Worst of the Week: Best of the week

Hello!
And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
So I got a new cell phone. My two-year contract with my former carrier ended in November, and-being somewhat familiar with cell phones and service-I had been weighing my options for some time. I finally decided on a slim phone with a family plan, and unlimited 3G data service.
Amazingly, the move from my former carrier to my new carrier was relatively painless. The most surprising part was that my number switched seamlessly from one carrier to the other-I was getting service with one phone one minute, and the next minute I was getting service with the other phone. I mean, I know stuff like that is advertised as working automatically, but when tech people tell me stuff like, “don’t worry, it’ll happen automatically,” alarm bells immediately start ringing in my head.
But in this case, it actually did happen automatically. Can you believe it? I can’t.
Anyway, the point is that I got a new phone and service. So why should you care? You should care because, even though this column is called “Worst of the Week,” I’m actually going to use it this week to show some love to all of you out there who spend every day making sure that wireless actually works. It’s really neat stuff, when you think about it.
I’ve now had my phone for several weeks, enough time to get all the kinks worked out and all the services running relatively smoothly. I don’t have a smart phone, just a regular “feature phone,” which cost $50. My favorite feature? It has a voice recorder that I used to make a Homer ringtone.
But, aside from my phone screaming like Homer, why is it so great? Well first off, it’s got Opera’s Mini Internet browser on it. Have you checked this application out? It is, in one word, fantastic. You can basically view any Internet page using Mini-and if you have a 3G phone, you can look at large Internet pages really, really fast. I can use Opera to check my work e-mail, New York Times news and my MySpace page at speeds that in some cases exceed regular Internet speeds. (I’m just kidding about that MySpace page thing. I only use MySpace to find people to make fun of.) It is endlessly baffling to me that no carrier in the United States offers this application directly to its subscribers. Opera Mini is the bomb diggity. And did I mention it’s free?
Next up is Google Maps. This application, running on a 3G phone, is pretty amazing. It’s the one you should use to amaze your friends-just type in their home address and then show them a satellite picture of their house-right on your phone. It’s something that even my parents would be impressed with. Aside from providing clear, readable maps and directions, Google Maps also can search for nearby businesses and locations. My family and I recently moved to a new house, and my first Google Map search was for, you guessed it: Dominos. MMMMM pizza. Google Maps is the bomb diggity. And did I mention it’s free?
Opera Mini and Google Maps are useful tools, but just to make your day more enjoyable I highly recommend Melodeo’s Mobilecast application. (Melodeo is not to be confused with Modeo, MobiTV, MediaFLO, Movida, Moviso, MSpot, Mobilitec, MobilePro, MobileSys, MobileSys, Mobizzo or Mobliss.) Mobilecast allows you to listen to podcasts streaming over a 3G connection. And, surprisingly, it turns out there are a ton of decent podcasts out there. NPR alone has dozens of new podcasts every day, and NYT, AP, CNN and other news outlets also produce podcasts. But if news bores you (which is why you’re at RCRNews.com, I’m sure) there’s a ton of other kinds of podcasts you can listen to, like ones on learning a new language, stand-up comedy routines, ones about new songs and musicians, and all sorts of other stuff. Mobilecast even lets you download podcasts onto your phone so you can listen to them when you’re out of coverage, but my phone only lets me save the podcasts into the “ringtone” section, which is not the optimum location for playing them back later. But anyway. So, yes, Mobilecast is the bomb diggity. And did I mention it’s free?
Anyway, the point is that my new phone is pretty useful, and provides somewhat of an escape from the drudgery of work and family.
Way to go wireless.
OK! Enough of that. Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras:
–We get a lot of press releases sent to us, and not all of them are for the wireless industry. For example, a recent press release titled “Is toilet training taking its toll?” outlined the benefits of a new toilet training guide called “The Duke Family Series: It’s Potty Time.” The best part? The guide includes a CD with 14 (fourteen!) songs about potty time. That’s a lot of songs about potty time.
–Sprint Nextel put out a press release about how it offers stuff for all types of people, including “music lovers,” “mobile professionals,” “fashion icons,” “busy parents,” and “socially conscious citizens.” Unfortunately, I think there are a few categories missing, like “those losers who shop at Wal-Mart,” “people who chew food with their mouth open,” and “idiot savant midgets.”
–The CDG announced that it selected “Ultra Mobile Broadband” as the new name for its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision C technology. It’s too bad, I’m sure their first choice was “Super Uper Duper 3G With A Hint of Freaky Deaky” (SUD3GWAHFD for short). But I already copyrighted that name. Boo-yah.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at mdano@crain.com.