Plaidophile

I have the 700 minute plan with Sprint, and can tier up a few hundred minutes at a time to all the way up to 1700 before it starts to get ugly. I know they may not be the best carrier for some, depending on all the other factors, but since I mostly use it as a phone (and use my work provided Blackberry for data needs), it works very well for me.

Yeah, problem is Sprint doesn't carry any phones which support both iSync and Clicker, and I've also found being able to use the phone as a dialup modem (over EDGE/GPRS/whatever) invaluable.

True, but they just merged with Nextel, so some of those things are coming. You like small, portable devices - hey who doesn't? Like I said, it may not work for your needs. One of the things I like is that they have a new, high speed CDMA card that you can use in a laptop. I have my laptop with me about 23 hours a day, so for me, this works out perfectly. Plus, I can still use my phone, and surf at the same time that way. Again, to be sure, YMMV.

I don't really care about the underlying network protocol so much as what I can do with the device. iSync and some sort of affordable mobile data service are vital for me; Clicker is pretty high up on the list. I also like being able to upload my own MIDI files etc. as ringtones, rather than having to be at the mercy of DOWNLOAD CRAZY FROG AND THE LATEST PARIS HILTON RINGMOANS! providers.

I was really enamored with the handful of Series 80 and UIQ phones out there, but then I found out they're not supported by iSync. Grr.

I'll just stick with T-Mobile and my SE T610 or N-Gage for now (if I can get iSync workign on the N-Gage again, anyway) and then maybe by the time I move to Seattle, they'll have Nokia 6600s available again (or the NSeries or 6630 or whatever will be available).

Yeah, that's a biggie for me too, actually. I just picked up a new phone for the wife, and it's ring tones are really terrible.

Mine directly records sounds into itself and apparently is willing to use arbitrary recordings as ringtones.

So right now, it's "Get Smart". Too bad it's not a shoe. ^ ^

I wonder how well SkypeIn works. It's pretty cheap, and comes with free voicemail... hm. Especially now that there's cheap USB-audio handset devices, not to mention how OSX can use Bluetooth headsets as an audio device as well.

You can upload custom midi tones to Sprint phones. There are several websites out there that will push the midi file to your phone. (You can do it with your own webserver too, you just need to setup a custom MIME type.)

My current ringer is Zelda's Ocarina Light tune.

After reviewing all the voice+data rate plans on all the carriers available, and based on what I know about the various carriers restricting their phones in stupid ways, it looks like I'll still be sticking with T-Mobile, and just getting a Nokia 6600 when I end up where I end up. I will also be sticking with the $30 300-minute plan, and will get SkypeIn for incoming calls (though I'll probably keep using a cellphone for outgoing, rather than SkypeOut).

Skywise

My current ringer is Zelda's Ocarina Light tune.

Do you mean the Prelude of Light or the Song of the Sun? ^ ^;

Just tried Skype for the first time, and although it's nice, it's not quite ready for replacing a phoneline or cellphone just yet. So I'll wait for it to get a bit more mature before getting SkypeIn. Or maybe I'll get a more mature VoIP service like vonage or packet8 or whatever. Or just realize that these times that I have more than 300 minutes a month are a fluke.

Ali

Skywise

My current ringer is Zelda's Ocarina Light tune.

Do you mean the Prelude of Light or the Song of the Sun? ^ ^;

ARGH! I've lost my geek credentials, I couldn't remember and had to look it up. (But on the bright side, found some more midi tunes from Ocarina that I can use for phone ringers!

It's prelude to light and works suprisingly well as a ringer.
(other ringers on my cell phone are: Final Fantasy VII battle music and Lifeforce theme. Converted C64 SID music works well too)

I had the lifeforce theme on at one time when a coworker and I were talking. The cellphone goes off, I answer it, talk and hang up and my coworker is giving me a funny look. I say "What?" and he says "I... I know that tune.. that's... Lifeforce? I played that game FOREVER on my Nintendo"

This is a link to the actual MIDI file I'm using:

http://www.mcloz.net/midis/zsmidi5-12.mid

while we're comparing ringtones, my Sony Ericsson can take MIDI files which I send it via Bluetooth (another thing on which Apple DESTROYS Microsoft for built-in support) and I'm currently using the following nerdy songs for different sets of people:

-Matoya's Cave, Final Fantasy I
-Sloprano's Theme, Conker's Bad Fur Day
-Katamari on the Rocks, Katamari Damacy
-Sad Song, Super Mario RPG

P.S. someone reading this should make me a "Lonely Rolling Star" MIDI.