Which Phone For Me?

[BrokeEnthusiast]

Okay I am in need of a new phone, It needs to be a smartphone or PDA or whatever its called.

Here is what I need it to do:

-Work as a phone
-Connect to wireless network
-Access E-mail
-Calender feature where I can see things in a month view, then click on individual days and see hour by hour view
-Additional storage
-connect to computer and sync with contacts, email, ect.
-good battery life
-no bricks

I would love to find something that I can just take the SIM card out of my phone and put it in whatever new thing I buy. Price is ???

[Chandler]

Verizon.

[shivers]

if you want to keep your SIM card, you're limited to GSM (T-Mobile or ATT).

[bowlcut]

any phone really.... but the kicker is...what email do you have? i have a treo and it....works sorta. i have to charge it often. i have to reboot it almost daily if i am using it a bit.

the samsung blackjack is pretty darn sweet for a windows based phone.

treo is the only other major non windows....it sorta works.

then there is the iphone.


i want an iphone i tell ya. if you use webmail or yahoo....its perfect

[pjs97talon]

I don't know which Nokia would fit the bill for sure, but that would be my choice. I have never had a problem with any of my Nokias and I have been using them for over 12 years.

[LINELOCKSRUS]

i got sprint & i just bought the new motorola " Q " & the internet it real fast too !!!!!!! :up: i love my new phone !!!!!!

[BrokeEnthusiast]

Well the whole campus here is wireless so thats all I would need it to do, not like blackberry's internet thing. I have At&T dunno if that matters.. Does the treo or blackjack take a sim card? the blackjack looks like what I would like to have if it works/syncs with my computer (I have a Mac Powerbook G4)

I use an outlook based email thing or I think its called exchange account. Let me know if I need to give more info.

[BrokeEnthusiast]

I went to check out the specs on the blackjack and from here I found it doesnt support wifi
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=mobilephones&type=mobilephones&subtype=att&model_cd=SGH-I607ZKACIN&fullspec=F

so now im checking on the Q and the Treo

[BrokeEnthusiast]

Im really considering the iPhone right now...but I would love some input from other people. I just have heard horror stories about people bills, or people sweating when they run with their iphone and then messing it up completely ect.

I need input guys and I want to have a decision by the end of the week

[bowlcut]

the bill fiasco is old news now, and people traveling out of country. as i see it right now, if i were an AT&T customer, id go iPhone. if you stay in your coverage area and not roaming the iphone is great. i dont have one but i know plenty that do. if you like ipod's or mac's then the ipod just makes sense. if you have open wifi around you its even nicer as its fast surfing and emailing.

but if you aren't into ipods or the whole semi locked down experience....id say a blackjack. ive heard great things out of them. or the blackberry pearl.

also remember, with any of these phones, you are looking at a bill of around 100 a month. the unlimited data plans are not cheap.

[abailey362]

I have a treo 650 on AT&T, which I know is old but it's been a good phone. I use Versamail for email to sync with the work exchange server. I set the auto sync on 1 hr and can manual sync whenever I need to(cuts down on battery consumption). I usually get 2.5-3 days on a change and talk on average 4000 minutes a month plus data usuage.
For a PDA it's been very durable - been dropped multiple times and keeps on ticking. It can take up to a 2GB card for storage, and since it's AT&T it's SIM based.
We sell the Blackjack and I tried it out and didnt like it, mainly due to no tocuh screen which I've gotten used to.
The treo also has mass amounts of software and freeware available out there.

[bowlcut]

you like your treo? ive got a 650 with verizon. corp uses goodlink for its mail. i do like the push method of email way better than sync's. good works pretty good, i wouldnt call it great. as for the treo as a pda...i like touch screen. but its very dated. palm is killing itself by not releasing garnet. but i could not see myself buying a 650 as my personal phone. corp buying it i dont complain. as a phone i cant stand it. talk time sucks. as a multimedia device its horrid as it doesnt have enough processor and palm software sucks. tcpmp was marginal at best.

i honestly couldnt recomend a 650 or really any treo to someone as a personal phone. for work....sure its not bad, gets the job done. but i think its a horrid brick of a phone.

[GT_Rat]

I won't do an I-Phone until they get it connecting to AT&T's broadband network. Without that access the I-Phone is just a glorified I-Pod. I'm thinking about getting a Mogul from Sprint. Just have to decide if I want to drop my walkie-talkie access via Nextel.

[majikTib]

I have a Treo 755p and I love it. It doesn't do wireless networks, but the Sprint network is fast enough for me. A test I did rated it about 96k. I have a dead battery by 10pm, but that's because I'm always checking e-mail, text msg, or something else on it. I like the Treo more than my wife's blackberry. Treo data plans @ Sprint are $15/mo. I think and $49/mo. with Blackberry data plans (blackberry charges more for data plans).

The Treo I think has 2GB or 4GB max mini-SD card slot. I have a 2GB card in there but I think it maxes out at 4GB. It also works great with my GMail account - you can load multiple e-mail accounts to manage and it already has settings for the general stuff like GMail, Sprint, Comcast, Apple, Yahoo, Hotmail, Bellsouth, etc. (about 40 or so) so all you have to do is select your service and it loads the default settings for that account.

I've suggested it to people, and a co-worker and his girlfriend bought a 755 and enjoy it also

edit: I don't use Good, I use the default e-mail program it comes with for free. The executives here are given a Treo and the company pays for them to use Good... it syncs pretty well with their outlook and contact stuff, but the regular free e-mail program that's loaded on my 755 is more than adequate.

[BrokeEnthusiast]

I dont care about connecting to the internet through whatever AT&T's thing is, I just want it to use the wireless network that I have around me 24/7 to connect to my e-mail and access the internet, so do you still have to pay for that or is it even an option? For instance if you bought a PDA that has WiFi capabilities you dont have to pay for a plan to use it you just have to connect. besides that I would use the text messaging and the minutes that come with the $60 plan.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html

[BrokeEnthusiast]

I called AT&T and talked to them, in the $60 a month you pay for the basic plan $20 of that goes to the unlimited internet acess. If you carry an iPhone you will be able to access the EDGE network or whatever slow internet thing they have. EVEN if you only want to be able to connect to WIFI. So...Im still looking around because I would like to find something that I can buy, drop my sim card into, and connect to WIFI without having to up my bill....dunno if thats possible

[GT_Rat]

No, you don't have to pay for WiFi connection (at least I don't think you do). I'd just rather be able to connect at any time than worry about if I'm close enough to a WiFi hotspot to get a connection. If I get out of the coverage area enought to not be able to connect then I have the WiFi option as a backup since you can find a Starbucks or Krystals or someone around that is running a WiFi hotspot.

[majikTib]

I believe T-Mobile has that available. I also heard that if you are connecting via WiFi, your calls can go over broadband instead of using your minutes.

[BrokeEnthusiast]

anyone know anything about the T-mobile Dash? I'll say it again, I would like to buy it on ebay and put my sim card in it, not pay for the edge network, and just use a wifi connection and the software that comes on the phone

[BrokeEnthusiast]

Is there a GSM (dont really know what that is but apparently Im limited to those phones) version of the Treo? I think that is the phone I would like to get if I can buy it on ebay and pop in my SIM card. Thanks for all the help guys, I apreciate it

[slowlx]

i've had an 8125 for a little over a year now and it's pretty fair. the new 8525 seems to have corrected some of the issues i've experienced with mine. it's got built-in wifi, so you don't need a data plan to connect to either the internet or email. it also syncs perfectly with outlook as well. my only complaint is it's a little big but the slide-out keyboard rocks for email and texts. i also like the additional touchscreen real estate over the treo's. makes viewing email/websites better.

[majikTib]

I thought you may find this interesting:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137294-c,cellphones/article.html

Sprint Unveils Home Cells to Boost Signal
Sprint Nextel has started selling femtocells, small base stations for homes to improve coverage.
Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 06:00 AM PDT

Underdog mobile operator Sprint Nextel Corp. quietly rolled out an emerging technology on Monday to give customers a strong cellular signal and flat-rate calling at home.

In parts of Denver and Indianapolis, Sprint started selling a femtocell, a small cellular base station that provides service specifically to a customer's home. The Sprint Airave, made by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., costs US$49.99 and is designed for people to install in their own homes by plugging it into a broadband Internet connection. Then they can pay a flat monthly rate -- $15 for an individual and $30 for a family -- for unlimited local and nationwide long-distance calls while at home.

The Airave works with any Sprint handset, and when the subscriber leaves home, a call will automatically shift over to the outside cellular network.
Femtocells are designed to solve the problem of weak cellular signals in homes, which is common in the U.S. They are an alternative to Wi-Fi phones, which are available only in a limited selection, though they work with wireless LAN gear that's already widely used in homes.

Sprint is at least the first major U.S. carrier to offer femtocells, which are expected to enter the market in high volume in 2009. The carrier plans to start selling the Airave all across Denver and Indianapolis, as well as in Nashville, Tennessee, by year's end. It will be offered nationwide in 2008, Sprint said in a press release.

The move is the latest use of new technology by Sprint, a smaller rival to Verizon Wireless Inc. and AT&T Inc.'s wireless division, in a bid to compete. The Overland Park, Kansas, carrier is also set to roll out WiMax wireless broadband on a limited basis later this year and to cities across the country next year.

Femtocells take their name from "femto," which denotes a small order of size in physics. The idea has been around a long time but until recently was held up by size and cost concerns. Now several carriers in various countries are considering deploying them, according to vendors and analysts. While helping subscribers get good service, the devices save carriers from deploying more expensive base stations on towers just to keep up with the growing number of people trying to use 3G (third-generation) mobile data services.

One question yet to be answered about femtocells is whether they will interfere with the existing outdoor cellular network. That can only be answered through real-world deployments, analysts say.

Sprint's offer comes sooner and at a lower price than many observers expected. The price is especially notable because Sprint isn't forcing buyers into long-term contracts. Sprint must be subsidizing the cost, said In-Stat analyst Allen Nogee.

"I guarantee it costs more than $50," Nogee said. However, the carrier will make back some of its cost through the special flat service charge, he said, because it wouldn't be making any money off the calls anyway -- many calls at home are made during nights and weekends when they are free, he added. Maybe most importantly, the Airave could help Sprint cultivate loyal customers and get consumers to give up their landlines -- along with their relationships with Verizon and AT&T, he said.