Point, Shoot, Talk, Text, E-mail, Listen?
August 31, 2006 10:22 AM Subscribe
Kind of long and detailed general questions about digital cameras, camera phones, Blackberries and cell phone providers...
I've had various Blackberries for close to five years now, and I'm pretty happy with the 7290 I have now. I will probably switch to the newer slimmer black qwerty model in the next year or so, but I would not consider a primary device that doesn't do everything that the 7290 does. I can use the web pretty well, play some reasonably enjoyable games, have all my work and personal e-mail, contacts, calendar, etc. I can even check out the dirty pictures of herself my girlfriend sent me from vacation. The 7290 works well and has some other features I have definitely gotten used to. I'm also pretty happy with my provider (T-Mobile), and the service and dropped calls situations seem pretty good compared to other providers. I often have service in Chicago (where I live) and elsewhere when my friends do not.
My issue is that I am trying to decide whether or not to buy a nice new dSLR camera, or a smaller point and shoot digital which I could have with me more often. I also really like the idea of having a camera phone, since part of the fun is being able to take pictures of things, send them to your friends, set them up to show up when your friends call, etc. My decision process about the dSLR/smaller point and shoot is partially affected by my ability to get and use a camera phone on my current T-mobile plan without much additional charge or inconvenience. If I buy a relatively large camera, including any of the dSLRs, I am going to want something small to point and shoot with or carry with me when I don't want to carry a camera bag. I think that I might want that to be a camera phone, but maybe it's stupid to have a camera phone primarily for the camera function, since they pretty much suck as cameras except as a nice cute additional feature.
T-Mobile doesn't seem to offer any good "family plans" through which I could add another phone to my current plan and use the same minutes for $10 a month or so. The last time that I talked to them, they had nothing that worked well with my current plan, which is $50/month for 1000 minutes, with free nights and weekends and 100 texts ($6/month or so) and unlimited Blackberry/Enterprise e-mail/web ($30/month). In the past, I have moved my SIM card to another phone temporarily (like to my old T-Mobile phone when I just wanted to carry the phone), but I haven't done that in a while. Will I still be able to do that? Will an "unlocked" phone into which I can put my SIM card be absurdly expensive? Can I use any unlocked, say, RAZR, or will I need to make sure it can do the right network?
So, basically, my question is: what should I do to get a camera I can take with me and easily send the pictures to my friends? Is there any reason to switch to a different cell provider when I get a new Blackberry? Am I right that there will never been good camera or MP3 options with the Blackberries? Should I consider other devices (Treo, etc.)? Should I just pick out a decently small point and shoot camera and start carrying that around with me? Would it be worth it to move things over to a new provider if they offer better options for me? And how hard would it be to move all the stuff from my Blackberry (Password Vault, etc.) to a different device?
Thanks in advance - I know the question is kind of all over...
I've had various Blackberries for close to five years now, and I'm pretty happy with the 7290 I have now. I will probably switch to the newer slimmer black qwerty model in the next year or so, but I would not consider a primary device that doesn't do everything that the 7290 does. I can use the web pretty well, play some reasonably enjoyable games, have all my work and personal e-mail, contacts, calendar, etc. I can even check out the dirty pictures of herself my girlfriend sent me from vacation. The 7290 works well and has some other features I have definitely gotten used to. I'm also pretty happy with my provider (T-Mobile), and the service and dropped calls situations seem pretty good compared to other providers. I often have service in Chicago (where I live) and elsewhere when my friends do not.
My issue is that I am trying to decide whether or not to buy a nice new dSLR camera, or a smaller point and shoot digital which I could have with me more often. I also really like the idea of having a camera phone, since part of the fun is being able to take pictures of things, send them to your friends, set them up to show up when your friends call, etc. My decision process about the dSLR/smaller point and shoot is partially affected by my ability to get and use a camera phone on my current T-mobile plan without much additional charge or inconvenience. If I buy a relatively large camera, including any of the dSLRs, I am going to want something small to point and shoot with or carry with me when I don't want to carry a camera bag. I think that I might want that to be a camera phone, but maybe it's stupid to have a camera phone primarily for the camera function, since they pretty much suck as cameras except as a nice cute additional feature.
T-Mobile doesn't seem to offer any good "family plans" through which I could add another phone to my current plan and use the same minutes for $10 a month or so. The last time that I talked to them, they had nothing that worked well with my current plan, which is $50/month for 1000 minutes, with free nights and weekends and 100 texts ($6/month or so) and unlimited Blackberry/Enterprise e-mail/web ($30/month). In the past, I have moved my SIM card to another phone temporarily (like to my old T-Mobile phone when I just wanted to carry the phone), but I haven't done that in a while. Will I still be able to do that? Will an "unlocked" phone into which I can put my SIM card be absurdly expensive? Can I use any unlocked, say, RAZR, or will I need to make sure it can do the right network?
So, basically, my question is: what should I do to get a camera I can take with me and easily send the pictures to my friends? Is there any reason to switch to a different cell provider when I get a new Blackberry? Am I right that there will never been good camera or MP3 options with the Blackberries? Should I consider other devices (Treo, etc.)? Should I just pick out a decently small point and shoot camera and start carrying that around with me? Would it be worth it to move things over to a new provider if they offer better options for me? And how hard would it be to move all the stuff from my Blackberry (Password Vault, etc.) to a different device?
Thanks in advance - I know the question is kind of all over...
Response by poster: The Pearl looks nice, but it looks like it is the dreaded 20-key keyboard. Yuk.
posted by jcwagner at 11:11 AM on August 31, 2006
posted by jcwagner at 11:11 AM on August 31, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by zabuni at 10:54 AM on August 31, 2006