i want a new phone, oh-oh-oh

Woe!!

I staggered out of bed this morning because I knew I needed to pick Mom up from the car repair shop. She had errands to run and wanted to do that first so she let me sleep in. So I get up, still completely non-fuctional, reach for my trusty Treo, and my sleep-numbed hands just totally dropped it. And the screen broke!

So I stopped by my (not-so)friendly Verizon store, and they informed me that they won't fix it, just replace it. But it's not covered by warranty anymore, so I'd basically have to buy a new one. For $300 (and that's AFTER my "new-every-two" $100 discount). Or I could get a different phone? So I said I'd have to think about it. Came home, got on net. Palm site tells me repair and return would be $169, and of course that would mean being without it for a certain amount of time since it's thru the mail.

Verizon site wants me to upgrade. But it doesn't have anything GOOD! All the smartphones are either big and clunky or another Treo, which is itself big and clunky. I don't want a Blackberry, because all our consultants use them and I can't stand that idea. I don't really want a Windows Mobile device, even tho the Office products might be useful.

Sounds like it's iPhone time, doesn't it?

Ack!

this might take longer than i thought...

Reason #4671 why I hate Apple Computer, Inc: Artificial Demand

P picks me up after he gets out of work and we head off to the Apple store in Peabody. We look around for a few minutes, marveling at the Apple Macbook Air (which frankly feels a little flimsy, like you could snap off an edge if you weren't paying attention), then we finally ask a clerk to get an iPhone. "Sure!" he chirps (because that is what they do, there), "We only have the 8GB, is that ok?"

Up until that very second I wasn't sure that I was getting the 16GB iPhone, but suddenly I knew that I would be satisfied with nothing less. No, that isn't ok, can you call around? He scampers off, wagging his tail, and makes three or four calls. He comes back looking vaguely sad, like he knows that something isn't perfect but he's not sure quite what it might be, and says "no, no one has it in stock. We get shipments every day, though!" His female counterpart chimes in with "We don't know what's going to be in them, but if you call? In the early afternoon? We might know then!"

We don't know what's going to be in them? Hmmm. Maybe they could look it up in a computer. If only there were one, somewhere...

P and I discussed this over dinner. They sell exactly two kinds of iPhones, the 8GB and the 16GB. Only two. They don't come in various colors or with sparkly bits stuck to them or in the limited edition Vapor Blue version. Just two. It's not like they make the 16GB version out of a precious ore that has to be mined from the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench; lives are not lost making the 16GB version vs. the 8GB version. In fact, our perky boyclerk explained (in very small words) that the 8GB version was EXACTLY LIKE the 16GB version in every way except that it would hold less music. Really?

Artificial Demand. It's ugly.

ha!

I just was messing around with my Treo, and it still works! I can't see anything on the screen, but I can make calls and receive calls just fine. So I guess it's ok to wait. A little while, anyway.



Sadness, part 1

Sadness, part 2

(note: the cracks are on the inside, so the glass itself is totally smooth and not leaking any of the whatever-it-is)

Heh, my bluetooth headset works, too. I wish our phones worked the way the UK phones do, where phones aren't locked down. I'd get this repaired and keep it as a backup.

ETA: Just looked up replacement screens on EBay. $40! And there are videos all over YouTube how to replace the screen. I fixed my own Handspring before, and changed the battery on my old iPod. And it's only $40. Ha, Apple, you might just have to wait for my dosh after all!