OT. Best Cell Phones?
I have used a Treo at work for a few years and just recently upgraded to a Blackberry for my personal cell. After about a week to compare, I have to rate the Blackberry far superior.
Surfing with the Blackberry ball is much easier than the cursor I have with my Treo, also the way the pages format on the screen of the Blackberry is much much better.
I have to say the Treo is preferable in its editing functions and ease in deleting text messages
Anyone else care to share good cell phone brands? Might be helpful to our fellow Mgobloggers with the holiday season upon us.
PS: I was able to get 2 Blackberry's for $50 after 100 rebate for adding another line. Cost $20 to add the line but they gave $20 off a month for 2 years when I signed up.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:52 PM ^
Pulling the exact same gig as you...easily the best way to go. I've had the phone for just over a full year now and it's already saved me more than the cost of the phone.
The E71 has wifi, a perfect physical keyboard, and is more well-built than any phone I've ever owned. Perfect for what I want.
The only downside to this plan is you need to use a GSM network. The U.S. GSM networks are AT&T and T-Mobile. This means no Verizon, which is usually considered the best network overall. I have AT&T and the service in Ann Arbor typically isn't the best and is downright terrible on game days.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:03 PM ^
Could you (or non emu) explain exactly how that works? Thanks.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:54 PM ^
So basically you can purchase a cell phone that is labeled as "unlocked", insert your SIM card into the phone, and then use that phone with your phone number and network on the same plan you had with your old phone.
Now obviously there are a few specs you have to make sure line up: for one, you need to have a GSM carrier (AT&T and T-Mo in the U.S.) because their phones use SIM cards. Another thing you need to make sure of is that the frequency used by the phone is the same as that of the network you plan to use it on. Most spec sheets will specify if it works on AT&T or T-Mobile, and most unlocked phones are tri- or quad-band and will work with either network and overseas.
If you want more info, I would check out this informative page on Amazon. Hope that helps.
December 7th, 2009 at 9:29 PM ^
Droid Eris. It's the bomb!
December 7th, 2009 at 9:44 PM ^
Been checking some of their high-end stuff lately... anyone have any experiences good/bad?
December 7th, 2009 at 9:51 PM ^
I have a Jack, not sure if that's "high-end" or not.
It's a nice phone, Blackberry-style keyboard but arrows instead of a rollerball. It has nowhere near the talk time (or standby) that's promised when you buy it, which really irked me at first, but seems to be an issue with other smart phones as well. It runs Windows Mobile, but I bet the next iteration will run the new Windows system, whatever it's called.
I'm not in love with it like iPhone/Droid people are with their phones, but I'm also not as much of a tech geek as some. Mainly I despise touchscreen keyboards with a passion, so I like the Jack's keyboard. Also it's fantastically light.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:32 PM ^
I'm really starting to wish I had gotten a phone that had a physical keyboard along with a full touchscreen surface...AKA the Droid.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^
Sammy's typically have good to excellent hardware/build quality and bad to awful/almost unusable software and menus. If you can deal with the bad OS, the new Omnia II is a decent phone...that being said, there are better choices out there. Check out the review for the Omnia II from Gizmodo if you'd like more details.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:00 AM ^
Not all of them run Samsung OS; the Jack and the Blackjack run Windows Mobile, IIRC.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:56 PM ^
Yeah, their smartphones do run Win Mo...problem is that they transpose their own skin/menu system over Win Mo on their newest phones and it's apparently terrible.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:35 PM ^
Wow, I'm surprised how few iPhones are showing up here. The thing has practically become an appendage for me. It's an amazing little machine.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:02 AM ^
If the iPhone a) had a physical keyboard and b) was maybe on another network, I would recommend it. I use my BF's all the time, and I really like some things about it, but my god do I ever hate that keyboard, especially when you're in a moving vehicle.
Also AT&T is a whole other kind of terrible.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:58 PM ^
like Scrooge McDuck I would.
iphone all the way.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:04 AM ^
+1 for Scrooge McDuck
December 8th, 2009 at 8:09 PM ^
The lack of keys took a bit of getting used to, but once I got past it I found it is waaay faster than a regular keyboard. Replaced my iPod, cell phone, dictaphone, Palm Pilot, etc. all in one device, and I can even travel without my laptop now. My contract ends this July, just in time for the next generation iPhone AND for AT&T to lose their exclusivity (per macrumors.com).
December 9th, 2009 at 1:40 PM ^
Big iphone fan here. As a mac user my Blackberry was a major PITA to keep sync'd. Dragon just released their dictation app (free) which kills my only iphone grumbling (lack of keyboard).