Cell phone links

1. Resources
2. News & reviews
3. Hacks
4. Reference links
5. Hardware
   1. Phones
   2. Holsters, cases

Some questions you'll want answers to, in order to intelligently choose a wireless carrier:

• How many minutes per month do you expect to average on your cell phone, and from where? How much will you use it nights and weekends vs. peak hours?
• What networks provide acceptable signal coverage around your home, work, and wherever else you spend most of your time? Ask your friends.
• What about coverage or roaming for places you're likely to travel to? Roaming refers to an arrangement that lets your cell phone connect to somebody else's network, when you're out of the service area of your own.
• Do you want no-strings "pay as you go" prepaid service, or are you willing to sign a contract committing you for a year or two years, perhaps with penalties? Contract plans are known in some circles as ball-and-chain cellular, but may be a better value if you are on your phone constantly.
• If your usage level changes because your circumstances change, is there flexibility in a plan you're considering to allow you to stay cost-effective?
• If you are a technogeek, which smartphones do you like, and which carriers offer them?

There may be as many as three companies involved in your cellular service: the manufacturer who made your phone, the network operator who runs the network and cell towers it connects to, and the wireless carrier you buy your phone from and pay for service. Your network and your carrier are often the same company, but not always. The prepaid wireless carrier Virgin Mobile, for example, uses Sprint's network, and offers phones from several manufacturers.

There also used to be a choice between digital networks and the older analog. People these days want the clarity, security, and features of digital. One could have gotten forced into looking at analog by coverage issues, maybe including special phones that could connect to both types of networks.

Resources

Cell Phone Reception and Tower Search http://www.cellreception.com/

Shows you cell tower locations in an area; uses the Google Maps API with an FCC database of registered cell towers. Best on broadband.

Mobile Phone Recycling http://www.collectivegood.com/

Regionally-keyed guide to donating an unwanted cell phone to charity. Since even an inactive cell phone can still be used to call 911, if it's charged, another good option is to see if you can donate to a local emergency shelter for women/children, such as the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery here.

Mobile Phone Directory http://www.mobile-phone-directory.org/

Specifications, glossary, news; parts of the site have a UK/Europe focus

Cell-Phones-n-Plans http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com/

Point.com http://www.point.com/

Wireless Advisor http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/

Why Mobile Phones are Annoying http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040412.html

From Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox. This is stuff anybody with a cell phone should think about, in my opinion. See also the page of selected reader comments in response to the article.

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News and reviews

About.com: Cell phones http://cellphones.about.com/

Including a 10-question interactive quiz to help choose the cheapest prepaid service. Look for a link that says "Prepaid Plans: Which is Cheapest?"

CNET: Cell phones http://reviews.cnet.com/Cell_phones/

Phone Scoop http://www.phonescoop.com/

SlashPhone http://www.slashphone.com/

Hacks

If your phone has Bluetooth support but your PC doesn't, a common situation, you can get a setup for your PC with USB Bluetooth dongle and software. Cyberguys has one.

Mobile 17 http://mobile17.smashsworld.com/

Depending on how your wireless carrier supports messaging and attachments, this free site may let you create ringtones and wallpapers from your own PC files and email them to your phone. Or you may need to use Bluetooth, if your phone has it, or cough up fifty bucks for a USB data cable with a proprietary connector for your phone model.

HowardForums http://howardforums.com/

An online exchange for cell phone hacks and workarounds

Reference links

HowStuffWorks: Cellular phones http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm

Wikipedia: Mobile phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

Wikipedia: History of mobile phones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones

Google Directory: Wireless carriers http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Telecommunications/Carriers/Wireless/

Wikipedia: List of mobile network operators http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators

Worldwide list, with a big link-list sidebar to jump to the section for your region

Wikipedia: Smartphone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

Combination cell phone and pocket computer, generally with thumb keyboard, Web browser, email, and advanced features like Bluetooth and WiFi.

Wikipedia: Satellite phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_phone

A type of high-end wireless phone that works directly with satellites, not dependent on the usual ground-based networks of cell towers; also called satphone.

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Hardware

Phones

AT&T (which now includes what used to be Cingular) is the network provider for iPhone.

iPhone http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Raising the bar for smartphones; the technogeek sensation of Summer 2007. The best thing about iPhone: you can look at the TV ads and Web sites and figure that in a year or two lots of phones will do things like that. See also the Wikipedia and AT&T iPhone sites.

Kyocera phones http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/phones

Motorola phones http://www.motorola.com/

Including the much-advertised Razr

Nokia USA http://www.nokiausa.com/

World's biggest manufacturer of cell phones, because Motorola didn't get into digital fast enough

Samsung phones http://www.samsung.com/products/wirelessphones/

Sanyo phones http://us.sanyo.com/wireless/

UTStarcom/Audiovox phones http://www.utstar.com/handsets/home.aspx

You buy your cell phone from the wireless carrier, not the manufacturer, but you may find useful information on the manufacturer's site after you have your phone. Apple is acting as their own wireless carrier for iPhone.

Holsters, cases

Body Glove http://www.bodyglove.com/

Nice looking compact friction-retention holsters with a rotating click-stop belt clip, which I found at Target.

NiteIze http://www.niteize.com/

More secure Velcro-retention clip-on holsters, with a very aggressive clip design, sold at Big R. They kinda look like cop equipment. I have to use two hands to get this holster off my pants when I want it off.

Cell Safe http://www.cellsafe.com/

Watertight floating cell phone cases, with an O-ring seal and foam padding inside, that fit bicycle water-bottle cages.

My Body Glove holster's spiffy swiveling clip eventually broke. I found the holster and phone lying on the floor at work, with the naked clip part still attached to my pocket. I never had much use for that swivel feature anyway. Body Glove sometimes seems to do better at appearance than function.

Now I have another friction-retention holster I also found at Target, branded for my wireless carrier and designed for my specific phone series, which is a lot tighter in the elastic, non-swiveling, and includes a small D-ring stitched in, just above its belt clip.* I've had no luck identifying the manufacturer to link for you here. I now use either this branded holster or the NiteIze Velcro holster linked above, depending on activity.

* If you can find a holster with teeny D-ring like that, you can probably go to a hardware store and get a shiny chain with two kinds of end clips, that will let you use that D-ring to secure the holster to your belt or belt loop, even if the holster comes off where it's clipped.

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