Category — Mobile

This morning as my alarm sounded on my trusty Treo I accidentally dropped it from the bedside table onto the carpeted floor - less than a two foot drop. I’m sad to report it did not survive this fall. The light never came back on and when I called myself from my home phone I couldn’t answer it. Since today also marked the demise of our refrigerator (long story, don’t ask) I couldn’t get to the Sprint repair shop until late this afternoon.

They confirmed the worst - my phone is a goner. Thankfully, I have backed it up faithfully every week and synced it regularly. So, I’m not worried about recovering all my contacts (like my husband’s new cell phone number that I never memorized because it is so easy to just dial K-E-N and we’re in business) but I really can’t stand not having a phone. I feel disconnected and inaccessible. Which I am.

I have been paying my $7 per month insurance and so I’ll get a no-additional-cost replacement. But, are you ready for this…it could take 3 to 5 business days! Holy Crap - that could be January 7th!

I tried to ask the friendly, but ultimately not-so-helpful, repair store rep about a loaner phone. No dice. So I thought, well, I’ll buy a cheap phone to use as my back up phone. Nope. The least expensive option was $150. Thinking that maybe a pre-paid phone with my calls forwarded to it might work I asked about that. Sure, for 40 cents per minute.

Really this is quite annoying. I know perfectly well that the Sprint retail stores have Treo 700wx’s sitting on their shelves, but I have to acquire my replacement from a repair store. There is a chance I can get one from a different repair store 30 minutes drive away. If only I could call first to ask them if they have one in stock before I drive up there. No, I have to be there IN PERSON to find out.

Now I am really annoyed. What the &*#)#@$ is Sprint doing? Do they even realize how much this ticks me off? Or inconveniences me? This is craziness. Instead of being relieved that I made the right decision to get the replacement insurance and happily using up my shared minutes telling all my friends how great Sprint treated me I am blogging for perpetuity how annoyed they make me.

The really stupid part of all this is how un-capitalistic this is. We are in America right? Why can’t I buy a phone and use it on the network of my choice? It makes no sense at all that I have to get a certain piece of equipment from only a certain place. Someday we will look back on this and laugh at all the crap we had to put up with from the cell phone companies.

I’m not laughing yet. I’m too mad.

UPDATE:
I drove up to the Sprint repair store 30 minutes away. They were able to fix my phone by replacing the screen and the keyboard. Phew.

What a great idea Roland at Chaos365 shared - wireless amber alerts.

I took 3 minutes to sign up, and now if there is an Amer Alert issued in my state (Colorado) I will get a text message on my phone.

If you want to sign up:
www.wirelessamberalerts.org

This week when I finally had it with the built in alarm clock on my Treo 700wx (see why here) and decided to get a more robust alarm clock program for my phone I went to Handango. After browsing through the selection of alarm clock choices I settled on enAlarmPPC. (See why I chose that one here.)

After getting it installed on my computer and then synced to my phone it asked for my registration code. I grabbed the five digit number off my receipt and entered it in. It said, “Wrong registration code.” I tried again. And again. Finally I emailed the software creator for help.

Thankfully, Maik Wiege, who created enAlarmPPC, promptly emailed back with the solution.

It seems the problem started a few months back when I first discovered Handango and created my account there. During the registration process it asked me for my Device Identifier. I put in “My Treo” thinking that this was just something I would use at Handango. Flash forward to my enAlarmPPC troubles. This software was cross checking my phone to make sure the Owner Information matched my Handango account.

Of course it didn’t. The owner information in my phone is “Kim Dushinski” and since that clearly didn’t match “My Treo” the software wouldn’t register.

If I change my owner information to My Treo in my phone then it will install. However, if I ever lose my phone and someone looks in Owner Information to see whose phone it is that will not be very helpful. Plus it will just plain drive me nuts to have that on my phone.

I have now changed my Handango account’s Device Identifer to Kim Dushinski and will have to buy enAlarmPPC again (only $8, so no big deal) so it will stay registered. Thank goodness I figured this out before I bought a bunch of productivity software, games, ringtones and themes. I’d be stuck as “My Treo” forever!

A few days ago I accidentally called my Dad from my cell phone at 4:45 AM. How do you accidentally call someone at that hour? Well, I had my alarm set on my phone for 4:45 am so I could attend a 5 AM teleconference hosted by woman from Australia. (It was a much more reasonable hour for the attendees from that continent.)

The basic alarm clock that came with my Treo 700wx went off, I hit snooze. I must have held my finger down a little too long on the screen because the feature right underneath it activated - speed dial. To my Dad. This is not the first time this has happened, just the first time it was so early.

Clearly, I had to find a new alarm clock for my phone. I also wanted to be able to add more alarms than the standard three that came with the phone. Other than that I didn’t know what I was looking for.

When I got an email from Handango announcing their Deal of the Day featuring a software deal each day throughout June I started shopping.

After looking over several options I chose enAlarmPPC. I liked the pleasant screen display, the ability to choose different alarm sounds for each alarm, and unlimited alarms. What I LOVED was the snooze-alarm-addict feature called “Quiz.” I can set the alarm to make me do a math equation to hit the snooze alarm again. Yes, I admit it, I’m a snooze alarm junkie.

I hate getting up the first time the alarm goes off. I like to snooze twice and then get up. Occasionally I will snooze three, four or even five times. Not good. With enAlarmPPC I can give myself the option of two free snoozes (that do not activate my speed dial) and then on the third time my brain will have to do math to get me back to sleep. By then I’ll be awake. BRILLIANT!

Other than the small issue of registration and how I named my phone the installation went smoothly. The program is easy to figure out and works well. I did find out that I need to use .wma files for the sound. The other sound files just didn’t work.

All in all, this is a good mobile phone alarm clock. I’m happy. (So is my Dad!)

Ever since I got my Treo last fall I have wanted to find mobile websites that are fun, easy to read and make sense to read on my phone. After all, I’m on the unlimited data plan, I need to surf something. Today I discovered three really great mobile websites that are totally worth using up my battery.

Check them out now on your computer. Once you see how fun they are you can grab them on your phone.

Each site provides valuable, time-saving content, with interactive, mobile-only tools like calculators, quizzes, downloadable wallpapers, user-generated contributions and comprehensive search facilities.

“Today, women live action-packed, on-the-go lives, and a mobile phone has become ‘home base,’” said Stacy Morrison, Redbook editor-in-chief. “Cell phones are how a woman stays connected to friends and family, keeps herself organized, and now, with our new mobile sites, she’ll be able to use her phone to actually make her life easier – whether that means finding last-minute recipes at the supermarket, getting ideas for fun, flirty things to do with her guy or quickly looking up the best way to get gum out of her kid’s hair. The goal is to meet women where they are living their lives every day, and more and more, that means on the run, with a cell phone at the ready.”

Source: Crisp Wireless

Redbook Mobile
On your cell phone >>> http://m.redbookmag.com

Good Housekeeping Mobile
On your cell phone >>> http://m.goodhousekeeping.com

House Beautiful Mobile
On your cell phone >>> http://m.housebeautiful.com

Wouldn’t it be cool to get daily quotes on your cell phone? Thanks to Nancy Nally at Scrapbook Update who pointed out Real Simple magazine’s daily quote service and my recent discovery of Plusmo I have figured out a really slick HighTech way to get daily quotes and daily tips on my cell phone - for free.

Here’s how:

Go to RealSimple.com.
Grab the RSS feed you want - Recipe, Tips and/or Quotes.
Plug them into your Plusmo account.

Finally had a few minutes to sit down and read the copy of PC Today magazine that arrived right before the Christmas. It turns out it is the February 2007 issue which freaks me out - it’s not even January yet for goodness sake, but anyway…

There is a great article about mobile web browsing Mobile Web 2.0 (pages 58-59) and I found something really cool for my phone. It is called Plusmo. It is a downloaded software that syncs content from the web to my phone. I picked a few channels to personalize my content and then from my phone downloaded the software. It was so easy and it worked like a charm.

I even created a button that allows you to add HighTechMoms to your Plusmo account.

Give it a try. Let me know what cool fun content you find. If you create your own Plusmo button give me a shout - I’d love to have more fun stuff for my phone.