So we took my mom out to Flushing this past weekend cause her cellular contract was up and she wanted a new-fangled phone. And everyone knows that the best place to get deals on cell phones is in an Asian-infested area. ;-) So we wandered into the "Busy Mall" on Main Street closest to Northern Boulevard which has 4 cellular service stores located right within the entrance. Makes it a little unnerving cause people from the 2 stores lucky enough to be right next to the door greet you when you walk in so you feel sorta bad when you choose one and not the other. Also makes it a little tough to comparison shop since the next store is like 4 feet away. But anyway, I just went where my mom went and at least she picked the store with the cute girl. =)
But anyway, turns out T-Mobile has wised up this past year and no longer allows you to sign up for a new plan and then cancel an old one. You have to wait at least 3 months first. At least that's what the girl told us, will need to double-check on HowardForums. So my mom wound up porting her number over to Cingular/AT&T. And she got the Nokia 6108 phone which is a rather obscure phone here in the US cause it was designed by Nokia China and comes with a stylus, English and Chinese handwriting recognition, and built-in Chinese to English to Chinese dictionary. No camera though. ;-p But my mom wanted a tri-band phone and that's what this was. Although it's a 900/1800/1900 band phone while Cingular/AT&T is 850/1800/1900 I believe. So the phone still works and will work better while overseas as well, but it just won't be able to take advantage of the 850 band here in the US.
So I was thinking... maybe it's time to consider leaving T-Mobile when our contract is up. Not that I really have any problems with them. But Cingular/AT&T does seem to have a more extensive coverage area nationwide and their phone selection is starting to look a LOT better than T-Mobile's. I dunno, just something to ponder. If anyone out there has any comments on Cingular, feel free to let me know. =)
Anyway, I also got to see and play around with a couple of not-yet-officially-released-in-the-US Nokia phones: the 7610, nice, but a little big; the "fashionable" 7260, UGLY; and the possibly interesting 6260, HUGE. Also saw the SonyEricsson Z500a, big and chunky; and the Motorola RAZR V3 which I never liked to begin with and like even less now that I've seen it. The only thing good about it is it's thin and metallic. Otherwise it's still rather large and a bit ugly. So guess I'm still holding out for the quad-band GSM/GPRS Treo 650. Goddamn Sprint. =p
