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I started off this year wanting to limit the number of cell phones I used throughout the year. I simply used far too many last year (I did a lot of testing of cell phones and have since delegated that task). This year, it looked like “2″ could have been the magic number. I have been very happy with my Nokia E61 and the announcement of the iPhone meant that I knew which one I wanted next.

Then I broke my E61. I tried to load the Cisco SCCP client on it, which in theory, would allow me to use one device as both my cell phone AND office extension (when in range of WiFi). However, I didn’t pay enough attention to the firmware version and the E61 is now a very confused device. (I am hopeful it will still recover, when I have time to get back to it).

Sitting on the corner of my desk happened to be a Blackjack that was headed back to Cingular (the original person who ordered it changed their mind and decided to stick with a Razr). I decided to set it up for myself.

Here’s where my head is at with it:

Pros:

• Surprisingly good battery (especially with Bluetooth off). 2-3 days of normal usage is easy to do.
• Its nice that they throw in an extra battery AND a charging kit.
• Decent screen. Good buttons.
• The microphone faces your mouth. I know this isn’t really needed with today’s mic technology, but its still nice to have.
• I’m running GOOD on it to connect back to my Lotus Notes data … I like that GOOD will push email totals and calendar entries to the front screen.
• Phone quality is very good.
• The size! WOW! Small, light, you forget its in your pocket until it rings!

Cons:

• Unlocking it requires hitting three buttons, one of which is on the top and recessed.
• The speakerphone isn’t great.
• The ringer is too quiet regardless of the ringtone (yet the “welcome” screen from Cingular is LOUD!
• It needs to be rebooted about every 5 days, for no apparent reason.
• SLOW interface. The worst is opening up a contact from the GOOD address book list. Oddly enough, it’ll parse through 600+ contacts quickly to find a match to what you typed, but opening up that specific record takes forever! Even if the details are cached (or downloaded from GOOD).
• Windows Mobile doesn’t allow you to easily customize anything. I’d love to move icons around to make it easier to get to what I need to use, Windows doesn’t want me to.
• No Bluetooth support (on the phone) to my Mac. — I should have expected that WinMobile wasn’t going to like my Mac.
• Internet Explorer seems to be hit or miss and I can’t find any reason why. Also, there is an RSS reader (buried in the menu) but its not very user-friendly.
• Windows Mobile thinks it knows best which windows you need to use. Occasionally, it will return you to a window that doesn’t make sense given where you have been. Most often, it takes you back to the call log screen instead of back to the contact record (in GOOD) of the call you just placed.

Most of my issue with this device really does seem to be how Windows limits you, slows you down or takes over in a very strange way. I LOVE the size of the device, but I’m still excited to go back to my E61 any day now.