After three years, my cell phone has died. I’ve replaced the antenna twice, the antenna cradle once, and the battery once, eking it as long as I could, through a hell of a lot of abuse (I don’t drop my phone, but I wouldn’t say I keep it pristine, either). It’s finally time to get a new one. I’m currently eyeing the Motorola 710. If I could wait another few months, Motorola will be releasing a CDMA capable RAZR V3 towards the end of 2005. Alas, not; the crackling and popping and occasional “echo” laden call, and the gravelly audio randomly that doesn’t go away until it restarts… this, I was able to deal with. But now it can’t even access digital signal anymore. It’s time. Requiescat in pace.

Rather than make a new post when I actually get the new phone, I’ll just update this post.

[UPDATE 7/2/2005:

I went with the Motorola v710, and have been very happy with it thus far. The reception is markedly better than my previous phone, and is giving me signal where I’ve previously had none. I’m annoyed to discover that Verizon crippled the bluetooth functionality, which means if I want a custom ringtone or to offload any pictures or videos(!) I take, I’ll have to use their system($). I’m going to explore non-warranty-voiding hackery to see what I can do to alleviate the situation (I already know of one way, involving a custom firmware update). I’ve already done the necessary modification to iSync to allow me to sync my contacts, and I’ve also played around with the bluetooth headset I picked up along with it. SLICK stuff, I’ve got it playing nicely with both my cellphone AND my desktop, which will tide me over for voice chat until I get up enough gumption to pick up an iSight.

If you are wondering if I have your current contact information, EMAIL or IM ME. Especially for those of you who aren’t local, I’d hate to be passing through your area and then discover I don’t have an up to date phone number or email to contact you with. ]