Best Smart Phone???

[ac777]

Looking on info for what smart phone you have had experience with That are rugged, Reliable, and have good battery life. Now I know that most that I have looked at dont have great battery life, but is there one that surpasses them all? My area only gets Verizon and Unicel, so it has to be one that is offered in one of those two brands. Thanks for the advice, never had a smart phone before, so any tips appreciated.

Thanks,

AC

[jwmiller33]

this is going to be one of those "ford vs chevy" or "vexilar vs marcum" debates... the two biggest smartphones in the cell phone industry are obviously the iPhone and Blackberry. basically, what it comes down to, you can get almost the same apps for both phones. the variety as well as quantity of apps is probably greater for the iPhone, but one of the biggest draw backs for the iPhone is battery life. i have several friends that have both. i seldom here of people who have had both the iPhone and a Blackberry, so any info you get from someone who has one is obviously very biases towards whatever phone they had. i have had neither a blackberry or iPhone, but like i said, the majority of my friends have one or the other.

i would suggest going into a store and playing around with the live display models. OR, use your friends phones for a couple minutes and see what you like better. i would say the apple iPhone is more user friendly. my step dad has a blackberry (thru his work) and doesn't even know how to use it besides making calls which can sometimes be hard

[LMITOUT]

Blackberry would be a good choice if Verizon is the only option for you and obviously an iPhone is not with no ATT. There are other "smart phones" that you may like as well, including the new Droid made by Motorola which runs on the Google operating system, Android. So far people seem to like it from what little I've read.

I have a Blackberry Tour (9630) with Sprint and it's great in every aspect. I had a BB Curve before this phone and they are both fantastic as far as battery life is concerned.

The only question or concern would be the data coverage in your area. If you don't have a decent high-speed data network where you spend most of your time you may be disappointed with the purchase, irregardless of what smart phone you choose.

[ac777]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I dont want it to be a ford vs chevy debate. I just want your honest experience. Im mainly looking for one that can take some abuse and good battery life. Im kind of liking the blackberry tour from what I see online.

If you don't have a decent high-speed data network where you spend most of your time you may be disappointed with the purchase, irregardless of what smart phone you choose.

To this, I guess I can get the EV reception at my house which I think is better for Internet. I have relatives that use the black berry and live only 2 miles away and it works fine for them so hopefully it would work at my house.

Keep the replies coming. Good info so far. Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply

[Walleye Guy]

Blackberry Tour guy here. Great phone. I'm not a fan of touch screens so I went Tour instead of i-phone. Very happy with the decision.

[jwmiller33]

if your looking for ability to take abuse and battery life, i would definitely go with a blackberry of some sort. i know for a fact the battery life on iPhones is not very good at all. I also know that Blackberry's stand up to all kinds of abuse (once again, from stuff I have seen with my friend's phones)

[sand_pike]

do you want a keyboard, or a touch screen?

[TR21]

What about Verizons new "Droid." I've just seen the limited commercials comparing the i phone and the Droid and the Droid seems to have more available, useful functions.

[hookjunior]

I have a blackberry pearl and really like it. I looked at some of the other blackberrys like the curves but I liked the way the pearl fit in my hand better. I use the opera mini browser for most of my web stuff and like it way better than the browser that comes on the phone. My battery will usually last a whole day, but I use it a lot during the day and don't always have real good signal strength. If you want durability get a blackberry and then get an otterbox case for it. I've seen guys throw their phone across the room in one of those cases and didn't hurt the phone at all.

[jwmiller33]

hookjunior-i dont have a smart phone, just the samsung instinct, but i downloaded the opera mini browser to use over the browser that came on my phone and i like it a lot! it's definitely way better then most "stock" browsers

[LMITOUT]

Quote:

If you don't have a decent high-speed data network where you spend most of your time you may be disappointed with the purchase, irregardless of what smart phone you choose.

To this, I guess I can get the EV reception at my house which I think is better for Internet. I have relatives that use the black berry and live only 2 miles away and it works fine for them so hopefully it would work at my house.

Yep, that's what you'll need.

[BlueLundFishrman]

I have the Blackberry Pearl flip, am pretty happy with it. Nice for me anyhow with the flip, not having to worry about keying the phone when it's in my pocket. Silicone cover to keep from scratching up.

[ac777]

do you want a keyboard, or a touch screen?

Well I guess what ever is more functional. I kind of like the touch screen stuff, but have read it can be a bit hard to operate though. SO I guess either or.

Good replies guys, keep em coming. Looks like most are leaning towards blackberry way of life. I thought they were dumb when they came out, but I guess its technology, and it would be handy for my upcoming job.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I would go with a Droid, or the Droid Eris (touch screen)

Blackberries aren't as "smart" as the newer tech stuff out there IMO.

[sand_pike]

Quote:

Well I guess what ever is more functional. I kind of like the touch screen stuff, but have read it can be a bit hard to operate though. SO I guess either or.[/quote']

It's a total personal preference thing.

I do not like the touchscreen, I find it difficult to hit the correct letters.

Go to a Verizon store and try the touchscreen vs keyboard.

Two years and $80/month is a long time with a phone that you hate.

[landscaper]

how durable are they? just like every phone or what

[ac777]

Im kinda liking the HTC phones. Anyone use these?

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I like to read the reviews on cnet dot com. The HTC phones (Hero, Mytouch, Droid Eris, etc.) rate very well.

[landscaper]

so say, i was planing on getting a new phone and whole new plan.

Now lets say i get the HTC Droid Eris, and the ole lady gets the same one and we get the family plan or whatever. Now both thoses phone have the net. do i only pay for it once or since its 2 phone i have to pay for the net $30 on BOTH new phones?

thanks guys

[hookjunior]

Each phone needs it own data plan.

[landscaper]

so that means you would have to pay for net for both phones?

anyone else?

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

so that means you would have to pay for net for both phones?

anyone else?

yes sir, that is correct.

[hanson]

Originally Posted By: landscaper

so that means you would have to pay for net for both phones?

anyone else?

yes sir, that is correct.

Yes. Its a data plan, no different than your voice plan.

I'm not sure if any providers have a "family" data plan yet where everyone shares minutes like you do on a family voice plan.

[landscaper]

thanks guys