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Nizox
Aug 5, 2004

:3: Hockey Otter :3:
Help me Pick a Phone!

Here we go, any help would rock


* Country/Provider:USA/ATT

* Current contract status:Waiting for Upgrade

* Budget (phone/plan):Part of the problem/Cheap minutes, and possible data.

* Features I know I want:I dunno.


Here's my problem. My Fiancee and I are both on ATT and we are going to move to one plan. Both of us can upgrade our phones, but the ATT rep said we need to do the upgrade, and THEN move plans into one. Otherwise we could lose our upgrade. We want to upgrade anyway. So basically, she has a phone she likes, and that's great for her, but I'm really stuck on what to get. Here are the 3 current possibilities.

LG Xenon $100

Samsung Impression $200

Iphone 3Gs $200

Basically, I don't have a data plan right now, and I pay $39 a month for only 450 minutes since I really don't talk that much. I also can't have my phone with me at work so I can't use it all day. But I think it would be good to have a internet capable phone, since there are times when im like, drat, it would have been nice to have google maps right now, or drat what was that phone # in my email that I cant get to etc.

So what I'm asking is. Will the Impression and Xenon do the same basic data plan stuff that an Iphone will do? What does the $200 Impression get me over the LG Xenon, and if I went for the same $200 Iphone, is the monthly data plan a total waste? Would I use the features on an Iphone? You may not be able to answer that question, I understand.


Thanks in advance

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Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
The Xenon and Impression are pieces of poo poo. Get the iPhone.

Nizox
Aug 5, 2004

:3: Hockey Otter :3:

Joe Don Baker posted:

The Xenon and Impression are pieces of poo poo. Get the iPhone.

Any reasons why?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Because they're crappy dumbphones that don't run operating systems and will generally leave you high and dry as soon as you discover one their "software's" many unfixable deficiencies. Do not buy dumbphones.

I don't know if you've done the research or not, but data will only cost you $15/month on those crap phones and will cost you $30/month on the iPhone, effectively making the iPhone an extra $360 + taxes over your two year contract.

If you're not hell-bent on the iPhone and are considering lovely dumbphones anyway, I highly recommend looking into an unlocked Nokia smartphone. Nokia smartphones delicately toe the line between smartphone and dumbphone: they're simple like the dumb ones, but can run native apps like the smart ones. Nokia 5800 has been spotted as low as $219 off-contract, and you can get a discounted iPhone with your contract to sell and self-subsidize the cost.

Alternately if you're up for it, you can import the Rogers version of the HTC Magic (expect to spend about $380-400) and have a bona fide Android phone with experimental Flash support that works on AT&T's 3G network, works on the $15/month data plan, and is easily the next best thing to the iPhone right now.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Nizox posted:

Any reasons why?

As Kalibar mentioned, they leave you high and dry. As an example, the Impression has a GPS chip, however, you can't use it in Google Maps. You have to use ATT Navigator. The Impression supports email, but only from certain providers. It doesn't support Gmail, and you have to use the Java Gmail app which is poo poo. The interface LOOKS nice, but it's very clunky.

ArgaWarga
Apr 8, 2005

dare to fail gloriously

On a similar note, I don't want a data plan, but want a full keyboard (not a touchscreen keyboard, but touchscreen is otherwise aok) and would like some more features to a phone (iCal syncing, etc.). I was eyeing a Palm Centro on Tiger Direct for $150 unlocked, any recommendations for or against?

ArgaWarga fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jul 1, 2009

Nizox
Aug 5, 2004

:3: Hockey Otter :3:

kalibar posted:

Because they're crappy dumbphones that don't run operating systems and will generally leave you high and dry as soon as you discover one their "software's" many unfixable deficiencies. Do not buy dumbphones.

I don't know if you've done the research or not, but data will only cost you $15/month on those crap phones and will cost you $30/month on the iPhone, effectively making the iPhone an extra $360 + taxes over your two year contract.

If you're not hell-bent on the iPhone and are considering lovely dumbphones anyway, I highly recommend looking into an unlocked Nokia smartphone. Nokia smartphones delicately toe the line between smartphone and dumbphone: they're simple like the dumb ones, but can run native apps like the smart ones. Nokia 5800 has been spotted as low as $219 off-contract, and you can get a discounted iPhone with your contract to sell and self-subsidize the cost.

Alternately if you're up for it, you can import the Rogers version of the HTC Magic (expect to spend about $380-400) and have a bona fide Android phone with experimental Flash support that works on AT&T's 3G network, works on the $15/month data plan, and is easily the next best thing to the iPhone right now.

Joe Don Baker posted:

As Kalibar mentioned, they leave you high and dry. As an example, the Impression has a GPS chip, however, you can't use it in Google Maps. You have to use ATT Navigator. The Impression supports email, but only from certain providers. It doesn't support Gmail, and you have to use the Java Gmail app which is poo poo. The interface LOOKS nice, but it's very clunky.






Thanks guys, that is what I was looking for. Either confirmation what I was thinking about doing was stupid, or an alternative. I guess it's either Iphone, or just a regular phone.

:P

Noctone
Oct 25, 2005

XO til we overdose..

Nizox posted:

Thanks guys, that is what I was looking for. Either confirmation what I was thinking about doing was stupid, or an alternative. I guess it's either Iphone, or just a regular phone.

:P

No matter what you do, there's no good reason for your first step not to be buying an iPhone 3GS. They're selling for silly money on eBay. Even if you wanted to buy something lovely like the Xenon or Impression, you could buy the iPhone 3GS, sell it, turn around and buy the Xenon/Impression at no commitment pricing, and still come out making money on the deal.

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Nizox posted:

Thanks guys, that is what I was looking for. Either confirmation what I was thinking about doing was stupid, or an alternative. I guess it's either Iphone, or just a regular phone.

:P
That's really not accurate or what I said.

You can either:

- pay the $30/month iPhone data premium and use an iPhone
- get a lovely dumbphone and pay zero for no data or $15/month for data
- get an unlocked Nokia phone from Amazon or an HTC Magic from Canada (you'd have to pay about $20 extra to get a Magic unlocked) and pay the same price you would for "regular phone"

Also we're coming across like broken loving records in this thread, but you should take Noctone's advice and collect/sell an iPhone 3G S for fat cash. I understand that it's a smidgen of effort, but it makes having nice things possible.

Nizox
Aug 5, 2004

:3: Hockey Otter :3:

kalibar posted:

That's really not accurate or what I said.

You can either:

- pay the $30/month iPhone data premium and use an iPhone
- get a lovely dumbphone and pay zero for no data or $15/month for data
- get an unlocked Nokia phone from Amazon or an HTC Magic from Canada (you'd have to pay about $20 extra to get a Magic unlocked) and pay the same price you would for "regular phone"

Also we're coming across like broken loving records in this thread, but you should take Noctone's advice and collect/sell an iPhone 3G S for fat cash. I understand that it's a smidgen of effort, but it makes having nice things possible.

Thank you, You confirmed my thoughts, and provided me an alternative. So I think that is what you said :).


But why is this whole buy an Iphone 3GS and sell it online for profit and buy another one working? Cause I can get the contract price? Wouldn't the phone come locked to AT&T anyway?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

If you want an iPhone 3G S, buy the iPhone 3G S and keep it. $199 or $299 is a great price to have available if you actually want the phone.

We're telling you that if you want any other phone on the market right now, get an iPhone 3G S with your AT&T contract and sell it on eBay since you'll net $300-400 profit with almost zero effort, and you can use the profit to buy any phone you like (and pocket the difference).

Even if you decide you want a $50 budget Nokia flip phone ("good" dumbphone) or the lovely LG Xenon (horrible dubmphone), you can buy one and put the remaining $350 toward hookers or booze or AT&T phone bills (three equally destructive hobbies to have).

As a side bonus, the $15 data plan you'd be buying for an unlocked phone will save you a bunch of money over your contract's timeline, too, as I mentioned.

Nizox
Aug 5, 2004

:3: Hockey Otter :3:

kalibar posted:

If you want an iPhone 3G S, buy the iPhone 3G S and keep it. $199 or $299 is a great price to have available if you actually want the phone.

We're telling you that if you want any other phone on the market right now, get an iPhone 3G S with your AT&T contract and sell it on eBay since you'll net $300-400 profit with almost zero effort, and you can use the profit to buy any phone you like (and pocket the difference).

Even if you decide you want a $50 budget Nokia flip phone ("good" dumbphone) or the lovely LG Xenon (horrible dubmphone), you can buy one and put the remaining $350 toward hookers or booze or AT&T phone bills (three equally destructive hobbies to have).

As a side bonus, the $15 data plan you'd be buying for an unlocked phone will save you a bunch of money over your contract's timeline, too, as I mentioned.

Wouldn't I be locked to the IPhone data plan for a year? Also, if you get two Iphones on a family plan, are two Iphone data plans required?

The reason I ask is maybe we'll get two, one to use, one to sell, and then she can get what ever phone she wants and buy me hookers and booze. But if you're stuck to the data plan, $720 makes not profitable in the end.

Thanks for the help, I doubt I can get an Iphone any time soon though cause they're all sold out right?

I lost my ipod two months ago anyway so this solves two problems.

Dr Tran
Dec 17, 2002

HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Nizox posted:

Thanks for the help, I doubt I can get an Iphone any time soon though cause they're all sold out right?

They're sold out? poo poo! I'm switching to at&t in two weeks. I hear they're selling for like $800. I want massive profits :(

Jam2
Jan 15, 2008

With Energy For Mayhem
1. I am moving to Tampa, FL on July 28th. I need a BlackBerry plan. Who has the absolute best service? I have a Bold, but I would be interested in a Tour or the GSM equivalent if the price is low.

Important: Data speed, cheap SMS, good service in Florida and Massachusetts.


2. fedit: My Bold is locked to TSTT/bmobile (Trinidad). Will a USA carrier be able to unlock it?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Nizox posted:

Wouldn't I be locked to the IPhone data plan for a year?
No, put the SIM card in a different phone and call AT&T to drop the iPhone data.

Godzilla07
Oct 4, 2008

Dr Tran posted:

They're sold out? poo poo! I'm switching to at&t in two weeks. I hear they're selling for like $800. I want massive profits :(

There should be iPhones when you sign up for AT&T. Why are you moving to AT&T? Got sick of Nokia ignoring T-Mobile in regards to 3G S60 phones?

Jam2, call your current carrier's customer service and ask for an unlock code. If they ask you for a reason, tell them you're going on an international trip. If you can't get an unlock code from them, go to Horizon Wireless and they should be able to give you an unlock code (for a price). AT&T is the best carrier for your Bold because they're the only carrier that the Bold's 3G will work on. Cheap SMS doesn't really exist if you want unlimited. AT&T does unlimited texts for $20, T-Mobile for $15. I'm not sure about the CDMA carriers. BlackBerry service is $30 across all carriers except for T-Mobile which has $25 for BIS + tethering. It's $35 for BIS + tethering + unlimited texting. I recommend going with AT&T so you'll get 3G.

StuntDouble
May 31, 2009
# Country/Provider: USA/ No Current Provider

# Current contract status: None

# Budget (phone/plan): Prefer to spend less than 100 on the phone / Need to have a relatively cheap plan, as I'm a poor college student, though I do have a bit of flexibility here. I was hoping for around 50 a month.

# Features I know I want: I really only need texting, but I've gone for quite a while without a cell phone to save money for college, so I wanted this phone to be nice. I wanted an iphone for a long time, but I don't see how I can pull it off with the mandatory data plan. At any rate, because I'm free of any obligation/contract, I can go with any provider, though I was leaning toward AT&T simply because I prefer GSM.

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Buy up someone's old SERO contract. Plenty of acceptable modern-ish phones available for less than a Benjamin.

Total Confusion
Oct 9, 2004
* Country/Provider:USA/ATT

* Current contract status: I don't want to re-up, though I suppose I could and do a contract extension

* Budget (phone/plan): I'm really going to try and limit myself to $400 (oh god I've spent so much on phones the past couple of years, I gotta stop losing them)

* Features I know I want: Smart-phone stuff, wi-fi, gps, 3g, a good camera would be nice (the K850 spoiled me, but not super-necessary)

Lost my K850i at a club last night (gently caress!) and need another phone. I loved the K850, but I had been thinking for some time about how awesome it would be to make the jump to some sort of smartphone. I don't want to do the iPhone because of how much the contract would cost (the $30 data only in comparision to $30 unlimited text and data)

I can get an HTC G1 for $380, but the Diamond Touch 2/G2 Magic looks really awesome. Problem is the last two are $500+ Any hope in getting them for cheaper (it seems there are some on eBay for ~$380)? If I wanted to stick to a G1 price range, what other sort of options do I have? I'm new to the smart phone market. I know Nokia has had some decent phones in the past, but what would be a good equivalent? I don't really care if it's Symbian or Android or Windows Mobile (should I?)

Also, I've been using http://www.myworldphone.com to look a prices and CTI New York. Are there other reliable internet phone resellers that I should look at?

Edit: I just realized that a lot of HTC phones don't support AT&T 3G. I think certain versions of the Magic do, so that would still work, but I suppose I couldn't really consider the Diamond or G1.

Total Confusion fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jul 4, 2009

K
Jun 2, 2005

Meet me at midnight
Can anyone point me in the right direction given the info in my post here? I can give more info if needed.

Zombie Food
Dec 6, 2004
Just what I was looking for..

# Country/Provider: USA/none (deciding between Metro PCS, boost, and cricket)

# Current contract status: None

# Budget (phone/plan): 50/m for a plan, $130 for a phone

# Features I know I want: PDA style phone with AIM, Decent internet browser or download options , Email, Google Maps, Notepad for ideas, calendar etc.

Basically I had a blackjack 2 under ATT and I loved it but the plan was way expensive, and I was very turned off by their customer service. I'm looking to get onto one of the prepaid giants for cheap now to save money and try to keep some of the functionality i'm used to. was originally looking at the clutch on boost, but didn't like the fact that it doesn't support instant messaging, and has a crappy browser. Really like the blackberry curve, but it's friggin expensive. :(

Edit: anyone know about the Motorola Hint? It looks good, but a little bit out of my price range..

Zombie Food fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Jul 4, 2009

Godzilla07
Oct 4, 2008

MC Skrills, your best bet would be to find a Rogers Magic or Dream. The Dream is a G1 with 850/1900 3G so the 3G will work on AT&T. They will have AT&T 3G and I believe they have the ability to get rooted so you can get rid of the Rogers junk on the phone. I saw a Rogers Dream on HowardForum's BST section for $300 CAD, so you should be fine on that one. I recommend though to buy an iPhone 3G S 32 GB and sell it on eBay for $700-$750 so that you're able to pay for the Magic/Dream and still have some change left. Follow the instructions that I've said to another guy in this post, but replace S60 phone with Rogers Dream/MagicBut at that range, you can get a Diamond 2 but the current Diamond 2s don't have US 3G support.

K, buy up an old SERO plan. $30 for unlimited data and texting, but I can't remember the amount of minutes on the SERO plan. For the phone, a Centro could work. Yes, it's a smartphone but it's simple even though it's ancient in the mobile world. If you want to stay far, far away from smartphones, get a Rant. I've heard it's a good phone.

Zombie Food, buy a SERO plan. $30 for unlimited data and texting plus a few hundred voice minutes. I can't remember the specific amount. It'll cost you about $75-$100 for the plan but it's well worth it over those poo poo carriers that you're deciding over. For the phone, get a Mogul. They should be going for the phone budget you've set for yourself. Go to xda-developers and look in the Titan section, and flash a ROM to your phone. Custom ROMs from xda-developers are the only way to make WM phones really work.

Inconspicuous, get a regular AT&T contract and get the Nation 450 plan. Now follow these instructions.

  • Sign up for AT&T service and get an iPhone 3G S or an iPhone 3G if you can't get the 3G S because of price, but keep in mind that the 3G S will net you more money. Get the Nation 450 plan ($39.99).
  • Open the box and jailbreak it the iPhone 3G/3G S.
  • If you got the 3G, unlock it with ultrasn0w.
  • Put the iPhone back in the box and put it up for sale.
  • Call AT&T to get the iPhone data plan removed from your account, tell them that you sold your iPhone.
  • Use the funds from your iPhone sale to get a nice S60 phone.

The 16 GB 3G S should do. The phone that you should get is the Nokia E71. It's a great phone with a QWERTY. S60 phones are simple but they'll do the things that smartphones do (S60 phones are smartphones). For the international calling, get Skype Unlimited for $30 a year and install Skype or Fring to use Skype. The plan you should use is the Nation 450 plan with Data and Texts Unlimited. You now have a great phone with unlimited texts and data for $70!

E: gave more advice

Godzilla07 fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Jul 4, 2009

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

^^^ hopefully you guys actually follow the above advice, it's all accurate

we should really spin this kind of poo poo into a FAQ because I swear it's been repeated like a thousand times over the last few pages

Inconspicuous
Mar 24, 2007

those are pearls that were his eyes
Thanks lots, Godzilla. I read other posts about selling unlocked iPhones, but felt that may be complicated for someone who has never sold anything on Ebay. I suppose I am off to do some research on that.

The E71 looks like a fantastic phone. I seem unable to get the monthly price you listed, though—Nation 450 + Unlimited Text and Data ends up $90/mo rather than $70. Did I miss something?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Don't buy the E71 from AT&T. That's the E71x, and it sucks.

You want the unlocked E71 from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-E71-Unlocked-Slot-U-S-Warranty/dp/B001BZJ54U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1246682137&sr=8-1

Inconspicuous
Mar 24, 2007

those are pearls that were his eyes
Oh, I see now. Thanks!

BlackDiamonds
Mar 15, 2007
# Country/Provider: Canada/Bell

# Current contract status: None (it just expired)

# Budget (phone/plan): $25 or less a month, $100 for a phone max

# Features I know I want: Ability to call, ability to text (~100 or so a month).

I'm thinking about purchasing a cheap nokia dumbphone and then bringing it to Rogers/Fido and going with a prepaid plan, at least until after the new wireless carriers have established themselves in Canada. I don't know any nokia models to look at or where to get them unlocked. Any suggestions?

Bushibytes
Sep 3, 2006
Porcorate Potamocherus
# Country/Provider: Canada(Quebec)/none

# Current contract status: Virgin, pay-as-you-go

# Budget (phone/plan): 50/month tops, $500-600 maybe more for device (CND)

# Features I know I want: WiFi, preferably qwerty keyboard, easy platform to develop on, sync with a task lisk like rememberthemilk, calendar and mail like gmail. Music playing would be appreciated.

My current phone usage is rather minimal. I put inbetween 15 and 30$ per month in my prepaid phone and that's enough for my voice and text needs. I'm getting tired of carrying a moleskin notebook in my pocket to take down tasks, appointments and reminders and then manually enter them in rememberthemilk and gmail.

I am also a software developer, and would love a platform on which I could roll out my own tools if need be. A qwerty keyboard and WiFi connectivity would be excellent so that I can SSH into my bigger machines to do some troubleshooting when I'm not at home.

So far I was eyeing the HTC Dream with the Android OS, which seems to fit perfectly for a lot of my needs. However, I'm not keen on signing up for 3 years, getting charged for what comes up to 80$ per month with taxes and access fee (Rogers).

Is it possible to use a phone like the HTC Dream, but without a data plan ? I wouldn't mind getting basic phone and text services like I have right now, and limit my connectivity to WiFi (I am in Montreal, fairly easy to get WiFi anywhere).

As much as I need PDA functionalities, I can't justify going from 15$ a month to 80$.

StuntDouble
May 31, 2009
I'm looking into SERO plans, but the only place I knew to look was Ebay. Is there a cheaper place to pick up a SERO contract or is Ebay the best place to find them?

Also, what phones would you recommend for a SERO contract? When I was looking through the Ebay postings, several people were giving out warnings that certain phones were incompatible with SERO, like the Pre. There were warnings posted about Blackberries too, but it seems like you can get around the Blackberry data restrictions by using a different mobile web browser than the included Blackberry-browser (Opera Mini?) What's the general rule regarding phones you can use on SERO?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Check the buy/sell/trade "take over my plan" subforum at HowardForums, people sell SERO plans pretty cheaply there all the time. Prices for SERO contracts are tricky since they seem to fluctuate wildly. My personal belief is that if you can buy one for anything less than $360 (you can, always) then you're getting a great deal because that's the cost difference per year in using the next-cheapest cellphone plan with the same features.

The general rule is that you cannot use BlackBerrys, the Pre, or Instincts on SERO. Any other Sprint phone ever made will work fine, but you do want to get something with 3G so that you can capitalize on the free data if you desire.

If you want the best flip phone Sprint ever sold, search eBay for the Samsung M610. The current Sanyo Katana phones are also decent -- my friend has a Katana DLX that has been kicking on his SERO contract just fine for a year and a half and runs Opera Mini and Google Maps just fine as well.

If you want to step into the potentially-frustrating world of Sprint smartphones, you're looking at Windows Mobile. Check out the Treo Pro if you like the BlackBerry form factor, just make sure that the keys are big enough for your fingers. Should run you about $200-250 on eBay for a brand new one. The Touch Diamond and Touch Pro are the most famous/infamous Sprint phones in Cellphone Shack because of Windows Mobile's general dubiousness and because they're the highest-end devices Sprint sells.

I've heard good things about the Samsung Rant if you're just looking for a cheap dumphone with a keyboard, but I personally think the phone is tacky as poo poo and that people using phones like that are douchey. :shobon:

Godzilla07
Oct 4, 2008

StuntDouble, make sure the phone that you're buying has a clean ESN. You can't activate the phone if the ESN is broke or something like that (can't remember the term for it). So contact the seller of the phone and make sure the ESN is clean.

Bushibytes, the best option for you would be to buy an unlocked Dream and see if there's a GSM prepaid provider in Canada. An unlocked Dream allows you to use the phone on any GSM provider. That should cover you. You'll be able to use the Dream's data over Wi-Fi and not have to get raped by Ted Robbers. I personally think that it's a bit foolish to spend $500-$600 on a phone and use it on a cheap plan, but you're the person who's using the phone. So get an unlocked Dream and use it on a GSM prepaid provider. Also, a T-Mobile G1 unlocked can also do because you won't be using 3G since you're doing your data over Wi-Fi primarily.

StuntDouble
May 31, 2009
I was looking at the HTC Diamond, but I'll check into the Katana; thanks for the recommendation.

The only other thing I wanted to ask about was how smooth transfer of these contracts usually goes. I was going through the sprint questions thread, and especially toward the end, posters seemed to start having problems transferring legacy SERO contracts. Do you think I'll run into any problems with that?

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

I dunno what the dummies in the SERO thread are doing. When I sold my SERO contract, it was a cakewalk. The process works like this:

- You get a Sprint phone in hand
- You call Sprint and tell them you need to setup an account but don't want a phone or plan because someone is transferring the liabiltiy of their contract into your name
- You pass a credit check and are given a Sprint account number
- The other party calls up and says they wish to transfer liability of their contract into a friend's name, his name is x, his contact phone number is y, his Sprint account number is z
- Sprint calls you back and hopefully doesn't gently caress anything up
- You are a SERO customer, he is not anymore

EDIT: Just want to clarify, selling a SERO contract is very easy. Retaining the phone number associated with it likely to be a loving hassle; I recently tried to do this and Sprint is loving me pretty good on it (way more details than you could ever care about in the Sprint thread). If you're looking to sell your SERO, prepare to exert a poo poo ton of effort if you want to retain your number: they're going to hold it hostage.

If you don't need your number, the process is easy as poo poo.

kbar fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Jul 6, 2009

Steinbeck
Apr 6, 2008
Just to throw it out there: most all of the US celly companies let you mess around w/ a new phone for the first 30 days without contract (lest the iphone, which carries a restock fee of about $20 USD )

What I mean to say is, despite some of the Nokia and winmo hardons in this thread for cheaping out on a hock-and-walk plan: TRY THE GOOD NEW PHONES.

The Pre.

The G1.

The iphone.

The BlackBerry Bold

The.... no i think those are the best phones out. Give them a go in your area. Try 'em., see if they work for you. See if the featureset is worth the extra cash. Don't just go w/ the E71 or a touchpro cause it's the cheapest piece of plastic you can own (unless you're extraordinarily cheap. In which case, jesus, buy a cheap as gently caress pay-as-you-go and a netbook. )

Steinbeck
Apr 6, 2008
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/22/nokia-n97-review-a-tale-of-two-bloggers/

Check out the 2nd video in this post and ask yourself if it's *really* worth it.

Navigation on the N71 is slower but in a completely different way. Mess with one and see if it's worth the budgeting.

kbar
Aug 9, 2002

You're barking up the wrong tree, man. I know two people personally who picked E71-2s over iPhones and Googlephones, and they're both extremely pleased in their decision. One of them even got an iPhone with his contract alongside an unlocked E71 and auditioned them against each other by SIM-swapping for two weeks before settling on the E71.

Some customers still want physical buttons on a bar-phone, and the BlackBerry plan is a poo poo value.

Trying to push an iPhone or BB on people in this thread is to incur a $360 or $480 "just because" data penalty on them over Nokia options and an even steeper penalty over Sprint Windows Mobile options.

The G1 feels like a Fisher-Price toy and forces you to buy into T-Mobile's crappy data pricing and limited UMTS footprint. The only "proper" way to do Googlephones right now is to import a Rogers Magic (or Dream, if you really don't mind the build quality) and use it with AT&T's $15/$10 data plan. A far better option is to just wait for the Hero since it looks substantially better than both of those choices. You're doing a terrible disservice to stick people on lovely 2-year T-Mobile contracts for the outgoing G1 right now when Hero is right around and the corner for AT&T and possibly even Sprint.

The G1 is only a good value if:
(1) T-Mobile has UMTS in your area
(2) You like the build quality and know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you need an awkwardly sliding keyboard that's far from HTC's best work
(3) You like paying $25 for proprietary UMTS when AT&T will sell you more commonly-supported UMTS for $15/$10

This whole discussion completely skirts the point, though -- these are people who are very clearly not mobile enthusiasts. They don't want to pay for fat data plans (reasonable) and they can't be hosed to import cool phones and get them unlocked (it's easy, but people don't like effort).

When people come in here saying they want a QWERTY keyboard or a touchscreen slab, don't care about data, and are looking at horrible bullshit like the Memoir/Impression/Xenon/whatever other godawful abortions AT&T pushes, you're drat right I'm going to tell them to flip an iPhone and buy a Nokia 5800 (alleged best audio quality on a phone + 3.5 headphone jack) or an E71-2 (thinnest QWERTYbar on the market + a huge loving battery) so that they can have a phone worth using at an effective price and some extra cash in their pockets.

The N97 is an obvious scam/"enthusiast honeypot," and obviously you or I wouldn't carry a Nokia phone because we're interested in the benefits offered by the iPhone (and have probably utilized a few tricks to bring the cost of the plan down!). But telling everyone who eWalks in here to pony up a loving ridiculous $90/month phone bill to Rich Uncle AT&T "because the iphone is cool dude" is outrageous.

There's a really delicate cost/benefit analysis to be performed for any of the "flagship" phones right now, and you're not doing it. Dogshit dumbphone to decent Nokia smartphone is basically a free upgrade.

Godzilla07
Oct 4, 2008

Steinbeck posted:

Just to throw it out there: most all of the US celly companies let you mess around w/ a new phone for the first 30 days without contract (lest the iphone, which carries a restock fee of about $20 USD )

What I mean to say is, despite some of the Nokia and winmo hardons in this thread for cheaping out on a hock-and-walk plan: TRY THE GOOD NEW PHONES.

The Pre.

The G1.

The iphone.

The BlackBerry Bold

The.... no i think those are the best phones out. Give them a go in your area. Try 'em., see if they work for you. See if the featureset is worth the extra cash. Don't just go w/ the E71 or a touchpro cause it's the cheapest piece of plastic you can own (unless you're extraordinarily cheap. In which case, jesus, buy a cheap as gently caress pay-as-you-go and a netbook. )

The G1 is a bad value. T-Mobile thinks that they're a big boy carrier, so they start charging $25 for data starting with the G1 with their almost non-existent 3G footprint. I've got T-Mobile 3G and full bars of it, but I dare not recommend the G1 because T-Mobile is a terrible value. Now if they went back to the old $20 for data, then I'd actually be able to recommend the G1. The Pre is a plasticky piece of crap after the software with a tiny, cramped keyboard. If a keyboard is smaller than my Curve 8900's then it is too small.

The iPhone is great, but most people would prefer to not pay a $30/month plan. The Bold is also a great phone and I have a hard-on for BlackBerrys, but I don't recommend it to anybody because BlackBerry plans are a ripoff. I use a BlackBerry because the Curve 8320 was the only phone worth buying on T-Mobile when I bought it and $20 for BIS + tethering is an incredible value. I also need RIM's push services for e-mail.

Steinbeck posted:

See if the featureset is worth the extra cash.

Let's look at the phones that you've told to "try out and see if the featureset is worth the extra cash". The Pre on EPRP is cheaper per month than the standard AT&T that's recommended around here but the problem is the build quality on the Pre. The G1 can be had on AT&T, just get a Rogers Dream and you also have 3G that works in most major cities in the U.S. The Bold is great and beats any other phone for messaging, but most people don't need the e-mail capabilities of the Bold and the E71 should work just as fine for them. The iPhone is great, but it's not really worth the $30/month plan to most of the people that come in here for a recommendation. They're just looking for a smartphone and a cheap plan, not $90/month total for features that would cost them only $70/month with a voice plan.

I personally will not recommend the 5800 or N97 because the N97 is way overpriced and I'd rather recommend a WM phone such as the TP2. The 5800 is S60 touchscreen beta and I won't push phones that are in a beta stage.

Zombie Food
Dec 6, 2004
Another question.. I'm about to sell my blackjack 2 and buy a mogul to get onto the SERO plan.. Is it possible for me to use the blackjack with sero instead of selling it off? And maintaining all functionality

Zombie Food fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jul 5, 2009

StuntDouble
May 31, 2009
Is having the phone a necessary step before buying the plan? I'd like to get the SERO contract sorted out first before buying the phone, if possible. Can I have the contract active for a few days without a phone tied to it?

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kbar
Aug 9, 2002

Zombie Food posted:

Another question.. I'm about to sell my blackjack 2 and buy a mogul to get onto the SERO plan.. Is it possible for me to use the blackjack with sero instead of selling it off? And maintaining all functionality
no, the blackjack is a GSM phone and won't work with Sprint. same idea as trying to use a DSL modem with cable internet, incompatible tech

StuntDouble posted:

Is having the phone a necessary step before buying the plan? I'd like to get the SERO contract sorted out first before buying the phone, if possible. Can I have the contract active for a few days without a phone tied to it?
theoretically no, practically yes. Sprint will need to associate a phone with the account, they can use a dummy serial number but their customer service is honestly pretty incompetent so you're going to end up with fewer headaches if you have a phone in hand (or a friend will let you borrow a sprint phone temporarily)

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