My goodness, talk about an eventful past few weeks in technology-and-mechanisms land.

I wasted about 4-5 hours of my life on the phone with my wife’s cellphone carrier, trying to clear the fog of confusion and hold them to their word about a new plan… I spent some time setting up her new cellphone, which is part and parcel with the discussions above… I acquired a “new” (used) cellie to replace/compliment my TyTN… my internet server has been having unknown problems of a service-interruption nature for the past two weeks… my wife’s car is back to its old tricks (ie, being frustratingly unreliable)… my car soaked its passenger footwell and sprung a mysterious leak in a tire…

…and I think that’s it.

So what does all of that have to do with the subject of this post?  With the exception of my “new” cellphone and Shelly’s new cellphone – not much, but I haven’t posted since October 28th so I thought I’d bring you up to speed (and have you share my pain…)

Okay, so Google Maps.  Well, first off, is that I chose a used HTC “Fuze” (the AT&T version of the HTC Touch Pro) to replace my TyTN.  Ah, the TyTN… it’s come a long way since I first unboxed it back in ’07 and saw its gleaming, Rogers-infested workings.  Over time it’s been steadily upgraded with various software goodies to keep it relevant:

– interface: went from Today screen customizations and ended up with a new shell (SPB Mobile Shell), although at one point I thought the idea of a replacement shell was sacrilege

– web browser: from Opera (which never worked reliably due to memory constraints) to Opera Mini (which wasn’t a “true” experience and not suited for online banking) to SkyFire (also not a “true” expereince and not suited for online banking, but it wasn’t Java and it supported Flash)

– finger-friendliness: courtesy of native support in some apps, and psuedo-global support by SPB Pocket Plus and fTouchSL; as well as some registry tweaks to increasae the font size of  system-wide menus

I’m sure there’s more, but that’ s the gist of it.

But through all of these additions, one realm I could never improve on was the hardware itself.  Limited processing power and limited memory were becoming hindrances.  The recessed screen was on a divergent path with the increased emphasis on finger-friendliness.  And finally, the battery was rapidly approaching the upper limit of its useful age.

Now, some of these issues could have probably been resolved by flashing a new ROM.  But as the only Windows Mobile 5+ device in my stable, bricking the device was not an option.  Nor did I want to flash a new ROM and find that the hardware limitations were even more pronounced – or find some incompatibility with my carrier – and then have no way to go back to the known-working ROM.

So the decision was made to look for another device.  At least then I’d have two WinMo 5+ devices, so that one could serve as a backup in case Something Bad(tm) happened.  I wasn’t entirely convinced that my future would lie in Windows Mobile, but without my carrier offering any appealing subsidized smartphones I decided to go the pre-owned route for another couple of years.

The Touch Pro is currently one generation behind the latest and greatest Touch Pro 2.  It’s got ample memory, a sufficiently-fast processor, and a multitude of available ROM images.  The screen is flush, its got an internal GPS, accelerometer, VGA screen, but still has a 5-way dpad.  So that’s what I went for.

And while the unit I ended up could have been better cared for (scratches galore), I decided that was a small price to pay for such a huge jump in software and hardware revisions (2.5 and 2 generations, respectively).

Okay, great… so, what about Google Maps?

Yes, GMaps – it should be obvious, that with the Fuze’s GPS I now have pinpoint accuracy in this awesome, *free* application.  And while I’m still in the process of getting that GPS to fix quickly (and reliably, although I think I made a big step forward in turning *off* AGPS), I must say that GMaps has twice proved its usefulness in the last 24 hours.

Something I didn’t know, is that GMaps now supports live traffic info in Canada.  Apparently this has been around for some time, but since I’ve got GPS in the car and had no GPS in my phone before, it was rare that I would fire up GMaps while in any car.  The traffic info showed me that a route was flowing smoothly yesterday for the evening commute – which I wouldn’t have believed otherwise since that route is never clear that time of day – and it showed me that the same route should be avoided like the plague this morning, although the undisputed king of radio traffic reports had nothing to say on the matter.

In both cases the info was spot on.

So that’s cool.  I’m trying to convince the wifey to get a Google account so we can use Latitude.  She’s adverse to that sort of thing.  I’m not looking to track her whereabouts – especially since I wouldn’t recommend that she leave GPS on 24/7 and run GMaps during that time as well – but I think it would be useful in those moments where we’re out and/or apart and there’s some requirement to know where the other is or that the other is okay (because the other never hears their phone ring……… 🙂

But mostly I just want to see the technology in action.  I think it’s cool that Shelly now has a mobile device that’s as powerful as mine, with a mobile plan that includes a healthy chunk of data without breaking the bank.  For a while, her phone was even more powerful and feature-packed than mine.  Now we’re on par, but the point is that we can both do the same things – get info online, navigate with GPS, use Bluetooth – so I can get her up to speed on this stuff whenever she’s ready.

So anyhoo… more on this stuff later.  Particularly my woes with my Internet server at home.  Ugh… talk about a pain in the @ss, especially when I’ve got like -ve free time these days what with an infant son and a car-less wife.  Compounding matters is that that server is instrumental in receiving work-related alerts on my phone, so… stress all around.