New Phone - the Samsung i7500
I ordered a new phone recently and a new phone, texting and data plan. I have had a Blackberry Pearl for 3+ years and it has been great, but after seeing the Samsung i7500, I knew I had to have it. One of the things that intrigued me the most about the Samsung is that it supports tethering.
Tethering is simply using the phone as a wireless modem for my laptop. All I have to do is press the tethering button and the phone's wireless network shows up on my laptop. I can even talk and tether at the same time. As a mobile professional, this will be a valuable service for me. I recently left Keller Williams and started officing out of my home. As such, I no longer have an office where I can meet clients. With a tethering phone I can now meep people anywhere I get a cell signal and can use the laptop. The speed is close to that of an air card or DSL. That is not as fast as cable, but it is good enough for most internet needs. From what I understand, the phone service providor will make that much faster in the near future. Assuming that happens, my thinking is that the speed will be similar to cabe. If that happens, I may just eliminate my cable internet service.
Coverage in my area has been good and has gotten even better over time. I also get decent coverage in much of the Hill Country. The new plan is actually less expensive than my existing plan, which is pretty good. I will get unlimited minutes, texting and data (internet) for $89.95 a month. Oh, my daughter loves this too because she can actually surf the internet when we're on the road. She can use my laptop or her Ipod.
Another feature I love is GPS. Having this feature on the i7500 is like having a Garmin. I can have the phone identify my location, punch in an address and get directions. Not only does it give me turn by turn directions, but it will show me the route on a map and take me to my destination turn by turn.
A couple more things I love about the phone are the 5 megapixel camera and the music player. With the built in camera having such high resolution, I no longer need my digital camera. The built-in emory is 8 GB, which will store a lot of photos and music files, but I can also upgrade to 40 GB. With that much memory, I may not use my MP3 player any more. So the Samsung i7500 can potentially help me eliminate the need for a GPS, MP2 player, camera and perhaps even my cable internet.
I have downloaded somd fun and useful applications for my WOW Mobile phone as well. I just downloaded one called Radar Now yesterday. With GPS enabled, it pulls the closest weather radar and shows it animated. Texas in the spring can see some ugly weather and if I am on the road I can now check that almost instantly as long as I have GPS enabled.
Technology continues to improve and I am taking advantage of it. Not only is the phone a great device, it i sjust plain fun to use.