cell phone woes

[chanaleh]

Earlier this week, I managed to brick my Treo 600 that I've had for almost 2.5 years.

I had a spare Motorola flipphone on hand, so I'm not phoneless. (Not having my library of stored numbers is a bigger inconvenience; callers are one thing, but if you *text* me, I will probably have no idea who the message is from, so please sign it until further notice!) But really, without a web browser in my pocket, I kinda feel like one of my hands has gone missing. :-P

All things considered, it seems a reasonable time to upgrade anyway, so I'm examining my options. I'm planning to stick with T-mobile, since I've been happy with them and the plan I have is cheaper than any new contract I could get with another provider. But all the smartphones T-mobile actually sells... let's just say I preferred the outmoded Palm I already had, and would rather have another. Not to mention the fact that I'll be able to re-sync a new Palm device to my backed-up data with a lot less heartache.

So while I'm comparison-shopping online -- for a 600, 650, or even 680 -- might anyone have a used Treo lying around they'd be interested in unloading for cheap? I can deal with getting it unlocked, if it isn't.

Conversely, anyone out there still using a 600 that might want a spare battery, HotSync cable, wall charger, and car charger? Naturally, I had JUST bought a car charger for the 600, and neither my chargers and cables nor my silicone skin case will fit a newer model Treo. :-P (At least the skin case is already torn in a few places; I'd been holding out on replacing it until such time as I upgrade my phone... ha!)

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

You might consider looking for an unlocked phone from one of the many online purveyors of such, rather than buying your phone directly from T-Mobile. It'll be more expensive than a carrier-subsidized phone but you'll get your choice of phones and if you ever decide you want to switch carriers you won't have to get the phone unlocked. Just make sure whatever you pick is a "quad band" (850/900/1800/1900 GSM) phone, that'll guarantee that it'll work in the US. Also setting up a generic unlocked phone to work with your provider might entail a bit of work but it's no harder than installing Linux, really.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes -- the first one, I bought unlocked as well (from Amazon, IIRC). T-mobile had already stopped selling/supporting Palm devices by that time (January 2006), and though I tried a Blackberry from them initially, I disliked and returned it (the functionality was actually fine, but the usage patterns were killing my wrists!). Now I'm hooked on the touch screen and other little interface niceties. But anyway, yes, I'm definitely not buying anything *from* T-mobile.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'm kinda going through this myself, as I have a Nokia 6126 that has "issues" and I've been debating whether to replace it directly with a 6131 (the unlocked, international version of that phone) or to upgrade to an unlocked PDA phone of some sort. The Nokia N95 makes me drool.

[mangosteen]

Sorry that I can't help. My Treo 650 is mighty bricked (and falling apart).

But I have to laugh. One of the sources cited in the wikipedia 'Brick' article is the Hacker Jargon file entry for "brick".

One guess who submitted that entry. :)

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

you've been around too long :-)

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. not much i can offer- I'm getting a new phone as soon as the 3g iphone is out, but that's cingular...

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

alas, my Treo 700p is CDMA (Verizon) :( i'd love to pass it along to you - how attached are you to T-Mobile as a carrier?

-steve

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Ohh, CDMA... alas, yes, I'm pretty set on GSM for now. Thank you though!

[jessruth.livejournal.com]

My old Treo 650 is Cingular (now AT&T) - I'm not sure how "bricked" it may be, but howzabout I bring it with me next week (eek!) and you can give it a try? Nothing to lose, right?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Bricked means TOTALLY non-functional: button pushie no workie. If yours still lights up and makes calls, it's worth a shot! thank you! My plan is probably to get a locked device and have it unlocked, so that is certainly worth trying.

We should totally talk in the next day or so about NEXT WEEK, and if I get another one in the meantime I can let you know...

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I have a T-mobile treo 600, but about 1/3 of the keys send the wrong signals, including 2 of the arrow directions around the center button, and some of the letters keys. =P er, and I'm not sure it can sync anymore. You're welcome to it if you're that desperate!

[cheesyhill.livejournal.com]

How did you brick it?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

So I bought this spiff new stainless steel water bottle (for $10 at Cambridge Naturals, incidentally, much cheaper than Sigg bottles).

It has this rubber gasket in the seal.

I screwed on the top without noticing that the gasket was out of kilter.

Then I blithely put the bottle and the Treo into the same bag, and went on my merry way.

Needless to say, the bag and therefore the bottle got off the vertical.

When I next went to use the phone, I noticed there was *some* water on it, but (due to the silicone skin case) not HOW much water, until I had already tried powering the buttons and it was too late.

[cheesyhill.livejournal.com]

Since it was pure water, it might recover itself after a few days. I made a friend of mine very happy by suggesting she try to turn on her presumed busted MacBook and voila.

Strip it as much as possible, leave it at room temperature for a few days and keep your fingers crossed; You have nothing to lose, after all.

Treo 650 - Sprint

[erik-j-meyer.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Sorry I missed this earlier, I was busy at work.

I am pretty sure you will not see this till Saturday night. Any case, if you are still looking for a Treo 650 I have one lying around. It was dropped on my porch yesterday. I think it was included with the car charger someone was giving me. I am keeping the car charger. And the bluetooth ear-piece. But I am more than willing to hand of the Treo 650 itself.

Lemme know.

Re: Treo 650 - Sprint

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, dude. This is exactly the sort of response I was hoping for. :-D

I would love to take this from you. Is there a lunch-hour sort of time I could meet up with you in town this week? (happily, I even have some other errands to run on that side of the river...) Is gmail the best place to email you for further arrangements?

Re: Treo 650 - Sprint

[erik-j-meyer.livejournal.com]

Yup, g-mail wold be best.

I generally take lunch from 1-2pm and am across the street from City Hall plaza. Let me know.

[cos]

I bought a used GSM Treo 650 on eBay for my trip to Italy. Now that I'm back, I don't really need it, since my regular phone is my Sprint CDMA Treo 650 (which, being CDMA, wouldn't work in Europe). I was going to sell it on eBay. Do you still need a phone?

(I also have to find something useful to do with my Italian SIM card with about 12 euro credit on it)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Hey, welcome back! I may indeed still need a phone -- the one I picked up from Erik the other day is also Sprint and therefore CDMA (d'oh!). Jess is going to bring me her old 650 (Cingular) this weekend, and see if I can unlock that. But if that doesn't work for whatever reason, I'm going to buy one for sure, and I would be happy to buy yours!

And, since we *may* be going to Italy in September, I could probably even do something useful with your euro sim :-)

[cos]

This one is an unlocked formerly-Cingular Treo 650, in fact.

If you're going to Italy this year, you'd be the perfect next owner :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe I should just go with yours anyway, and have it that much sooner, and know that it's already unlocked. :-D How much would you like for it? I'll send you mail.