The other day, a neighbor dropped over and asked me to help him figure out why my texts to his Samsung handset kept being rejected. Receiving his messages presented no problems whatever, so it was curious why it didn’t work in the reverse direction.

The neighbor used Sprint, I used AT&T. A phone call to AT&T support brought the response that Sprint was rejecting those messages for some unknown reason. But my friend said he hadn’t made any changes on his handset, a recent Samsung Galaxy Note with a humongous screen that he pried, with difficulty, from his back pocket.

On the surface, a Note, sporting screen sizes ranging from 5.3 to 5.7 inches, is positively huge compared to a regular smartphone, even the Galaxy S4, which I regarded as pretty large. Aside from the stylus alternative, however, it operates pretty much the same as its smaller brethren, and made my iPhone 5s, with the 4-inch display, seem positively puny by comparison.

I casually checked the neighbor’s phablet to see if any setting would bar my messages. He remarked that he only bought the new handset a couple of weeks earlier; he was having similar problems with his older gadget, a normal-sized Samsung smartphone of undefined Galaxy “S” vintage.

In the end, perhaps AT&T was correct. For some reason Sprint was blocking my texts, and it would be up to the neighbor to sort things out.

But that brief encounter with a genuine phablet made me more convinced it wasn’t for me. Apple’s main argument against the larger form factor is the inability to do things with one hand, and that was certainly true with that Galaxy Note. I made no effort to stuff the thing into my pocket, but I can tell you that the iPhone fits nicely, thank you. It would be near-impossible to put a phablet in the same space. If I ever thought of buying one of those things, I’d get some sort of belt clip, or maybe consider moonlighting as a clown.

Of course that’s just me. Tech and financial analysts have been pushing for Apple to build a phablet for quite some time now. They claim Apple is putting loads of sales on the table, though phablets, last I heard, had 20% of the market, and those sales were heavily concentrated in Asia, where the form factor seems to be more popular.

Regardless, Apple has made a huge deal about usability, and one-handed operation is significant. Tim Cook has said that Apple isn’t dismissing a larger iPhone, but claims there are tradeoffs in display quality, longevity, battery life and other factors. Of course, I haven’t heard about a raft of failures involving Samsung smartphones or phablets, so I wonder if that’s just spin. But since Cook didn’t dismiss the possibility of a larger iPhone, no doubt one will be forthcoming before long.

Indeed, this year’s spate of rumors suggests that the iPhone 6 is destined to be larger, though surely not as large as some of Apple’s critics would like. But it also seems that they aren’t considering the usability of the product, only the fact that other companies have big smartphones, phablets, or whatever, and thus Apple must build one too in order to remain competitive.

Now I have little doubt that larger iPhone form factors have been tested, and it may very well be true that one or more larger-sized models will be offered. But I wonder how many potential iPhone customers are put off by the small size. If the huge handsets are getting 20% of the market, it means that 80% of the sales involve products with smaller displays, so where’s the advantage?

Now I spent seven months using two flavors of the Samsung Galaxy series. The current model, the Galaxy S4, has a 5-inch screen, and it was a bit of a chore to get one into my Levis and pry it out again whenever I got a phone call. I considered a holster case or something similar, but I haven’t had one for several years. Usually I stuff my smartphone into my pocket when going out. When I’m taking a long trip in the family car, I place it in one cup holders if it’s not filled with a beverage. But I do not make a habit of looking at the screen when I’m driving, although I realize some of you do.

In any case, that some people buy phablets doesn’t mean Apple must enter that arena, although I can see a reason for a somewhat larger iPhone. Then again, if sales of the iPhone 5s were as good as some expected for the holiday quarter, maybe Apple should be cautious about making it very much larger. Of course, I suppose there are tricks to fit a somewhat larger screen into a case that’s not much bigger. Reduce the screen bezel, for example, although you won’t have much space  right and left. But the critics won’t be satisfied until there’s a 5.5-inch iPhone.

I have to tell you that I’ve been tempted to switch carriers from AT&T to T-Mobile for reasons of cost, though I have a few concerns. But before I ponder my decision, let me tell you about my search for the perfect wireless experience.

When I first got a cell phone, I signed up with a small local carrier, Qwest, the local phone company that has since been acquired by CenturyLink. My deal essentially locked me into local service, with higher prices for interstate phone calls. That was so yesterday, so I happily switched to a national carrier, Sprint, when my contract was up.

In the early 2000s, Sprint’s customer support wasn’t so warm and fuzzy, and most any time I had a problem — and there were more than a few just staying connected in my neighborhood — I ended up sorely tempted to shout at the support person for offering such terrible service. In retrospect, taking advantage of a great deal didn’t give me great service. Sprint, under CEO Daniel Hesse (who took the position in 2007), has become a far better company, though the network’s capacity is nowhere near market leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Those old Verizon TV ads featuring the tech announcing, “Can you hear me now?,” resonated when I sought better service, so the expiration of my Sprint contract meant that I switched as fast as I could. True to the promise of those ads, connection quality was far superior. It wasn’t a cheap deal by any means, but I was willing to pay a fair price for great service, or at least very good service. There were still areas near my Arizona home where I experienced dropped calls, though the symptoms were not quite as severe as Sprint.

Segue to 2007 and the announcement that the iPhone would only be sold by AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless. I knew, also, that AT&T’s network wasn’t ready for the onslaught, and connection problems were legion, although things got better over time. By late 2007, in anticipation of buying my first iPhone, I signed up with AT&T. Indeed, connection quality wasn’t altogether different from Verizon for the most part except for a slightly larger number of dropped calls. But it seemed that voice quality on AT&T’s GSM network was somewhat less digital than Verizon’s CDMA network.

I still have family members on Verizon, and I continue to find AT&T’s voice quality superior, but they don’t have an iPhone, so it’s not really a fair comparison.

But you don’t have to do the math to know that AT&T is not cheap, particularly with a couple of iPhones on the family plan, so I’ve sought a superior pricing structure, but I won’t endure the poor quality connections that were legion in the days I had Sprint.

But if I left AT&T, where would I go?

Verizon isn’t offering a better deal, and current iPhones have a problem handling voice and data simultaneously, since voice is handled on their CDMA network, and data goes LTE when the higher speed service is available. However, T-Mobile is making an aggressive pitch to take customers from rival systems. The latest is an offer to give you up to $650 in trade for each line on your current account if you sign up with T-Mobile, in order to cover your early termination fee from the losing carrier.

Of course, you do have to trade in your old handsets and buy new gear to take advantage of this deal, and send your final bill to T-Mobile. But the carrier’s aggressive pricing plans should cut your bills considerably. Or at least that’s the promise.

Now there’s no magic in what T-Mobile is doing. Your old handset will be sold off and T-Mobile will use the revenue to cover its losses on acquiring your account. Obviously, the bean counters at the company believe that the cost of getting new postpaid customers will be more than covered by the new business generated.

It’s tempting, but that doesn’t mean that a move to T-Mobile is worth the bother, even if you save money in the end. It all depends on where you live. Although T-Mobile is rapidly expanding their LTE network across the U.S., there are areas where coverage isn’t so good. If you live in a rural area, there may be little or no coverage even at a slower speed.

A company’s service maps may help, but you may just want to ask your friends who are using T-Mobile, if you know any, what sort of experiences they have. You may even want to see if they will volunteer to take a short road trip with you, with them driving of course, so you can check out their phone, make a few calls, and see if you are satisfied with connection quality.

As with rival carriers, T-Mobile offers a 14-day return policy in the event you aren’t satisfied with the service. So if you make the switch, you’ll want to give your new handsets a thorough test.

As for me, yes I’m tempted, but I am still concerned about the coverage issues, and how they will impact me on my travels through Arizona and elsewhere. A lower price isn’t helpful if you can’t use the service to your satisfaction.

That 1984 commercial for the Apple Macintosh, directed by Ridley Scott and influenced by George Orwell’s “1984,” has become the stuff of legend. To some, it was the greatest TV spot ever. It may also be that Apple never, ever, scaled those heights again when it came to advertising, and that includes the original “Think Different” campaign.

But to many people in those days, the Mac was simply a toy. Real people used command lines to interface with PCs, so where did Apple get off with this silly point and click stuff anyway?

However, that didn’t stop Microsoft from moving full steam towards creating Windows, using technology acquired from Apple in a foolish move where CEO John Scully gave away the store, more or less. Despite what some myth makers state, the Mac never had a majority share of the market, although it had a loyal following of creative professionals early on.

I remember, for example, a New York-based music producer, someone with whom my wife was working on some new material, who said he planned to outfit a home studio with a Mac. That didn’t happen until a couple of years later, but the setup allowed him to record multitrack recordings without paying huge sums to a professional studio. Well, maybe all of the high-end sound enhancement and mixing capabilities weren’t there yet, but a solid demo was within the realm of possibility on a “mere” tabletop computer.

When my employer, a prepress studio in New York City, discovered the Mac, it become the platform of choice for desktop publishing. Traditional typesetting soon went on life support. So I soon became proficient in QuarkXPress which, at the time, was a Mac-only application. Output was done on a network consisting of the LaserWriter II laser printer and an Agfa Compugraphic high resolution output device that used traditional typesetting paper and film.

When I finally brought the Mac into my home, I had been working with an office colleague, a PC user, in trying to do an online texting session. This was way before wireless phone companies made a big texting push. In the old days, it was all about establishing a personal terminal session, using a telephone modem and some special software, or using the same tools to connect to an expensive online service, such as CompuServe.

With My Mac, I was able to begin the session in a few minutes using an app known as Microphone. My comrade kept telling me over the next few days that he was working on creating a shell on his PC, but it never seemed to happen. He continued to extol the virtues of the PC over the Mac, but I wonder what he would have said about the uselessness of graphical interfaces after Microsoft more or less perfected Windows.

The irony today is that the Mac, which made a huge success of point and click, now offers a rich set of command line tools to manage the underbelly of OS X. Curious indeed!

Now being a Mac user in a world that had embraced MS-DOS from Microsoft, I was an orphan whenever I visited a computer store. On the few occasions when Mac software was around, it was usually old and dusty and not always the latest version. I was told over and over again that I had to use Microsoft’s OS and a traditional PC to embrace the real world, but I still managed to make a decent living on a Mac.

Even when I departed that prepress studio, I carved out a home-based business with my Mac, handling desktop publishing and writing chores for an audio equipment manufacturer and a small publisher. After becoming active in the Mac support forums on AOL, they actually decided to hire me as a paid forum leader, which meant a decent side income for a few years. Writing gigs with tech publications and a number of  book deals followed.

Even in the old days, when Macs were relegated to niche status and Apple was subjected to periodic death watches, I persevered. I had plenty of opportunity to try Windows and found it wanting. Every few years, I acquired a new Mac, migrating the files from the older machines. Indeed, there are still some files that are over 20 years old on my Mac, although I wonder whether any of my current software can actually open those documents. Several were created in QuarkXPress, and recent versions won’t open those documents, but there’s nothing unusual about that. App publishers usually aren’t concerned about such niceties as being able to actually read older files.

Now over the next few weeks, you’ll see a number of articles about the Mac experience, but probably not from Apple, which seldom looks back. The critics will be at it again, claiming Apple has lost its way. They will cite chapter and verse on what needs to be done to right the sinking ship.

But I’ve lived for nearly three decades with the claim that I had made the wrong decision in choosing Mac. Through thick and thin, my Macs have helped me earn a living while seldom causing any serious trouble. That’s a pretty good batting average.

Once again, Gartner and IDC are playing the PC sales estimate game, and the ultimate question is whom do you trust? As far as Apple is concerned, it would seem they would prefer to believe Gartner, although the real numbers are already known, ready to disclose on January 27.

But having a hint of what is to come would surely help to satisfy the curiosity of Apple fans, Mac users, investors and, of course, members of the tech and financial media, particularly those who have suggested Apple is on the rocks.

So in the fourth quarter of 2013, we have those predictable numbers indicating that the PC market is sliding faster than ever. According to Gartner, they were down 7.5% in the U.S., and 6.9% worldwide. Apple, however, bucked the trend with a 28.5% increase.

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