Ok, well I'm getting close I think to getting some type of smart phone. I think most of you use iPhones (if you have a "smart phone"). I'm trying to get some opinions and some comparisons. Cost is a bit of a factor as are the monthly charges. Like can you get an iPhone with no data plan (only voice, text, wireless?). Here are my possible choices:
iPhone
Palm Pre
Google phone
Blackberry
I know there are variations of each of the above. If anyone know's of a good chart or review site or article where they compare all the current choices - that would be most helpful. Thanks!
Quote from: Rico on October 12, 2009, 11:50:22 AM
Ok, well I'm getting close I think to getting some type of smart phone. I think most of you use iPhones (if you have a "smart phone"). I'm trying to get some opinions and some comparisons. Cost is a bit of a factor as are the monthly charges. Like can you get an iPhone with no data plan (only voice, text, wireless?). Here are my possible choices:
iPhone
Palm Pre
Google phone
Blackberry
I know there are variations of each of the above. If anyone know's of a good chart or review site or article where they compare all the current choices - that would be most helpful. Thanks!
First off, who's your carrier?
Other family members use Sprint, but that really isn't an issue since I don't have ANY cell phone at the moment. Work provided my last cell phone and I haven't gotten one since.
Perhaps a new phone will be supplied with either new job? Blackberry integrates very well with corporate messaging systems. Might be worth delaying until more news is forthcoming?
That being said, I am a new iPhone user - and I love it. There are a few minor annoyances with it, but the screen is tough to beat. I moved from a HTC Tilt (Win mobile 6.1) to the iPhone, and before that I used the Palm Treo 650.
Blackberry is the way to go for integration with corporate mail systems (although you can get that app with iPhone and a suitable data - blackberry package).
The big question is, why do you want it? What do you want to do that an ordinary phone won't do? If it's applications, you nay get one answer. If it's Internet access, you may get another.
I used to consider myself qualified to talk about all this. I wrote for a PDA site for a few years but since I settled on the iPhone, that sort of petered out. Having said that, I've never used Google's phone nor Blackberry but a lot of Palm OS lives in my past as well as some Windows devices.
I can't speak for US price plans since I'm on the wrong side of the pond.
I'm a new iphone user and apart from the battery life it is awesome :D and i get to surf on the forums with ease lol.
I have been waiting to see if either job were to supply a phone. I don't think the job that is the more likely (one in Charlotte) will provide a phone but the other one might. Also, I have to be careful about calling to other service plans. Like if I got an iPhone (ATT) and call my family on Sprint. Does that usually cost either phone plan more? Might swing into Best Buy tomorrow and look around some.
Quote from: Rico on October 12, 2009, 01:31:09 PM
I have been waiting to see if either job were to supply a phone. I don't think the job that is the more likely (one in Charlotte) will provide a phone but the other one might. Also, I have to be careful about calling to other service plans. Like if I got an iPhone (ATT) and call my family on Sprint. Does that usually cost either phone plan more? Might swing into Best Buy tomorrow and look around some.
Yeah it does. It burn minutes for both phones, but sprint lets you talk to any sprint for free on most plans. Even if you change all of their sprint plans to the any mobile plan where it's free for them to talk to you, it will still cost you to talk to them and end up biting you in the butt later. People with sprint plans get used to talking to family without worrying about punching a clock and when some people switch out of that network, it tends to burn minutes a lot faster because of old habits.
that being said, a T-mobile my fav 5 plan in conjunction with the unlimited or any mobile plans from Sprint tends to work out well.
Well, that may very well be an answer to the idea of an iPhone. I won't get a phone that I have to worry about plan minutes. Especially with probably being away from home a lot in the near future. So what good phones are on the Sprint plan?
Quote from: Rico on October 12, 2009, 01:39:17 PM
Well, that may very well be an answer to the idea of an iPhone. I won't get a phone that I have to worry about plan minutes. Especially with probably being away from home a lot in the near future. So what good phones are on the Sprint plan?
Sprint has a lot of great smart phones. What features do you think are a necessity? I love phones with qwerty keyboards, but some people like touch more.
Here are some that I like:
HTC Touch Pro2
Touch Diamond™ by HTC
I'm flipping through my Best Buy ad right now. I see these on Sprint:
New HTC Hero with Google (Android Google Phone)
Blackberry Curve 8330 (man this one is cheap $)
Palm Pre
I like the idea of having some type of physical keyboard on the phone. I guess some good app's would be fine, but I doubt I'll use them much. That HTC Google phone has a 5 mp camera. Others seem to be 2 or 3 mp. Definitely a trip to Best Buy is in order. Maybe tomorrow.
Quote from: Just X on October 12, 2009, 01:54:43 PM
Here are some that I like:
HTC Touch Pro2
Touch Diamond™ by HTC
Both WM, I'm losing track these days?
My main beef with Windows mobile is the abilities of the browser but then I've not touched anything beyond 6.0 so things may have improved with later revisions. Certainly the forum was murder on my Toshiba WinMo phone.
I'd be tempted by the Pre if I wasn't wedded to the iPhone but I'm not sure what the its future will be in the current market.
Not Windows Mobile - the HTC runs Google's Android OS.
Yeah, the Hero does.
It was the two that Chris mentioned that I was talking about.
Battery on the first G-Phone was supposed to be...bad. Hopefully the Hero is better bet. Certainly, having the HTC brand on it does it no harm.
Found this little chart. Things vary a bit depending on the model, but it's a decent baseline to start with. Those monthly costs are nuts - for all of them! Maybe I'll just get a tin can and some long string.
Ugggh - I just got a crack on my iPhone screen. Phone and display working, but this ugly crack runs diagonally across from right top to bottom left. :(
I am toying with the idea of paying around $120 US for one of those self repair kits (which void the warranty).
A crack? Ugh!
Found this review of many of them here too:
http://www.consumersearch.com/best-smartphones (http://www.consumersearch.com/best-smartphones)
Wow! The monthly costs look huge!
I gave in for the iPhone but until then I was a devout 'Pay as you go' customer. I still grit my teeth every month when paying the fees. At the end of my plan I'll probably drop back to PAYG...but I will retain the data plan. I rely on it too much ;)
Quote from: Rico on October 12, 2009, 02:18:05 PM
Found this little chart. Things vary a bit depending on the model, but it's a decent baseline to start with. Those monthly costs are nuts - for all of them! Maybe I'll just get a tin can and some long string.
The 99 plan for Sprint everything is probably the best you're going to find in the market. It's the best value for the money in many cases.
I just recently got a Palm Pre for both myself and one for my Wife. I am quite liking it. I did some searching around and they have some some more apps then what is listed in their app catalog that they call them Homebrew. Also they have custom themes, so can change the look of your phone, similar to a Windows Theme. A friend of mine has a HTC, and really likes that as well, it has a slide out keyboard, and plenty of apps.
Another round up of phone comparison reviews:
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/palm-pre-sprint/4540-6452_7-33490473-4.html (http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/palm-pre-sprint/4540-6452_7-33490473-4.html)
Quote from: Rico on October 12, 2009, 02:18:05 PM
Found this little chart. Things vary a bit depending on the model, but it's a decent baseline to start with. Those monthly costs are nuts - for all of them! Maybe I'll just get a tin can and some long string.
How about we get the fish in the net first before planning the dinner? :)
I think I'm not going the smart phone route for now. $100 a month (give or take) is too much and just not needed for me currently. I'm almost always near a computer anyway. I can add a nice phone to our Sprint plan for only $10 a month. Voice and text. Don't really need anything more - for now.
I have an iPhone and I wouldn't pay the extra 20 for messaging. And I just have the 40 dollar voice plan which is more than enough minutes for me. I still have the original iphone and only pay 20 for edge internet + 200 messages. After I've gone through the 200, I use my email app to email people text messages. With the 3G, the data is 30 with no messaging. So whenever I upgrade I'll just use the sms gateway workaround for all my texts.
Here's the formatting on how to do that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carriers_providing_SMS_transit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carriers_providing_SMS_transit)
Somehing tells me that US mobile rates are somewhat higher than those in Europe.
I was staggered when I found out that you guys have to pay to receive text messages with some (all?) networks. There'd be a revolution if they tried that over here!
Americans have a problem of being willing to pay way to much for things. The problem is if we like something enough, we will be willing to pay whatever it costs to get it. If we would just say we are only willing to pay 5-10 dollars for messaging at most, that's what it would cost.
I hate the double dipping of charging for data and messaging separately. Messages are data. They make a ton of profit selling the same thing twice.
Well, picked up a Samsung Exclaim phone today. Seems like a really nice phone and for only $10 more a month. Nice screen, dual-slides, full keyboard, 2.0 camera w/video etc. I'm happy with it. Got the silver/white version. A few pics below (the blue version is just to show the slide functions).
Looks pretty good! I like the dual keyboard layout
Is that a bespoke OS?
cool phone Rico. I have the Voyager and really like it.