Storm Brewin' in Boston

I never intended this blog to be a photo blog … but since I’m writing about my new phone lately, I thought I’d show off the camera built into the T-Mobile Dash 3G. I took this while walking to the train station after work in Boston today. This is overlooking Boston Common from near the corner of Tremont Street and Hamilton Place (near the Orpheum Theater). This was really tough light … that cloud opened up on me about 3 minutes later.

One of my local farms (Nourse Farms in Westborough, MA), where my family has a CSA share, had some beautiful fresh basil when I stopped by for this weeks’ produce. So I decided it was time to put up a batch of homemade pesto in the freezer for use later in the year. This is not really a complex recipe, but there are as many different pesto recipes as there are people making it. This is my pretty traditional take, with pine nuts.

Ingredients

For each large bunch of basil (about 2 cups of packed leaves)

• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic (leave skin on — it will be pan roasted)
• 1/4 C pine nuts (we will also toast these)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• approx. 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil (ask someone at Salumeria Italiana in Boston — they’ll steer you towards something good)
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (no, the pre-grated stuff in the green can/jar doesn’t count) get a nice aged piece and grate it using a microplane grater.
• black pepper to taste

Method

Separate the basil leaves from the stems. Wash thoroughly, because no one likes gritty pesto! I sometimes crumble the leaves a bit, but this is purely an optional step. Some people crush them with a rolling pin or beat them with a meat tenderizer. I’m not sure that really does any good.

Start a heavy pan on medium heat. Do not use non-stick for this part. Heating a non-stick pan without enough food in it to absorb the heat and keep the surface below ~400 degrees F can be dangerous, especially if you have pet birds in the house. (Don’t believe it, see this, this, or this.)

When the pan is warm, dump in the pine nuts. Give them a shake/stir every minute or so and keep an eye on them to prevent burning. Toast them until they are nice golden. Be careful though, they go from golden brown and delicious (GBD) to burnt in a matter of seconds. Remove them from the pan to cool.

After the nuts are toasted, dump in the garlic, with the husk still on. I usually add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, but this can also be done dry. Roast the garlic for 5 to 7 minutes until it too is GBD. Let it cool when done and then remove the paper.

Add the garlic, pine nuts, and basil leaves to a food processor. Add the salt. Pulse while occasionally stopping to scrape the walls down until the leaves are coarsely chopped. Then begin to drizzle in the oil while continue to run the food processor. Once the oil is incorporated, fold in the grated cheese and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

Storage

Pesto freezes very well and will keep for several months. I usually save it in 1/2 cup reusable containers, like these Gladware ones. Fill each container 3/4 full, then pack the pesto down completely by banging the container gently on the counter. Then I pour a couple ounces of olive oil over the top to seal the pesto from the air. If put into the freezer quickly, this additional layer of oil solidifies on top and prevents the pesto from contacting the air, keeping it greener and fresher than pesto left open.

When I want a taste of summer during the long New England winter, I simply break out one of these little frozen bundles and add it to some pasta. It can be defrosted in the microwave, and a fresh meal is only a few minutes away at any time.

In my initial review of the T-Mobile Dash 3G, I made some comments about the GPS functionality. Specifically, I complained about HTCs power management and the sensitivity of the receiver. I wanted to take a closer look at the GPS after a few weeks of use.

Power Management

I still think HTC’s power management scheme is a problem. Essentially, when the phone puts the screen to sleep it shuts down all other functions except the basic processor and the cellular data service. This includes the GPS and Wi-Fi. The problem is the conflict this causes with modern location-based services like Google Latitude. What this effectively means is that you can’t use Latitude or track your movement with something like GPSed unless you set the power so that the screen doesn’t power down during use. What really annoys me is that many GPS applications have a setting that is supposed to prevent the screen from turning off, but many don’t seem to work on this phone. What’s even worse, is that locking the screen overrides the power settings! So even if you set the screen to not turn off, if you lock it, it will turn off anyway! That’s simply wrong. Try carrying the phone in a pocket with Latitude enabled and without locking it. Just see who you ass-dial when you sit down.

Multi-Program Use of the GPS Works

On a positive note, a common criticism of HTC and other GPS implementations is that most programs access the GPS output directly. Which means only one program can access the GPS at a time. So it’s not possible to use a navigation program at the same time as a tracking program. There are several ways that people have overcome this, including a popular software program called GPSGate, which acts like a GPS data server that several programs can access at once.

It appears that this implementation has solved the problem without the need for 3rd party software. Today I was able to simultaneously use my Garmin navigation program at the same time as GPSed to record my route. Both programs worked flawlessly. This is a huge convenience and helps offset the power management issues in my mind. I don’t know that it totally offsets the power issue, but it helps. No special configuration was required to make this work — the GPS receiver appears on COM 4 in this implementation. Just set your program to find that port and everything should work fine.

Sensitivity and Lock Time

[Update - 7/31/09 -- Because I always reserve the right to be wrong -- there is a quick note posted by an xda-developers member on his blog about a better experience with the GPS lock time than I report (see http://bupahs.blogspot.com/2009/07/htc-dash-3g.html). As with all things on the internet, I encourage you to evaluate the different experiences and draw your own conclusions. Hell, maybe even go to a T-Mobile store and ask them to fire one up for you and see how the GPS works for yourself.]

This is another issue I’m having. When the GPS is first enabled it needs a perfect view of the sky in order to obtain a satellite lock. If you don’t have a clear view, expect minutes before the GPS locks, And this isn’t affected by whether or not the HTC Quick GPS program is used. In addition, the GPS receiver seems to lose signal more than any other I’ve used before. I even lost signal in a completely open part of the Mass Pike (I-90) around Newton and it took 2 minutes to get it back.

Conclusion

On balance, the GPS seems OK, as long as you can get a signal. Of all the issues, I think the lock time and signal capture are the ones that concern me the most. I can find a way to carry the phone so that I don’t need to lock the screen. But the GPS doesn’t do any good unless it works when you need directions. And a GPS that can’t get a signal might as well be a brick.

What: The Hill Tavern

Where: 228 Cambridge St., Boston (no web site found)

Summary:

Service:
Menu:
Cleanliness:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:

Bottom Line: Stay away. I had a disastrous lunch, which friends tell me is typical. We arrived at 12:30 PM on a Thursday. The restaurant smelled like a deep-fryer where the oil hadn’t been changed in 6 months. It took 4 minutes for a hostess to seat us, even though the place was 1/2 empty and two other employees had walked by without so much as a word. The menu was a mess, and after we ordered two simple main dishes, it took 30 minutes to get the food. My fries were undercooked — my lunch tasteless and the sides came from a can. All of this for Beacon Hill pub prices.

I’m serious about the smell. The place needed a deep cleaning, and someone needs to either close in the kitchen (it’s open — sort of) or fix the vent fans. I eat a lot of fried food, so I know what I’m talking about — someone hasn’t changed the oil or cleaned the friers in a while.

The menu made no sense — which is probably why I can’t find it posted on the internet. For example — as an appetizer, there was a crab cake, served with some kind of avocado salad (which is really guacamole from a jar). It was priced $10.95. There was also a crab cake sandwich as a main course. Same crab cake, with the same “avocado salad” but also with fries. For $10.95. Huh? Let me get this straight. I can get a crab cake, salad, fries for $10.95. Or I can get two thirds of that also for $10.95. This is typical of the thought that seems to be put into the food here. The menu also symbolizes everything that is wrong with the American diet. As a lunch salad they offered an avocado (someone here must think avocados are exotic or something) salad, with a vinaigrette, served over a bed of arugula. For $12.95. Right below it — a cheesburger and fries. For $8.95. Why are we all obese and dying from heart disease?

Anyway, my crab cake sandwich was a poorly cooked frozen crab cake, with a side of “hand cut” style fries which were undercooked. Believe it or not, this supports my theory about the deep fat frier sanitation. When frying oil gets old, the fatty acids break down. This lowers the smoke point of the oil. As the smoke point lowers, the byproducts from the breakdown tend to cause food to brown unnaturally. A good cook cleans the deep frier before that happens. A shitty cook sees that the fries are turning brown and thinks he’s burning them. So he cooks them less to avoid discoloring the outside and the inside stays raw. But at least I got to wait 30 minutes for it.

There are better places to eat a short walk in either direction up or down Cambridge Street. I recommend you avoid the Hill unless all you want is a beer.

Have we all just resigned ourselves to accepting poor MBTA/MBCR ontime service?

Back in December 2007 a service called CleverCommute was launched in Boston (see this and this). The service is essentially a peer-to-peer announcement list where commuters of a given line can send messages to all subscribers alerting them about delays. etc. The idea is that people actually experiencing the problems will probably be a better source of information than the MBTA itself.

I’ve been a subscriber since January of this year to the Worcester line service and I’ve received exactly 0 e-mails. I’ve sent 4 (the start and end of two incidents). Why has this service not caught on?

Is it lack of awareness?

Have we all just resigned ourselves to poor service, so we don’t care why or if something is late?

Or are there just a bunch of lurkers waiting for messages, but no one contributing?

I, for one, would like any information I can get about how things are going. Hell, even if I’m on the affected train, some conductors are more forthcoming with information than others, so getting a message from someone in a different car might actually give me more information.

So if you’re reading this and are an MBTA commuter — sign up and tell others what’s happening.

Real-world Experiences in and Around Boston, MA

Note: Update 8/19/2009: As I suspected in my recent post it appears that T-mobile has expanded coverage near my house. My house is between the Mass Pike (I-90), Rt. 9, and just west of I-495.  So I assume this means that coverage along the highways has been improved. The map has been updated to reflect these changes.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&vps=1&jsv=166d&msa=0&output=nl&msid=114567696637192567932.00046eedc72ba1a4ca36d

It’s generally accepted that T-Mobile has the worst 3G coverage of all the major carriers in the US (and also the worst coverage in general). But I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for more than 5 years and with the exception of places in far northern New Hampshire and in rural North Carolina, I haven’t really had a coverage problem. In general, my experience tells me that the coverage is about the same as AT&T/Cingular. And I base this on my experience carrying an AT&T Blackberry for work alongside my own T-Mobile personal phone for 3 years.

T-Mobile 3G Speed

So now that I have my new 3G phone, I decided to keep track of my own experience with 3G signal. The completely unscientific results are included in the Google Map above. Green indicates that I had a 3G signal — Red means that I did not. Yellow areas are places where the signal fluttered in and out. Most of my survey is done while driving. Where pins or waypoints are noted on the map, I was tracking my position with GPSed — other times I simply noted my position while driving and what the signal was doing. I simply layed a line over the road with the results. In areas where I moved around a lot (like the North and West End in Boston where I work) I overlayed a shape.

Anyway, this is a snapshot in time and not meant to be the definitive map of coverage. But it might be useful for someone looking to see of T-Mobile will work for their commuting needs around Boston.

As far as speed, my first tethered experience was positive and comparable to the best speeds I saw using a Verizon 3G USB modem. Above is the Speedtest.net result while tethered in downtown Boston.

The latency is more than I’d like, and the upload was a little slow, but 730 kbps down is a respectable speed for a PC tethered to a cell phone via a USB cable. It’s also twice the average speed I see using the free Wi-Fi on the MBTA Commuter Rail.

Speedtest.net from a moving train ...

To try this as a head-to-head with some other results I’ve reported, I ran a second test on 7/20/2009 while tethered on a moving train between Back Bay Station and West Natick. These results were somewhere around Newton, MA:

Or at least your content …

As reported in many places recently, including the New York Times, Amazon decided that it was perfectly acceptable to delete copies of e-books purchased from Amazon right off of people’s Kindles without notice, warning, or apology. Although a refund was issued, that hardly negates the impact of knowing that your purchase of content through Amazon is a meaningless, hollow contract and Amazon can simply take your stuff back whenever they feel like it. How creepy is that?

And the ultimate irony? This practice was brought to light after mass deletions of Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell! How perfect!

As the Times said,

Retailers of physical goods cannot, of course, force their way into a customer’s home to take back a purchase, no matter how bootlegged it turns out to be. Yet Amazon appears to maintain a unique tether to the digital content it sells for the Kindle.

One more reason to value the Sony e-reader system … no one’s going to hack into it in the middle of the night and make your legally purchased stuff disappear down the “memory hole.”

Perhaps the worst part is that Amazon didn’t just steal back their own content … they stole (and presumably destroyed) stuff that wasn’t theirs. Also reported in the Times:

Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old from the Detroit area, was reading “1984” on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes and annotations when the file vanished. “They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,” he said.

Can you say class-action lawsuit? It serves them right if they lose a bundle for this one…

Apology!

As reported in the New York Times, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos issued an apology today (7/24/2009). Read about it here…

As I set up my new phone, I am keeping track of the configuration changes I’m making and the software I’m adding.

GPS Navigation

Garmin Mobile XT ($99 from Garmin, cheaper elsewhere) — I used this for several years on my Wing and found it to be a very competent navigation program. I’ve used it locally a great deal, as well as using it to navigate from Boston to Ohio and on various trips to California, Florida, North Carolina, New York, and Pennsylvania. Garmin Mobile XT ships on its own micro SD card.

Because Garmin ships on its own micro SD card, it really precludes you from using your own high capacity card, which is ultra critical on phones with no memory like the Wing. It also means that on phones where the micro SD slot is not easily accessible, switching the cards is a royal pain. I understand Garmin’s anti-piracy motivations, but the solution is horrible. They could at least sell the program on a 4 GB card so it would come with extra space, but they don’t. So, I followed the instructions at http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board/message?board.id=samsung&thread.id=54245 and it worked like a charm — my software now runs on the 4 GB SanDisk card permanently in my phone.

Google Maps (free download — go to http://m.google.com/maps on your phone) — A great program for walking around a city and finding stores, restaurants, etc. A version ships along with the stock T-Mobile ROM, but be sure and upgrade if you want to use the latest features. The current version incorporates Google Latitude, a free service that broadcasts your position on the map to your friends and vice-versa. While this may be a little creepy if the settings allow broadcast to the public, when you’re on foot and trying to meet a friend and one or both of you isn’t familiar with street names, it’s really handy. As far as finding destinations, many people prefer Windows Live Search. I’m kind of partial to Windows Live myself, but I keep Google installed for Latitude.

GPSed (Free download – $9.99 for premium version) — This is a new category and something that I’m setting up for my wife. In addition to Garmin’s excellent navigation program, sometimes you just want to record where you’ve been. GPSed is the program for that. The program sits on your phone and logs GPS coordinates as you travel. You can set waypoints so you can add photos (geotagging) them later. What makes this client cool is that it integrates with popular social networking sites (like Facebook) and can upload “live” updates at different intervals so people can track your progress. Of course this requires a data connection so it isn’t going to chart your progress through the Amazon rainforest, but it’s still pretty cool. The GPSed site itself integrates with Google maps and Earth and is a pretty good sharing site in its own right.

Web Browsing

Skyfire (Free download) — The browser on Windows Mobile 6.1 sucks. Particularly the T-Mobile implementation of it with the “web2go” default homepage. (The 6.1 version is way better than the 6.0 version, but still lacking.) That leaves two alternatives: Opera and Skyfire. Opera is the king of the mobile browser, and I used Opera on my Wing and previous Blackberries for years. But Skyfire is now the best in my opinion. Skyfire is free. Opera isn’t. Skyfire defaults to a desktop browsing experience with the ability to zoom (like the Safari browser on the iPhone), Opera doesn’t. Decision made. Skyfire rocks.

Screen Capture

Ilium Screen Capture (Free Download) — I use my phone for both work and personal use. Some of the projects I am responsible for at work integrate SMS messaging into medical settings. So I am often setting up different messaging schemes and testing them on my own phone. The results often need to be turned into some kind of document or manual. So screen captures from my mobile are critical. Ilium fits the bill perfectly, and at the right price. It’s simple and it works.

Taskbar Modification

The stock Windows Mobile taskbar stinks. The very first change I wanted was a better battery indicator that told me how much charge was left with better precision that the stock 4 bars. This can be accomplished by a registry hack, but I simply installed the files shown in this post from XDA-Developers and got the actual battery percentage. (See the screenshot in my Dash 3G post.)

I really wanted colored icons for the battery, but finding a taskbar designed for QVGA resolution and GSM is tough. Most are CDMA and so don’t have the EDGE/3G icons, but rather the CDMA/EVDO icons. So I next tried the FInixNOver taskbar at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=424926, but it is a VGA set and the battery display doesn’t fit (the % reading is unlegible at the top of the screen as seen in this screenshot). But honestly, I hate the stock taskbar so much that I’d rather have the colored battery symbol with the smushed test than the stock one. But I will remain on the lookout for a QVGA/GSM set of decent icons. If anyone knows of a set … please leave a comment.

Facebook

Facebook for Windows Mobile 6 (Free download from Microsoft) — For at least a year, Windows Mobile was the orphan of the facebook world. Blackberry users had a dedicated application, so did iPhone users. Windows Mobile users were left with the m.facebook.com web page, which is lacking in features like uploading photos. There were a couple of others that came and went — products of well meaning developers who just didn’t have the time to get them quite right or to keep supporting them. But finally Microsoft of all people have stepped in to fill the void. They apparently decided to include a Facebook app in the Windows Mobile 6.5 release, and finally got around to unbundling it and releasing it for the rest of the Windows Mobile 6 family. Works great — makes me happy.

System Maintenance

Total Commander (Free download) — If you want to do anything with your phone beyond installing simple stuff, you are going to need to manipulate system files and change registry entries. For thesetasks, nothing is more highly regarded than Total Commander.

GMail/Google Apps Calendar Management

OggSync Pro (Free basic version limited to 1 calendar; $29.99 annual subscription for Pro version with unlimited accounts and contact sync) — Many people share their smartphone for work and personal use. I like to keep my appointments separate as well, but remain aware of work or personal commitments when trying to schedule things. Like many people, I keep work stuff on my Outlook account at work (which syncs via Outlook Web Access (OWA) in Windows Mobile) and my personal stuff on my Google Apps calendars hosted on my own domain. Google has released new sync features that allows Windows Mobile to sync calendars live, but it uses a form of OWA and a current limitation of Windows Mobile is that it can handle only one such connection at a time. Thus users like me who use OWA for work have no way of syncing our Google calendars to our devices. Enter OggSync. It’s a little complex to use sometimes and it seems like the company’s support is fading (I think the Google sync feature ate a lot of their business) but for many of us with both business and personal accounts on our phones, it’s the only thing that works.

Games

Kevtris (free download) — One of many Tetris clones, this version is optimized for QVGA screens. It has several different game variations which offer enough variety and challenge to help you while away long plane flights or time in the DMV line.

Music

Pandora (free download — should be able to get by pointing mobile browser to www.pandora.com, but CABs also available on the XDA-Developers Maple forums. Here’s the CAB I used: Pandora_wm6 ) — I’ve never been one to really get worked up over the one-device-does-it-all idea. I don’t mind carrying around my iPod and my phone and my PSP at the same time. But I have to admit, getting Pandora on my mobile phone could be the game-changer for me; it’s the killer app for 3G in my mind. If you’re not familiar, Pandora is internet radio produced by something called the Music Genome Project (read about it …). The Music Genome Project takes literally hundreds of thousands of songs by all kinds of artisis and assigns attributes to them based on how they are constructed. This allows the Project to easily find related songs or songs of a similar style. The premise behind Pandora is to choose a favorite artist or song, and then the system automatically feeds you other songs or artists related by style. As you give each suggestion the thumbs-up or down, the system learns your preferences and the selections get better and better. If you like music, this is an incredible way to discover new songs or artists. And it’s free … Pandora works remarkably well on my Dash 3G — even when I occasionally switch to EDGE speeds. If you like music, you definitely need to try it.

Yes, you can tether it!

[Updated 7/20/2009 -- with tethering instructions and updated impressions.]

[Updated 7/24/2009 - additional comments / GPS issues.]

[Updated 10/19/2009 - Bluetooth tethering.]

Bottom Line: The Dash 3G is a competent Windows Mobile smartphone with a pleasing form-factor. It has sufficient processor speed and memory to run lots of applications and is kitted out with GPS, WiFi, and 3G capability. However, the price is steep compared to other smartphones with similar or better capabilities. Because of this it appeals a lot to diehard T-Mobile customers looking for a 3G device with grown-up features like simple Exchange integration and easy tethering. For other users however, a Blackberry, G1, or even the forthcoming My Touch might be a better value and offer more wow-factor.

Full Review

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for years. For the last two years, I’ve had a T-Mobile Wing smartphone, and I just might be the only person in the US who actually liked it and thought it was a great phone. But, it isn’t 3G capable and getting a fast connection to supplement the poor wireless [see this post] on my daily train ride is becoming a necessity. So I was stunned when my wife discovered, quite by accident, that T-Mobile had finally released a 3G smartphone that wasn’t the G1.

Dash 3G (lifted from T-Mobile.com)

Cheap Data?

But that wasn’t the best part. It seems that T-Mobile has “grandfathered” their Windows Mobile Data Plan users so that Wing users (and original Dash and MDA users too) can have unlimited 3G data for the $19.99 a month we currently pay for EDGE data. You read that correctly … $19.99 a month for unlimited 3G data. And … according to two separate T-Mobile reps, tethering is allowed. So in spite of what you read elsewhere, you can tether the Dash 3G (as in it works — Internet Connection Sharing ships with the default T-Mobile ROM) and you are allowed to do it without getting booted off your contract. (In fact, here is the official HTC FAQ post about internet sharing.)

Tethering

So, HOW do you tether your phone as a modem? Well for Windows users this really couldn’t be easier. I tethered my phone to my Vista laptop via a USB cable in two easy steps. Really.

1. Get a USB cable and connect phone to PC. Do not sync phone via the connection.
2. Go to Start/More/More/Device Management/Internet Sharing on the phone. Select “USB” for PC Connection and “T-Mobile Data” for Network Connection. Hit connect.

To paraphrase Gordon Ramsay completing a recipe on the F-Word, “High speed connection sharing via T-Mobile wireless. Done!”

In the old days, and with some older operating systems and phones, you needed to configure your phone as a modem and use dial-up networking to connect to the data network. This meant configuring data providers on the phone with names like “wap.voicestream.com” and then configuring modem initialization strings on your PC with things like “AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”wap.voicestream.com”,”"” and dial-up numbers like “*99#.” Ugh… Windows Mobile currently uses NDIS drivers to make all thet mess go away. This is one of the few areas where Microsoft has shown true value with Windows Mobile by making it compatible with XP and Vista to make this simple. (For information on the old way of configuring tethering, see this at Howard Forums or this). I have successfully set up a Vista laptop and a XP laptop using the simple 2-step process above.

Bluetooth Tethering

OK, so the cable method isn’t cool enough for you. Well luckily old King Harald I is coming to the rescue. Bluetooth tethering is almost as simple as the USB kind. At least as long as your computer’s Bluetooth drivers allow you to join a Personal Area Network (PAN). To connect via Bluetooth, do this:

1. Go to the Connection Sharing settings as outlined above. Except, instead of selecting USB for the connection type, select “Bluetooth PAN.” If prompted to turn on “discovery” for the first connection, do it.
2. On your PC, click your Bluetooth icon and select the “Join a PAN” or similar option.
3. In the selection window, choose your phone by name. Click connect. If prompted, enter the PIN.

And that’s it — you should be connected. (Note, your exact procedure may differ depending on your PC’s Bluetooth software.)

And, by the way, this works perfectly for tethering a Mac as well. Yes, you read that correctly, you can tether a Mac via Bluetooth to your Windows Mobile phone. I have done this successfully on my 13″ MacBook. Just set up the Dash 3G for a Bluetooth PAN and add a new device on your Mac. Exchange the codes and you’ll be paired. Then simply select the data connection under the name of your phone on the Mac Bluetooth menu.

So what’s the drawback? Well, it’s primarily that T-Mobile’s 3G service coverage generally sucks (see my ongoing tracking here). Even in the first cities where T-Mobile began their 3G rollout, coverage is spotty at best. And outside those metropolitan areas it’s non-existent. But if you’re lucky enough to be in a 3G coverage area (and since I work in Boston, I should be, at least when I’m in the city) I dare you to find another carrier that allows unlimited 3G data for $19.99.

Internet Sharing -- Built Right In

Impressions

I’m having a tough time with this. On the surface, the Dash seems like a very competent Windows Mobile smartphone. It is fast, has plenty of memory, and the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM that ships seems like a decent improvement over the WM 6.0 that I am used to. I like how thin the device is, compared even to the current generation of blackberries. And although only QVGA resolution, the screen suits me fine.

On the other hand, after two days, the transition from a touchscreen PDA to a smartphone is proving to be a pain for me. But this may be more my problem and may go away after I finally get used to some things.

Here are some impressions of the hardware:

• The processor is speedy. There is little lag when moving around. There is plenty of memory for installing apps.
• The keyboard is cramped but very usable. The keys are domed to help your fingers find them, and it takes little time to get used to the layout. Some reviewers, including Devin Coldewey have complained about the layout, but I think he’s picking nits. If you can’t get used to slight keyboard variations in the span of two SMS messages you have no business buying new smartphones.
• The trackball is smooth and reasonably sensitive right out of the box; setting it to high sensitivity makes it even better.
• The volume buttons on the left side are in a horrible place relative to the cover for the data/charging/headphone connection on the right. I change the volume EVERY time I open or close that cover. After a full week with the phone, this is really pissing me off.
• Speaking of the cover for the data port, it’s a pain to open.
• The screen seems bright and clear enough to me.
• HTC has an odd power-management scheme which shuts down the GPS receiver whenever the screen powers down. On the surface this makes sense –if  the GPS is used for guidance and who would really be navigating when the screen is blank? But it poses serious problems when using a GPS app that isn’t for navigating. Like GPSed for route plotting or other location services. This should at least be a configurable option but I can’t find out how to fix it.
• Another GPS issue is the reception. I have friends with iPhones and they can keep a GPS signal inside of buildings! The iPhone AGPS setup is solid. HTC claims that this handset supports AGPS, but if they’re serious then either the HTC or T-Mobile implementation sucks. Because you need to be standing somewhere under an open sky to even have hope of getting a lock when you first enable a GPS application. Near a window? Not good enough. In a car? 50-50 chance that you’ll get a lock in under 5 minutes. Outside under a perfectly open sky — then maybe 10 to 30 seconds. Once you capture the satellites then you have a decent chance of holding some signal inside a car or train. But this receiver definitely loses signal faster, and takes longer to get it back, then either my old Blackberry or my OnCourse Bluetooth GPS that I used with my Wing.
• Similarly to the GPS receiver, Wi-Fi goes to sleep when the screen does and if you’re somewhere without cell coverage (a distinct possibility with T-Mobile) you stop receiving any mail whenever the screen blanks. Not cool HTC. Thanks to a reader’s (Alex) insight (see comment #2) I’ve seen the error of my ways. Although the default settings put the Wi-Fi connection to sleep after the screen powers down, you can turn that behavior off by going to Settings/More/Connections/More/WLAN Settings/Power Mode and unchecking ‘auto turn off WLAN if no WLAN or user activities after LCD OFF over:’. Gee. I can’t imagine why I didn’t find that little gem at first glance … it’s only 6 menus deep.

As for the software, I am having some issues:

• The default themes and color schemes suck. There’s not one palatable combination in the whole bunch, and, unlike my last Windows Mobile experience, you can’t easily switch to a simple black background (I finally took a picture with the built-in camera while covering the lens to get a pure black photo and set that as my background).
• Why are the system font-size choices only “normal” and “large.” Where the hell is small? Not everyone has bad vision and some of us would like to see more than four e-mails in a list. That’s inexcusable — having to resort to a registry hack to change the default font size to something smaller than 10 point should get someone at Microsoft or HTC or T-Mobile fired.
• The task bar is horrendous. The icons are bland white and convey little information. It’s so bad that an entire underground of programmers has developed to provide noting but improved taskbars! (See http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=54514 as an example.) UPDATE! I’ve flashed a custom cooked ROM onto my Dash 3G and it has great custom colored taskbar icons baked right in!

Note — regarding coverage, the 7/20 update of this post was written while tethered on the train between Back Bay and West Natick. Coverage is decent so far!

What: Ernesto’s Pizza, Boston (http://www.ernestosnorthend.com/)

Where: 69 Salem Street, Boston

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&vps=1&jsv=165c&msa=0&output=nl&msid=114567696637192567932.00046bb8c70c86053e65c

Overall Impression:

Service:
Menu:
Cleanliness:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:

Bottom Line: My favorite pizza place in Boston for a quick lunch or pre-game slice. Ernesto’s specializes in slices (and to them a slice is 1/4 of a pie — two normal slices — you’ve been warned) and keeps a case stocked with 10 or more different varieties at all times. They also serve beer and soda. A slice (remember, a double by normal standards) and a soda will set you back $5.50, or $6.25 if you want a bottle). Personally, I think Ernesto’s has the best crust in Boston, but admittedly, I haven’t eaten my way through the entire Boston Globe Pizza Crawl yet, but I’m working on it.

Atmosphere: Perfect North End atmosphere. Two tiny tables on the sidewalk, a yellowed inside with old-time pictures of sports people and Frank Sinatra, closely-packed seating, and a few shady-looking locals wandering in and out and behind the counter. Oh, and on rainy or snowy days they still sprinkle sawdust on the floor!

Service: They are pretty efficient … not quite Uptown Cafe efficient, but close. They have to be, because there’s no room in the place to stand and wait. The guy begind the counter is usually helpful, though at times there are some others helping him who aren’t. Be prepared to order quickly though … people eating here expect the line to move.

So — if you’re in need of a good and fast lunch or dinner, go to Ernesto’s. Other places may be better for a sit-down meal with friends, but none is better for just getting something good to eat.

My Pizza Story

I’ve lived in New England for more than 20 years now. But while growing up I spent my time in central New Jersey and around Scranton, Pennsylvania. Both areas with heavy Italian influences. So good pizza was part of my childhood. All that changed when I moved to New Hampshire though… In New Jersey and New York, Pizza places are owned by guys named Sal, or Giovanni, or Joe (Giuseppe). One of my favorites growing up as a kid was owned by a guy named Salvatore Mennino; and man could he throw a crust. Not so much in New Hampshire.

For those of you reading this from places other than New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, here are some important things to know:

Pizza is an Italian-American invention. Not Greek. When I had my first taste of pizza after moving to New Hampshire I was stunned at how bad it was. I mean truly horrible. The … bread … because I can’t call it a proper crust … was chewy and grainy. The cheese was rubbery, the sauce was thin and gave me heartburn, and they sliced the sausage on the pie. Sliced! Not crumbled, sliced! And I found this common. So common in fact that I invented my “first rule of New Hampshire pizza:” If your pizza place has baklava on the menu, RUN! And I resigned myself to never again tasting a proper pizza with a thin crispy crust and smooth slightly sweet tomato sauce with actual flavor. Oh … and in most New Hampshire places, you can’t get a slice. What kind of pizza place doesn’t sell slices?!

Prior to working in Boston, I had few chances to travel to the city, and even fewer opportunities to really look around and find places to eat. But about six or seven years ago my wife and I were in Boston one afternoon with some spare time and we stumbled across this tiny pizza place on Salem Street in the North End with two small tables in front. It was old and dirty and crowded. So we gave it a try. And after more than a decade in the wilderness, I had found what I was looking for! Really good pizza! This was Ernesto’s. And I was hooked.