Opinions on Smartphones Wanted

[RoJoHen]

Having come from Blackberry, though, I would advise running away as far and as fast as you can. In my experience (and the experience of most BB owners I personally know, though certainly not all BB owners), they are fussy, quirky, high-maintenance, and have severe limitations if you do not have them paired with a company's enterprise server (as I did not.) Add to that the increasingly common world-wide network outages, not to mention the also increasingly precarious viability of RIM (the company that creates them), and I really cannot recommend BB as a good option. That having been said, they do still have the largest selection of smartphones with a physical keyboard at this point, and I do know people who are willing to put up with the inconveniences just to have a keyboard.

I've noticed that this seems to be the case with certain BB models, but not all of them for some reason or another. My BB Torch is awesome. I have never had a problem with it, and I honestly would hesitate to ever trade it in. It does everything I need it to do, and it does it well.

However, I have known people with different BB phones, and they have had a variety of issues with them.

 

[Small White Car]

Personally I think the Windows phones look better than Androids now. I'm saying that based on software, though. I have no experience comparing the hardware between those devices, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

But I'm saying this as an iPhone lover. I say Windows because they seem to be the ones more closely following Apple's business model, which I think is better for the consumer than Google's is. That matters to me, but since you already said you don't like the iPhone I don't know how much my opinion should matter to you.

 

[RAMA]

I've been very happy with my EVO Shift, and I'm sure the new EVOs are good quality. If I were upgrading now I'd go with a 1.5ghz dual core phone with 1gb of RAM. No matter how well you manage your memory RAM seems to be the most important thing on the phone. These 5 phones have 1gb of RAM, the ATRIX is carried by AT&T:

http://www.technoawareness.com/five-useful-smartphones-1gb-ram-memory.asp

RAMA

 

[Timby]

I'm on a first-generation Motorola Droid, and while it's getting a little long in the tooth (I've had it since April 2010; the battery life is starting to suck out loud and having more than two apps open makes the phone cry), I'm a big fan of the operating system and the Motorola hardware.

What originally drew me to the Droid over an HTC model (I think at the time, I was looking at the Incredible, or maybe the Eris) was the physical keyboard, but I can honestly say that I haven't slid out my phone's keyboard in over a year -- the touch-screen keyboard is just so much more convenient for me.

 

[sojourner]

^ditto, though I haven't had any battery issues with my droid. I do have issues with the battery cover. Mine was an early production run.

 

[Timby]

I have a case on my phone, so the battery cover sliding off isn't really an issue. I think the battery's just starting to croak due to age -- I'm very much the definition of a power user due to my job, so that battery has been cycled so many times it isn't even funny.

My contract is up in April, but I'm eligible for an upgrade beginning next month, so I'm interested to see what pops up in the next couple of months. Intrigued by the Droid RAZR, but with the HTZ Rezound and Samsung Galaxy Nexus looming, I have a feeling either one of those will trump Motorola's newest offering.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

Having come from Blackberry, though, I would advise running away as far and as fast as you can. In my experience (and the experience of most BB owners I personally know, though certainly not all BB owners), they are fussy, quirky, high-maintenance, and have severe limitations if you do not have them paired with a company's enterprise server (as I did not.) Add to that the increasingly common world-wide network outages, not to mention the also increasingly precarious viability of RIM (the company that creates them), and I really cannot recommend BB as a good option. That having been said, they do still have the largest selection of smartphones with a physical keyboard at this point, and I do know people who are willing to put up with the inconveniences just to have a keyboard.

I've noticed that this seems to be the case with certain BB models, but not all of them for some reason or another. My BB Torch is awesome. I have never had a problem with it, and I honestly would hesitate to ever trade it in. It does everything I need it to do, and it does it well.

However, I have known people with different BB phones, and they have had a variety of issues with them.

Good point. In all fairness, I should also have noted that my BB Storm was old enough that I was not able to upgrade to OS6 (much less any of the subsequent OSs), which may well have taken care of some of these issues (such as having to do the infamous BB "Battery Pull" fairly regularly - it's funny how you just get used to stuff like that.)

And, as annoying as some things about my BB were by the end - again, as my FB friends have heard me whine - there are some very basic things a BB will let you do that an iPhone will not, such as: having different notification tones for different email accounts; plus there's no LED notifier on an iPhone (though the flash can be made to act in this way to a limited degree - I still miss my variable color LED notifications); and the iPhone does not allow "profiles" so, for instance, it takes multiple utterly non-intuitive steps just to get the thing so that the notifications are silent at night but the phone will ring through in case of emergency and the alarm will sound in the morning, something that was an available pre-set profile on my BB.

 

[Holdfast]

My smartphone is pretty ancient now (about a 4-5 year old HTC), but it's held up very nicely and was so far ahead of the curve at time of purchase that it still does loads of things that have only become standard smartphone fare over the past couple of years.

Having had the phone that long, I'm long since off-contract, and have negotiated down the monthly cost to just £15 for unlimited internet, near-unlimited texts, and more free voice minutes than I ever use. It's a sweet deal, enough so that when I do get a new phone, it will be cheaper to pay full whack to buy an unlocked handset and then just transfer my tariff to the new sim.

I'm vaguely thinking about getting the new Nokia Lumia 800. Windows Phone appeals to me a great deal, esp. now that their latest update has fixed a couple of niggles that deterred me previously, and the Lumia has turn-by-turn navigation built-in which is a function I use very frequently. Might get it for Christmas.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I have a disposable prepaid cell which is so ancient that I believe it uses steam power, but if I ever broke into smartphones, it would most definitely be an iPhone. I am very brand-loyal to Apple and I would not deviate from that under any circumstances. Unfortunately I can't afford the damn data plan (I dearly wish that there was a kind of 'iPhone Lite' that did not HAVE a data plan and could just make calls and that's it) otherwise I'd already have one!

 

[backstept]

My smartphone is pretty ancient now (about a 4-5 year old HTC), but it's held up very nicely and was so far ahead of the curve at time of purchase that it still does loads of things that have only become standard smartphone fare over the past couple of years.

Having had the phone that long, I'm long since off-contract, and have negotiated down the monthly cost to just £15 for unlimited internet, near-unlimited texts, and more free voice minutes than I ever use. It's a sweet deal, enough so that when I do get a new phone, it will be cheaper to pay full whack to buy an unlocked handset and then just transfer my tariff to the new sim.

I'm vaguely thinking about getting the new Nokia Lumia 800. Windows Phone appeals to me a great deal, esp. now that their latest update has fixed a couple of niggles that deterred me previously, and the Lumia has turn-by-turn navigation built-in which is a function I use very frequently. Might get it for Christmas.

the WP7 Mango update added turn-by-turn so it's standard on all the handsets
the Lumia 800 is by far the phone to get . . . best of the bunch right now, but sadly won't come to the US for a good while

 

[doubleohfive]

iPhone is the winner.

I was on a Blackberry Curve for three years. Damn thing drove me nuts. Once I switched to the iPhone4 on Verizon, I realized I'd found the perfect smartphone. I can't possibly recommend it enough.

 

[Trekker4747]

I have a Blackberry Curve and I'm not thrilled with it. It's frozen a few times and the camera is crap. People I know who have the BB Bold and Torch are very happy with them, though, so it's probably just my cheapo model (it was free with my 24-month contract) that's iffy.

That phone's camera is pretty crap, but it was supposed to be an "entry level phone' so hardly indicative of what Blackberries are/can do. The camera on my Bold is pretty good.

 

[Timby]

I am very brand-loyal to Apple and I would not deviate from that under any circumstances. Unfortunately I can't afford the damn data plan (I dearly wish that there was a kind of 'iPhone Lite' that did not HAVE a data plan and could just make calls and that's it) otherwise I'd already have one!

First, loyalty to a brand is silly. What has Apple ever done for you?

Second, learn to cook at home instead of eating out / eating frozen foods seven days a week, and you'll save a shit-ton of money, and then you could easily afford that data plan.

Third, what in the world? What's the point of having an iPhone (or any other smartphone) without a data plan? Are you actually saying you'd buy an iPhone just because it's sold by Apple?

 

[Holdfast]

My smartphone is pretty ancient now (about a 4-5 year old HTC), but it's held up very nicely and was so far ahead of the curve at time of purchase that it still does loads of things that have only become standard smartphone fare over the past couple of years.

Having had the phone that long, I'm long since off-contract, and have negotiated down the monthly cost to just £15 for unlimited internet, near-unlimited texts, and more free voice minutes than I ever use. It's a sweet deal, enough so that when I do get a new phone, it will be cheaper to pay full whack to buy an unlocked handset and then just transfer my tariff to the new sim.

I'm vaguely thinking about getting the new Nokia Lumia 800. Windows Phone appeals to me a great deal, esp. now that their latest update has fixed a couple of niggles that deterred me previously, and the Lumia has turn-by-turn navigation built-in which is a function I use very frequently. Might get it for Christmas.

the WP7 Mango update added turn-by-turn so it's standard on all the handsets
the Lumia 800 is by far the phone to get . . . best of the bunch right now, but sadly won't come to the US for a good while

I thought Mango only added the theoretical ability to implement turn-by-turn, whereas Lumia actually has the software built-in for free (rather than needing to buy software to do it)?

In any event, I agree that Lumia definitely seems a step up from anything else right now. Especially with regard to battery life (also important to me, as I'm sometimes lazy about plugging my current phone into the cigarette charger while driving and using it for navigation over shorter distances of a few miles or so).

When are you getting it in the States? It seems weird for us in the UK to get something BEFORE you guys!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, I don't understand why somebody would buy an iPhone just to talk on the phone. That's like buying an airplane, then just using it to drive back and forth to the grocery store.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Because making calls is all I need in a cellphone.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

^ Because making calls is all I need in a cellphone.

Then why would you even want an iPhone? Several hundred bucks for something to make calls on is a bit excessive, don't you think? A barebones cellphone is plenty adequate for you, or even just one of those cheap feature phones.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I like the iPhone's interface, its ease of use in calling, and the syncing of contacts with my computer.

I realize they probably won't actually *do* this, but I don't see why the iPhone's Internet functionality, iPod, camera, etc. couldn't all be excised and a 'pure phone' be made from it.

 

[An Officer]

^ They don't sell pay as you go iphones where you are? Then you can use the wifi for your browsing - which seems abundant and free in most places these days - they have an "app for that" as they say. You could probably acquire an unlocked one online if you wanted it bad enough.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They don't sell pay as you go iphones where you are?

As far as I know, no, they don't. I've certainly never heard of such a thing. IIRC, all iPhones have to have a contract and a data plan.

I couldn't, for example, take the SIM card out of my cheap-ass disposable cell and stick it in an iPhone. That wouldn't work. I wish it would, since I hate the phone I have now - its controls are damn awkward and its display very hard to read. I'd dearly love to have a phone that worked like an iPhone, but that's apparently not possible.