Blackberry Curve for T-Mobile (8320)

The Specification:

• Size: 4.2 x 2.4 x0.6 inches
• Weight: 3.9 ounces
• Included battery: 1100 mAh Lion
• Talk time: Up to 4 hours Standby time: Up to 17 days
• Band (frequency): 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz

I’ve had a few smart phones before but never a Blackberry. Cool, sleek and shiny. I went with the Titanium flavor. The size is a hair bigger than I was use to for a phone, so stowing the thing on the go took some getting used to. I carry it in my pocket because there are already enough Batmen on the 7am commuter. The Curve comes with a myriad of doodads, such as the ear piece (of crap) that you will probably need to replace with something Bluetooth if you intended to use it in public.

Initial impressions:
The Blackberry Curve is a sexy looking device. Nice lines and fairly solid feeling. As mentioned above the bulk of the thing takes a little getting used to if you are used to carrying around a flip phone, such as the Motorola Razr. It does come with a faux leather slip pouch which does a pretty good job of protecting it in day to day battles.

Performance:
This is where good intentions start to fall apart. Out of the box the Curve goes through its little initial startup cycle and identifies the network etc. Skip ahead to having completed the built in wizard and on to the first phone call. After around 7 minutes or so it drops the call. That’s funny. After 5 or so dropped calls the luster of a new gadget is fading, fast. The Blackberry Curve drops roughly 8 out of 10 calls lasting longer than 7 minutes in length. I call T-Mobile and the customer service representative casually mentions, “Oh yeah we are having a LOT of problems with the Blackberry Curve on the T-Mobile network. Here is the number for tech support.” That’s fantastic. So, after several hours and a very aggravating series of calls to T-Mobile tech support, speaking to various techs in far off places, they come to the conclusion that there is in fact no problem and I must have ran the wizard incorrectly. Come again?! Perhaps they’re right and I suffered a minor stroke as I was attempting to depress the power button for the first time. If you detect a note of cynicism it may be because the process is AUTOMATED meaning a trained squirrel can run setup. In any event I am instructed to download the newest version of the firmware and restore the device. Everything runs and by now I have done some research online and found many similar instances of the problem T-Mobile tech support has never heard of. Fast forward to today, five months later. The device still drops calls almost predictably. In fact the only thing it does do well is emails and texts, which I pay an additional $20 a month for. There is one exception however. Occasionally you’ll be texting and the phone will freeze up to a white screen where no matter how dire the urge to reply or how urgent your situation; you have to sit there and look at a white screen with a spinning hourglass for a period of about two minutes, classy.

Ok now on to what sucks: (No, I haven’t covered that yet)
-The desktop software
Absolutely 100% worthless. I’ve installed the latest version and even upgraded it twice. I can’t figure out what it’s supposed to do. Why the hell do I have software installed that doesn’t do anything?

-The WiFi
Because I couldn’t get a straight answer after talking to 3 people from T-Mobile I was reluctant to use this feature in fear that I was going to receive a staggering per byte transfer fee. I eventually gave into temptation and came to the realization that the transfer is no faster than the drag ass built in T-Mobile wireless band browser. I asked the tech on the phone if just having the WiFi enabled sucked the battery life any faster and he said it makes no difference whatsoever. My own tests suggest that by disabling the WiFi and Bluetooth you gain approximately 25% more battery life.

-T-Mobile customer support
We, as customers, are so stupid and techno inept that the technology of T-Mobile’s global GSM network is literally wasted in our laymen hands. I think we at least owe it to T-Mobile to ignore this little hindrance and get on with our daily lives. It’s our social responsibility not to rely on the services or companies to which we invest to fix, let alone acknowledge, that there may be a very real issue with the pairing of T-Mobile and the Blackberry Curve. Did I get it all T-Mobile?

Blackberry Curve on T-Mobile Final Thoughts:
The Blackberry Curve on T-mobile is a steaming loaf; your money is better spent on a beer pong startup. I am giving it 1 star because it is decent for sending and receiving a lot of email from multiple accounts…..that’s it, really!

Custom Timbuk2 Large Laptop Messenger Bag

The Specification:

• Size: Large
• Left panel: Ballistic Nylon black
• Center panel: Ballistic Nylon grey
• Right panel: Ballistic Nylon black
• Laptop Insert
• Liner: White
• Logo: Silver
• Grab Strap
• Reflector Tabs
• Right Handed
• Tough-Tek Strap Pad (Black)

It’s a little known fact that I have a messenger bag fetish…yeah it’s true. I have a Chrome Bag and a few no name bags as well that I’ve picked up for various needs. Whenever you get new equipment, such as the Sager NP2090, there is a need to have an appropriate way to protect it. In Seattle you are looking at rain, not necessarily high impact, but constant precipitation in one form or another. I was looking for a bag versatile enough to use every day, rain or shine and with whatever I was wearing; not that I think of those things.

Initial impressions:
I went with the nylon, it’s a little shinier than it looked on the website but I don’t mind. It’s a very handsome bag! The seams are well stitched and the shoulders straps are stout. The Tough-Tek add on strap is a nice addition. It has a rubber like material which makes it non-slip on your shoulder.

Performance:
The plastic liner is a hair thinner than the Chrome Bag which takes away slightly from the shape of the bag as it sits open. If you load too much heavy stuff into the front pockets the bag tends to collapse on itself. I think the answer to this is to buy a smaller organizer pouch and stick it in the large compartment. The bag can be carried for at least 15 blocks without any discomfort, depending on the load.
Ok now on to what sucks:

-My Laptop Gets Wet!
Well sometimes. This is not a materials flaw, this is an engineering flaw. In the bags normal carrying position the flap recedes just enough on either side to expose each side of my laptop to the elements. If you are careful and pay attention to how the flap is sitting exposure can be avoided but you have to be conscious of it.

-The Cinches Don’t Cinch
It’s not a huge issue but the cinches on the front with the two buckles can’t grip the slick nylon straps. This causes little to no retention on the flap from the buckles. The flap is held closed solely by the Velcro.

Custom Timbuk2 Large Laptop Messenger Bag Final Thoughts:
Overall I really like the bag. I chose classic black and gray because they are timeless and work with everything. The waterproof issue is my greatest annoyance but even that can be monitored.

Sager NP2090-C Gaming Notebook

The Specification:

• 15.4″ WSXGA+ Matte LCD Display (1680×1050)
• Intel® Core 2 Duo T7500 | 4MB Cache | 2.2GHz | 800MHz FSB
• Arctic Silver 5 High Performance Thermal Compound
• 1GB DDR2 667MHz 1 x 1024MB
• 1GB Intel® Turbo Memory (Requires Windows Vista)
• Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT PCI-E 512MB Video Memory - DirectX 10
• 100GB | 7200 RPM | SATA
• 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL MULTI DRIVE W/ SOFTWARE
• 4-in-1 Memory Card Reader (MS/MSPRO/SD/MMC)
• Integrated 56K v.90 Internal Modem
• Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN / 802.11N
• 10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet
• No Office Software
• Bluetooth Module
• Sager 1 Year Warranty, Lifetime Tech Support

I purchased the Sager NP2090 notebook back in December 2007 as a replacement to my Thinkpad T42. Having used it for a few months now I have a few thoughts. I bought the NP2090 from PCTorque so I didn’t have to pay for an operating system. I have since installed 2: Windows XP Professional and Ubuntu 7.10 in a duel boot partition, rock solid baby!

Initial impressions:

I had an old Sager that I remember being a behemoth, I mean like a 13 lb laptop literally! I have to admit that I do miss the ten key it had, but was it worth the weight? Meh.

On to the NP2090. Oooh, nice shiny exterior, matte interior, sexy black throughout with an overall high quality fit and finish. 6 rubber bushings keep the screen away from the keys. Solid hinges hold the screen at any angle. I’ve never had a 15.4″ laptop and sought one out mainly for the extra desktop real estate needed to address multiple programs, and Photoshop. I ordered the minimum RAM, which I believe was 1 gig, then got a deal on 4 gigs at Newegg, even though I know Windows XP only supports 3; I wanted the option to upgrade. I got the turbo boost for the same reason, currently does absolutely nothing for XP Pro or Ubuntu 7.10. Oh and there’s no screen latch which I got over.

Performance:

Am I going to sit here and run data benchmarking tests to check for processor request speeds? No. It feels pretty quick when running an FTP client, Word, a text editor, two browsers, iTunes, Photoshop and Outlook simultaneously. I do prefer the Thinkpad’s keyboard slightly more than that of the Sager. Something about the key report on a Thinkpad that is just tough to beat. I appreciate the backward facing hot air vent. The WiFi is great, I get signals that I didn’t even know were there before.

Ok now on to what sucks:

-The fingerprint Reader
As far as I’m concerned the finger print reader is a gimmicky feature that I would rather not have. I was initially surprised at how functional it was but for an inexplicable reason its performance noticeably declined. I thought the reader was dirty but this is not the case as I’ve cleaned it several times. What can I say, it worked well and now it works ok at best, sometimes taking 2 – 3 swipes to get in.

-The camera
2.0 mega pixels huh? My Blackberry Curve has 2.0 mega pixels and the camera is far superior for stills and videos.

-The Sound Features
There is no onboard volume control, you have to hit function + F7 and F8 to adjust the volume. Which by the way does not display on screen while adjusting, like your TV does. The fine volume control is really quite cumbersome and there is a low grade hiss when listening through headphones. That’s what we classify as a crappy sound card issue. On a final note the WOW Audio and WOW Video are just stupid, don’t install the extra features.

Sager NP2090 Final Thoughts:

Overall this is a great, heavy, fast, laptop best suited for gamers, the multimedia and graphic industry, multi-taskers and those of us who need a comparable replacement for a desktop.