Promising P990

Starting off with some tech news at my household: my partner has switched from Verizon to AT&T and is now the proud owner of a brand new BlackBerry Curve! For a change his phone is newer than mine and I am somewhat impressed with this device. Since having the Pearl a while back in my early days with Cingular I must say that the Curve is definitely an improvement when it comes to handling multimedia files. Kudos to RIM, but the Blackberry’s plain interface will never be my cup of tea.

Back on topic: The more I work with this unimpressive Quickoffice application and read promising online impressions of the new E90, the more torn I seem to become. Do I go for the p990 which offers EVERYTHING I am looking for in a smartphone device or do I give in to my tech toy addiction to frolic with the E90 for a little bit? A hard choice indeed from a technical aspect, but definitely clear when it concerns having to pay $1200. I can remember shelling out $850 bucks for the p990 when I first purchased it from coolbee.com a few months ago, so to get it now at $350 would be a STEAL!!! Initially the only issues came from unstable firmware, but new updates were soon released from the Sony Ericsson website that solved the problem. My tolerance for not having iSync support with my Mac eventually wore thin and I quickly said goodbye to the phone. Shortly thereafter I purchased a HTC TyTN that was my first and last Windows Mobile device.

Since then I have remained devoted to the Nokia brand for the sake of Mac-compatibility, but there have been a few drawbacks. Complete accuracy in the synching of calendar can seem impossible, especially with the N93 and its glitches. There is also a certain amount of limitation with the Nokia's method of dividing its devices into two classes: the Nseries for multimedia and the Eseries for business (I go into detail on this in a previous blog entry). I would like to have a phone that is a combination of multimedia and business with a touchscreen, and the Sony Ericsson seems to hit that target dead on. I honestly think that is why Nokia devices may have started to wear on me, especially after recently using that Treo 680.

I cannot wait for this p990 to show up on this upcoming week so I can update the firmware and play around with the DataViz docs-to-go! I was assured on this past Friday from an associate at Etronics that the phone would arrive on Monday since UPS did not deliver on the weekends, so I shall be speeding home that afternoon to get it! A part of me is not really convinced that it will show up on time, but I am hopeful that it will be here by the end of the week nonetheless. Typing this blog entry on my partner's Verizon Treo 700p is so far showing a couple of pros that the Sony Ericsson p990 may have over it: handwriting recognition and a bigger screen.

One piece of interesting news is that SE has released a new firmware version for the p990, so this phone will be even MORE updated and stable than the last one that I had! I am still visiting online forums on My-Symbian.com for owners' impressions on the p990 after the update that looks somewhat promising. I am actually quite excited to be reunited with this device, for I think that my tech toy obsession is beginning to spin out of control with this E90 business ($1200 for ANY device is utterly ridiculous). To have a touchscreen phone that can be much more versatile (although not as user-friendly) than the Palm Treo 680 is a dream come true at this point.

The Nokia E90 may be a blockbuster of a device, but I may have to be upfront with myself and realize that it is just too rich for my finances right now. I recently did some consolidating on my credit to get some figures in order and wean myself off depending on credit cards. Unfortunately I slipped and used one of them to purchase the p990, but I shall make up for it with an upcoming paycheck that is due to me. The Communicator of the decade sounds and looks promising, but is it really worth $1200? After comparing specs between that and the p990, there is a resounding "NO!" that echoes through my brain. As much as I would like to be totally wowed by the E90, the truth may be that I have to put functionality, portability and affordability at the forefront and remain with what works for me. What can I get from the E90 that I am now already getting from the p990? I never had a use for any GPS system and won't start needing one now and available memory is not really an issue, so other than that there really isn't much difference in the standard features that are offered. Basically from a functionality standpoint regarding how I would like to use a device, the E90 looks to be nothing more than an overgrown, dressed up E61i. If I go for this $1200 phone who’s to say that I wouldn't be disappointed by its usability in relation to its cost (I remember how I felt about that N95)?

I shall await the arrival of my p990 via UPS and look forward to playing with it throughout the night!