Listening to an mp3 album and reading Deerhoof's diary (both here).. awesome. Those guys rule.

Radiohead (my favorite band) is now selling all of their catalogue online in DRM-free MP3. WOW. This is awesome.

I might have to buy some of the B sides I don't have...

I've just started using my fourth mobile phone this year. They all are lacking, in mostly different ways...

The Motorola MPx 220

This phone I've had the longest. It's a great flip phone factor (which makes it very satisfying to hang up), and while it's technically a smart phone (running Windows CE of all OSes), it has good phone features (the dialing feels nice, and it's easy to look up names in the address book using the number pad). It was a pain to sync with the computer without having to use some shareware backup software, though. There was no pointing device, the data connection was a bit slow, the browser basic, but even though the screen was pretty small, you could play videos using TCPMP.. Also I like how easy it is to charge via the USB cable too.

The Palm Treo 650

I think I had the biggest complaints with the Treo (in fact, I think it's the one I'd be the least likely to go back to). From crashing silently and not answering calls, to the touch screen annoying my face, to it being the largest, the list can go on. The upsides are the huge software library (mmm the VNC client was very usable), and incredibly good battery life.

The Nokia E70

This phone (which isn't really offered by any carriers in the US) was great, and I think I may still use it. It's bluetooth support is by far the best (I used BT dial up networking + GPRS on a 3 hour train ride last month and it was outstanding), the phone has great features (WiFi, fast EDGE data, great keyboard that flips out, a good SSH client that you can leave running and come back to, even after making/receving calls or running other apps, etc). The screen is really high resolution, too, but it's a bit small (so you really have to get very close to read it). I really loved my old Nokia TDMA phones, but I think Nokia needs to reevaluate some decisions they made on the E70's firmware. For example, there's a button on the left side of the phone that opens the voice recorder and starts it recording. It's very easy to hit, and there's no way to override this function! Ack. Also there's no auto-lock after a certain amount of time, so you have to be sure to manually lock the keypad. Oh, and little things like looking up names in the contact list, with the keyboard closed, is much harder than it needs to be. The MPX220's method was far superior.

The Apple iPhone

I just got this yesterday (thanks DB), and there's definitely things to like. I dig the screen. It's about the same resolution of the E70, but oh it's so much bigger and easier to read. The web browser is fantastic. The phone is decent. The homebrew software is getting there (VNC client looked nice, but no keyboard yet? ack). Mmm, real headphone jack, too. Why couldn't they do that on the E70? And it autolocks too. Hello, Nokia? But alas, no BT DUN (sad). The touchscreen keyboard, while as good as I've seen for the type, makes me wish I had the E70's again... Oh well...

So maybe I'll start carrying the iPhone and take the E70 with me on trips (for when I need BT DUN)...

anyway