robert nelson (dot) me

I have been using Android for a while now and have also been maintaining two phones. Now those two phone days are coming to an end. Well, maybe, let me explain.

In the past I have had an iPhone 3GS with AT&T as well as a MiFi and HTC Hero with Sprint. The MiFi and Hero have since been cancelled and replaced with a Droid Eris on Verizon Wireless. So far I love Verizon and I love my Droid Eris. Unfortunately I am missing the MiFi, but more on that in a minute.

Due to pain of paying multiple wireless bills and the joy of using a Droid Eris on Verizon I am canceling my AT&T account and turning my iPhone 3GS into a fancy iPod touch. The reasoning behind that is that its cheaper and easier to just keep that iPhone than it is to sell it and buy an iPod touch. Plus I want/need to keep an iPhone (or touch) because I really like the device, and well, I still write for a dedicated iPhone site. Plus this is not about ditching Apple or AT&T, its just about the bottom line in terms of money. Which means I am not ditching the iPhone as much as I am ditching the bill that comes along with it. I still love the iPhone, but for now Verizon has better deals on family plans. Plus I was able to get a Droid Eris for myself, my wife and my daughter — all for $20 plus shipping.

Now getting back to the MiFi, I miss it and am considering either the Palm Pre Plus or MiFi on Verizon to fill that void. Of course the Palm Pre Plus is adding another phone but it would primarily be used as a data device because it allows me to share the connection by creating a mobile (MiFi like) hotspot. In terms of prices on those, the MiFi is $60 a month and adding the Pre Plus to the existing family plan with the data and mobile hotspot only comes to $80 per month. So really for $20 extra I am getting a whole other phone. Now some, ok many will argue that its not needed, but having an extra phone can be nice at times — if for no other reason than those times when I forget to charge or overuse and drain my battery.

Anyway, that was a lot of words to say that I am turning my iPhone into an iPod touch and picking up a Palm Pre Plus to use as a fancy MiFi. Oh, and I still love my Android based Droid Eris.

The day the Nexus One became available I hit up the store website at www.google.com/phone with thoughts of making the purchase. Of course at the time reality set in and the fact that I already have two smartphones (an HTC Hero with Sprint and iPhone 3GS with AT&T) made me aware that I really did not need a Nexus One. I just wanted one, and want is different from need.

Anyway, just a few minutes ago I was looking for some Nexus One information (for a post that I was writing on Androinica) and found myself back on that store page and decided to *maybe* make a purchase. So I clicked the nice “Get your phone” button and was greeted with a strange message.

The message read;

Your session has expired. Since buying the Nexus One requires your personal information, we want to make sure it’s still you behind the keyboard.

Still me? Of course it’s still me, I am still logged in under the same Gmail account. How could they not know that it was me? And then I did the natural, re-clicked the “Get your phone” button and was again greeted with the same message. I then logged out of my Gmail account, closed my browser, went back to the store, logged back in and once again hit the “Get your phone” button. Only to be given the same message.

Bottom line, I am sure this is a simple fix, but instead of trying to figure it out I wrote something about it here and figure that Google just saved me a bunch of money. Thanks Google.