Cellular phone links

Things to consider, to intelligently choose a wireless phone carrier:

How many minutes per day do you expect to average, and from where? How much will you use it nights and weekends vs. peak hours?
What networks provide acceptable signal coverage around your home, work, and wherever else you spend most of your time? Ask your friends.
Can you use the phone in places you're likely to travel to?
Do you want no-strings prepaid service, or are you willing to sign a contract for a year or two years, maybe with penalties?
If your usage level changes because your circumstances change, is there flexibility to allow you to stay cost-effective?

Contract plans are known in some circles as ball-and-chain cellular, but may be a better value if you are on your phone constantly.

There may be as many as three companies involved in your cellular service: the manufacturer who made your phone, the network operator who runs the network and cellular towers it connects to, and the wireless carrier you buy your phone from and pay for service. Your network and your carrier may be the same company, but not always. For example, the prepaid wireless carrier Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's network, and offers phones from several manufacturers. Apple is the manufacturer and wireless carrier for iPhone, with network connectivity from AT&T.

Resources

CNET cell phone reviews http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/: This is really pretty slick. You can progressively refine a selection of cell phone reviews by multiple criteria, including price, handset style (flip, swivel, slider, candy-bar) GSM/CDM, wireless carrier, manufacturer, and then set a sort order by review date, editor or user ratings, or price.
Slydial http://www.slydial.com/: Free service connects you directly to someone's mobile voicemail, usually without ringing their phone. Doesn't work if the other party has a prepaid mobile phone account.
Joopz Web texting http://www.joopz.com/: Lets you send free text messages to mobile phones from the Web; sponsored by the same company as Slydial. You can even set up a text message to be sent at a specified date and time, as a reminder, for example, even to yourself. There are many such services.
Of course, according to the cover of Wired 8/09, nobody but Brad Pitt can walk around wearing a Bluetooth headseat without looking like a dork. Decide for yourself.
SoundID Bluetooth wireless headsets http://www.soundid.com/: These advanced Bluetooth headsets transmit and even amplify ambient sound when you're not on the phone, and have adaptive noise-canceling and enhancing to combat crowd and wind noise during calls.
Phone Scoop http://www.phonescoop.com/: Searchable database of specs and reviews of cell phones. Unlike similar sites I've checked, Phone Scoop includes old cell phones.
About.com: Cellular phones http://cellphones.about.com/: Including an interactive quiz to help choose the cheapest phone. Look for a link that says "20 Questions: Reveal Your New Cell Phone." They have another quiz to pick a cheap prepaid plan, under "Plans & Prepaid."
Cellular Phone Reception and Tower Search http://www.cellreception.com/: Shows you cellular tower locations in an area; uses the Google Maps API with an FCC database of registered cellular towers. Best on broadband.
Mobile Phone Recycling http://www.collectivegood.com/: Regionally-keyed guide to donating an unwanted cellular phone to charity. Since even an inactive cellular phone can still be used to call 911 emergency operators, if it's charged, another good option is to see if you can donate to a local emergency shelter for women/children, such as the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery here.
Mobile Phone Directory http://www.mobile-phone-directory.org/: Specifications, glossary, news; parts of the site have a UK/Europe focus.

1983

Cell-Phones-n-Plans http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com/
Point.com http://www.point.com/
Wireless Advisor http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/
CNET: Cellular phones http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/?tag=glnav
Phone Scoop http://www.phonescoop.com/
SlashPhone http://www.slashphone.com/
Why Mobile Phones are Annoying http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040412.html: From Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox. This is stuff anybody who has a cellular phone should think about, in my opinion. See also the page of selected reader comments in response to the article.

You don't have to buy replacement batteries for cellular phones and laptops from the manufacturer, although some people prefer to. You probably have one or more local or Internet vendors that can supply you.

Batteries Plus http://www.batteriesplus.com/: This one has stores where I live.
Interstate Batteries http://www.interstatebatteries.com/
Batteries.com http://www.batteries.com/
BatteryMart http://www.batterymart.com/

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Phones

The five manufacturers Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and LG together made over 80% of mobile phones sold as of third quarter 2008. Nokia alone made 39%.

Nokia http://www.nokiausa.com/ Wikipedia: World's biggest manufacturer of cellular phones, partly because Motorola didn't get into digital fast enough.
Samsung Wikipedia
Sony Ericsson http://www.sonyericsson.com/ Wikipedia
Motorola http://www.motorola.com/ Wikipedia
LG Electronics http://www.lge.com/us/mobile-phones/ Wikipedia
Kyocera http://tools.kyocera-wireless.com/phoneshowcase.do
Sanyo http://us.sanyo.com/wireless/
UTStarcom (was Audiovox) http://www.utstar.com/Products/Handsets/

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Smartphones

A smartphone is a combination cellular phone and handheld computer, generally with thumbs keyboard, Web browser, email, and advanced features like GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi. There are more and more dazzling smartphones coming out now, with high resolution screens and multi-megapixel cameras; the ones linked below represent early standouts.

According to comScore press releases, in Fall 2009 the top smartphone-OS market shares were BlackBerry, iPhone OS, Microsoft, Palm, and Android, in that order. Around the end of 2009 Android passed Palm and moved into fourth place, having increased its share from 2.5% to 9% between September 2009 and February 2010. Over the same period BlackBerry and iPhone shares have been relatively steady and Microsoft and Palm have declined a few percent.

Wikipedia:
• Smartphone
• Comparison of
smartphones

BlackBerry http://www.blackberry.com/ Wikipedia: An influential early smartphone series, since 2002. Some people find them quasi-addictive, to the point that other people sometimes use the joke name CrackBerry.
iPhone http://www.apple.com/iphone/ Wikipedia: The techno-geek sensation of Summer 2007 raised the bar for smartphones. iPhone 3G was released July 2008 with a faster network, and iPhone 3GS in 2009. An iPhone 4G appears to be on the way. The iPhone battery is internal and not replaceable by the user. You can send an iPhone out to have a bad battery replaced, but I understand it costs half as much as buying a new iPhone.
Wikipedia: List of Android devices
Android http://www.android.com/ Wikipedia Android at Google http://code.google.com/android/: An open software platform and OS for smartphones, based on Linux and WebKit, and sponsored by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It's going to be interesting to see just how successful this becomes. The idea is that anybody who wants to can write cool software for smartphones running Android, and if you don't like the widgets on yours, you can just download and install stuff you do like.
T-Mobile G1 http://www.t-mobileg1.com/ Wikipedia HTC Dream (the manufacturer's name) http://www.htc.com/www/product/g1/overview.html: The first production Android phone, released October 2008; user-replaceable battery.
The story is they had to license the word "droid" from George Lucas.
Droid http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/: November 2009's new smartphone, that was supposed to put iPhones in the shade: a Motorola-Verizon-Google partnership. Open development, whatever that turns out to mean for Google's Android, and user replaceable battery, among other advances.
Palm Pre http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/ Wikipedia: Uses Palm's Linux-based webOS; touch screen, sliding keyboard, camera, GPS, Internet, and WiFi.
Windows Mobile http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/default.mspx Wikipedia: Microsoft's entry in the smartphone-OS arena.

If you decide to get a smartphone with Bluetooth and use it lots, there are wireless pocket Bluetooth keyboards you can get, with near-standard key-pitch. You don't have to do it all with your thumbs and hurt yourself.

The real question about smartphones is, do you really want to be available for calls and email at all times, to be on the grid and have your friends and colleagues know where you are at all times? With Fedex/Kinko's offices and public libraries with computers pretty much everywhere, and portable applications, as long as you have a USB flash-memory thumb drive in your pocket, or maybe a faster compact external hard disk enclosure in your briefcase, you don't really need a smartphone, or even a netbook, to do mobile computing. People seem to get excited about all the amazing things smartphones can do now, and jump in with both feet, without ever thinking about how it's going to change the flavor of their life.

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Prepaid cellular

The main prepaid no-contract services available in the US (also described as pay-as-you-go):

Wikipedia:
Prepaid
mobile
phone

INpulse (Verizon) Wikipedia
GoPhone (AT&T Mobility) http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/ Wikipedia
Boost Mobile (Sprint Nextel) http://www.boostmobile.com/ Wikipedia
ToGo (T-Mobile) http://www.t-mobile.com/Shop/Plans/Prepaid-Plans-Overview.aspx Wikipedia
TracFone Wireless http://www.tracfone.com/ Wikipedia
Virgin Mobile USA http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ Wikipedia: CDM phones only, last time I checked; not a good thing.

Holsters, cases

I saw an indication in Wired magazine that phone holsters are out of style, and we're all supposed to be fishing our phones out of our pockets now. Sounds like a good way to lose a phone to me. Suit yourself.

You can find some holsters locally at electronics stores, at discount stores like Target and Shopko, and to some extent at cell phone stores. If you have to buy a holster online, start by finding out the nominal dimensions of your phone: length, width, and thickness. You can just measure, or look on your carrier or manufacturer's Web site. Then do a search on your phone make and model and the word holster; look for a site that gives dimensions for each holster for the largest phone that will fit, and find one that's close. If your phone dimensions were given in inches and the holsters are in millimeters you may have to convert. Then if you want you can buy online from Amazon or other vendors.

Body Glove http://www.bodyglove.com/: Nice-looking compact friction-retention holsters with a rotating click-stop belt clip, which I found at Target.
NiteIze http://www.niteize.com/: More secure Velcro-retention clip-on holsters, with a very aggressive clip design, sold at Big R. They kinda look like cop equipment. I have to use two hands to get this holster to let go of my pants when I want it off. They may have switched from Velcro to magnets; Velcro does wear out after a year or so.
Case Logic http://www.caselogic.com/: Cases and holsters for cellular phones, MP3 players, cameras, and laptops; also messenger bags and luggage. They have horizontal and vertical format cellular holsters, some of which have swiveling belt clips.
Cell Safe http://www.cellsafe.com/: Watertight floating cellular phone cases, with an O-ring seal and foam padding inside, that fit bicycle water-bottle cages.

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Hacks

If your phone has Bluetooth but your PC doesn't, a common situation, you can get a setup for your PC with a USB Bluetooth dongle and a software CD. Cyberguys has several.

Mobile 17 http://mobile17.com/: Depending on how your wireless carrier supports messaging and attachments, this free site may let you create ringtones and wallpapers from your own PC files and email them to your phone. Or you may need to use Bluetooth, if your phone has it, or cough up fifty bucks for a USB data cable with a proprietary connector for your phone model.
HowardForums http://howardforums.com/: An online exchange for cellular phone hacks and workarounds.

Reference links

HowStuffWorks: Cellular phones http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
Wikipedia: Mobile phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone: Including a list of manufacturers (under Handsets).
History of mobile phones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
Comparison of mobile phone standards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_mobile_phone_standards: GSM and CDM dominate the market now, with GSM growing faster than CDM.
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_Identity_Module: A type of memory card used in GSM phones; allow a user to change phones by moving the SIM card to the new phone, or to change carriers on the same phone by receiving a new SIM card. There are USB memory card readers for flash formats such as Secure Digital and CompactFlash, that also support SIM cards.
Google Directory: Wireless carriers http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Telecommunications/Carriers/Wireless/
Wikipedia: List of mobile network operators http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators
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Wikipedia: Satellite phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_phone: A type of high-end wireless phone that works directly with satellites, not dependent on the usual ground-based networks of cellular towers; also called satphone.

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