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jeeves posted:My Motorola l7/slvr was so minimalistic and kind of lovely for anything other than calls/texts that I have never once did any sort of real data crap with it. That is what kind of shys me away from a full on blackberry or such, but I guess seeing how I actually do computer tech poo poo for a living I might as well get with the program. If you use data more than accidentally, get an unlimited data plan. 5 MB (or even 20 MB) isn't worth a thing in the mobile market these days, and you REALLY don't want to pay 1c/KB (not a typo) for out of plan data. If you buy their QWERTYphone, it's $30 a month. Just add the data plan and it's $15, and you can throw any unlocked GSM phone you want on there so long as it's not an AT&T-branded QWERTY model. (Don't let the agent see the keyboard if you bring one in though, or it'll probably be $30 again.) NOTE: There's going to be an AT&T-branded version of the E71 soon. HOWEVER, double-price data plan again, and judging by the user guide AT&T managed to make the E71x totally uninspiring, so only do that if you're drawn to the E71 to the exclusion of all others AND your maximum cost is already in 'south beach ramen diet' territory. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 11, 2009 |
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Jan 11, 2009 17:13
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Gnuoyiy posted:Country/Provider: USA / Nextel So pretty much either the Buzz+ or the i580? (I'll admit, I did a pretty cursory search on PhoneScoop. If those don't suit you, you might be able to tweak the criteria I used to find something better.)
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Jan 13, 2009 00:36
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SamuraiPaul posted:Ok, I've come to the conclusion that the smart phones are still too pricey per month and some don't have every single feature I would desire if I were to get one (except the G1 but I'm going to wait for their to be at least 4 or 6 phones that use Android before I decide to go that route) As far as Nokia flips that are worth anything and can be had in the US go, you might try either the 6555 or the 6650. Either one will land you with AT&T though. The 6555, however, has enough complaints about signal quality and battery life that it's probably endemic. I'd skip it. The 6650, on the other hand, holds its own, and has GPS and HSDPA, and secretly carries a smartphone OS (S60 3rd edition FP2). Of course, if you're not particularly tied to Nokia, or the 6650 doesn't feel right to you, you could always try looking for what you need on GSMarena. For T-Mobile: 4 3G options, of which only the Sony Ericsson TM506 has fast 3G or GPS. For AT&T: 11 3G options, 8 with HSDPA, but only the Samsung Rugby or the aforementioned Nokia 6650 (which for some reason doesn't have its NA variant listed on the site, even though AT&T shows it just fine) with GPS. (I didn't include non-3G options because A) there's way too many of them and if you're going to do that you now have the tools and the phones are the same for either one, and B) 2009 is far too late to go buy a phone with just basic GSM unless you need a new phone now and price is your overriding or even sole concern.) Unfortunately, none of the useful choices look like they can be had without going through the carrier (although you could always pay the extra money to get them off-contract). There is an alternative - buy a smartphone separately and bring it to your carrier. Since you're looking at AT&T or T-Mobile you can actually do this, and in most cases the carriers will only charge the basic-phone monthly rates for bolt-ons (eg. unlimited data). If you were willing to elaborate on your issues with the smartphone market we might be able to find something that works for you. If you do go down this road, for either one you have to be careful, since both AT&T and T-Mobile use non-standard and mutually incompatible 3G bands. If you're going for AT&T look for 850/1900 3G (you might get away with just 1900, but not just 850), and if T-Mobile look for either 1700 or 1700/2100 (2100 alone won't do). You'll still need 850/1900 GSM (2G) as a fallback for either one. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Feb 19, 2009 |
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Feb 19, 2009 19:03
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SamuraiPaul posted:I guess my main qualm is that all smartphones are candy bars, also I fear I would find myself using the internet even more than I already do. Mostly the candy bar thing, I want to be able to have my phone sit in my pockt without pocketdialing anyone or the screen getting scratched, I tend to walk with quite a few art supplies in my pocket or such so I don't want to have to worry about babying the thing. and since I only want to use about 3 of a smartphones many features (talking/texting/gps) I don't really see why I should get something for 300+. I don't know offhand if the Nokia 6650 can use the Internet Radio application Nokia made. If it can, that sounds like it'd solve all the problems you've presented. Fake edit: Howardforums suggests it can (#178), despite it not being listed as a compatible device on Nokia's site. Of course, it may even be preloaded; I don't use a 6650 myself. The stand alone price ($270 direct, may be less elsewhere) may be a bit out of your preferred range, and you may not want a contract, but if you can get past that, the situation should be sorted. Note: The TM506 and Rugby might also have Internet Radio, but Google is failing me.
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Feb 20, 2009 20:27
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SamuraiPaul posted:I felt I would post this here since my phone search is still on this page. I found this "unlocked" phone on ebay here and was wondering if this looks like utter bullshit to you guys.. I still have to use AT&T it looks like so that doesn't sound unlocked at all. (then again I'm not savvy in this at all) Either it has been opened or the phone is still locked (in the meaningful 'can only use this with Carrier X' sense). Seller is a liar. EDIT: Locked is more likely than opened, but the chances are decent that it's both. If I had to guess, they think (that they can pass) a phone without any security codes in place as 'unlocked' because a lot of people think it must be good even though they have no clue what the hell 'unlocked' means. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Feb 23, 2009 |
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Feb 22, 2009 15:32
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jeeves posted:So after all of the good input, I bought a Nokia E71 on amazon for 300$. Activating a phone on a GSM carrier (like AT&T) consists of the following steps (It gets a little more complicated with the iPhone, but... let's not discuss the iPhone.): 1) Take SIM card out of old phone. (It's a tiny piece of credit card material that looks like an SD card's kid brother. Usually under the battery.) 2) Put SIM card in new phone. To add services, all you have to do is call them and add the service to the line (not the phone). dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Feb 23, 2009 |
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Feb 23, 2009 11:07
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Lumieres Train posted:* Country/Provider: USA/AT&T If you do join Verizon, how does that change budgeting and contract willingness? (Actually, the contract thing is kinda useful to know either way.) Also: Is 350 too much? How about 330?
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Feb 27, 2009 21:09
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Lumieres Train posted:My family currently has 3 lines on the 1400 minute family select plan, so adding a fourth line to that would make it $140, but then I'd still have to add my own data plan to that, right? So the Verizon and AT&T plans would cost roughly the same unless my math is messed up somewhere. I have an E71 myself, and it's pretty drat sweet. As for demos: I know there's a nonworking model of the E71 and the Touch Diamond (which admittedly isn't the Touch Pro, but is about 4mm thickness and a keyboard removed from it) at my local Radio Shack.
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Mar 1, 2009 02:11
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Total Fat Guy posted:Is there such a thing as a cellphone that doesn't have a slider, isn't a flippy phone, doesn't have a camera and isn't a touch screen? This also excludes phones with keyboards. Yes. But you're generally looking at some extremely low-end machines, in that case. Like Nokia 1000-series or Motorola F3 low. There ARE some decent phones which meet your criteria (see here) but not a single one is US 3G ready. Or you're on Sprint and you have a few options (edit: Like the Sanyo S1!), but Sprint makes it a pain in the rear end to look. Or you're on Verizon, which (according to their site) has nothing that meets your criteria. Or you live in Europe or Japan or something, in which case just get the camera-free variant of the Nokia E51 and be done with it. vv vv Yeah, I probably should have cited an example. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Mar 29, 2009 |
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Mar 29, 2009 04:14
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who's your crawdaddy posted:I'm wondering if I can get something thinner if I sacrifice the full keyboard and any other features besides calls and texts. If having a 9mm phone instead of a 10mm one is just that important to you, look into the Samsung A727. AT&T doesn't seem to offer them themselves anymore, but they should still be available at retail both online and off.
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Mar 31, 2009 02:17
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McKracken posted:Thanks. It seemed that way when I spent some more time going over the numbers last night. For some reason I thought it would be cheaper to pay individually. Well, AT&T IS selling the Fuze. Not a bad option if you see yourself on AT&T for at least another year or two. If not, wait til August and jump over to Sprint for the Touch Pro (coverage permitting).
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Apr 16, 2009 13:04
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Godzilla07 posted:Why would he want to jump to Sprint for the same phone? The Fuze and the Touch Pro are the same phone except with CDMA and GSM radio differences. Unless you mean for the EPRP plan and the Pre should be able to work on it. So the Pre would be a better choice than the Touch Pro even if he did jump to Sprint and it worked on the EPRP plan. Actually I meant for the Touch Pro, and yes, EPRP is implied. (And the delay is due to contracts.) The Pre isn't exactly proven technology, after all. Although I suppose if you're addicted to novelty you could do worse.
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Apr 17, 2009 21:24
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Florida Betty posted:# Country/Provider: For use in North Africa, Western Europe If this is going to be a primary phone - as in 'you'll use it in the States' - look for quadband. Probably won't be cheap. If not, 900/1800 is enough. You'll have to check, though, since it's easy to get confused on frequencies and North America has to be different from everyone else. That said, unless you're really worried about being eaten by customs, if you already HAVE a quadband phone, going to Europe is a pretty good excuse for getting an unlock code. (Ignore this line if you're on Verizon or Sprint.) All that said, as long as you're careful about getting the right frequency (again, 900/1800), the 1208 should be fine; lower end Nokia phones are robust as all hell. v v v Fair enough. And yes, that should do the trick. Good luck. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 17:28 on May 2, 2009 |
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May 2, 2009 04:25
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Godzilla07 posted:The 1208 only supports US frequencies plus it would be locked to T-Mobile. Get a phone like this. It's a quad-band unlocked GSM phone. Motorola can make junk phones but you said you don't really care about the phone. There's multiple variants of the 1208 (for different regions) and I'm pretty sure she's buying unlocked anyway.
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May 2, 2009 18:41
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georanma posted:Then how come the nokia page says Because people don't always use the right terms to refer to things. WCDMA as listed there is actually UMTS - in other words, the 3G extension of GSM (which is TDMA, which means that most 3G phones already have two radios). CDMA as most people know it is iS-95 (2G) or iS-2000 (3G). They may use the same basic composition, but HOW they use it is entirely different. Things like HSPA (for UMTS) or EVDO (for iS-2000) are simply data extensions to the protocols. EDIT: The Storm is meant to be a phone you can use in the outside world even if you're on Verizon, as if being able to pay $3 a minute is going to be any more effective a means of keeping people from hiring local service than just plain being unable to place a call. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 04:50 on May 4, 2009 |
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May 4, 2009 04:47
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georanma posted:request for clarification, I think And THAT is because A) Calling them 'GSM' and 'CDMA' is an inaccuracy we accept for expedience. In truth, 'GSM' is the 3GPP modulation standard (UMTS (WCDMA) with GSM fallback), and 'CDMA' is the 3GPP2 modulation standard (iS-2000 with iS-95 (CDMA) fallback). Yes, there were two different (and fairly unimaginative) industry bodies involved. In any case, using the 'right' names would be confusing and prejudicial. B) EGSM was some weird attempt in Europe to make GSM last longer. (It still uses TDMA and the true GSM protocol.) They had a good reason, though: unlike CDMA's 3G upgrade, which could be done in software (or at least firmware), GSM's used a whole different radio modulation, so they had to invest far more into 3G everywhere that wasn't CDMA territory (which meant that places like East Asia, Israel and the US got a bit of a lead in signal quality and data transfer - and, at least in the US, promptly pissed it away). v v v Yeah, I'd just do that. (This becomes really easy then: aside from the Storm, I don't know of any Verizon or Sprint phones in the US that have a port for SIMs, and none of them actually use SIMs to access Verizon or Sprint service.) dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 05:18 on May 4, 2009 |
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May 4, 2009 05:10
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Beat. posted:Question - I am using t-mobile pre paid / pay as you go service on a phone with a sim card. If I buy a new phone, can I just put that sim card into it and it works? Or does it depend on phone? Unlocked yes, foreign GSM carrier often (but make sure), T-Mobile to Go yes, T-Mobile maybe, AT&T (and other American GSM carriers) almost certainly not, CDMA carrier mu.
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May 21, 2009 23:22
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Lobster Maneuver posted:a phone that can use wifi For AT&T and T-Mobile, hit up GSMarena.com, and use their phone finder. Set WLAN to required. Enjoy your paradox of choice. (Note: You should probably set other options in the phone finder for other features you want to use. Once you get it below 70 it becomes a lot easier on you, since that's its $MAX_RESULTS.) For Sprint or Verizon, you'll have to do a lot of your own legwork, since you can't just check a 'WiFi' box on their phone searches. At least they tell you when you look at the details.... dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Jun 7, 2009 |
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Jun 7, 2009 03:03
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mune posted:I'm not quite sure what I want yet. You're thinking smartphone. Start thinking unlocked smartphone. It's one of the few Big drat Advantages AT&T has. While this does put the onus on you to make sure you get 3G that's compatible with the US (Hint: look for On top of this, you can use prepaid cellular overseas without having an Old Trek brawl with customer support, since you don't need them to unlock it, and AT&T won't have shat up the interface or filesystem to monetize it. And, in the event you decide to defect to T-Mobile, you don't have to replace your phone right away. (Though you'd eventually want to, because T-Mobile uses 1700+2100 for HSDPA, and finding a phone with all four bands is, I think, still pretty much impossible (or at least would leave a whole hell of a lot to be desired).) Check GSMarena's list of smartphones that work on AT&T Fast 3G, and come back with a clearer idea of what you want. (Granted, if you do go with an iPhone, you may as well get it through AT&T and jailbreak that sucker later, since dealing with AT&T is better than dealing with eBay.) dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 08:28
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Well, the goal is to buy it unlocked; take AT&T out of the loop entirely until the moment you throw your SIM card into your new phone and make calls or data or whatever with it. v v v That's the idea. Enjoy. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Jun 11, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 15:19
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kalibar posted:Is this a joke post? AT&T is a GSM carrier and therefore has an infinitely better "selection" than Verizon. Someone's selling an AT&T Tilt for 95 bucks right now on SA-Mart, if he can find a way to unlock it (hint: xda-developers).
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Jun 19, 2009 22:00
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Tedronai66 posted:# Country/Provider: US/ATT Sprint doesn't work in Europe (almost nowhere uses CDMA there). There are CDMA phones with GSM radios specifically for international use, but these are generally overpriced. Now's a bad time to make a decision anyway, with the pressure of trip planning on you. Wait until you get back to switch plans - and when you go, you might as well just get their equivalent of a lovely gophone anyway and tell people to call that number, because international roaming costs will make your existing gophone look even shittier.
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Aug 24, 2009 18:10
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Odd that I'm back in here on the other side of the table, but I'm the rear end in a top hat that managed to kill a Nokia E71. Nasty fall onto pavement from up an outdoor stairwell knocked out the screen and made it not charge - and it's well out of warranty and insurance. Still did everything (I could guess it was doing - calls, tethering, etc) until the battery wound down, though. Don't worry, I'm already being punished for it - I had to fall back to an N75. And before you ask why I should be allowed to use tin cans and fishing line, let alone five hundred dollars worth of space age, it's the first piece of electronic equipment I've actually managed to break. Country:  MSP: AT&T Plan: Covered, but only on AT&T. Yes, I know I'll lose the unlimited data plan. I don't think I've gone over even 1GB in any thirty days, much less the billing period. 2GB - even at $10 extra - will probably be fine. Budget: Not Vertu levels, but not an issue for anything I'd get at a corporate store. Upgrade Status: Available for a while (and, yes, still). I didn't get the E71 through AT&T, after all. I was hoping to wait long enough to get a phone that could replace my iPod in the same stroke (not necessarily an iPhone), but the over-32-GB media library that I'm not yet ready to pare down - and that N75 getting flaky, presumably because of it being a flimsy three year old flip-phone with card stock in it to force the battery and SIM connections and tower saturation issues - say otherwise. Edit: On second thought, it'd fit in 48. Bonus for the Captivate if/when proven reliable 32GB cards come out. What Sir Unimaginative knows about his usage posted:I don't have anything Nokia-specific that I'd miss. Good thing, because Nokia's left me feeling, ah, underappreciated (and it was long before the phone died). What I want to know: WM7 seems too new to evaluate it, WebOS's future is uncertain (last I checked) and never took off, and I don't like how Blackberrys do things (again, especially on AT&T). The thought of getting a GoPhone in the interim crossed my mind, but A) things would have to get really bad with the N75, and B) I don't have any idea how long it would take So, do I go for the iPhone 4, or the Samsung Captivate, or something else? Or is it still possible for the E71 to come back to life if only I'd get my dumb rear end into a support thread? Edit: So many minor corrections. Edit 2: Judgment Day: You know what, between 48GB storage, the small practical difference between 225000 and 70000 apps (effectively, 10% more use cases on the iPhone vs the Captivate, none of which I apparently fall under) and 'tethering like a mofo', this is basically a referendum on the Captivate vs a referendum on getting my E71 back in order. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Nov 11, 2010 |
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Nov 10, 2010 20:57
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Stew Man Chew posted:I'm pretty much stuck between the Evo Shift and a Samsung Epic because I could also use a physical keyboard, but I could be convinced to give the keyboard up if there's a particularly powerful processor in the phone. Android virtual keyboards are good enough (and having moving parts in your phone is risky enough) that if the physical keyboard isn't mission-critical, you're better off without one. Get the Evo. EDIT: Oh hey, the Shift has a sliding keyboard too!  I guess it's just between the Shift and the regular Evo, then. Still, consider the thoughts about the sliding keyboard.
dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Jan 10, 2011 |
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Jan 10, 2011 03:00
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Rastor posted:Welp, Sony takes lots of steps to lock down their phones and has also said they're not interested in upgrading them past 2.1. Except that the Galaxy S's problems have basically all been worked around (unless you're suggesting a Vibrant), and also it has the best sound output of ... well, just about any phone on the market, which... Edmond Dantes posted:They are probably going to replace my ipod touch as a music player, as there's no real reason to take both things with me, so that would be a consideration. ... uh, is apparently kind of important to him.
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Mar 18, 2011 00:48
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kalibar posted:I'm curious what you think remains unresolved about the Vibrant vs. the other Galaxy S phones. I don't know if they actually fixed the NAND fiasco in the Vibrant yet. If later batches don't have the issue, then the Vibrant is no worse than any other Galaxy S variant.
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Mar 18, 2011 12:13
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Oh yeah, someone asked how the GPS fix on Galaxy S goes. Sorry about the delay. If you're getting decent results already, you probably don't need this. If you're not, and you're on a TouchWiz ROM, including stock, use the inbuilt LbsTestMode. There are guides on XDA-developers and elsewhere. For AOSP or Cyanogen, there's ClockworkMod patches floating around - I used the Adams GPS Fix on CM7, myself. No matter what way you go, GPS Status is your new best friend. Just keep in mind that you'll probably only get multiples of 5 meters in Google Maps (I think on one CDMA variant, it might be hard-set to 30m). That's a hardware limitation, unfortunately. 5m is still "I'm a goddamn sorcerer" territory, though, when you get it. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Mar 18, 2011 |
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Mar 18, 2011 14:07
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Duckman2008 posted:It could just be me, but even with the extra music storage I don't think the Captivate is worth it. The Vibrant is based on the stock i9000. The Captivate is based on the i9010 (the Armani variant). Or maybe it's the Armani based on the Captivate - either way, no surprise they'd want less issues with the higher-cachet product. Also the Vibrant variant (both on TMo and on Bell) is notorious for hardware bullshit that none of the other i9000-based variants seem to exhibit - yeah, I know it's all about NAND, but if they can't even make system integrity a priority, what hope does the DAC have? TL;DR: The Vibrant is not a reliable basis for an opinion on the Captivate. Check an actual Captivate's sound quality and reassess. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Apr 20, 2011 |
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Apr 20, 2011 07:07
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