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Cell Phone recommendations?

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Deozaan:
I'd like to discourage you from buying a phone just on net recommendations, though. Pick a few candidates, then go to a store and hold each phone in your hand, and make sure to try the keyboard.-tranglos (April 12, 2009, 07:14 AM)
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The problem with that is most stores have display models which aren't built the same. I've played around with a display model and the buttons were very mushy and hard to press and generally sucked. Then I felt the real deal and they were much better.

Stay away from touch-screens (unless you are really certain you want one)-tranglos (April 12, 2009, 07:14 AM)
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Why? What's wrong with them? I played around with a real iPhone last night and I was actually very surprised at how easy it was to type using the on-screen keyboard. And if you fat finger something you can just keep typing and it will recommend the word you probably meant to type. For instance, if you pressed "yjr" it would recommend "the" and all you have to do is press the space bar to automatically change it.

So in that case first choose the OS, then find a phone to match.-tranglos (April 12, 2009, 07:14 AM)
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Speaking of OS, can anyone tell me about Android phones? Is that the OS or is Android something entirely different? And here's a related question: Any opinions on T-Mobile G1?

And does anyone have personal experience using 3G? Can you describe to me what it is and how it works? I read Wikipedia and other sources but I still don't think I understand what it is. Was I right when I said I thought it would allow me to have internet access on my PC anywhere I had cell service?

I was a long time and very happy owner of a Nokia E70. It has full keyboard yet still fits fine in your pocket.-Eóin (April 12, 2009, 07:54 AM)
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That one looks great, but it doesn't have 3G in the US model (or maybe I'm reading this info wrong) and it doesn't have GPS either.

Instead though I went down the smartphone road, which as a techie I'm extremely happy with.-Eóin (April 12, 2009, 07:54 AM)
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Where's the keyboard on that one? Is it all touch screen like the iPhone?

tranglos:
I'd like to discourage you from buying a phone just on net recommendations, though. Pick a few candidates, then go to a store and hold each phone in your hand, and make sure to try the keyboard.-tranglos (April 12, 2009, 07:14 AM)
--- End quote ---

The problem with that is most stores have display models which aren't built the same. I've played around with a display model and the buttons were very mushy and hard to press and generally sucked. Then I felt the real deal and they were much better.-Deozaan (April 12, 2009, 02:20 PM)
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That's entirely possible, as is the reverse. I've been to stores where the display model was from a different batch than the ones they were selling. The last time I was in the US, I bought a pair of Nikon binoculars. The display model had a "Made in Japan" label, which convinced me to choose it over another brand - but when I unpacked it at home, the label on mine said "Made in China".

Stay away from touch-screens (unless you are really certain you want one)-tranglos (April 12, 2009, 07:14 AM)
--- End quote ---

Why? What's wrong with them? I played around with a real iPhone last night and I was actually very surprised at how easy it was to type using the on-screen keyboard. And if you fat finger something you can just keep typing and it will recommend the word you probably meant to type. For instance, if you pressed "yjr" it would recommend "the" and all you have to do is press the space bar to automatically change it.
-Deozaan (April 12, 2009, 02:20 PM)
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That's why I said "unless you are really certain you want one". If you're OK with touchscreens, go for one. Personally, I need to feel the click of the keys. I've learned to touch-type text messages (i.e., no looking at the keyboard), which I imagine would be much harder with the touchscreen. But most of all I'd worry about smudging and damaging the screen.

I once bought two Palms - for myself and for my wife. That was back in the days when Palm had a monochrome display only, six years ago or so. The touchscreen in my wife's Palm gave us nothing but pain. Scrolling was completely off, you had to drag the stylus parallel to the scrollbar but not actually "on" it. Similarly, you had to click next to some buttons rather than on them, and certain buttons you couldn't click at all - the stylus didn't register. Neither resetting nor calibrating would help.

My specimen was fine initially, but after a few months it developed the same problems. Eventually we threw both to the garbage (bought in Taiwan, brought to Poland, the warranty was usseless). It put me off touchscreens for a while.

I now have a touchscreen gps in the car, and though the touchscreen makes sense in that setting, it's still very easy to get the click wrong. Scrolling the map by dragging with the finger is next to impossible, since as soon as you put the finger to the screen, it registers as a "single click", which refocuses the map on the point you touched. It takes a lot of patience to get it just right. So I definitely wouldn't want a touchscreen phone, but YMMV.

Deozaan:
By the way, I decided to go for the HTC G1.

J-Mac:
I'm looking also - dreadful chore! I used to be a handheld freak. I had two Symbian web sites and a Pocket PC site (MS's forerunner to Windows Mobile). In 7 years I owned 11 PPC/WM devices, four Symbians - two Series 60, one Series 80, and one UIQ device; and my most recent is a Blackberry Curve - which apparently just died on me last week. After repeatedly shutting off in the middle of conversations, it finally did it once more and now all I get is a large image of a battery with a red slash through it. I figured the abttery was shot but most posts I see about the same issue say the Curves never recover from this error.

I am looking to drop AT&T anyway; probably switch to Verizon. Only now I'm getting a pure, cheapo cell phone. My notebook is always with me and I much prefer browsing and doing email on it than a 320 x 240 px screen!

Jim

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