So if you have been a longtime fan of my site you’ll probably remember that I used to write about Palm phones all the time. Consulting with my archives shows however that I have not written about my personal smartphone use since August 1, 2005 when my Kyocera 7135 finally kicked the bucket. I honestly haven’t loved a phone as much since my old 7135. There were things it did that most cell phones today still don’t do. The old Palm OS was a great smartphone solution for many years but with the introduction of the iPhone it started showing its age. I still stayed true to Palm though because I was on Verizon. I had a Treo 650 & finally a Treo 755p. The 755p was my favorite of the Treos but it still didn’t compare with the 7135.

So what did I replace my Treo with? I got the original Droid from Verizon. It was the first Android phone on Verizon and it was the first major success for the Android OS. I had the Droid from the day it launched until I replaced it with a Windows 7 Phone back on June 20th, 2011. A lot of people wondered why I went I left the Android Device especially at a time of great prosperity for the OS. Not to mention people wondered why I didn’t go iPhone. We’ll get to all of that…

I left Android because the writing was on the wall for me. With Android’s OS fragmentation issues, OEM’s putting “custom skins” on top of the Android OS,  and the lack of “vanilla Android” devices on Verizon I was starting to grow worried. You know what all of this reminded me of? The old Windows Mobile 6.x days. Microsoft had screwed itself big time with their choices in regards to old Windows Mobile and now Google it seemed was making those same mistakes. On top of that my old trusty original Droid started having stability issues even after a complete wipe! My stay at Hotel Android was over, it was time to check out…

So what were my alternatives? iPhone, Blackberry, HP Pre, or Windows Phone 7. I had a Blackberry for sometime when I started working at Princeton University and I just never liked it. The OS was old and slow, you couldn’t surf the web that well, and their app selection was mega weak. But they did have nice keyboards! The HP Pre was the old Palm Pre and I was really excited about that phone when it was announced, but it took too long to get to Verizon and I stopped caring. So that leaves the iPhone and WP7…

I’ve never liked the iPhone and it seems I never will. Sure there are great apps on it but I have never enjoyed using the phones. Not to mention their call quality kind of blows and there is that whole “Apple as big brother” thing. Now I’m not one to be paranoid but their attitude about everything just really sucks. Not to mention that ever since I started supporting Mac’s exclusively in my professional life, the cracks have long been showing in the facade that is Apple. So the iPhone was out…

So that leaves Windows 7 Phone. There has been a lot of positive buzz about these phones since they launched. In addition to that I have owned 2 Zunes which I absolutely love as portable media players. The Zune OS is basically what WP7 was based off of. One of my gripes with Android towards the end of my run was how I was plagued by a bug in Android Exchange mail support and was not able to get my work e-mail on my phone for a solid month. I live and die by Exchange because at Princeton that is what our mail platform is. I knew that going with a Microsoft phone, Exchange support and compatibility with be near 100% at all times since Exchange is a Microsoft product. I was worried too about the Android apps I had grown to rely on. I wondered about wether the young Windows Phone 7 Marketplace had the same apps or equivalents? Turned out All but 2 of the 12 apps I regularly used were represented in Windows Phone 7. Not to mention, I always wanted an OFFICIAL Flickr app on Android and there never was one but Windows Phone 7 has one! So that was a one up in my book. So at this point I decided that Windows Phone 7 was the OS I wanted but what phone did I actually want?

Verizon made the choice easy for me, there is only one Windows Phone 7 device on Verizon, the HTC Trophy. Its got a nice size screen but no hard keyboard. You see I have fat fingers and I cannot for the life of me type on virtual keyboards. The only virtual keyboard I have ever been able to type on is the one on my Android Table and thats because the green is like 9 inches wide. The iPhone keyboard and the default Android OS keyboard were always big stumbling blocks for me. I made a promise to myself that I had to try out the HTC Trophy before I would buy it. So when I arrived at the Verizon store on June 20th, 2011 I asked the saleslady to let me try one out. She went and got one for me and I typed an e-mail out very fast without any mistakes. I don’t know what it is about the Windows Phone 7 keyboard but its easier to type on for some reason. I think its because the screen is wider then an iPhone or Droid screen but maybe I’m wrong. I told her to wrap it up as I was sold.

So here we are almost two months later and I still love the phone to death. The Zune Marketplace integration is wonderful. All the TV Shows I purchased on my Xbox are available for my phone for no extra cost. The Xbox Live compatibility is amazing. The quality of the games for Windows Phone 7 are very impressive. But most importantly, not since my old Nokia 5110 have I had such excellent call quality. Seriously I feel like Smartphone makers don’t even care if your phone can make a call. The HTC Trophy is the clearest phone I’ve ever used. However I have one complaint, if your phone has no service your battery drains mega fast. This was also a problem on my Droid and seems to be a common issue for most smartphones these days.

So there you go, buy a Windows Phone 7. I can almost guarantee you’ll be satisfied with it more so than any other phone you have ever owned!

My next phone you ask?

Definitely a John’s Phone.

I have my own personal copy of this video on VHS. Been meaning to bug Shaun Holland to digitize it for me but kept forgetting. Luckily someone already took care of it for me. Started thinking about my old days with Funcoland after someone randomly posted this photo of me on reddit.com.

Here is to Funcoland #307 in Toms River, NJ!

Today, Greg and I were chatting on Google Talk and he asked me if I ever heard of Archive.org. Of course I had! He just discovered it. During our conversation I went and plugged in the old URL: www.theward.net Greg had already beaten me to this idea as he had told me he spent a considerable amount of time with it yesterday. As I began clicking through I realized that they had captured a sizable chunk of what TheWard was all about, especially during its most important years. Like catching up with an old friend, I was reminded of things I had completely forgotten about. It was a wonderful experience for me.

A lot of my early success as a blogger was because of being a part of TheWard Universe. It exposed me to a lot of other Bloggers in the country and even put me in touch with some of them. Two that come to mind are Trevor & Alecia from Arizona. I haven’t spoken to them in years but we’re actually friends on Facebook. Ryan and I haven’t spoken much either which is weird because his wife is from Lawrenceville and I live there still. But because of TheWard I was getting 1,000 unique visitors each month to my site. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to achieve that level of legitimate traffic ever since & that is fine.

So that leaves on person, Greg Coleman. We’ve remained close friends before TheWard and after. We discovered medieval knights together, celebrated two of the craziest birthday celebrations of all time (His 20th & 21st), lived together for a year, we were neighbors for 2, and we still call Lawrenceville our home. Greg has always been and always will be a friend who I value a great deal. But when Greg decided to no longer write for TheWard my heart was broken. I knew that TheWard would not be the same without his writings or graphics & I was right. Ryan kept TheWard going but it descended into a blog about coding and open standards. Which was what Ryan’s world was all about at that time. Greg never wrote for another blog ever again. For years I tried to get him to go back to it but it never took. I think Greg’s thought process on that has been that there is no Misfits without Glenn Danzig. Its just not the same without the original team. I can respect that.

So I ask you to go here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://theward.net

Visit this archival collection of a blog you probably never knew existed, it will probably be a fun trip.

Also for an even more hilarious bit, read this interview with yours truly from January of 2003. It really captures what I was all about in January of 2003. Enjoy: http://web.archive.org/web/20030330234129/www.theward.net/blog/archives/000204.html

So to Ryan & Greg I say this final piece, you were both good Bloggers. You were an amazing team. Like all good things, TheWard came to an end. But you do realize that if you had stuck it out, you probably would have had a book deal or a TV Show or something right? Hell TheWard could have been CollegeHumor.com for all we know…

Morons

So its been a while. What have I been up to? How about WRISTWATCHES! Since May, Dave and I have emmersed ourselves into the world of Watches, specifically mechanical watches. I have always had a love affair with the watch. Ever since I got my first Timex Ironman (the first model ever), I have almost always worn a watch. Then sometime in college I stopped. I got tired of falling in love with my watch and then having the battery die and not being able to have it replaced properly. I don’t do well with change. Once I like something and make it a part of my life I don’t give it up easily. (Case in point: I used to crush hard over Britney Spears. Then I gave up on her back in 2004. I have yet to officially replace her with a new celebrity crush.) Over the years I bought many Swiss Army quartz watches. They were a couple hundred bucks but they never gave me the same feeling of satisfaction that my first Swiss Army watch gave me. (I should point out that it was a Chinese knock-off) In the end I went back to my first love of Timex. They were cheap dependable watches. They “Took a Licking and Kept on Ticking”. Then my freshmen year of college I brushed up my watch against a cinderblock wall and scratched the face up real bad. This sucked because I loved that watch. I still wore it with the scratch until it died.

That was the day I stopped wearing watches. Sometime in 2008 I bought this rediculous Swatch Watch that connected to the Internet over FM frequencies. It was big, ugly, and orange but it got me thinking about watches again. Fast forward to May 2009. Dave and I start talking about wristwatches. It turned out that we both had a facination with them and we fed each others minds with information we would discover each day on watches. We made a decision that we would purchase our first REAL DEAL mechanical watches. Our quest began…

I’m guessing at this point that I’ll do individual posts about the watches I’ve acquired since then. I’ll try and feature Dave’s too. Who knows if I’ll ever finish this. It might end up like the Peggy Board; which is still in my closet and I’ll get to it one day. It should come as no surprise to any of you that I tend to leave things unfinished on here…

Till next time.

Today I announced I was leaving Comcast’s Cable TV service behind for good. Turbo and I decided we have had enough of Comcast’s horrible service and we got our lease renewed for another year so we figured now’s the time to switch. I posted the fact that I was leaving on Twitter today and then the following occurred:

seannyfunco: Good Bye Comcast and on Tuesday Hello DirecTV.

ComcastSteve: @seannyfunco don’t go

seannyfunco: @ComcastSteve I’ll be keeping you for Internet but I’ve had enough of your terrible signal quality when it comes to TV.

ComcastSherri: @seannyfunco @comcaststeve sorry to hear that. Are you sure you don’t want us to try to help?

seannyfunco: @ComcastSherri I’ve had about 4 24hr+ outages over the last year in my neighborhood for both Cable and Internet at the same time.
I was w/ Cablevision for 3 years in another town & had ZERO outages not to mention I never had OnDemand or Digital Ch. issues

ComcastSherri: @seannyfunco ouch..

seannyfunco: @ComcastSherri Its your infrastructure’s unreliability that made me switch. I also loath your Internet usage cap too. But you got me there.

ComcastSherri: @seannyfunco Bummer

So I think that for the most part concludes my Twitter experience with Comcast. I will say this, the fact that Comcast is actively seeking out customer issues on Twitter is pretty awesome. The fact that they’re addressing customer concerns via Twitter is incredible. I really give Comcast a lot of credit for what they’re doing there but unfortunately it’s not enough to make me stay a Comcast TV customer. The issues that are making me leave are far bigger then anything a person in Customer Service can handle. Their infrastructure problems and their Internet usage policies are really the breaking points for me. If I was able to go to another provider who could give me Cable modem or faster speed for Internet, I’d switch in a second. But given the nature of that industry and my location in NJ, Comcast is my only option. So you will have my business there Comcast but only until I have another option.

On that note I’d still like to thank ComcastSteve and ComcastSherri for attempting to stop my departure. I wish you guys the best and keep doing what you’re doing. I hope more companies follow your lead when it comes to Twitter & customer relations.

Just wanted to share this article as I felt it raises a very valid point about GameStop and the future of gaming in the retail marketplace.

Not to be left out, Frank decided to give me his list of arcade games as well:

Frank’s Retrocade:
10. After Burner
9. X-men
8. Galaga
7. Addams Family – Pinball
6. Killer Instinct
5. Time Crisis
4. TMNT
3. NBA Jam Tournament Edition
2. Twilight Zone – Pinball
1. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

Skanko and I were stuck together on the train the other night. Through our conversation we decided to come up with a top 10 list of Arcade and Pinball games that we’d have in our own private Retrocade. Here is what we came up with:

Skanko’s Retrocade
10. Hard Drivin’
9. House of the Dead 2
8. WWF Wrestlefest
7. Time Crisis
6. Terminator 2 – Pinball
5. Medieval Madness – Pinball
4. Funhouse – Pinball
3. Tekken 3
2. Jurassic Park – Pinball
1. Frogger

Sean’s Retrocade
10. WWF Wrestlefest
9. Donkey Kong
8. Star Wars
7. Rocky & Bullwinkle – Pinball
6. Pacman
5. Star Trek: TNG – Pinball
4. Sunset Riders
3. Pinbot – Pinball
2. Time Crisis
1. Jurassic Park – Pinball

Some of you may remember the Tower of Terror HL2 Mod. This one ups the ante…

Frank and I play a lot of video games together. He’s my go to friend for online gaming, especially on the Xbox 360. This time of the year is one where a lot of AAA titles comes out. This year is no different. So with all of these games to choose from Frank and I have devised a game plan for the rest of this season. Here it is:

My Current Games: Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Civilization Revolution, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

I just beat Fallout 3 last night. So that’s out of the way. Frank’s plan is we finish Gears of War 2 while throwing in matches of Civilization and Left 4 Dead (which comes out on Nov. 17th). Then for Christmas we both ask for Call of Duty: World at War and hopefully I’ll get Fable 2 as well. Then the Christmas season will be spent playing Call of Duty: World at War and Fable. So while all of this is going on we’re going to keep our eyes open for a deal on Tom Clancy’s End War. So once that’s on the cheap we’ll go for that.

So there you go thats the Game Plan for the rest of 2008. If you wanna join in, let me know and I’ll add you on Xbox Live.