Unlimited Data with Bell and the HTC Touch

For those of you who may not be a regular reader of our dear blog, I’ll catch you up to speed.

My name is Krystal, I live in Canada, and our Mobile Industry sucks.

Now that you’re all caught up and sitting comfortably, we’ll begin.

When I heard that Bell was offering unlimited data, I got excited. Super excited. OH MY GOD SOMEONE HERE IS FINALLY CLUEING IN! excited, and I jumped at the chance to demo it on an HTC Touch.

I’m a bit of a normob, not by choice, by necessity. I would happily use my phone to the extent of a James Whatley, but I can’t. Why? 5 cents/kb hurts. Big time.

So after the helpful guys in media relations at Bell (hi guys!) got in touch (get it? touch? ok bad pun.) and said they’d send me one, I was ecstatic and almost started drooling at the thought of having unlimited data all to myself.

The Touch arrived on a Friday and I quickly ripped open the packaging and found myself playing with it. My husband of course sat down with the instruction manual (he’s one of those who has to read the entire user guide first) while I plugged it in and instantly started fiddling. Let me take this moment to say, I hate Windows, and Windows Mobile. I am a Mac and Symbian girl through and through. But for the sake of having unlimited data, I’m willing to sacrifice.

First impressions:

I like the fact that it has a, for lack of a better word, rubbery coating. That was different than any other phone I’ve had. Keeps it from slipping out of my hand. Nice big screen, always a plus for me (considering I’m practically blind without my contact lenses) although it being a touch screen is going to throw me off slightly, I do like having buttons to push. It fits into the cell phone pocket in my handbag (important for a girl!) but alas, Windows Mobile.

Well I’ll deal with it.

First of all, I’ll get it out of the way. The stylus drove me up the wall. (A common occurrence here at SMS Text News) I stopped using it after the first day. I just couldn’t handle it. A) they’re so friggin small and awkward to hold onto and B) I looked like an idiot.

So I ditched the stylus, and thanks to my fake acrylic nails (they’re not just for fashion) I managed to get by. I basically used the qwerty keyboard. The weird Touch version of T9 was annoying, and without the stylus, the transcriber was useless. But the keyboard wasn’t bad, although I had to get used to spelling words out letter by letter. (Which meant I tend to keep emails and text short, much to Ewan’s joy I’m sure)

I won’t get too much into the menus and stuff, it’s Windows Mobile, so you get the idea. Start menu, Internet Explorer etc etc. I tried snapping a few pictures with the camera, but after having an N95, a 2 megapixel camera just seemed like a big disappointment.

I went to work setting up my email account and instantly they started flooding in. Ahh, I think, it’s so simple, they just come to me! I don’t need to connect to my mailbox on my N95, download the message. (Which I usually only do when I’ve got wifi, as I only am allowed 12MB a month currently, and that would get eaten up awfully quickly) I got busy downloading some applications and I sent off my first text message to Ewan who was hiding in San Fran somewhere ‘Look! A Text from my HTC Touch!” and got a reply somewhere along the lines of ‘Welcome to the 21st Century with the rest of us.”

Cheeky.

Anyway, onto Unlimited Data!

On Sunday I was up early and off to a bowling tournament. (I will take this moment to interject with, yes, I am a professional 5-Pin bowler) So I drive there, convinced I know where it is, because I do, although I haven’t been there in at least 5 years. We pull into the parking lot, I scan the plaza and hmmm, where has the bowling alley gone? They must have moved it! I know it’s here! Hmmm. I know! I pull out the HTC Touch and google for their website.

Oh. It’s in the plaza across the road.

Woops.

While I was there, someone asked me a question, which I don’t remember at the moment, and I didn’t know the answer. Normally this would result in wandering around asking a million people if they knew, but never fear! I simply pulled out the HTC Touch and googled for the answer. Simple.

The next day my husband had to go into Toronto to a client and took the train. He sent me a text on the way home to say he was on the 5:30 train. A quick check on my HTC Touch told me what time it came in.

I bought books on Amazon (that were already on my wish list), showed my husband the new jacket I had bought online earlier that day while we were out eating dinner and checked my online banking. Gone was my usual line of “don’t let me forget to show you online when we get home…”

I downloaded ring tones, sent Ewan numerous text messages in San Fran and even did that crazy thing we tend to do with phones and made a few calls.

It was brilliant really, I was getting email anywhere. I could update my Facebook status anywhere, I could read the latest celebrity gossip ANYWHERE. Any time I wanted. I felt like a part of the in crowd, what every one of you have. (Or most of you anyway) Finally.

Don’t read this as me hating the HTC Touch, I actually quite liked it, but am unsure if I could handle it as my everyday phone. It would be great for some I’m sure. I’m just picky. I need buttons. (Upon purchasing an iPod Touch I realized the same thing, an iPhone would drive me crazy)

What I did love was the unlimited data. Anytime, anywhere. I just couldn’t get enough and quickly became an addict. (Seriously, the first couple days I was without the Touch and the Unlimited Data, I actually found myself staring off into space, tapping my fingers when I was out somewhere thinking, my god, someone might have poked me on Facebook and I CAN’T CHECK. My email isn’t coming to me anymore, I don’t know what the current weather is. I felt so beyond isolated. Here I am sitting in the middle of the mall, surrounded by people, and I was alone. Completely lost without it. (I totally understand the crackberry habit now!)

BIG kudos to Bell. THANKYOU. For one, letting me demo the Touch, and two for having the balls to take the bull by the horns, notice we’re stuck in the dark ages and offer unlimited data.

Please fellow Canadians, start demanding what you’re missing. You want unlimited data, trust me. And you don’t want to have to pay a fortune for it, it’s not necessary. Bell’s rate is only $7 a month on top of your existing plan. It’s totally worth it. GO GET IT. If you’re not with Bell, and locked into some hideous 36 month contract while lovingly cradling your RAZR, WAKE UP. Smell the unlimited data coffee and starting demanding from the others (Rogers, Telus, Fido, Virgin, anyone) what you want.

Now if only I could get it on my N95…