Too bad that t-mobile's GPRS service blows chunks. At least half the time when I try to use it in three different cities, there's no packet-switched service available -- so my WAP phone fails over to circuit-switched automatically, at 35 cents per minute. My first month with T-mobile, I was charged $200 for excess minutes because of this behavior. Now I barely use WAP at all. According to T-mobile's customer service line, the reason there's no packet-switched service available is because the carrier has chosen to allocate some "resources" to circuit-switched service instead. Which, fine, is their choice. But they advertise "always available, instant on, no charges for connect time, only for the data actually transferred", etc, etc. I signed up for T-mobile based on that promise, it's a huge lie, and the FTC should shut them down. All the hype, blogs, cnet reviews and so on are based on other hype, and marketing collateral from the manufacturer. Almost nobody comments on how baldly misrepresented the service is. For grins, I tried to use it just now and guess what? "Server not responding"

I have seen one in real life and played with it a bit. I asked the owner to check out my web page, which reminded me that I should switch to a CSS version so the main content comes first.

Anyway, looks like a good toy, and the unlimited data is critical to me wanting such a thing. Can't stand the meter ticking away!

Edited by author 08-24-2002 03:07 PM
I can't wait to try one of these puppies out, too! Danger is doing a lot of things right -- they preprocess webpages and resize images, for example, to make them display better on the Hiptop. And supposedly they'll offer unlimited wireless data transfer for $25 a month. These features, plus their innovative form factor, could really change the way we use mobiles.

My one gripe with the Hiptop, though, is that the camera isn't integrated -- it's a clunky, bulbous snap-on that seems like it could snap-off if you dropped it. Compared to a sharp camera-integrated mobile device like Sony Ericsson's P800, the Hiptop seems about a generation behind. (At least as far as cameras go.) But I still wants one.

Addendum: I don't believe the LCD screen is backlit, either, but I wonder... could a modified Gameboy Afterburner kit fix that? Hack number one, when I get one.