The Useful Life of Cars - and Handsets

It's a well-known fact that all automobiles, no matter how well-maintained and -loved, eventually die and need to be replaced. The day comes when the maintenance costs become untenable and off to the dealer we go. Car sales are in the dumper right now, a function of the overall macroeconomic picture and high fuel prices, and this situation isn't going to improve anytime soon. But the replacement-car market is also motivated by new gadgets and features, along with styling and clever marketing.

Thus it is as well with the cell phone/handset market, which allows essentially everyone to partake of a small and mostly-affordable luxury on a semi-regular basis. This is two years in my case, as Verizon's "New Every Two" plan gets me a new phone at a subsidized price on that basis.

My trusty Motorola Q is nearing that point. I paid all of $50 (after rebate) for it roughly two years ago, and, while I have been disappointed with Windows Mobile 5 and especially its browser, I've been able to keep it more or less limping along via third-party software (see below). I've also used it for tethered access to my various notebooks, which almost always, as I noted a while ago works. So, it's been serviceable and mostly effective.

But I'm now interested in a new device that has better native software. It will be a while before Windows Mobile 6.1-based devices show up, and I'm still quite leery of Microsoft products regardless. Similarly, when will we see a good number of Android-based phones? Is Symbian still viable? But, no matter, there's the iPhone, the appliance of platform-based handsets. I previously decided the iPhone wasn't for me because of (a) no physical keyboard, (b) no removable battery, (c) no memory card slot, (d) no USB port, (e) no tethering, and (f) the high price.

But rumors of a new "3G" iPhone are at present rampant, and an announcement seems imminent. I don't spread rumors (well, OK, just a little, as is seen here), so suffice it to say for now that the new iPhone is on the list as a replacement for the Q, even if that means shifting away from Verizon Wireless for data services. I said I'd stick with Verizon because of their change-of-heart on open access, but AT&T, to be fair, says they're all in favor of openness as well.

In the meantime, I've been working on two upgrades for the Q. The first is a better media player, and I've installed TCPMP, the released version of which can be found here. It's much better than Microsoft's Media Player, but I've yet to find a combination of ripper, parameters, and player that looks good. While in the Apple store in Palo Alto yesterday (I'm still on the west coast), I noticed how truly great video looks on iPods and iPhones. I might be asking too much of the Q here.

But there is good news on the browser front. I've installed Skyfire after finally receiving my invitation to join the beta program, and everything you've heard is true - this is a fine piece of software and I can't wait for the released version. Unless I've moved on to an iPhone by then, which, by the way, also has a first-class browser.

This leaves the core questions of physical keyboard (I should be able to deal with this as required via Bluetooth), removable battery (OK, I might not need this if the new iPhone has great battery life, and if I can live without the phone while the battery is being relaced in a few years), and USB and tethering. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on those. But it looks like I am slowly talking myself into another visit to the Apple store, and soon.