Time for a new cell phone

[not4u13]

I'm on Verizon and my contract is up. I get a $100 credit towards a new phone plus the 2-year contract price which means I can get a Droid for $99 or a Palm Pre Plus for $49 ... and so on.

I looked at cnet reviews for a bunch of the phones out there and I really like the Droid but I'm leaning toward the Palm. Both of these require the $30 data plan.

Now I've noticed something else about Verizon. They started to require a $10 data plan with some of their 3G phones. The LG enV3 for example. This just seems silly to me. We have a family plan and choose not to pay extra for a data plan and have 2 of these enV3 phones on the plan already, but any new 3G phones will require this extra $10 plan.

Curious to hear what you people seem to like.

Considerations for regular phones are:
Motorola Rival
Samsung Intensity
LG enV3

Considerations for smartphones are:
Motorola Droid
Palm Pre Plus

Thoughts??

[SoMelo]

I'm on Verizon and my contract is up. I get a $100 credit towards a new phone plus the 2-year contract price which means I can get a Droid for $99 or a Palm Pre Plus for $49 ... and so on.

I looked at cnet reviews for a bunch of the phones out there and I really like the Droid but I'm leaning toward the Palm. Both of these require the $30 data plan.

Now I've noticed something else about Verizon. They started to require a $10 data plan with some of their 3G phones. The LG enV3 for example. This just seems silly to me. We have a family plan and choose not to pay extra for a data plan and have 2 of these enV3 phones on the plan already, but any new 3G phones will require this extra $10 plan.

Curious to hear what you people seem to like.

Considerations for regular phones are:
Motorola Rival
Samsung Intensity
LG enV3

Considerations for smartphones are:
Motorola Droid
Palm Pre Plus

Thoughts??

My contract is also up with Verizon and I'm not happy about the new plans.
One of the things I am considering is buying a Verizon phone (probably refurbished) from ebay and then just activate it and bypass the data plan.
I ordered the Rival but returned it, as with the Droid, they have the smaller keyboard and you have to use the shift key to enter numbers. I use the number keys too much to use it, also the Rival doesn't have a touch screen.
If you don't use the internet a lot the $30 plan is a waste. The enV looks just like my Voyager. If I was going to get any of their phones right now it would be the Samsung Rogue, but I'm going to hold out a few more months just to see if they have anything better coming out.

[GOODave]

You've probably already done all this, but for me it came down to "wants" vs. "needs" and all that I really use a cell phone for is, well, a cell phone. My wife got me a Palm Centro which is billed as similar to the pre, but it's not really unless you consider a Taurus similar to a Buick Century: Both are cars, of course, but the difference is in the programs and the extras.

The Centro has all the stuff a cell phone (that is used pretty much exclusively as a cell phone) needs: Contacts, speed dials, call logs. Plus it has a bunch of extra stuff if I want to pay for the data package (and I don't). I can watch TV on it, send and receive e-mail from my e-mail account (my regular one), games (of course) and music downloads (I can upload music to it as-is, if that is my inclination).

When it came right down to it, I don't really use a cell phone for much, but I do realize a lot of folks DO use it for a lot of other stuff.

OH, and btw, the 1.5 mpxl camera that comes with it really REALLY sucks.

[John Q. Public]

Do any of these smartphones come with... like... instructions???

The Foreign Babe got a T-Mobile myTouch w/Android and lots of cool features - but it didn't come with any kind of book. They told her, "Well, you can look it up on the web and print it out if you like." It was a 150-page PDF, so it would have cost her a new ream of paper, a printer cartridge and a binder to print her instructions. And since she doesn't have an especially high level of patience, trying to read it on her laptop, or the phone, didn't sound like a good idea, either. Plus, it didn't understand her accent, so she'd try to call me and she'd get her friend Gabi instead.

The phone didn't last a week.

[SoMelo]

Do any of these smartphones come with... like... instructions???

The Foreign Babe got a T-Mobile myTouch w/Android and lots of cool features - but it didn't come with any kind of book. They told her, "Well, you can look it up on the web and print it out if you like." It was a 150-page PDF, so it would have cost her a new ream of paper, a printer cartridge and a binder to print her instructions. And since she doesn't have an especially high level of patience, trying to read it on her laptop, or the phone, didn't sound like a good idea, either. Plus, it didn't understand her accent, so she'd try to call me and she'd get her friend Gabi instead.

The phone didn't last a week.

I don't blame her, I gave up reading instructions a year ago. If I can't figure it out or don't want to pay someone to figure it out for me, I don't need it. (good thing I don't have to assemble anything for my kids anymore)

[not4u13]

I ended up purchasing the Palm Pre Plus for me plus an LG env3 and a Samsung Intensity. I paid nothing for any of the hardware, but had to add the plans and agree to a new two year term.

The real reason I want a smartphone is for mail and calendar, but I also want a browser. Plus, I discovered a cool app called "My Tether" for the Palm OS. With that app I can use the phone as a modem for my laptop.

[kramer]

The real reason I want a smartphone is for mail and calendar, but I also want a browser.

I got my first smartphone a little over a year ago and it of course has a browser and I can also read my email. At the time, I didn't think much of having these features but now that I have them, I can't picture myself without a smartphone.

When I got the smartphone, I first got the samsung instinct for something like $79 dollars with a 2 year sprint contract. About 2 weeks later, I went back to bestbuy to get something for it and they had the blackberry curves for free with a 2 year contract so I decided to switch and save the $79 dollars. Looking back, that was a good decision.

[SoMelo]

I ended up purchasing the Palm Pre Plus for me plus an LG env3 and a Samsung Intensity. I paid nothing for any of the hardware, but had to add the plans and agree to a new two year term.

The real reason I want a smartphone is for mail and calendar, but I also want a browser. Plus, I discovered a cool app called "My Tether" for the Palm OS. With that app I can use the phone as a modem for my laptop.

I broke down and ordered the new Motorola Devour with Motoblur (not sure what the hell motoblur is yet).. Very similar to the Droid BUT it has 4 line keyboard

[Notorious]

Have any of you heard if/when the nexus one will be coming to verizon?

[not4u13]

I broke down and ordered the new Motorola Devour with Motoblur (not sure what the hell motoblur is yet).. Very similar to the Droid BUT it has 4 line keyboard

This should be a good phone. Funny thing is that this particular phone was one of the reasons I chose Palm instead of the Droid. This Devour is cheaper than the Droid but what was surprising to me is that it is a NEW device that is running on the OLDER Android 1.6 operating system. It caused me to stop and think why Motorola, who is supporting Android 2.0 with its Droid phone would also support the older Android 1.6? It tells me that Google plans on keeping 1.6 AND 2.0 in production for some time.

Compare that to the WEB OS from Palm. As this OS is upgraded, all devices (even older ones) are getting the upgrade. I am on version 1.4. New features and fixes are made available with each new release. The original version of the Palm Pre didn't include video capture. Now, with 1.4, all of the phones (including the older ones) have video capture.

I think the Devour will be a great phone.

[not4u13]

Have any of you heard if/when the nexus one will be coming to verizon?

I had originally heard it would be April ... but I haven't heard anything lately.

[SoMelo]

This should be a good phone. Funny thing is that this particular phone was one of the reasons I chose Palm instead of the Droid. This Devour is cheaper than the Droid but what was surprising to me is that it is a NEW device that is running on the OLDER Android 1.6 operating system. It caused me to stop and think why Motorola, who is supporting Android 2.0 with its Droid phone would also support the older Android 1.6? It tells me that Google plans on keeping 1.6 AND 2.0 in production for some time.

Compare that to the WEB OS from Palm. As this OS is upgraded, all devices (even older ones) are getting the upgrade. I am on version 1.4. New features and fixes are made available with each new release. The original version of the Palm Pre didn't include video capture. Now, with 1.4, all of the phones (including the older ones) have video capture.

I think the Devour will be a great phone.

I have a month to change my mind...

[RPW]

Droid is outstanding.

[~44~]

Droid is outstanding.

Love, love, love my Driod...

Pretty much a laptop...

[slowyoroll]

I'm on Verizon and my contract is up. I get a $100 credit towards a new phone plus the 2-year contract price which means I can get a Droid for $99 or a Palm Pre Plus for $49 ... and so on.

I looked at cnet reviews for a bunch of the phones out there and I really like the Droid but I'm leaning toward the Palm. Both of these require the $30 data plan.

Now I've noticed something else about Verizon. They started to require a $10 data plan with some of their 3G phones. The LG enV3 for example. This just seems silly to me. We have a family plan and choose not to pay extra for a data plan and have 2 of these enV3 phones on the plan already, but any new 3G phones will require this extra $10 plan.

Curious to hear what you people seem to like.

Considerations for regular phones are:
Motorola Rival
Samsung Intensity
LG enV3

Considerations for smartphones are:
Motorola Droid
Palm Pre Plus

Thoughts??

I haven't seen the Palm up close but I absolutely love
my new blackberry Curve..It's not too big like many of the
other Blackberry's

[RPW]

You can never be lost with a Droid. I heard you can download Snoop Dog for your turn by turn navigation voice. Keep it real in the LBC.

[SoMelo]

Droid is outstanding.

I wanted a keyboard I didn't have to hit the shift key to enter numbers...

[SoMelo]

Love, love, love my Driod...




You can never be lost with a Droid. I heard you can download Snoop Dog for your turn by turn navigation voice. Keep it real in the LBC.

I'd love to hear his directions to Roscoe's

[RPW]

Acutally I am thinking the cell phone will be phased out soon. Too many high profile people are getting jacked by year old text messages coming back to kick them in the nuts.

[not4u13]

I haven't seen the Palm up close but I absolutely love
my new blackberry Curve..It's not too big like many of the
other Blackberry's

I chose the Palm over the Curve and the Droid for a few reasons.

First, I like the form factor. It is smaller than the other two and smaller than the iPhone.
Second, the screen on the palm is much better than the curve. It is vibrant and it is bigger.
I also like the wifi capability that doesn't seem to be there in the Droid. I know this sounds strange, but at my desk at work, I can't get a cell signal, but I can get a wifi signal. So, at least I can use my phone for an Internet device, even if I can't get a phone call.

The keypad is really small and that is a bit of pain sometimes. Even though I don't have separate number keys, I do find that context sensative areas automatically switch between numbers and letters. For example, I have a tip calculator application I downloaded. Because it expects numbers, I don't have to use the shift key to enter the number. I can just use it like a number keypad. Same is true when entering phone numbers.

I don't like the lack of voice dialing (a big miss in my mind) and there are some other things I'm not quite used to yet, but overall, this thing is pretty sweet.

Anyone thinking of buying one, let me know and I'll answer any questions you have based on my own experiences. You can't trust the sales people and soemtimes those reviews just don't get to your specific questions.