The only PDA related item I received for Christmas was a $25 Fictionwise gift certificate, but my wife and family rarely get me PDA stuff anyways since I usually end up buying it myself with my PDA funds.

I did receive a cool touch screen laptop from Pen&Internet to evaluate their ritePen software. The laptop uses the Clivo T200 reference design and this specific model is sold by Eurocom as the T200V Convertible. I like the touch screen because it works like a large PDA and is more intuitive to me than a Tablet PC. The ritePen software allows for handwriting text entry like a Tablet, except all the letters are converted to text rather than having any left in your own handwriting. I love the fact that this device has integrated WiFi, a rotatable display, a 4-in-1 storage card reader, and a thin form factor. I get to review this unit for about a month and am seriously considering buying one for myself. I did a bit more research and found out this is the same laptop that is used by Element Computer for its Helium 2100 Linux Tablet device. I am using the T200 exclusively at home for writing sections of the book I am working on and all my other computing needs. It is great to take digital photos and quickly pop them right onto the computer with the SD card reader integrated into the laptop.

I still have the Electrovaya Tablet PC and it is a very high quality device, but I am just not a huge fan of the tablet only mode. I think it works well for some industries, but not for my uses. I like the option of using the full keyboard and that is why the T200 is better for me personally.

I couldn’t stand the crappy AT&T Wireless coverage, maximum of 2 bars anywhere I traveled, on my MPx200 so I spent the $14.95 and had the Smartphone unlocked. I then popped in my existing T-Mobile SIM and instantly was up to 4 bars in most locations. I have been using the MPx200 quite a bit over the holiday weekend and am really loving the device and what it can do. It is not designed as a PDA replacement and is designed as a phone first, but it is so powerful that it can replace a lot of PDA functions.

Shira at Waggener-Edstrom PR was kind enough to give me a Motorola MPx200 to review for Geek.com. I tried Joel’s first generation SPV before, but have to say my initial impressions of the MPx200 are that it is a GREAT device. I love the way the flip phone feels when I hold it to my head and talk on it more than the candy bar type of phone. I am really diving into the Smartphone to try and get at least a mini-review up on Geek.com before the end of the year.

I finished my YOPY 3700 review and gave it my worst rating ever. The device was extremely low quality and I was not impressed at all. I still have the Electrovaya Tablet PC and am writing this review up now. It is a very high quality unit and will probably get my highest rating.

I have been very busy packing my CES schedule and now have Thursday and Friday packed with interviews. It looks like I will be getting some review items (digital camera, magnetic wireless headset) so I may take an extra piece of luggage to pack it home. I plan on posting updates for Geek.com via my iPAQ 4350 or UX50 and will be traveling pretty light. There looks to be some very cool stuff down there and I can’t wait to take it all in.

I have to tell you my life can be crazy at times:) I called to add the Qwest $20 unlimited long distance service and was told my DSL fees will be going down $4 per month and also some great wireless news. Qwest will be partnering with Sprint and Qwest wireless customers will soon be getting access to Sprint PCS wireless service. I heard reports that this service coverage is the best in the business and I am excited about the prospects. Thus, I am canceling my wife’s T-Mobile plan and going back to having just my service as I originally configured it. I will be sticking with T-Mobile on one phone because I have a 1 year obligation, but if the Sprint PCS/Qwest offerings look good I may finally be back to one carrier the middle of next year.

Now I get to see how number portability works going back to my Qwest service. Man, what a pain in the rear this has been. At least we get to keep the same number.

Sprint PCS is a CDMA technology, but I think their data service is extremely fast. I would like to see them support GSM phones with SIM cards so I could use multiple phones and that is the only downside of their service.

I have been carrying around 2 cell phones for a few months now since we had Qwest wireless when we first moved to Washington 3 years ago due to the unlimited calls between each phone and our home phone. I also have T-Mobile for data and have 6 months remaining on that contract. I decided to switch my wife to T-Mobile now that number portability is in effect and we just had her phone activated with the new number yesterday. It took 10 days to get the number ported over to the new service. The problem now is that T-Mobile still does not work that great at my house and my wife needs to make long distance calls for her PartyLite candle business. I did find that Qwest offers unlimited long distance from your home phone for only $20 a month so I could still save $30 a month if I stuck with T-Mobile. Then again, my wife is leary of T-Mobile’s coverage and may want to go back to a Qwest cell phone. If I do take her back then I will just get one phone for her with lots of minutes and keep my T-Mobile phone. So now we need to test out T-Mobile’s coverage in areas she travels and see if it will work for us.

I’ve been a bit lax on posting here recently as I have been extremely busy working on some sections of a book I am helping with and reviewing the Electrovaya Tablet PC and Yopy 3700 Linux PDA.

I have also been trying to get my Clie Digital Video Recorder to record the new episodes of Battlestar Galactica, but am having some issues with my Memory Stick Pro.

I also have not yet received my package back from the post office, but am still holding out hope that they were able to stop it before it was sent to the thief who stole the PayPal money and won my ebay auction.

Well, it seems even the most tech savvy person can get caught in a web of fraud. I sold my 2215 on ebay last week and received payment via PayPal. The person wanted it shipped to the Ukraine, which seemed fine since I have mailed many things to foreign countries before. I mailed it out yesterday morning and then transferred most of the PayPal funds back into my checking account. I then just received some emails that the buyer had stolen the funds from someone else to pay me. I rushed to the Post Office and filed a package recall request. It just left Seattle for San Francisco last night so they said they should be able to snag it and send it back. I hopefully will only be out about $25 for shipping and have learned a valuable lesson.

In hindsight, I see that the person’s emails are a bit suspicious. I guess I didn’t notice in my zeal to sell off my gear and didn’t apply my good judgement. I think I will now no longer sell to ebay bidder’s with low ratings. I was trying to give people a chance like I was given, but I can’t afford that cost anymore.

My quest for cutting my monthly fees continues to be successful after my buddy Peter just sent me this excellent link. If you have the T-Mobile data plan like I did for $19.99, then you should read this discussion because you can now get unlimited data for FREE. There are some restrictions on functionality, ie. no SSH or FTP, but I never used my GPRS connection for this stuff anyways. I use my GPRS connection for email and web browsing so I went and called customer service to cancel my $19.99 plan and asked for the Free WAP plan that lets me download ringtones, etc. T-Mobile seems to think that this free wap plan with unlimited data is only good for a few things, but people have found you simple change your connection string from “CGDCONT=1,,”internet2.voicestream.com” to “CGDCONT=1,,”wap.voicestream.com” and you should be all set.

Now what carrier can compete with unlimited free data? I would like to post this on Geek.com for everyone to benefit, but I am a bit afraid that T-Mobile will catch on that there are some tech savvy PDA users out there who know how to use the system to their advantage and that T-Mobile didn’t intend it for this type of use. Then again, there can’t be that many people who figure this out. Is it a moral issue and are we taking advantage of a loophole they don’t want us to use or is this one way for T-Mobile to take over the world?

I received a call from my buddy Peter asking about sending faxes with Vonage and that got me thinking a bit more about what I have in my house. I almost forgot that we have an alarm system and that requires a landline phone. It may work with Vonage, but would require too many cables to really get it working right. Vonage also does not support calls to 911, which is vital when you have 3 young daughters at home all day being homeschooled. So Vonage looks like it is out for me!

I did find out that I can still cut my home phone service by about $12 a month by reducing the feature set we have. We only use call waiting and caller ID and never use things such as 3-way calling, call transferring, etc. So instead of cutting my bill down $40+ I can still cut it down $30+. If I am keeping my local phone, then I might as well keep my DSL since I have been extremely happy with my ISP, Blarg and can keep my blog as well.

I just created a long spreadsheet analyzing how much I spend per month on cell service, internet service, and my home phone to find out I was over $215 with taxes and fees. That is insane! I found ways to cut that by $42 per month so I am switching from DSL to cable (sure is nice to have both options) next Monday and getting my wife onto T-Mobile wireless with me. I am also planning on signing up for the new Vonage phone service that uses the internet for your calls. It is cheaper than my home phone service and also lets me dial local long distance for free.

I now have to find a new home to put this blog since I am using my web space that is included with my DSL service. Can anyone recommend a good cheap web host? I was thinking of just using Blogspot for now, but have to figure out how to get everything (including my archives) over there successfully. It is simple with web space and ftp access.

I have now sold all my cases, iPAQ 2215, and other gear and have used the cash to pay for most of my 4350, tickets to CES in Vegas, and Christmas gifts. I am still very happy with the iPAQ 4350 and will see how long it satisfies me.