I've had my SGS2 for just a month now, and have finally mastered it. The phone is now running a custom ROM from Paradox (root) and has all the software I need to make life good. Last month I figured I'd finally switch over to T-Mobile after working here for a year and a half... Got a pair of Samsungs (Galaxy S for my wife and SGS2 for me) at Costco for total cost of $179. Of course I'll have to pay the higher rate plan but it still saves money over the full retail price in the store.

I used the Skyrocket Root kit for rooting the phone on 2.3.5 (i believe it also works on 2.3.6), and downloaded the 2.3.6 Paradox ROM from http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/GalaxyS2TMobile/roms which has HUGE battery improvements:


and WiFi calling. Note: it does NOT have the Swype keyboard, but I don't use that one anyway. Been really happy with the ROM, since it is stripped of almost all of the standard bloatware. Even had to download FB, Twitter, and MyAccount but that's no big deal. I love the slick effects and UI tweaks. Can't wait til there's a new version available.

Just make sure you install Clockwork Recovery Mod before rooting.
You can get the root kit from links at the forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1340710
just follow the instructions, put the phone in usb debug mode and hook er up.

Got the new netbook a few days ago from the corner Costco store for the same price as I paid for my last one a year ago, $300.

Here's a link to the Acer site for this model.

It's this year's model of the basically the same thing as last year, but with a bit larger screen, bigger hard drive, and more RAM. The resolution on this screen is 1366x768, taller than the 600 line screen on last year's model. This is very useful, because there are still many sites and apps that are set up for a minimum line resolution of 640 (VGA) so sometimes they are hard to get to work on the old model.

This model has 320GB hard drive and 2GB of ram, which can be upgraded to 4GB (recommended: $30 at Crucial). This ram is intended to be upgraded, as the bottom cover has one screw and then it slides forward (don't pry it up) to remove. Ram upgrade was completely uneventful and has been working without incident.

The screen is a little bigger (11.6" widescreen CineCrystal [whatever that means]) and it has an AMD C-Series Processor C-50 (1.0GHz, 1MB L2 cache) for a CPU. It's not a speed demon, but hey, it's a netbook. It's hyper-threaded, and mostly adequate. There have been some issues with the Windows 7 Home Premium OS where the System process suddenly jumps to 50% CPU utilization, but after flashing to the latest version of the BIOS (1.07) it seems to have lessened the issue if not eliminated it.

It has the standard webcam, multi-card reader, touchpad, N WiFi, and an Ethernet port. With a VGA, 3 USB's and an HDMI port can connect to most everything.

I have officially turned over my old large laptop, and now use this netbook for everything I do (YES including software development). My son now enjoys the use of last year's model. In short, a decent netbook and no real troubles. Biggest improvements over last year's is the larger screen size and resolution, the larger memory and hard drive, and Windows Home Premium instead of Starter. I use it both at home and at the office, and it's kept up with everything I've asked it to do. So far so good, let's see what they come up with next year...

Just got some new SkullCandy Ink'd ear bud headphones today. They sound pretty darn good for only costing $10 brand new (including shipping [eBay]). Nice deep bass response and crisp highs also. They are very simple, and don't have any widgets for iPhone or whatever. But, they get the job done and they are comfortable to wear all day long. They don't do as great a job at keeping outside sounds out of the ear, but it's not too bad. These guys do make a bunch of higher-end models which have more features, and for more $ of course. Strange thing is they aren't labeled Left and Right so I have no idea which is which... not that it really matters much.