What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPhone4?

[Arrqh]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

Ultimately, if you trust HP to continue to support the platform then go for it... but most people aren't trusting them to do so. Do you really want to walk into a 2 year contract with a phone that may or may not have its support dropped at any time?

Not to mention, both the Android and iPhone app ecosystems are much more robust. There's not a lot of developers making apps for WebOS.

 

[JonathonWally]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

Can someone elaborate on the general consensus not to get the Palm Pixi Plus or Pre Plus from Palm? It seems a lot of people are telling me this is not a good platform right now.

HP just canned most of the Palm staff.

 

[Brent]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

HTC Aria - This is an Android 2.2 touch screen phone, all touch screen, no keyboard. It looks nice, performs pretty fast, i'm just not sure if I can get use to touch screen typing. I'm also not sure about the Android OS really and apps. I had an HTC phone once and I hated it.

This is incorrect, the Aria is a 2.1 device (no SenseUI devices are 2.2 yet) and it's a midrange phone. If you're comparing it to the iPhone 4 you're going to be disappointed.

Better Android alternatives are the Nexus One (if you can afford to pay full price and not get it subsidized) and the Captivate, which is AT&T's version of the Samsung Galaxy S. Unfortunately, AT&T has a history of screwing with their Android devices and crippling some of their capacities (the Nexus One being immune from this), not to mention their fairly anemic choice of devices. Options for Android are generally a lot better on the other carriers as AT&T would really prefer you buy an iPhone.

Wow, the Samsung Captivate does look good, will it be able to upgrade to Android 2.2 ?

 

[Arrqh]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

Samsung has said yes, but they didn't give a date.

 

[Brent]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

Cool, watching videos of it on youtube I'm really getting turned on about the Samsung Captivate now. I think the bigger screen will reduce my troubles with typing on a virtual keyboard, turn it sideways and it looks like there is plenty of room for my fingers so I won't mess up a lot typing. It seems the AT&T version does not have the front facing camera though, and no LED flash But the rest of it looks amazing, and it has the CPU and graphics power I'd like. It is a big phone though. I am leaning toward it now though. I'll have to try it out in the store and see how it feels.

 

[Arrqh]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

I'd definitely wait for reviews of the phone as well, AT&T has a history of screwing around with the software on their Android phones.

 

[JonathonWally]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

I'd definitely wait for reviews of the phone as well, AT&T has a history of screwing around with the software on their Android phones.

They have a history of screwing around with all their phones really.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

I'd definitely wait for reviews of the phone as well, AT&T has a history of screwing around with the software on their Android phones.

They have a history of screwing around with all their phones really.

They have a history of being AT&T, that's reason enough to shun them.

 

[Ruaidhri]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

Can someone elaborate on the general consensus not to get the Palm Pixi Plus or Pre Plus from Palm? It seems a lot of people are telling me this is not a good platform right now.

This article doesn't make it sound too bad though, like it will still be supported - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100701/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc3009

Basically, HP bought Palm. What will happen to it is anyone's guess. Do you really want to buy a phone that, six months down the road, might not even be supported anymore, or have no app store? It just seems like a needless risk to go with a platform that's in jeopardy when you've got two healthy, stable platforms to choose from (iPhone, Android.)

I will say, I love my Pre. But this stuff with HP worries me. I don't use the app store much--as a versatile smart phone though, it's a good piece of equipment. There has been limited support for the WebOS platform so far, and a fair number of delays. Palm was so small and cash poor that they gaven't been able to create as much product for their phones as their competitors. A shame really, because the Pre is a good phone.

 

[RapidNadion]

Re: What cell phone should I get - Pixi Plus, Pre Plus, HTC Aria, iPho

I know I'm pretty late to the party here, but I wanted to cut Palm some slack.

I just came from a year with the Palm Pre on Sprint, and IMO you just can't find a prettier or more fun user experience than webOS (the Pre/Pixi's operating system). Once you get the hang of it, it just makes day-to-day smartphone tasks a lot more fun.

That said, all the couterpoints here are valid - unless you're getting a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus on Verizon Wireless right now (free Mobile Hotspot is a great value), there's a lot of reasons to be scared of picking up a Pre. From the research I've done, it looks like HP is going to give the brand a lot of support, but the hardware is really dated at this point, and (again, as others have said) the app ecosystem is very anemic.

I just switched to the EVO 4G (an Android device mentioned previously) and do enjoy it. Android isn't as pretty, fun, intuitive, or polished as webOS, but it's more reliable, more powerful, and 70,000+ apps sure beats 3,000.

OP, have you made your purchase yet?