Hacking or jail-breaking a smartphone has been around for as long as smartphones have existed, and as we recently discussed, there is an active community participating. Our poll a few days ago showed how strongly our readership feels about the ability to hack a phone: Over 800 folks responded in the first day. Here are the results of the poll, which has now been closed.

We should first point out that our readership is a technically savvy bunch for the most part, and this no doubt impacted the results of this poll. Most newbies shy away from doing things like jailbreaking a phone simply because they are intimidated by the process, but not so our readers. The results of the poll bring to light how smartphone owners definitely feel that they own the phone, not the OEM or the carrier.

Read on to see the results.

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Yesterday, the Windows Experience Blog put together a checklist of considerations when buying a netbook. There are some good basics points in there, but there’s a wee bit of Windows-nudging as well. Hey, it’s a Microsoft blog, so that’s to be expected. The first bit asks “Is it easy to use?” and this particular tidbit caught my eye:

“Are you using this as a companion to your primary desktop or laptop PC? If so, then you’ll want it to have the same interface and experience as your primary machine so you can seamlessly move back and forth without any confusion or hassle and easily transfer and share files between your computers.”

That’s definitely a valid question, although having the same interface and experience isn’t a requirement in my book. For many consumers it does make things seem easier. To me the bigger question is: Will your netbook be a true companion to another computer or is it your primary device? This gave me pause and it really got me thinking about how people are using netbooks with their other computers. More specifically: How are folks managing the data between multiple computers? Put your netbook on the same network as your other computers and you can easily transfer files and data. But are folks really doing that?

The obvious alternative is to use some type of online cloud storage or synchronization tool for data access. That’s what I do, although it’s not an ideal solution for everyone. It requires web connectivity on an as-needed basis and also some heavy faith in third-party services. I have both, so I’m good. But what about you?

I’ve set up a poll to see how you’re using a netbook with data on other computers, but don’t hesitate to elaborate in the comments, too.

OK, at this point I think we know just about all we’re going to know about the Palm Pre. Well, at least until we get them in our hot little hands starting on June 6, that is. While I was disappointed to see the apparent 3G tethering function pulled a few months ago, I’m pretty much set for a purchase. I’ll keep this one simple, with just a yes or no: Are you planning to buy a Palm Pre? I’m curious about this one since back in February, 39 percent of respondents weren’t likely to make the switch to Sprint for the new handset.

Drop a note in the comments, and tell us if this is replacing or complementing other handsets you have. It’s a complement for me as I’ll be keeping my iPhone for the moment.

The ASUS Eee PC 1008HA netbook is hitting local shores this summer for $429, according to Engadget. I like the slim-looking device, and it offers just about everything a solid netbook should: 1.66GHz Intel Atom, 160GB hard drive, webcam, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, and a nice keyboard with a properly sized and placed right-Shift key. I’m not sold on the battery scenario, though.

ASUS opted for an integrated, non-user replaceable power pack, much like Apple did with the MacBook Air. The difference between the two, however, is vast: The Air runs for around three hours on a single charge, while ASUS claims their Super Hybrid Engine should net you double that with the 1008HA. Six hours ought to be enough for a netbook used as a companion device. But I personally can’t get past this from a mobility standpoint. There are times when I do work on the run all day long, sometimes for more than six hours. For that reason, I nearly always purchase a spare battery for my devices. I can’t do that with the 1008HA, so as much as I like the design and specifications, I simply can’t pull the trigger. For folks that do indeed use a netbook as a companion and/or don’t rely on for more than five or six hours at a time, the newest ASUS netbook is well worth the look. How about it? Does the battery situation have any impact on your potential purchase?

Since Om divorced his iPhone and AT&T’s service in general, he’s wondering if there are others in the same support group. I personally think that AT&T’s service issues (or any carrier’s really) are more dependent on your location and less so on the device you use. Om proved that very point when mentioning that a BlackBerry device exhibited the same challenges on AT&T’s network: is it any wonder he’s using a BlackBerry Curve 8900 on T-Mobile now?

There’s something to be said for a phone’s internal design and signal strength, but my iPhone shows “more bars in more places” more often than Om’s did. Case in point: I used a gallon of gas last week just to find a two-bar signal on my iPhone to test a signal booster. That’s because I don’t live or work in an area that’s oversaturated by iPhones and AT&T customers. Still, I can see why Om broke up with the device: if it’s not working for him, why should he agonize with it on a daily basis?

Anyway, Om’s running a little poll on the main GigaOm site that I’ve also embedded here after the break. He’s wondering how satisfied folks are using an iPhone on AT&T’s network. Me? I’m pretty happy, but I don’t live or work in a major metropolitan area so there are fewer handsets competing for service. Last I checked, the cows by me hadn’t even signed up for Twitter yet.

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I’m back from a long lunch with St. Patrick (or just some old guy in green clothes, I’m not sure which) and just catching up on the Apple iPhone 3.0 Software event. By now, you’ve probably seen that cut, copy and paste made the cut. So did MMS support (for 3G models), stereo Bluetooth, universal search in the form of Spotlight, and Push notifications, which apparently got pushed into this year. Actually there’s plenty more good stuff in there, as you can see from Engadget’s live blog, which was my first stop. No news on new hardware, which semi-surprises me: I figured that some new features might work better on beefier hardware and therefore, we’d hear about a new handset for summer availability. No such luck.

After all is said and done, my first impression rates all this as “satisfactory” from where I stand, and now I’m leaning more towards a Palm Pre when my iPhone contract is up in July. I really wanted to see video recording as well as background applications, but perhaps Apple’s push notifications are a more optimal solution in that area. Time will tell. What do you think?

Quick: How much did you spend on smartphone applications last year? We’re halfway through tax season here in the U.S., so I have this info at the tip of my fingertips right now. I actually didn’t spend much: under $20 in 2008. I tend to use free apps when I can on my phone and I generally use a netbook for heavier lifting.

ABI Research recently took a very small sample of people who installed apps on their smartphones last year and queried them as to their total expense. Out of the 235 respondents, nearly 17% reported an expense between $100 and $499, which shocked me for two reasons.

First, I’d think that the many 99-cent applications for Apple’s platform would offset higher-costing software on other operating systems. Second, some of these folks could actually be spending more on software than their hardware cost them. I’ve bought plenty of smartphone software over the past half dozen years, but I don’t think I ever spent more than the hardware cost me. Perhaps I’m in the minority?

Have at it in the below poll, in which I break the expense brackets down in a more granular and lower level, as my guess is that most folks spent under $200 on smartphone software in 2008.

With all of the “app store” models, however, this has me thinking. Is the smartphone market making a bigger move towards the “Gillette” business model? Gillette, of course, famously makes relatively inexpensive razors, but makes money hand-over-fist on relatively expensive replacement razor blades.

Yikes! The vast majority of our recent poll participants fell into either the “Not Impressed” or “OK, but not enough progress” categories. Only 19% of you figuratively had your socks knocked off by the incremental upgrade. I’m using the word incremental for a reason here, because it underlies a large part of the challenge that Microsoft is facing. I also believe it has much to do with how folks voted. I think folks are disappointed by what amounts to minimal improvements relative to the time between releases.

Sadly, none of us are going to see new devices running Windows Mobile 6.5 until late this year. That could be nine months from now and yes, it will only be on new devices, which is just silly. Many of the new devices won’t offer much more (if anything) different in terms of hardware capabilities. In cases like that, it sounds like a business decision to sell more Windows Mobile handsets and thus, gain more Windows Mobile license revenue.

So what will we see from the more nimble players in the market between now and then? Even if we saw nothing new from them (highly unlikely), the bar has been raised some time ago and the reaction from Redmond has been slower than an oil tanker making a turn.

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Our podcasting co-hort co-host isn’t that impressed with the Microsoft Windows 6.5 news out of Mobile World Congress. Matt asks: where’s the beef? He thinks that some of the custom shells from SPB, HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung out there already on 6.1 are better. It’s interesting to me because Windows Mobile was always designed with a desktop paradigm, even with its predecessor, Pocket PC. Microsoft wanted a familiar interface way back then. Might have been a good idea when we were less mobile, but since we’re more mobile, it’s less of a good idea. Follow?

I agree with Matt that the lack of support for capacitive touchscreens is a gap. I realize that in some areas, a stylus and resistive touchscreen are the norm. But why not support both resistive and capacitive at this point? That would give carriers and handset OEMs good options for their local clientele.

Matt rightly points out that the Exchange / ActiveSync experience on a Windows Mobile, er Windows Phone, is second to none. No argument there either, but that strength is getting licensed away to Apple, Google, Nokia and others. Overall, I see the new Windows Mobile version as a very incremental update based on what we’ve seen so far. More concerning to me is what we’ll see from other platforms between now and when Windows Mobile 7 hits.Thoughts?

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So word on the street is that the Palm Pre debut is coming soon: possibly as early as Feb. 15th or more likely March 15th. It’s rather timely that I’ve just read a 22-page report from Forrester on how consumers choose their mobile phones, no?

The report shows various segments of consumers, ranging from those who look at value and services to others that focus more on handset choices. I found it staggering that only 5% of those surveyed switch carriers for a specific phone. I would have thought the number far higher simply given the churn of folks that went to AT&T for an iPhone. Even more amazing was the 39% that have remained loyal to their first carrier. As in, they’ve only been with a single cellular carrier from the time they first got a mobile handset. Clearly, Matt Miller with his two dozen handsets wasn’t part of the survey.

So the potential Pre timing coupled with the report and Sprint’s new Premier customer program got me thinking: how many of you in the U.S. are considering a switch to Sprint simply to get a Palm Pre? Our poll is hardly scientific as the readership base tends to be the geek vote (and I mean that as a complement!), but I’m curious. I can’t affort multiple carrier accounts, so I’m even thinking of moving from AT&T to Sprint myself just for the Pre. How about you?