SOCIAL: "smart phones?"

[Joel Young]

Two replies in one:

On Dec 4, 2008, at 10:42 AM, Mike Kosim wrote:

> I have a question:
> I'm using a blackberry and it's rapidly becoming a crap-berry (it's  
> crashing a lot, and I'm out of my 2 year contract anyway)
> So I'm worried about transitioning over from a two finger  
> keyboard ... are you able to twofinger type or is it going to be a  
> different process but faster, or is it just inherently slower?

Two fingers, all the way. I type much faster (about 30-40wpm) when I  
have both hands free. Can't say how it compares to typing on the  
blackberry, though. Some people say it's slightly better, lots of  
people say it's slightly worse. The biggest advantage is that it can  
switch layouts for things like entering web or email addresses, or for  
other languages.

On Dec 4, 2008, at 10:58 AM, Karen Nemsick wrote:

> Ok I hear you on the iPhones.  and to be honest, I LOVE all the  
> gadget-ness of them.  But I keep hearing about glitches with the G3  
> network and such.  is this just the hype that comes with a new toy?   
> or are they legit issues?  is iPhone encountering the same glitches  
> that any other phone/blackberry would encounter?

I haven't noticed any serious issues -- I've read about those  
problems, and I think some people have just had bad luck with  
coverage. I have strong signal in my (top floor) apartment, but not so  
much on the street in front of my house, which is between lots of tall  
buildings. When I'm taking Caltrain down from the city, there are a  
few dead spots, particularly between Mountain View and Palo Alto --  
but signal is strong in the tunnels in the city. Signal is strong in  
BART in the underground downtown stops, but goes to zero in the  
underground Mission stops and when it goes under the bay. I've noticed  
a weak spot in the Mission on Guerrero around 16th St, but overall I  
get great reception in the city when I'm not inside a big building.  
I've traveled around to a bunch of cities, and I generally have good  
signal.

All in all, it's the same story as with any other phone that I've had  
-- and my fiancee noticed the same signal dead spots with her Sony  
Ericsson before she got an iPhone.

Joel