That cheap Nokia I bought didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.  The keyboard was really bad, and it didn’t work in the U.S.  That last point isn’t a huge problem, but it was inconvenient.

So, pictured above you’ll see a hand-me-down BlackBerry 8100.   After unlocking the phone, adding a new trackball, battery, battery door and a silicone case, I have a nice phone with a much better keyboard.  Surprisingly, all of those parts only cost around $20 USD.

I can’t really give a complete opinion on the phone as I’m using it on a voice/text only pre-paid plan.  However, I will say that the  8100 is a nice size with a nice keyboard and a decent display.  The camera is a bit of a disappointment, but it does an adequate job.  The USB port for charging/data transfer is a huge improvement of the proprietary Nokia connectors, and the semi-common 2.5mm headphone/mic jack had proven useful.  The built-in MP3 player is clunky, but functional, and is a reasonable substitute for carrying my iPod shuffle.  Other than that, the interface is fairly nice, and the trackball is a reasonable input device (when it isn’t dirty).

Since I don’t have much else to say, here are some shots from the camera in different lighting conditions:

The Eriksen at Eagle Park

A foggy Winter day at Fox Creek

An Amtrak train

Rusty bridge

An archway

For the past few months I’ve been thinking about getting a Windows 7 system.  Why?  Good question.  If I had to guess, it was probably those Bill Gates and Seinfeld commercials.

It has been almost a year since I stopped using XP on a daily basis, but that is not to say that I miss it.  These days, I use any of a few different Apples, all running Mac OS 10.5 and a server running Windows Server 2008.  Yes, I’m still using 10.5 as my primary laptop is a five-year-old PPC-based 12″ PowerBook, and 10.6 is of course Intel only.  All of the other Macs are Intel based, but I like consistency so they are all on 10.5.  Anyway, I wanted to see how things are going in the Microsoft world, so I thought I’d try out Windows 7.

Since my laptop is five years old I thought a similarly-sized Windows system would be nice.  For the past month (or more) I’ve been looking at low-cost CULV (Consumer Ultra Lowe Voltage) systems and some of the nicer netbooks.  I’ve looked at everything from Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo, Asus, Acer and even Gateway– I didn’t know they still existed.  But, I’d I have to say that I’m pretty underwhelmed by what I’ve found.  My requirements:

• 10-12″ display, preferably matte
• No more than 1″ thick, no protruding battery
• A good keyboard and usable multi-touch trackpad
• No optical drive, 160GB+ HDD
• WiFi (802.11g is sufficient)
• 5+ hours battery life, more is better, but no big batteries
• Capable of playing SD video, HD would be nice, but not necessary
• Less than $500
• Nice extras: webcam, bluetooth, support for 4GB RAM, no glossy plastic

Of the system I’ve actually used and seen in person, most were a huge disappointment.  I was particularly disappointed in the quality and appearance of the Asus netbooks- the keyboards were terrible and I’ve seen milk jugs that compare favorably to the case plastics. I wanted to like the Asus Eee PCs, but they were just too cheap.  The quality and materials on the Dells seemed alright, but the design (particularly the batteries) was just inexcusably awful.  Aside from these, I was surprised that the HP Mini systems looked and felt better than I expected.  I’ve never been a fan of HP laptops, but these actually seem rather well thought out.  The Acer systems are acceptable, but I have reservations about the quality and durability.  I really liked the Samsung netbooks I’ve seen, but they don’t really compete well on price or performance.

To be fair, I’m really comparing these low-cost notebooks to my old PowerBook, which was $1800 in 2005.  That would be $2000 in 2010 dollars, or roughly 4-5x more than these systems.  And, with the exception of running Windows 7, the PowerBook still does everything these systems can do.

So as of now, I haven’t found anything I want.  Of all of the systems, the HP Mini 210/210 HD and Acer 1410 come close, and I will say that the upcoming Acer 532h and Timeline 1830T look promising.  That said, this laptop malfunction rate data from Lifehacker (SquareTrade) may be worth considering:

Lifehacker: Laptop-Reliability Study Highlights the Most Sturdy Laptop Makers

In the mean time, I did hear about a 25% discount off of a Microsoft TechNet subscription on the Windows Weekly podcast.  Among other things, a TechNet subscription allows access to all MS operating systems, applications and utilities.  Included in this software is Windows 7.  So, for the price of a really bad netbook I can play with Windows 7, Office and whatever else looks interesting.

I’m currently running Windows 7 Ultimate on the Core 2 Duo Mac Mini under VMware Fusion. I was going to just upgrade my old version of Parallels, but apparently my version is too old to upgrade.  Feeling slighted, I downloaded an evaluation copy of Fusion 3.  And, I’d have to say that Fusion running Windows 7 is nice.

Oh, and just to rub salt in the wound, I sold the Mac Mini 1.42GHz G4 to cover the cost of the TechNet subscription — almost an even trade.  But don’t worry, I still have two remaining Minis.

After almost four years of flaky and somewhat reliable service, my Motorola RAZR V3 is dead.  No amount of cable re-seating and connector cleaning could revive the RAZR.  Fortunately, the Bluetooth was still functioning, so I was able to recover my address book.

Inspired by Eric’s cheap phone I went in search of a cheap replacement.  After wandering through a few stores, I found my phone.  Inside a secure glass case I found a Nokia 1650.  But not just any 1650, this unlocked version was on clearance for what seemed to be a somewhat reasonable $35 AUD.  Admittedly, this $35 AUD is quite exorbitant in comparison to Eric’s $10 USD Motorola F3.

First, what doesn’t the 1650 have?  Foremost, the 1650 lacks a camera, and not surprisingly, Bluetooth.  Bluetooth would be nice, though I doubt I’ll miss the camera.

What does the 1650 have?  Aside from a phone, the 1650 includes an FM radio and a flashlight.  The radio is kind of interesting, though inconvenient as the included headphone must be connected for the radio to function.  On the other hand, the flashlight is somewhat more useful.  The relatively bright LED (mounted on top of the phone) is both brighter and more directional than the screen back light, and almost as amusing as a laser pointer.  Which is to say that it is amusing for about three seconds, unless you’re a cat.

How does the 1650 work as a phone?  The sound quality is better than the RAZR, as is the battery life.  On the other hand, the keyboard is positively awful.  As seen here, all 12 keys fit easily under my thumb.  Both the keypad and individual keys are far too small, and make dialing or text entry a pain.  On top of that, the keypad is too close to the bottom of the phone. Not only will anyone with hands larger than a two-year-old have trouble pushing the correct button, but the location of the keypad makes one-handed use nearly impossible.

Other impressions?  The RAZR was charged via a mini-USB port, which is both convenient and flexible.  The Nokia is charged via some unique plug which is both annoying and inconvenient.  In addition to that, the weird-plugged included charger is bulky.  I would gladly take a phone with no charger but charges via USB over this.  Luckily, Nokia does offer a USB charger adapter.  Annoyingly, I’d have to buy yet another cable.  A better alternative may be to just cut up the supplied adapted and make my own.

Conclusion.  The Nokia 1650 is a phone, a flashlight and a radio.  It does all three things poorly.  At $35 AUD it is overpriced, but I haven’t seen too many unlocked phones under this price point.  In the end, I can’t find any reason to buy this phone over any other.