http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nimejunemiqeg37/message/1
So begs the question - do I bring my laptop (and if so, which one) on my 4-day long vacation?
I've traveled once a year for the past 14-some years, on trips ranging from 5 days to a week. Since I've had a laptop (2003), I've brought my laptop with me for internet (remember dial-up?!) and later wi-fi. Not so much because I wanted to stay connected while away, but because of work.
Well, now that I'm going on a vacation for just 4 days (the first 3 is the long weekend) - do I really need to? I can just wait until I get back to take care of work. Plus, the hotel only has free wi-fi in the lobby and sometimes that can be a pain. Do I really want to have to go down to the lobby for wi-fi? The building has some 40+ floors! Plus, it's Hawaii - who goes to Hawaii to go on the internet?
Anyway, the problem is that we're bringing digital cameras and will likely take pictures of everything. So transferring the photos to the computer daily would be ideal. Do I bring the Apple (Powerbook G4) which is lightweight (about 5 lbs) and thin? Or do I bring the HP (Pavilion dv5) which is heavier and wider, but faster? On top of that, both laptops have overheating problems (the HP moreso).
Furthermore, the software for the Nikon D-SLR doesn't work with the Apple (I only have OS 10.3.3), plus we can't find the disc so I can't load it onto the HP. I guess we'll have to bring a card reader. I sure hope the Apple's 80GB hard drive is enough. Neither laptop has good battery life - about 2 hours for the Apple and slightly longer (but not by much) for the HP. The HP is also prone to dust (hordes of it) and generally looks ugly because of said dust.
If only I hadn't bought an iPod Touch in May... and if only I hadn't
bought the HP in February... I could have just stuck it out with the
Apple, and then gotten a netbook. That would have been the smart thing
to do, but who says I'm smart? I could get a netbook now - but most of
them only have 3 or 4-in-1 card readers so I'd probably still have to
buy a card reader.
There's talks of furloughs because of the budget situation and obviously, no one likes furloughs. But then we have faculty saying that they should raise taxes (until what, we're eventually paying 100% tax?!) or how faculty will flee to private universities.
I guess I am naive in thinking that professors, especially those in the more technical (scientific) fields would be less about money and more about innovating. I don't know the specifics for all professors, but many of them make six figures a year. Even with the cost of living in our region, they can still live comfortably. But no, that's not enough for them. Their children have to go to expensive private schools, they need to travel on someone else's dime, they need to get cellphones/computers/whatever bought for them.
When they are hired, they're offered bonuses - such as start-up funds, a cushy office, even a job for their spouse. They teach approximately one class a quarter - which meets for about twice a week. Most of them teach the same 3 classes every year, so they re-use the material. From what I can tell, many of them are much more concentrated on their research (funded by outside sources) than they are about teaching.
Campuses are discussing what they have had to cut back on. One campus can't fill 200 faculty positions. Two hundred?! Do they even have professors there?
These faculty members are so self-absorbed. Don't get me wrong - I think the chancellors and senior managment (especially those who have questionable ethics) should take a pay cut. Even if it doesn't impact the budget much, it's a goodwill gesture. And those protesting staff members can ponder whether it's better to have furloughs or layoffs. And stop being inefficient at their jobs. But the faculty members need to stop - they make a ton of money, they'll continue to make a ton of money, and their jobs are secure.
Got my new phone - yay! It's not perfect - I sometimes start to close the slider by accident which disconnects the phone call. And the camera lens on the back is right where I put my index finger when I hold the phone so it'll be fingerprints galore.
Also, there are problems with LG phones - the alarm won't work if the phone is off, the center button is set for AT&T MediaNet and you can't chaneg it, and the left/right soft keys are preset and cannot be changed. At least they are generic (menu and options) and for options, you can assign your own shortcuts. Except for the #1 shortcut - it's preset to My account (some internet thing) - arg!!
And the keys are interesting - it's like a unibody keyset, which means pushing the wrong button is very easy to do.
Otherwise, it seems like a winner.
I didn't realize them before, but the store had a Sony Ericsson phone (the w760a) - looks so cool! It is a slider phone. I thought there wasn't a camera until I slide the phone open and there's the lens. 3.2MP! Arg - I wish I had asked about it :( But I'm going to say that it was more expensive and that the fact the phone needs to be slide open to take a picture is a negative.
Yeah, that's what I'm telling myself. :)
Guess what - I'm getting a new phone!
But you already got a new phone, you say.
And then I say - well, yeah, but I really really hate the LG Neon and am exchanging it tomorrow for a different phone. Seriously, I hate that phone with a passion.
It's difficult when you are used to using (IMHO) a fabulous phone like the Sony Ericsson w810i. I had one complaint about the phone when I first got it 2 years ago and promptly forgot about it because it wasn't that important (you can't turn the phone on when the alarm goes off).
I'm sure someone somewhere likes the LG Neon and that's great. It has some good features but for me, it is just close but no cigar. Qwerty keyboard (but not like iPod touch's), 2.0 MP camera (but not like Sony Ericsson w810i0), stylish white casing (but hideous lime neon green with orange writing). Are my standards just too high? I don't think so. And today's wonderful (not!) discovery - the alarm will not work if the phone is turned off. Is this an LG thing? I can't remember all my past (Nokia, Motorola) phones but I know for sure that the alarms on the Motorola v300 and Sony w810i both work even when the phone is off.
My sister says get an alarm clock.
I did find out that the touch-screen keypad will have the alphabet letters sometimes. I guess just not when you're dialing a number (but it will appear if you are in the middle of a call).
Anyway, I am getting (hopefully) an LG CF360. This is the phone that my sis got. It's a slider phone, but a more traditional non-smartphone. The LG Neon is not a smartphone but it's more of a tweener/teener text-messaging phone. Think T-Mobile sidekick. And though the MP on the camera is lower (1.3MP), the pictures are clearer!
Overall, it just seems like a better phone than the Neon (knock on wood). The additional features of the Neon just don't make up for it's subpar performance in the non-smartphone arena. I mean - 8 ringtones (on the neon) compared to 20 on the CF360. Sure, you can always add your own ringtones, but I like having choices already there. Options to change font color and size. Like the Sony w810i! I'll still have to leave the phone on overnight (I do most of the time anyways) but I think I can deal. This time around :)
Another complaint about the LG Neon (it's the GT365 version, if you're keeping track). It doesn't appear that you can customize the look much on display much. You can change the wallpaper, but I can't tell if there are themes. Your options for the time/date are: small, large and none. The funky thing is that if you choose small or large, the time will display twice on the main screen - once at the very top (which is there for all screens) and then in the top-center.
A little redundant, don't you think?
The problem with choosing "none" (as in no time/date) is that then there is no date displayed anywhere. Great.
The Sony w810i is highly customizable - you can download themes (some for free on Sony's own site), you can create your own themes with free software that you can download from Sony, the phone even comes with a free usb cable!
(Can you tell I'm having major buyer's remorse?)
As my contract expired, I upgraded/extended for another 2 years and got a free LG Neon phone. I'm not much of a texter, and I don't use the internet on my phone, but I didn't like the style of the other phones they were offering (I don't like the flip phones these days, and I don't really care for the sliders).
The Neon is a slider phone - but laterally, as it has a QWERTY keyboard. For regular phone use, there is a touch-screen capability where you can type in the phone number on screen, but that's it. You can't even type in alpha characters in there. Which reminds me - I'll have to memorize which numeric keys correspond with the letters of the alphabet, in case I need to dial 1-800-numbers or something.
My favorite phone in my 10+ yrs of owning a cell would have to be the Sony Walkman w810i, the phone I was using up until 1 day ago. I don't care for the walkman feature - I have an iPod shuffle which does exactly what I need it to do - play music. I also have an iPod touch but using it for music would be a waste of battery.
The Neon has mp3 capabilities, but just like with the Sony - I'm not going to be using it. The camera is 2 MP, just like the Sony, but the quality is not as good. I also don't like the zoom feature. I'm not sure if it's the same with all LG phones (I think maybe), but there is not true zoom feature. Instead of zooming in, you can change the resolution size, effectively zooming in or out. However, when you are trying to take a pic on the fly, the last thing you want to do is have to push 5 buttons (or so) to zoom in. By that time, the pic opp is gone.
As for the QWERTY keyboard, well, thinking it would be useful may have been silly on my part. First, with a traditional phone keyboard, you can text with one hand. With a QWERTY, you can't. Compared to the QWERTY on the iPod touch, it's not quite as good. I'm used to the iPod touch suggesting words and correcting spelling, not to mention you can push the space bar (button) twice to insert a period and a space. To enter a period on the Neon, you have to hit the function key and then a button.
The phone itself is lightweight. It's slimmer than my Sony, but longer and wider. It fits well into pockets, though. On the side, there is a covered port for the headset/charger and for the microSD card. The coverings look as though they can fall off easily - it's pretty standard on LG phones, though.
Which brings me to the charger. The guy at the cellphone store told me to charge the phone for 10 hours (initial charging usually requires longer - but at least it isn't the 14 hours they used to suggest). I checked in the owner's manual but it didn't say anything. After 8 hours, I couldn't tell if the phone was done charging or not - there was no "charge complete" notification. However, it didn't look like it was still charging. And it was a booger trying to unplug the charger from the phone - it's wedged in quite deeply.
I'm not sure about battery life - it's reportedly supposed to be good. However, after using the phone for less than 1 day, I'm down to 2 (out of 3) bars. Is it because I didn't charge it long enough? Also, I don't like the 3-segmented battery icon that LG uses - it's too difficult to tell how much battery is left. Sony uses what iPod uses - an (unsegmented) battery icon. Plus, with the Sony, you could push one of the volume buttons and get phone information (how much battery left, etc).
I do like how LG phones are fairly customizable - you can change the soft keys and the directional key shortcuts. That was one thing I hated about the Samsung (SCH 300?) phone that my mom tried - soft keys were pre-set and unchangeable. She isn't going to need a shortcut to AIM plus there was no bluetooth.
I don't like how LG AT&T phones have a media net button (in the center of the directional pad) - I never use the internet but you can't change this button. It also serves as the "okay" button but you have to make sure you don't accidentally hit it and incur data charges (as my parents can attest to). On my sis's new LG phone (slider - CF360), they don't have such a button. Lucky!
I don't like the color scheme - the white color is fine. But the lime green (neon) color, with orange lettering - not so good. I think they used to have a blue/teal version which looks nice but it's not available anymore.
All in all, the Neon seems to be a nice phone. Not comparable to the Sony (for my purposes) and from what I've read, if you are a heavy texter, you should try the LG Xenon. Nonetheless, this phone is what I'll be using for the next 2 years - I think it'll be fine.
