Sometimes newer just isn't better

This past Sunday my trusted T-Mobile Dash leapt to its death from the rear deck lid of my Honda as my youngest daughter and I headed off to get a Christmas tree. I really liked that phone. I could access all of my e-mails, contacts and calendars whenever I needed to do so. It wasn't fancy. It didn't have a touchscreen. It had limited memory. And it had a rollerball that worked better some days than others.

As I picked the pieces up off the road I knew I was about to have to spend a chunk of change to replace it. I headed to the nearest T-Mobile store and was pointed toward the new HD7 (Windows mobile) and G2 (Droid) phones. I asked the clerk if the phones would do what my outdated, last-generation phone would do and I was assured that they would.

Figuring that the Windows mobile phone would easily sync up with Outlook (wrong) I went with the HD7. As I got to playing with it I began to get annoyed with it. The virtual keyboard is lousy compared to the actual mini keyboard on the Dash. Sure, the screen was big and bright and I could view websites much easier on the HD7 than on the Dash. But this phone was for business.

I sat down to sync the phone - and this is where the trouble began. When I plugged the phone in, my computer began accessing Zune (not a good sign). I called customer service (since the "owner's manual" contained next to no useful information) and was told that I had to use Zune to sync the phone. (Wrong.)

When I realized that that was not going to do it, I called customer service again. I explained my problem to the girl who answered the phone and she assured me I could sync the HD7 with Outlook. Then she transferred me to tech support - the girl there had little idea what she was talking about and told me that the phone would not sync with Outlook. (Please explain that to me, Bill Gates.)

My displeasure with the phone was now approaching hatred. The camera was awkward to operate and flushed out the subject with light. I could barely hear the person on the other end of the line on speaker phone.  Worst of all? There was no solitaire on the phone. No games at all. If you wanted a game, you had to buy it online.

After court this morning I returned to the office to attempt to make this thing work. I called customer service (again). I was transferred to tech support (again). The guy on the other end walked me through the unbelievable process of exporting my contacts from Outlook.

Easily synch w/ Microsoft Outlook

Stay in synch with your Contacts, Calendar, and Email in Microsoft Outlook

The T-Mobile website was, shall we say, not quite truthful. In order to download my contacts I had to create a Microsoft Live! account. After doing that I was able to access my contacts on the phone. Next came the calendar -- and, guess what, it's an even more complicated process (so complicated, in fact, that I decided it wasn't worth any more of my time).

T-Mobile was just plain dishonest in their claims about the HD7. It doesn't sync with Outlook. It certainly isn't done "easily."

Now it's off to take the HD7 back to the store and exchange it for a G2 - which I am fairly certain will be just as useless.

The LackBerry Bold

Last week my Dash crashed on me. That sucked. Instead of having access to my contacts and my calendar at my fingertips outside the office, all I had was a phone. Couldn't access the internet and couldn't "sync" it up with Outlook.

A former client of mine is a phone dealer. I told him I wanted the new Dash 3G. He told me I should get the new BlackBerry Bold 9700. He told me it was the most advanced phone out there and that I'd love it. So I told him to get me one.

I picked it up from him on Saturday morning and was excited to play with it. That's when the nightmare began. It was so "technologically advanced" that it was impossible to set the clock without calling tech support. Due to household chores and a housewarming party it was nearly impossible for me to do much more than charge the battery on the phone over the weekend.

I did try to set up my e-mail but, no matter what I did, the icon for managing e-mail would never appear on the screen and I couldn't find any other way to set up my e-mail accounts otherwise. On Monday morning I called tech support about setting up my e-mail and was told I would have to upgrade my internet service to BlackBerry internet in order to receive e-mails on the phone. Then she told me it would take between 2 and 48 hours to set it up. That's a worse time frame than the damn phone company.

That was it. I decided to get a Dash instead, but the nearest dealer was out. So I called a store by the house and drove out in the pouring rain to get the new Dash. The customer service rep told me she could get me hooked up with the upgraded internet service in less than 2 hours -- which still made the phone useless since I had to head down to Galveston in a little over 90 minutes.

After handling the jail docket on the island I was able to set up my e-mail on the phone. Now all I had to do was "sync" up Outlook so I could get my contacts, my calendar and my e-mail. Unfortunately the phone would only download my contacts, calendar and tasks from Outlook. It wouldn't "sync" up my Outlook e-mail inbox.

I called tech support and was transferred to RIM (the manufacturers of the software that runs the BlackBerry). Then I found out the terrible news -- there was no way to "sync" up my Outlook e-mail inbox to the BlackBerry. This meant that once an e-mail from my internet server was forwarded to Outlook, I could no longer access it on the phone. Absolutely unacceptable.

Now, after spending hours trying to set this phone up how I needed it set up for my work situation, I have no choice but to get rid of this expensive paperweight and head back to the store to pick up the phone I wanted in the first place.

And before anyone tells me how wonderful the iPhone is -- I don't want one. I have never wanted one. I don't want a touch screen phone. Besides, you can't get one for T-Mobile (and I'm not changing carriers).

Excuse me while I beat my head up against the wall.