[Mojo-ike]

for all you at&t people: as a phone, do you like the T637? how is the reliability? reception? those goofy buttons? getting used to the joystick? bluetooth sync with the address book? real world battery time? blah blah blah?

and as a wireless modem option for the powerbook? i saw this post which discusses it briefly:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...37#post2078361

i know you have to pay extra for that silly mmode thing. does using the T637 as a modem take minutes out of that? or if you actually use it as a phone modem does it use regular phone minutes? does the address book sync work both ways? do you NEED .mac to use the sync? are there third party utils to do the sync?

did anyone that has the T637 do the firmware mod? so the mmode stuff isnt splashed everywhere? if yes, did you have any problems with talking with at&t afterward? did you get "busted"? are the default menu buttons customizable like the earlier models?

i know it is going in the complete opposite direction, but since i dont care about the camera, ringtones, screensavers, music, flip-open, and all that trendy stuff (and i know it doesnt have bluetooth), my other option looks like the Nokia 3100.

i welcome any personal experience comments about either phone rather than hearsay observations about their stats.

thanks.

[tooki]

1. for all you at&t people: as a phone, do you like the T637?
On the whole, I'm happy with mine.

2. how is the reliability?
This model has only been out for a few weeks in the U.S., so it's kinda hard to say! But considering the T630 has been out for a while without making waves, I assume it's fine.

3. reception?
Not as good as my Sprint Kyocera 2255, which had unusually good reception. (Then again, that phone had other problems...) I've lost the signal a couple of times when driving.

4. those goofy buttons?
What goofy buttons?

5. getting used to the joystick?
It works pretty well!

6. bluetooth sync with the address book?
It's a revelation. It's one of the main reasons I wanted BT, and it's as good as (well, actually better than) i expected.

7. real world battery time? blah blah blah?
With BT on, and ~40 mins talk per day, I've been getting about 3 days use. Supposedly it's better with BT off.

8. and as a wireless modem option for the powerbook?
It works, but it's slow and expensive. The download speed is respectable (about 6KB/sec), but the latency is very high -- ping times are around 1 second, or maybe 50 times slower than a modem, so web browsing is kinda sluggish.

9. i know you have to pay extra for that silly mmode thing. does using the T637 as a modem take minutes out of that?
mMode is not metered by time, it's metered by data amounts. Using the phone as a modem, or using the microbrowser in the phone, or using the Java-based instant messaging client all use from your pool of data. It doesn't matter how long you are on.

10. or if you actually use it as a phone modem does it use regular phone minutes?
Data usage does not use minutes. In fact, it's not even a phone connection. You can still make and receive calls while using the data services.

11. does the address book sync work both ways?
Yes.

12. do you NEED .mac to use the sync?
No.

13. are there third party utils to do the sync?
Yes. There's a program called PhoneAgent. But I haven't tried it yet since it costs money.

14. did anyone that has the T637 do the firmware mod? so the mmode stuff isnt splashed everywhere? if yes, did you have any problems with talking with at&t afterward? did you get "busted"? are the default menu buttons customizable like the earlier models?
I haven't done it. Yet. I most definitely plan to, because AT&T put way too many buttons for mMode on the phone. It's too easy to accidentally press the right-hand softkey a second time after ending a call, thus opening the browser. I have been debating just sending it off, or actually buying the cable so that I can do it myself (so that I wouldn't have to live without a cellphone for a week). The only downside I am aware of is that so far, nobody has been able to back up AT&T's Java-based Instant Messaging client, so right now, if you have the phone de-branded, you lose the Java instant messaging (you can still do it through mMode or SMS, though!). I also plan to have the phone unlocked, so that I can use it with my Swiss prepaid SIM card when I visit there.

tooki

[tooki]

Now, some other stuff I'd like to add on:

-Address Book lets you manage incoming and outgoing calls and SMSes, but it's not smart enough to automatically reconnect to the phone after being disconnected. Salling Clicker, however, can automatically make Address Book reconnect. BluePhoneMenu reconnects on its own.

-Salling Clicker: it lets you use the BT phone as a remote control. It's brilliant. But even more useful than that, it'll stop your music and DVD playback when you're on the phone, and turn it back when you're done! Romeo is a similar program, but free. I haven't tried Romeo.

-BluePhoneMenu: even handier than Address Book for receiving and placing calls and SMSes, cuz it's right in the menu bar. Its SMS browser is very handy. This app is Address Book aware, so it looks up names in the system Address Book. Free, too.

-I found a Belkin car charger for this phone on clearance at CompUSA for $1.88. If you need a car charger, it can't hurt to look there!

tooki