I had a camera phone once before. I was really into the picture-taking capability of the phone, but the thing itself — and the AT&T service — absolutely sucked. The camera was clunky, the user interface and usability were confusing and made no sense, and the service never, ever worked. The whole reason I had that phone was to participate in an Ofoto extended focus group. But it wasn’t worth it.
Today, more than eight months later, is a different story. After quite a bit of research, coupled with the desire to upgrade both our phones and service plans to something better, Jen and I are now the proud owners of the Samsung VGA1000 (SPH-A620). This is one seriously kick-ass phone. We had the option of getting the similar Sanyo 8100, but liked the feel of the Samsung much better. It feels like a more solid phone. Our old phones were Samsungs, too, and they’ve been great for the past couple years.
Everything from the two color displays (internal and external clock/photo/caller ID display) to the super-fast address book access to the camera phone functionality to the Java-based games (such as Ms. Pac-Man and bowling) to the world time map is just awesome. The phone is small, sturdy, and already makes my previous Samsung (SPH-A400) seem dated, even though it’s a mere two years old.
The usability of VGA1000 leaves in the dust the old Nokia 3650 I briefly had. That thing was so poorly designed that something as simple as emailing a photo was insanely complicated. Quite the contrary with the new Samsung, which zaps photos from the phone to a picture retrieval site in no time.
Needless to say, this is one purchase about which I feel really good and excited.
All that and we have an amazing new shared service plan with 2000 anytime minutes, unlimited nights starting at 7pm, unlimited weekends, unlimited PCS-to-PCS calling, and unlimited Web access and photo sharing for basically the same price we were paying for our old plans that offered only a combined (but in separate plans) 700 or so anytime minutes and unlimited nights not starting until 9pm. We stuck with Sprint since we’ve had the service for at least a couple years now and have no complaints. The quality is great and works everywhere we need it to work.
The sales rep at the Wilton Mall was great, too. Since only Jen got a new local number and hence a new account, that only qualified her for the reduced price of $79.99 for the VGA1000. I would’ve had to pay about 50 bucks more for the same phone — or 100 bucks for the Sanyo that I didn’t really want. Not only did the rep give me the $79.99 price, but he threw in two $25 car chargers for free. Can’t complain at all about $100 savings, two sweet new phones, and a solid new service plan (sure, there’s a new two-year contract, but as I’ve said, we like Sprint and will have cell phones anyway).
For the record, I stuck with my 415 digits partly because I believe that as more and more people cancel land lines in favor of cell phones for exclusive use, area codes will become less and less relevant (free long distance from cells) in terms of phone use. Rather, the area code will come to be more of an identity for its owner than anything else. I like identifying with the 415. That, and we’re living in an ever-more wired world where distance doesn’t mean as much as it once did.
Also for the record and for my own amusement, here are the final stats that I logged in the old A400:
1 response so far ↓
1 Daniel Rosan // Mar 17, 2004 at 10:24 am
I am right there with you Gabe! I bought a new phone last year and loved keeping my 510!