Help me pick out a new phone!

[Äߧý∩†H♠H䎀]

Okay so my contract with Cell One is up in April and I've started looking at phones. Ironically when I called CS to get info regarding the remainder of my contract a rep called me back and informed me AT&T bought them out. So technically I can start a new contract and void my current one if I stick with AT&T with no penalty's.

So I've been looking at both AT&T phones and Verizon phones. Sprint service really sucks in my area so there not a option. I've narrowed it down to 6 phones. I want something with that can store music and use for email etc. I for sure want a keyboard with whatever I get. I had internet on my Razr and hated pressing buttons over and over just to get a letter. After a few months of that I decided to drop it until I got one with a keyboard.

Also does anyone know were I can get a wide selection of Nokia phones at? Because all Nokia phones on there selections are cheapo's. I was trying to find like the Nokia 9500 on a plan but I can't find them. But anyways here are the phones i've been looking at.

Just looking for some input from some of you guys that probally have one of these phones and what you would get. I really don't want to spend over $400 on a phone which is why I'm looking at them on plans since I can renew without a penalty anyways.

I've been kind of leaning towards the LG Voyager but the thing that worrys me is that its going to end up like the razr. I got my Razr a while back when they were new and only a few people had them. Now everyone has the damn things and I just want to frisby toss mine against a brick wall. For some reason I think the same thing will happen with the Voyager when the price drops. I hate having a phone everyone else has. Thats why I've been looking at some other options. I thought about a Motorola Q as well which I do like but there a little bit dated.

Verizon Phones

LG Voyager $299.99
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/...t&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3299

Samsung SCH-i760 $349.99
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/...t&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3364

Verizon Wireless XV6800
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/...t&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3411

AT&T Phones

Apple iPhone $399.99
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...s/?device=Apple+iPhone+-+8+GB&q_sku=sku780101

Pantech Duo $199.99
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...-details/?device=Pantech+Duo&q_sku=sku1080007

AT&T Tilt $299.99
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...etails/?device=AT&T+Tilt(TM)&q_sku=sku1060009

 

[alvino]

The Voyager is alright...I've played around with it a bit and it just seems like a polished up EnV to me. Dunno about the SCH-i760 or XV6800.

As for the iPhone...it's fun to play with, but all it does is play games while the big boys do serious work. After all, the intarnetz is serious business.
The Duo is supposed to be nice, but I heard the build quality is decent and it's a bit bulky cause of the dual keyboard/pad.

I was thinking about getting the AT&T Tilt, but it's a bit too serious for me...
I would suggest you consider BlackBerries too. The Curve and 8800 are very nice phones and you always get the same service that powers all those corporations who use BlackBerries as a corporate lifeline. If you're not a serious business user, the Curve is a great phone. It has great media playability and it has great push email like all RIM phones. It's worth considering.

 

[Äߧý∩†H♠H䎀]

Wow thanks for the great input! I agree with your thoughts on the Iphone I doubt I'd get one but its one of there better phones so I threw it up there.

As for the Blackberries there kind of clunky for my tastes. I like the ones with the fold up keyboards. Although your right I've looked at the spec's on some of them but they still look and feel a bit awkward to me.

Quick question about the tilt. What do you mean about to serious for you like just a lot of features you wouldn't use?

I'm not a business user just a enthusiast that likes having toys with features. Like I said my main features I want are a good browser, email, maybe a word document, a media player, and I'd like something that could stream audio/video as well. As far as the other stuff which is standard in all phones like a calculator, alarm clock etc. Its got to have blue tooth which pretty much everything has these days and a decent overall capacity. I'm going to replace my little MP3 player and use whatever phone I get for that as well.

Also a better camera would be nice. Quick shots out in about on my Razr sucks since there such low quality.

 

[alvino]

The Tilt has this kind of feeling to it that makes it look like one of those power-suit types of phones. It has GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi all in one...plus a lot of buisness like features. I think it uses Windows Mobile 6, yes? Then you'll be able to use Word, Excel and other programs with it. It's very much like a PDA if you look at all the features. Personally I think it's a bit too much for me...

As for the BlackBerry, I used to think they were like that too. Clunky and too formal for my needs. Then I bought the 8310 Curve and it totally blew away all the stereotypes I had for it. The push email service is nice, you can link your personal email (Yahoo!, GMail, Hotmail etc.) or if you work for a company that has a private enterprise email server, you can link it to that too. The media player on the 8310 is very nice...nothing like the iPod or Zune, but it works very well, and sometimes that's all you need. A plus about BlackBerries is that they don't restrict you to using 2.5mm headphone jacks or proprietary jacks like most phones do. You get the standard 3.5mm headphone jack and you can use any headphones you want to listen to music and whatnot.

Music and video playback is very good for a mobile phone and it comes packaged with the RIM Desktop Manager which has Roxio for BlackBerry included, so that handles all the converting. The RIM OS is very well made, it's not as formal as Windows Mobile, but it's very user friendly and easily modified with your own applications. Also speaking of apps, the BlackBerry has a GREAT 3rd party community, so you'll find tons of applications that suit your needs. As for good browser, the normal BB browser isn't that great, but you can just download Opera Mini 4 for free and that'll handle all your browsing needs. The only downside for me is that RIM has yet to adopt 3G for any of their phones, so your only option is AT&T's EDGE network, though the 8320 Curve (T-Mobile) does have Wi-Fi. It's not terribly slow unless you're visiting a website heavy with pictures, only then the EDGE network starts to show its age compared to 3G.

As for camera, the 2.0 Megapixel camera on my Curve is pretty decent. Nothing mindblowing, but for what you get it's pretty darn good. Just be happy with anything around the 2.0 Megapixel range. Unless you buy something like the Nokia N95, you won't get anything better.

Trust me though, go to a Cingular store or something and see if they have a working demo unit of the BlackBerry Pearl, Curve or 8800. They fantastic phones with great features and capabilities, not to mention the user community to back it up. Give it a whirl and see if it suits your taste.