helps everyone else who visits them or lives nearby, then even better! All that many more happier ATT customers.

I think most people leave a service provider if the coverage is poor in the areas they frequent. If you have the option of improving your coverage, I think most people would take that instead of breaking contract and moving carriers.
What irks me the most about the Pandora and Music ID stuff is that you have to pay a monthly subscription if you're a WM user, but the exact same service is free for iPhone. It's totally racist!
(AT&T Fuze owner)

More buttons
Control/mapping of existing buttons
Soft key buttons!
Included dock w/audio out
Ctrl key on QWERTY (some carriers have it)
Faster CPU/Video (by way of drivers or hardware!)
Someone mentioned a scroll wheel… I like that idea
3.5mm Headphone (A2DP is awesome, but not as ubiquitous)
better D-Pad (playing tetris is impossible… always end up on the home screen)
In Opera, ability to turn off Accelerometer functions
Ability to uninstall unwanted demo software and other unused included programs
Free media services that are free on iPhone! (Pandora, Music ID, etc)
Better GPS. It has AGPS, but is still not nearly as good as my old Holux

I love Engadget mobile more than...
I did this semi-voluntarily a few months ago. I say semi because I wanted to stay on a smartphone, but the only offering from Verizon of any worth was the Apache, and it's crap these days. I couldn't wait for the XV6800, so I went with the Juke instead. The peace and quite from constant emails was nice, but I still miss being able to geek out and look up trival info at a whim, download and play games for free, having my Exchange calendar/contacts, and GPS apps (via BT, though now it's built-in to most newer phones).

My boss misses me having a smartphone too... I don't respond to emails after hours or on weekends anymore. But he doesn't miss it enough to buy me a smartphone.

I'll go back eventually though...
I've been waiting for someone to dupe one of these outrageously priced fashion phones... Think about how awesome this is for the pretenders out there... they can complete their uber look with this little gem when they pull up in their dealer loaner car ("my 599 GTB is in the shop...") and start yapping away on this thing. Unless you can see it up close and touch it, only geeks like us are going to know it's a bunk knockoff. And anyone else who cares that much deserves to be fooled!

I do understand the build quality thing. But phones are a bit different. Watches are timeless. A Rolex is actually worth the exuberant price because it will never go out of date (no pun intended). A phone however is dependent on the networks and technologies it employs, which are forever changing. In 30 years, that Rolex will still do everything it was designed to do just fine. In a scant 10 years the Vertu will be so obsolete it will be a finely handcrafted $5000 paperweight.
Oh yeah, and the information bar doesn't go away when doing Slow Motion viewing! And it's huge!
My TWC boxes were upgraded "automagically" a few months ago. Here are my observations:

There is no longer a display of time place in recordings (an exact time place number that is)

No favorites button in guide (Just changes the channel now. Sort by Favorites first is useless, since I like using Favorites to jump to sections of channels... put one HBO channel in Favs to get to all HBO channels)

No record based on keyword or discovery (if it's not in the guide buffer already, it doesn't exist)

Frequent skipping in recordings (this has gotten better. used to be gaps of 5-20 seconds every 10 minutes, now just three or so audio blips per hour... still annoying though)

More frequent crashing (5 since update)

No hash marks to see 15-min skip aheads places (can't see how close the next 15 mark is you'll be jumping to) (hold FF to do skips)

Changing channels for recordings when only one recording is happening (watching a live channel, DVR Begins recording and changes the active tuner channel to the channel to be recorded, even if 2nd tuner is available)

slower fast forwards (1x FF is worthless, 3x isn't fast enough)

more button presses required to do simple tasks (turning on sleep used to be 3 button presses, now it is 6)

Can not record series of some sports events (like MLS Soccer). They appear in the guide as one offs

Limited series recording options for repeats vs new. It would work fine if the guide was accurate, but it never is. In Passport, you could tell it to record the named show on a specified channel at a specified time. That is no longer an option. It's either all or nothing now.

Cancelling individual shows that "Scheduled to Record" doesn't actually cancel them (not cancelling series, but shows out of a series because of the problem above).

All in all... I'm totally not happy with it. It is the straw that is breaking the camel's back. Higher cost (just went up $10/month for no reason for me), bad UI, and lack of HD channels has me switching to Satellite.
Wht time does this contest end? get it? what time? I'm so not funny!
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I own an iPhone 3G and I'm looking for a decent speaker / alarm clock for it. I am going to listen music in a mid-sized room, so I want nice quality speakers with solid bass. I also want to use it as an alarm clock, so it would be great if there is such a feature. The price can be low-mid to mid-high range. I was looking at the Klipsch iGroove SXT; it's powerful, slick and the reviews are good, but it doesn't have an alarm clock feature. It's no deal breaker if I can set it up from the iPhone, but I'm not sure. Thanks!"

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