Being locked down by a ball and chain (Verizon contract), my options for innovative cell phones looked as broad as toothpick splinter. Being on a family plan, simply opting to pay the Early Termination Fee to switch carriers posed more trouble and complications that it was worth. Desperately wanting a smartphone, I had only two choices; Blackberry (which I affectionally dubbed Suckberry), or Windows Mobile. I chose Suckberry despite my general dislike for it and due to the stagnant nature of WinMo development.

Not wanting to extend my contract with Verizon, I bought a Blackberry Storm off one of my teammates knowing this was one of the most hated Blackberry models RIM produced.  For the sake of not turning this post into a review of the Storm, I will summarize my experience so far.

• The phone is usable, I have no qualms about the touch screen, and it is actually better than most of Verizon’s other touch screen phones.  Overall, the build quality of RIM’s products is very good.
• The Blackberry OS leaves much to be desired.  It’s a one trick pony: messaging.  Especially Blackberry Messenger; it’s a very compelling app but not enough to keep me on a BlackBerry.
• Ultimately, having a smartphone I don’t really like is still better than my old Samsung Alias.

Now that Apple’s exclusivity agreement with AT&T is near it’s end, Verizon has announced at least two Google Android phones as well as the Palm Pre coming to it’s network, the smartphone/network landscape is about to get a lot more interesting.  The availability of 4G networks within the next year will also be something to consider.

Hopefully, the race to land deals with phone makers and pressure from the FCC will make for a consumer-friendly smartphone market.  Call me a hypocrite with my BlackBerry, but my Storm has allowed me to figure out what I want from whatever smartphone I choose in the future.

Additional Reading:
Why You Can’t Get a Good Phone With Verizon

The session window for AT&T Wi-Fi

Today I spent a good chunk of time there working on various projects and had the opportunity to test what would happen to my Wi-Fi access after two hours. Apparently nothing. Awesome .

This makes things more convenient for road warriors. I would suspect that this trick works at any AT&T Hotspot. Of course anyone with an iPhone or other qualifying AT&T plan automatically gets hot-spot access and you can even enable automatic login with iPhone OS 3.0:

Anyways, if anyone has confirmed that with Starbucks Rewards, you can use AT&T Wi-Fi at any AT&T hotspot, be sure to share in the comments.

Check out more about Starbucks Rewards at http://starbucks.com/cardrewards.

MacBook Pro (Mid 2008):

• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/2GB DDR2 RAM at 667 MHz
• 160 GB hard drive @ 7200 rpm
• 256 MB nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
• 15.4″ matte LED-lit display
• Illuminated Keyboard
• 2 USB/1 Firewire 400/1 Firewire 800

Unibody MacBook:

• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/2 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1066 MHz
• 160GB hard drive @ 5400 rpm
• nVidia GeForce 9400M chipset
• 13.3 LED-lit glossy display
• Glass multi-touch trackpad
• 2 USB ports

Ultimately, the performance is nearly identical. In real-world usage, the MacBook boots faster than the MacBook Pro, but I attribute this to the fact that there is significantly less occupying its hard drive. It’s hard to give up the MBP. While the unibody construction is sleek and very durable, the sentiental connection I have with my MBP is hard to get over.

The old MBP does have a few extra perks as well such as an ExpressCard slot. For most average users, this is hardly a point of significance. I can’t remember the last time I used any card-slot peripherals.

For those of you with older MBP’s considering a new laptop, I generally agree with what’s been said at Wired, and here. The conclusion seems to be that if you actually use more advanced features (card slot, firewire, do heavy film editing), stick with the pro. Otherwise, the new Unibody MacBook has closed the gap between pro and consumer models in a good way; save yourself some dough and go for the regular MacBook.

A lie of this magnitude makes the Laptop Hunter ads look almost reasonable. Considering the fact that

• Not all songs cost $0.99 (some cost more but some cost less too).
• Purchasing albums lowers the cost per song
• Ripped CD’s
• Movies take up a lot of room, and if you have an iPod touch, apps
• Maybe I like my iPod to double as an external hard drive

These are all ways that you can fill an iPod without spending $30k. I didn’t even mention pirated music! As far as I’m concerned, digital music is somewhere Microsoft has managed to fail on a much more consistent basis that some of their other departments (Windows XP sort of…and XBox).

Given the outrageous claim that we all spend $30,000 to fill our iPods, my iPod library (movies, music, apps, audiobooks, photos) does take up a significant portion of my hard drive, on my old HP laptop, it was over half; granted I only had an 80GB HD back then.

It’ll be interesting to see how this olds up a few months from now. I generally make it a point to take care of the hinge by not closing my laptop too abruptly. Anybody else experience any similar issues? What did you do about it?

I didn’t want to get the same exact case for the MacBook however. As nice as the Incase sleeves are, they’re pretty pricey at $35. I looked around the web and came across Booq Bags. Booq manufactures a number of different bags, and sleeves for laptops and other devices. I quickly found the Taipan Skin for the MacBook. It certainly looked stylish enough for my Mac (always an important consideration). Also, looking at the dimensions, it fit the unibody MacBook exactly. This was the key factor in my purchasing decision as I have read elsewhere that the Incase sleeves are too large unibody MacBooks. This was also the case for my MacBook Pro; there is about an 1.5 inches of extra space at the top of the sleeve when the MBP is inserted into the sleeve.Taipan Skin. Satisfied with what I saw, I purchased a Taipan sleeve for my own. After a long journey from California, the Taipan arrived at my apartment. The exterior feels exactly the same as the Incase sleeves, however it is not as thick. The construction is solid, with the zipper going around two sides of the case (instead of just one for the Incase sleeve) providing a large point of entry/exit for the computer. While the actual case is thinner, It still provides adequate padding from the other books and objects in my backpack. In fact, the thinness actually means less space is wasted in my backpack. Ultimately, the Taipan offers a edgier, unique style over the ubiquitous Incase sleeve while offering the same amount of protection for a lower price. If you’re looking to protect your MacBook and hate the hard shell cases as much as I do, give the Booq sleeves a look.

The Taipan is also available at one of my favorite online shops, Koyono.

All in all, the construction of the new MacBook makes it seem much sturdier and lighter (although the weight difference is negligible in once it is placed in my backpack). The smaller footprint has led me to use the MacBook as my primary mobile computer, while my Pro sits at home.

For most users, the new MacBook is a significant upgrade over the previous models. While the old model is still available with specs that nearly match the unibody models (the difference being in the bus and RAM speed) at a price break, the unibody is still the way to go. Unless you’re on a really really tight budget, the durability, improved battery life, LED screen and option for an illuminated keyboard are all features that make the unibody models look, feel and perform like the MacBook Pro.

A few things I had to get used to were the glossy screen and the button-less track pad. My MacBook pro has a matte screen, and like many users, I worried about glare. In my usage, I have yet to find a situation where the glare made my hindered my experience. The LED screen is bright enough to minimize most effects of the gloss. The trackpad lacks a button and as a result, I initially found myself doing all sorts of weird things when I tried to click with a second finger placed where I’m used to having a button. This behavior changed quickly and I soon found myself trying to click the trackpad on other machines. Multi-touch is definitely nice and improves upon an already stellar user experience in Mac OS.

All-in-all, the unibody MacBooks are excellent machines and put my old MacBook Pro to shame; a feat only Apple could pull off.