Cell phone advice - Iphone or ?

[Willie Escalade]

I'm using LG's Dare. No complaints yet!

[pnwguy24]

I havent had any problems using aim on my G1

[Bob's Tgirls]

I've always preferred "just a phone" and been using the Pebl for the last few yrs and it's finally died so I'm getting encouraged to get an internet type phone with features. I'm on tmobile right now and would like to keep my number but not a deal breaker.

Obviously the Iphone is the most prominent choice. Does anyone have any other suggestions - or pros or cons on the iphone?
Thanks
seanchai

You know I'm a techie and love my gadgets. The iPhone is my favorite gadget.

First you can keep your number when you switch carriers. I've had the same number with Verizon, T-mobile and AT&T.

I had a windows mobile phone with T-mobile. It has a lot a capability in theory, but it was cumbersome to get it to do most things. And as is normal with windows it crashed on a regular basis. An incoming call could actually crash that thing.

Now I have an iPhone and am completely happy. The reception in my area is not great. Verizon's coverage here was bad. T-mobile's was abominable. I resigned myself to never be able to use my cell phone at home. I could rarely even get a text message out with my t-mobile phone. Now with my iPhone, I can actually have complete conversations from here. There are still occasional drops, but the difference is like night and day.

The user interface of the iphone makes doing just about anything very quick and easy. Viewing photos or videos or doing anything on the internet was cumbersome.

I use my iphone for other things more than I use it as a phone. First, I use it as an iPod. Contrary to what someone else said, I use all 16 gb and would like 32 or more. True I do have a few of my favorite porn video clips on my phone, but it's mostly music. I had to leave some music and video off due to the memory limit. As a photographer, I also like to show off some of my pics. They look real nice on the iPhone and are easy to get to. Again, my windows mobile phone was clunky in that regard.

Then there are the apps. It seems to me that no mobile phone platform is supported by more software vendors than the iphone. Apps that come with the phone include the usual PDA functions. The map app also works as a navigator. You know how much you like to drive when you're on the mainland. I also have an AP newsreader, wikipedia app, dictionary, movie & sports apps and a variety of other fun and useful things. There is even a wordpress app so you can blog from the phone without logging into through a browser.

There are also all the hardware manufactures that support the iPhone. My alarm clock can dock my iPod or iPhone, so I can wake up to music. My car and many others have an iPod interface such that you can control the device through the car's controls. I mostly listen to my iPod in the car even though I have satellite radio also.

The downsides are minor. One is that you can't do picture messaging. You can easily attach photos to email, but not to text messages. There is no cut and paste of text capability. There are times when I'd like to cut something out of an email and paste it into a text message for example. I have no idea why apple left those capabilities out. Maybe they'll be added in later. The other thing is that I would like to have double the memory capacity, although that may not be important to the average user.

If you call me, I'll give you more details and answer any questions you have.

[Willie Escalade]

The reception in my area is not great. Verizon's coverage here was bad

I can vouch for that (being a Verizon client). Whenever I try to make a call from your house (or MY house), the signal is pretty weak. However, around the rest of the city, it's pretty damn good.

The user interface of the iphone makes doing just about anything very quick and easy. Viewing photos or videos or doing anything on the internet was cumbersome.

On the Dare, viewing pictures is easy and fast as well. The internet also loads up fast (with a full .html browser)...as long as you have a strong signal.

I use my iphone for other things more than I use it as a phone. First, I use it as an iPod. Contrary to what someone else said, I use all 16 gb and would like 32 or more. True I do have a few of my favorite porn video clips on my phone, but it's mostly music. I had to leave some music and video off due to the memory limit. As a photographer, I also like to show off some of my pics. They look real nice on the iPhone and are easy to get to. Again, my windows mobile phone was clunky in that regard.

Same here. Unfortunately, the Dare only has room for a 4 gig memory card...for now. I've almost completely filled it up with music (540 songs, 128-192 kbs on average). I also have some short video clips on it, averaging 4 to 5 minutes in length. The picture quality is okay, but the sound can be improved. One thing the i-Phone has over my phone is the ability to just drop Quicktime clips onto it; videos have to be converted to be used on my phone (it's not hard; I use Super to do it).

One thing I love about the music player is the fact I can have it going while browsing the internet and/or sending a text message. When I receive an incoming call, the music automatically pauses. When I end the call, the music resumes.

The pictures are another story. Since I originally stored my pictures on the memory card, copying them from my computer was a snap. The ideal size (for use as wallpaper) is 240x400 pixels; of course larger and smaller ones could be used, as well as bitmap, .jpeg, and .gif formats (I haven't tried .png files yet). When I drop a picture onto the card, I usually resize it so that the quality remains.

I can also edit pictures I take with the camera...ON THE PHONE. It's a bit cumbersome though, since the phone is so small. The phone takes pretty good pictures...in the daytime. The flash pretty much sucks, unless you're close up on the subject. The camera is 3.2 megapixels, by the way, and can be shot at various sizes; I use 640x480 so I can upload them to my Myspace page. A sample picture is below.

Then there are the apps. It seems to me that no mobile phone platform is supported by more software vendors than the iphone. Apps that come with the phone include the usual PDA functions. The map app also works as a navigator. You know how much you like to drive when you're on the mainland. I also have an AP newsreader, wikipedia app, dictionary, movie & sports apps and a variety of other fun and useful things. There is even a wordpress app so you can blog from the phone without logging into through a browser.

This has the Dare beat. I do have VZNavigator, which is just that. It's better than the one I have in my car! Plus it gives close restaurants, traffic updates, movie times...probably more, but I haven't used is extensively yet.

There is a way to set up IMs and Blogs, but I don't use them that much. As for Wikipedia and such, I just go online. The sites I visit the most are bookmarked (like Hung Angels).

There are also all the hardware manufactures that support the iPhone. My alarm clock can dock my iPod or iPhone, so I can wake up to music. My car and many others have an iPod interface such that you can control the device through the car's controls. I mostly listen to my iPod in the car even though I have satellite radio also.

You beat me here as well. I can only plug a standard headphone jack into my phone...which is cool because you would be able to use it at home. It does support bluetooth devices, including speakers. Not that you'd need the speakers; the one built-in sounds pretty loud when the room is quiet. Even though I'm not supposed to, I use that speaker while I'm at work.

The downsides are minor. One is that you can't do picture messaging. You can easily attach photos to email, but not to text messages. There is no cut and paste of text capability. There are times when I'd like to cut something out of an email and paste it into a text message for example. I have no idea why apple left those capabilities out. Maybe they'll be added in later. The other thing is that I would like to have double the memory capacity, although that may not be important to the average user.

This, and the fact you can't take video, turned me off. I also can't believe Apple screwed up on this one. You know I've sent picture messages to you! As for video, I've already set it up where I can upload it to YouTube as soon as I'm done shooting it.

[Carlos]

I didn't see anyone suggest the BBerry Storm.

Nifty little bugger. nice lcd, sync with itunes, takes pics & video, battery life is great so far. bb app store may take a bit to grow to the iphone store since the storm is still new but but it will eventually get there.

[LibertyHarkness]

I am wanting to get a snazzy phone too....

Think i am hankering on going the 3G Iphone route ...being as i dont have a ipod either....

Though that LG thing above looks quite tasty.

[whatislove]

I have. one of the latest and best WM 6.1 phones...



Kinda sucks hard! Slightly cool interface touchflo 3d over crappy, buggy, crashy MS bullshit.


Pros, tethering, exchange server, keyboard, VGA disp. and great (for a phone) camera. Sprint 3G f'king rocks.

Cons... it sucks. and I've owed a ton of Windows Mobile phones.

Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528 MHz CPU
288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM

Basic phone functions hard to use and even worse when a program gets stuck, which is always.

[peggygee]

the iPhone has probably the largest amount of protective cases in the world for a mobile device...... I bought a Vaja leather case for mine and it engulfs the unit, I dropped it twice and the phone is fine (but I did drop it on carpet soooo). my point is YOU MUST get a protective case for ANY of these phones mentioned, with the iPhone if you go to AT&T or Apple's Apple Store the cases are right there. If you choose to be more unique there's stores on the web.

.......... The 16gb iPhone is for lonely depressed individuals that need space for their porn movies while they wait for a flight or a rush hour train. Don't even think about wasting the extra hundred on it. As good as this phone is Apple is a sucker for dropping a unit 2 or 3 years later with double the storage capacity and it ALWAYS sells out quickly.

Hope I helped
JWBL

I use my iphone for other things more than I use it as a phone. First, I use it as an iPod. Contrary to what someone else said, I use all 16 gb and would like 32 or more. True I do have a few of my favorite porn video clips on my phone, but it's mostly music. I had to leave some music and video off due to the memory limit. As a photographer, I also like to show off some of my pics. They look real nice on the iPhone and are easy to get to. Again, my windows mobile phone was clunky in that regard.

I too am in the market for a new phone, and the Iphone is a contender.

And I have seen some really nice looking and protective 3rd party cases
for the Iphone.

But I want more storage space. I'm tired of looking like Batgirl with a
utilitity belt of Ipod, cell phone and whatever other electronic device I
might need.

Is it too much too ask for additional storage via MicroSD.

That's the deal breaker for me, I need a Smartphone, and more storage
so for now I'm chilling with 'ole girl', and a Ipod.

[barefootjoe69]

The downsides are minor. One is that you can't do picture messaging. You can easily attach photos to email, but not to text messages. There is no cut and paste of text capability. There are times when I'd like to cut something out of an email and paste it into a text message for example. I have no idea why apple left those capabilities out. Maybe they'll be added in later. The other thing is that I would like to have double the memory capacity, although that may not be important to the average user.

If you call me, I'll give you more details and answer any questions you have.[/quote]

Hey Bob,
Good news, apple just announced yesterday that this summer they will release firmware 3.0 that will add MMS and Copy and paste along with other new features. Still missing video though.

[goliath_91710]

I'll second the nomination for T-Mobile's G1. I just got mine last week (I know, not too long ago) and I haven't had any problems with it yet. If I encounter any, I'll let you know.

All hope is lost now though, as far as freeing myself from the internet. I was checking out CraigsList ads while at the club. (Maybe a little TMI, )