Need a New Phone/Features Recommendations

• Apple

  

  I'm going with a friend to Verizon store tomorrow to look for a new phone.
  
  What are some models, features, deals we should look for?
  
  Also... What's this whole thing about getting WiFi on the laptop through your phone? Is this different than the normal USB antenna thing or do you actually attach your phone to the laptop? I guess I'm confused.
• raiderbuck

  Droid...literally, it does everything I want. I'm on my phone way to much, but I also use it to access mobile banking, pay bills, stay connected via facebook, GPS for driving or finding restaurants (fun with I travel back and forth to Chicago), email features, the apps, etc.,. The notification bar feature alone sold me on the phone.
  
  I purchased mine through best buy and paid $99 for it. At the time VZW was selling the for for $199 after a $100 mail in rebate. My advice? Go to VZW, take a look at the phones...then go to someplace like BB and buy the phone to save money. The activation charge (for me) was waived, and my first bill was prorated. I'm also getting back a $62 credit from VZW because of my old plan overlapping the upgrade.
  
  ...also, I think you're talking about "tethering"...which lets you use your mobile phone as a wifi hotspot. I don't think you have to actually hook up the phone to the device, but I could be mistaken.
  
  As far as plans go, VZW is relatively expensive IMO. I'm on a shared plan with 1400 shared minutes, unlimited txt/pix, with two phones that have web surfing capabilities. My droid, and my mother's LG Choco Touch. The LG Choco touch (like MANY of verizon's phones) is a multimedia phone. Because of this, Verizon charges an additional $9.99 a month for data for that phone. I also pay $29.99 a month for unlimited data for my Droid. A lot of people, including myself, do not agree with the mandatory charge on the choco touch...especially since my mother is not internet surfing the internet. We tried to get Verizon to disconnect the internet features on the phone but no dice. There's also the ten free numbers that we share.
  
  I get a 20% discount from work, and with our plan and all it's features we pay $165 after tax. That's about the same as what we used to pay with two regular phones, $9 text plan with unlimited m2m txt and 500 extra, insurance, and no free numbers before our upgrade two months ago.
• thePITman

  

  If you don't want to spend the $30 per month for a data plan (most "smart" phones require a data plan), I would recommend the Env2 or Env3. I and many others I know have the Env2 and love it. The Env3 is very similar, but a little newer and better.
• Mooney44Cards

  

  Or switch to Sprint where you get unlimited everything for like $70 a month.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Droid Incredible, although when I got mine yesterday, they said there is a shortage.
  
  Instead of the tethering feature...you could buy a palm pre. It is a very nice phone and has hot spots and wi fi. A friend of mine just connects her lappy to the phone via wifi and doesn't have to pay their 30 dollar tethering fee(per month).
• I Wear Pants

  HTC Incredible. It is by all measures better than the Motorola Droid.
• Apple

  

  This tethering thing is interesting... using your phone as a wifi hot spot. very cool! Is there a limit on the data plans where if you go over, they charge you extra? Right now, my friend has the verizon usb antenna for the lap and no internet on the phone. If the tethering is used, it looks like the usb antenna thing can be eliminated all together and hopefully making the overall cost cheaper. My friend doesn't want to leave verizon primaily because of the m2m feature.
  
  Off hand, what do the Droid and Env2/Env3 cost?
• wes_mantooth

  

  If you wanna buy a droid, I would recommend www.wirefly.com.
  
  It is an authorized verizon dealer.
• sherm03

  

  I Wear Pants wrote: HTC Incredible. It is by all measures better than the Motorola Droid.

  Not quite.
  
  Motorola Droid has better screen resolution (not by much...but it is slightly better)
  The Motorola Droid has a physical keyboard. Over 40% of customers prefer a physical keyboard.
  The Motorola Droid supports more removable memory.
  The Motorola Droid offers a MUCH better battery life. The Moto Droid offers 385 minutes of talk time and 270 hours of standby. The Incredible offers 320 minutes of talk time and 180 hours of standby.
  
  The Incredible's processor is a beast. However, Motorola's dual processors have actually been clocked faster at times than the Snapdragon processor.
  
  So saying that the Incredible is better by all measures is just flat out false.
  
  The phones both perform about the same. I think the choice comes down to 2 major features and how important they are to a customer. Do you want an 8mp camera or a 5mp? And how important is a physical keyboard to you?
  
  Those are going to be the primary defining features that will determine which phone gets sold.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  I am old school and still love my Blackberry. One of my kids has a Droid he loves it. I am holding out until Verizon gets the iPhone.
• wes_mantooth

  

  sherm03 wrote:

  I Wear Pants wrote: HTC Incredible. It is by all measures better than the Motorola Droid.

  Not quite.
  
  Motorola Droid has better screen resolution (not by much...but it is slightly better)
  The Motorola Droid has a physical keyboard. Over 40% of customers prefer a physical keyboard.
  The Motorola Droid supports more removable memory.
  The Motorola Droid offers a MUCH better battery life. The Moto Droid offers 385 minutes of talk time and 270 hours of standby. The Incredible offers 320 minutes of talk time and 180 hours of standby.
  
  The Incredible's processor is a beast. However, Motorola's dual processors have actually been clocked faster at times than the Snapdragon processor.
  
  So saying that the Incredible is better by all measures is just flat out false.
  
  The phones both perform about the same. I think the choice comes down to 2 major features and how important they are to a customer. Do you want an 8mp camera or a 5mp? And how important is a physical keyboard to you?
  
  Those are going to be the primary defining features that will determine which phone gets sold.

  I have been using my Incredible a lot so far....the battery life is iffy at best. Also, the keyboard takes some getting used to.
  
  My brother has a Moto Droid and his is noticeably slower IMO.
• sherm03

  

  You're going to notice that it seems slower scrolling through screens and scrolling through web pages. That's where the Snapdragon excels.
  
  But load up a YouTube video...or download a song...or wait until you have 6 or 7 programs running on your phone and you will see where the Moto Droid's processor is better. It's not a whole lot better, but it is faster at times.
  
  By the way, good luck using that Incredible in the sunlight. That OLED screen washes out BIG TIME in the sun.
  
  The Incredible is a great phone...but this phone is basically just HTC catching up to the Moto Droid. The Droid is still going to sell very well.
• raiderbuck

  My droid was a lot faster before the update in March. I know some others were experiencing lag time on loading apps, scrolling, and web browsing.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Incredible is garbage in direct sunlight. Youtube is a bit choppy, but I have never seen youtube on the Droid....so I cant comment. Overall, the Incredible has better reviews than the droid, but to each his own I guess.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Sherm,
  
  I bought one of those Zagg screen protectors(It is ordered, haven't gotten it yet). Do you have an opinion on them?...they are little bit on the pricey side if you ask me.
• visionquest

  thePITman wrote: If you don't want to spend the $30 per month for a data plan (most "smart" phones require a data plan), I would recommend the Env2 or Env3. I and many others I know have the Env2 and love it. The Env3 is very similar, but a little newer and better.

  -Yes to this!!!! I have an Env3 and love the dang thing. Does everything and you don't have to pay for smart plan. So, I guess it's bad if you want a smart phone...but, this phone is awesome otherwise. I've had it for close to 6 months now.
• Automatik

  

  I always say Blackberry because I'm a BBM whore. Best app evEr!
• raiderbuck

  wes_mantooth wrote: Incredible is garbage in direct sunlight. Youtube is a bit choppy, but I have never seen youtube on the Droid....so I cant comment. Overall, the Incredible has better reviews than the droid, but to each his own I guess.

  I've only used the Youtube App on my Droid twice. In normal quality, I watched a 5 minute clip with no chopping, however I noticed audio sync problems. The quality of the video is so so as well. The High Quality resolution is much much better. Especially if the actual youtube clip is of decent quality. However, when watching the same 5 minute clip in HQ the video stopped about 3.5 minutes into it. The file hadn't finished loading.
  
  I watched part of the NFL draft on my phone via NFL Mobile app, and I experienced the same sync problems.
  

  wes_mantooth wrote: Sherm,
  
  I bought one of those Zagg screen protectors(It is ordered, haven't gotten it yet). Do you have an opinion on them?...they are little bit on the pricey side if you ask me.

  I had one of those shields on my phone for about a month. I must not be good at applying that thing because it had a ton of bubbles, and I eventually took it off. FWIW, it was my fault, ZAGG makes a great product...everyone else that has one that I know of is 100% satisfied.
  
  I just wish that they would make a good privacy screen that doesn't affect the buttons or notification bar.
• sherm03

  

  wes_mantooth wrote: Sherm,
  
  I bought one of those Zagg screen protectors(It is ordered, haven't gotten it yet). Do you have an opinion on them?...they are little bit on the pricey side if you ask me.

  They work really well as long as they are applied correctly. If not, you run into what raiderbuck was talking about and the bubbles are annoying as hell!
• dlazz

  Mooney44Cards wrote: Or switch to Sprint where you get unlimited everything for like $70 a month.

  I think Sprint would get really excited to have five people (as opposed to four) using their network.
• raiderbuck

  There's a reason why Sprint can offer all of that for $70 while no one else will...
  
  They suck.
• Automatik

  

  raiderbuck wrote: There's a reason why Sprint can offer all of that for $70 while no one else will...
  
  They suck.

  I've heard this from several people.......what sucks about it? Bad service? I've had Sprint for over a year now, previous AT&T user, and I've had zero problems.
  
  My bill is around $68/month, never even come close to going over minutes and unlimited data.
• slingshot4ever

  Wait for Verizon to get the iPhone. That is what I am doing.
• raiderbuck

  Automatik wrote:

  raiderbuck wrote: There's a reason why Sprint can offer all of that for $70 while no one else will...
  
  They suck.

  I've heard this from several people.......what sucks about it? Bad service? I've had Sprint for over a year now, previous AT&T user, and I've had zero problems.
  
  My bill is around $68/month, never even come close to going over minutes and unlimited data.

  Depends on the area I guess. My dad currently has the HTC Hero(?) on Sprint's network now. He loves the phone, but he has the worst service on it. I'm in Columbus and he's in Mansfield and he says he's experienced more dropped calls on this phone than his previous provider (Alltel).
• Jawbreaker

  slingshot4ever wrote: Wait for Verizon to get the iPhone. That is what I am doing.

  Have a fun wait