An Aussie geek stuck in Texas

I finally decided to stop whining about cell phones and buy the only available phone from carriers over here that suited my needs the Sony Ericsson s710a, I still think the cost is rediculous given the 2 year contract but I’ll just live with it and enjoy the phone.

So far I’m pretty impressed with it, it’s a big step up from my Motorola V220, for some reason I really didn’t like that phone there wasn’t really anything that wrong with it but it just didn’t suit me, probably because it was the first flip phone I had since an old school Motorola, back when phones were just phones, can’t remember the model but it was the range that came in different colours, the microphone was on the flip that revealed the keypad and it had just a single LCD on it.

Anyway back to the s710a…. I also grabbed myself a Bluetooth headset, the Jabra Freespeak 250, that purchase may turn out to be a mistake given some of the reviews I have read post purchase but I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet as most of my calls are for work during the week so we’ll see hhow it holds up next week. Hang on a sec… “most of my calls are for work”, why then is this my personal phone? Hmmm might be onto something there…

The photo’s taken by the s710a seem pretty good quality but it seems to favour natural lighting with the best photo’s I’ve taken so far being in bright sunlight, I’ll upload some sample photo’s when I get a chance. With it being a 1.3MP camera though the photos are heads and shoulders above photos from other camera phones I have had.

I can understand why it is hard to upgrade the actual telecommunication networks over here due to the size of the country and it’s population density but why do we get such sucky cell phones only to have them limited in functionality by the carriers?

All I want in a phone is quad (tri will do) band, bluetooth (with synching capabilities none of this headset only nonsense), EDGE (or better data access) and a good camera in the megapixel range. Out of all the carriers and phones they have available there is only a single phone that meets this feature set the Sony Ericsson s710a from Cingular but it is $399 on a 2 year contract but you go through Amazon then you can get it for $249 but you can’t transfer numbers through Amazon nor do I think you can add a line through family talk or whatever it is so I can’t add a line to my current contract to get the discounted phone.

I think what I might have to do is grab a phone while I’m in Australia in July but the problem there is that EDGE is an American hybrid so I’ll be stuck with GPRS or 3G, which isn’t supported here yet.

Oh if you’re wondering why this conflicts with my earlier posts about wanting just a basic cell phone, well I’ve given up on that endeavor and moved to a more realistic goal.

I can’t believe how many offers I receive over here for pre-approved credit cards and insurance, one of them today (AMEX) even had the balls to suggest that they could send the brochure for insurance and start charging the monthly fee and if I didn’t like what I read I could opt out at any time. I couldn’t have made it any clearer that I didn’t want that in any way shape or form so if that charge comes off my card I am going to be one unhappy camper.

Arghhhhhhh the buses in Houston’s CBD really drive me insane, they are ALWAYS forcing their way across an intersection either just before or just after a light changes red when there isn’t enough room for them blocking one lane of traffic on Dallas St and the WHOLE pedestrian crossing. The most annoying thing is there is a Police station just down the road and plenty of cops standing around directing traffic lights (WTF is up with that anyway? Do you really need traffic lights AND a cop to direct traffic? I also can’t believe how many times I see police manually controlling the traffic lights over here…) but none of them do anything of course.

It is also quite annoying how all the cars over here especially the SUV’s think it’s their God given right to have right of way over pedestrians no matter what, if they want to turn right on a red and prevent pedestrians from crossing the street when the pedestrians have the “Walk” symbol they damn well will.

While I’m on this rant, how many of you people who rush when a light turns amber/orange/yellow to make it through also go as soon as a light turns green? Do you know simple math? It doesn’t take a genius to work out what will eventually happen…

Well even though I told myself I wouldn’t get a PSP on principle, for some reason I was drawn more and more to it’s sleek design so whilst at Target getting a replacement clothes iron after the dog pulled the other one off the ironing board (apparently the steam noise really irritated her for some reason…) I just couldn’t help myself and added a PSP plus Wipeout Pure to the cart.

Overall I’m quite impressed, it allows me to get in my video gaming and still let my girlfriend have control of the TV, so far though it does seem more like an alternative to a console more than an actual portable and that matter so does the Nintendo DS (which I also own). I think it’s the form factor more than anything else, compared to a Gameboy Advance SP they are both fairly bulky.

I see the PSP and the DS serving different gaming desires for me as I am traditionally a Nintendo fan boy so I’m looking forward to all the popular franchises making their appearance on the DS but am also looking forward to GTA and some of the RPG games on the PSP so I’ll get use out of both of the systems. Right now though I’d have to say the PSP has the better range of games so right now that would accompany my Powerbook on any trips but hopefully that will change in the future once the good DS games hit the streets.