What Do You Most Do With Yours?
You know, whatever that thing is that you carry around with you everywhere?
I call it a Personal Mobile Device (PMD) as you could be packing a smartphone, a cell phone, a netbook or laptop. Almost everyone has something they keep with them at all times to keep them connected.
I want to know, what DO you do with yours? I’m serious.
I hear so many people ooze over their particular brand or the appearance of their thing; I’ve even had people get down right condescending just because I do not use the same device.
[psst: BIG tip - whatever that thing is you have there, it's a tool. Nothing more. Nothing less.]
So I want to know, what do you use your PMD for?
Here, I’ll start:
I’m a Palm girl. Always have been. Here’s a shot of my first PMD:
Treo 270
Yep. That’s a Treo 270 folks. Huge! When you flipped it up, it was like putting a whale up to your head. This was in 2001 – when every other electronic device was getting smaller too.
I can’t tell you how many times I would hear “Hey! Beam me up Scotty!” when I would use it as a phone in public – smile and give a nod/wave in the direction… never heard that one before… you’re so clever… butthead… ;)
Anyway, those episodes turned out to be a good thing. It was one more reason for me to treat my Treo as the device I had planned it for all along (and all I really wanted from it) – access to e-mail on my person.
This was when I was still a solo and personally worked for several attorneys. My processes were set up so I would get notified of any incoming jobs via e-mail. From the size of the file and the fax number sent (back then it was all fax), I could better plan when I needed to be behind my keyboard.
Back then I also had only one kid – but I was about to have another right after moving from a renovated Levitt Cape to a 1924 Colonial that literally needed a bones up renovation. I tell you this because I HAD TO be as efficient with my time as I could and being connected to my e-mails through my PMD kept me fully in the know.
Now, I’m still a Palm girl. Have a Pre – but am looking forward to testing the Pixi. But this isn’t about me. It’s about all of YOU reading this. I know you have one and I don’t care what type of thing it is – what do you DO with it?
E-mail; calls; surf the web; listen to music – all of the above and more?
Great!
Only take calls?
Perfect.
Can you leave me a comment with what you do with your PMD?
If you can also provide carrier and model for context, muchly appreciated!
If you’ve got a few extra moments, and can also answer:
* Do you have any device specific apps you couldn’t live without?
* Is your information routed through any third party servers – such as RIM, your carrier’s network or Google?
* Do you have an unlimited data plan that includes texts?
All the better.
TIA!
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:32 pm
With all the apps and hoops my Blackberry Pearl can supposedly jump through I really only use it for phone calls, text messaging (w/my kids mostly) and access to e-mail when I’m out of the office. Looking at it that way, I think maybe the Blackberry was overkill…
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for commenting Tina. :)
One of the reasons I blogged about this is because I don’t think many people do lots. I imagine the 80/20 rule applies – 80% of the people use just a few basic functions. I know of very few people do a lot of stuff on their mobile devices. Most say: e-mail, telephone, some web surfing, perhaps listen to music; and lets not forget texting, which sadly some do when they shouldn’t be like when driving. DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE. YOU ARE VERY LIKELY TO KILL YOURSELF, OR WORSE, A PEDESTRIAN! Just don’t.
The good news? Good chance 80% of peeps can pay less or improve something using their existing equipment. For instance, if you’re paying for a lot of data transfer/bandwidth but only use e-mail, chances are you’re not coming close to your allowed usage. Call your provider and see if there is a less expensive data plan or ask if the rep sees any way for you to lessen the cost of your monthly bill.
I recently did (I’m on Sprint) and my bill is now $40+ less per month. Poof. No less service, everything works, no extended contracts. Just saved myself $40+ per month because I asked. :)
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
I have an iPhone and my life pretty much revolves around it. I keep track of multiple email accounts (including work), shopping lists go in the Notes and EVERYTHING goes in the calendar (if it doesn’t make it into my phone, it doesn’t exist in my world). Also, in my “off” hours, I work with high school and college students, so texting and Facebook are pretty vital (taking and posting pictures is very handy). I love to read and the Kindle app means I can read whenever I have a spare moment without toting a book (or five) around. I do a little bit of web surfing, though less since IMDb came out with an app. Oh, and while I’m sitting here at work, I have it plugged into speakers and I’m listening to music.
I tried a limited data plan when I was out of the country this summer and it was… rough.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Good questions Andrea! I have a friend who wants an iPhone but knows she won’t use it enough to justify the high data plan fees.
Personally I use a Samsung Instinct in conjunction with an iPod touch. The instinct is a touchscreen with semi-decent web-browsing capability. It’s best feature was that it wasn’t an “official” smartphone, so came with a cheap mobile web browsing option ($10/month) instead of a data plan ($30+ per month). I use it a lot to check email when I’m out of the office, to take pics of my kids, and to keep up with friends via text and facebook. It gets a lot of use!
I love iPhone apps, and I get them all on my iPod, plus email, contact and calendar management. It’s only limitation is it’s only good with wi-fi, since it is not connected to a data plan like an iPhone. I mostly use it at home when I don’t feel like having my computer open.