I don't think I'll get signal there, tommyrot, but one day, man, one day....

I hear Mars already has a Starbucks though.

The work cell is Verizon and the personal is Cingular. I have roughly the same coverage from both in the office and at home. I need to keep Cingular on one of the phones because I use it when I travel overseas. A quad-band phone will work anywhere.

That being said, Verizon's EV-DO network for data blows Cingular's EDGE network out of the water. Average speeds on Verizon's network range from 650-750 kbps. LA is one of the cities that is currently EV-DO capable. Laptop tethering is also fast and easy. Would they allow you to do a 30 day trial to see if you get coverage?

I don't know anyone here who has a Pearl, so can't go play.

If it doesn't bother you, just go into a Cingular store and play with one.

If you get it sight-unseen, I know Cingular has a 30-day return policy, so you should be able to choose another phone without a hassle.

I like my RAZR v3 just fine.

I would love a Treo, but I couldn't justify the expense. The RAZR does pretty well by me, and I'm paying $20 a month for unlimited phone internet service.

The good part about the internet on my phone is that I can access Gmail. The bad part is that I cannot access here, and that makes me sad. I'm still thinking of cancelling the service, but I'm willing to wait a month or two to see how much use I get out of it.

Ooh, interesting about the data speed. It's a whole new world, man!

I'll see about a verizon trial.

So the Pearl says it has a media player - does that mean anything like being able to watch downloaded teevee and such? presuming I got a beefy enough memory card?

Don\'t get Cingular if you plan to ride your Rover into Vermont: [link]

So the Pearl says it has a media player - does that mean anything like being able to watch downloaded teevee and such? presuming I got a beefy enough memory card?

Yep, as long as the files are in the following formats: AVI, MP4, MOV, or 3GP. You can also listen to music in the MP3, AAC, MIDI, and WAV formats.

The Pearl uses a MicroSD card. The slot's located behind the battery, which could be somewhat annoying.

Really dumb question-- does Flickr work in such a way that if I email someone a link to my photos, they will see them? That is, does everyone else see horrible photos of boys in suits when they click here:

[link]

Boys in suits, yes.

Thanks! Don't want to look dumb.