Cell Phones and Serice Providers

[ddrueding]

As I mentioned in "Something Random", my cell phone bricked itself.

I've been using an LG VX9800 on Verizon for years. I have a KRZR K1 in my trunk that I was thinking of switching to, but I'm thinking of re-evaluating my service as well.

My GF is still using the pre-pay phone she got years ago through T-Mobile, and I would like to get us on the same plan.

I would love to get in on the OpenMOKO Project, but it doesn't look like they are ready yet. I also know that Verizon is not compatible with their service (requires GSM IIRC) and that Verizon is rather infamous WRT their privacy policies.

So...I'm grateful for any input you guys provide. As you know, I'm a bit of a geek and love my toys, so anything along those lines is good. I'll likely add more posts here as I proceed with my research.

Thanks in advance...

~David

 

[ddrueding]

Considering all my contacts went with the phone, I need to keep my number so they can reach me. Transferring my number to a different service will take too long. I'll probably just get a Motorola MOTOSLVR L7c. It seems to be the thinnest phone they sell (most significant measurement when carried in the front pocket of jeans) that supports broadband tethering to my laptop.

 

[Bozo]

I just canceled with Verizon. I bought a Motorola P170(?) through Tracphone. This is the plan where you buy the time cards and enter them into the phone.
What is nice is if you add minutes before the expire date or the minutes run out, the remaining minutes roll over.
The phone was $28 at Walmart.

Bozo :joker:

 

[Fushigi]

Whatever phone you go with, make sure you can sync the contacts to a PC or an expansion card so you won't be at risk of losing the data again.

Palm's smallest & lightest Treo, called Centro, will probably be offered on Verizon in about 90 days. I know you have an immediate need, so you can't really consider it without switching providers, but it does do EV-DO tethering and has full email & contact integration with pretty much any email server (including GMail, Yahoo, & ActiveSync for Exchange). And it does Google Maps, Java, has a decent browser, and can run a few thousand other Palm OS apps.

 

[Stereodude]

Where I am Verizon has the best service. I don't know squat about smartphones and the like though so I can't give you and advice.

 

[Clocker]

I like Verizon. The KRZR K1 has terrible battery life compared to my LG VX8300 though....even with the jumbo battery I bought for it. It's a sytlish phone but my wife uses it a lot and the poor battery life sucks. No new phone for her until two years from now (when it's free)..

 

[Mercutio]

I use an HTC 6800 with Sprint. $300 phone. It's not great as a phone - I don't like losing the hard buttons because I memorize phone numbers and don't bother with the address book.

I use the thing as a WiFi signal detector and for Email as much or more than the phone. It has 1Mbit internet service pretty much everywhere I go, and I can plug it in to my laptop in an emergency.

Biggest down side is that it only lasts about a day on its battery, so mine spends most of its time plugged in to whatever desktop I happen to be using. That's fine. I can still use it with a headset if I need to (though I don't really like the headset, either). Since I was pretty bad about keeping my old phone charged, having to keep a close eye on my current one is not the worst thing in the world.

Sprint's cell network sounds worlds better than Verizon's (like talking on a land line with just the tiniest amount of background noise), and I can't imagine that any carrier would have less than perfect reception in California.

Get on Sprint's SERO plan and the phone + unlimited internet will cost you all of $30 a month.

 

[Howell]

I have the Moto Q on Verizon. It takes a bit of management for the battery to last more than a day so I'll have to get the extended life battery soon. I do love the phone though. With the extended battery it is about 1/2 inch thick.

 

[Mercutio]

I considered the Q when I bought my 6800, but there were a couple down sides to that phone. One is the lack of integrated 802.11 - a feature I really appreciate, and the other is the compromise between the screen size and the keyboard.

As much as I don't like iPods, the one positive thing to say about the iPhone is that its screen is better than anything else on the market. My 6800 is probably a close second right now (there are iPhone knockoffs on the horizon, though), and the other smartphones all seem to go the postage stamp route.

 

[ddrueding]

I was looking at the larger, more capable cell phones, but I really do travel with my laptop just about all the time, so all I want is a cell phone with EVDO and tethering that is as small as possible. Priorities:

Bluetooth
EVDO
Thin
Narrow
Light
Short
Removable storage
Not a flip phone

I think I picked the best of Verizon's bunch according to that criteria.

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

 

[Howell]

You know, they could develop a phone no bigger than a cigar if you use a bluetooth headset. It could project the addressbook on any surface with a laser.

What is the smallest cell phone anyone manufactures anywhere?

 

[ddrueding]

I would be perfectly happy with a phone that looked like a bluetooth headset. Voice activation/recognition and text-to-speech are really ready as technologies.

 

[Howell]

Voice recognition is better on LG phones than Moto phones but I would not call it "ready". And that is coming from someone with an entirely neutral accent.

 

[ddrueding]

I think the phones need some more computing power before they can be as good as the computer programs, but those can handle accents. Even without learning, Vista's voice recognition was able to handle Russian, German, and Canadian accents quite well.

 

[Fushigi]

Centro review.