pejsaboy
12-06-09, 08:35 AM
So I think my current Blackberry is making the downhill slide to either complete death, or just aggravating me to the point of replacing it, so I'm starting to consider replacement options for it. I use Sprint, and since I have 3 lines with widely varying contract renewal dates, I won't be switching anytime soon to avoid massive cancellation fees.
I got to thinking a while back [before my phone started exhibiting signs of instability] that it would be a cool idea if I could take a netbook and [if I could swap my line into data line with little expense] use it as a giant smart phone. I haven't researched anything about changing the line with Sprint yet since I wanted to first see if my idea was even possible from the hardware point of things. I don't want to just have wireless data and use skype [or similar] program, I'm thinking along the lines of generic phone emulator software or something that will use my current phone number, have an address book that interacts like a cell phone, and send texts, etc. just as if I were holding an actual phone or had a bluetooth headset paired to it.
At this point I'm ignoring things like battery life of the netbook, 3G internet speed and the like. I just want to know if there's anything like what I want to do available. I hate phone internet browsing, and even with a full keyboard, phone typing has never been enjoyable. Also, I can't justify buying a netbook with a nice desktop computer and a phone that has text and internet capabilities. Too many devices that all do similar functions :)
I got to thinking a while back [before my phone started exhibiting signs of instability] that it would be a cool idea if I could take a netbook and [if I could swap my line into data line with little expense] use it as a giant smart phone. I haven't researched anything about changing the line with Sprint yet since I wanted to first see if my idea was even possible from the hardware point of things. I don't want to just have wireless data and use skype [or similar] program, I'm thinking along the lines of generic phone emulator software or something that will use my current phone number, have an address book that interacts like a cell phone, and send texts, etc. just as if I were holding an actual phone or had a bluetooth headset paired to it.
At this point I'm ignoring things like battery life of the netbook, 3G internet speed and the like. I just want to know if there's anything like what I want to do available. I hate phone internet browsing, and even with a full keyboard, phone typing has never been enjoyable. Also, I can't justify buying a netbook with a nice desktop computer and a phone that has text and internet capabilities. Too many devices that all do similar functions :)