Help Me Pick a New Phone

[chevysRslow]

have nokia e62. love it except wish it was 3g.

 

[moddestmike]

If I were you I would get a WM5-WM6 based device. The 8525 is perfect, it has HSDPA and wifi if your not in a 3g area. If you do get the 8525 make sure and specify that you want the AT&T version which is upgraded to support one-way video conferencing straight from the phone. If you wait until August you can nab the 8925 which supports bi-directional video conferencing if in a 3g area. FYI you don't have to get the $40 data plan. Media Net unlimited will work perfect ($20 extra/month) as long as you dont tether. I am currently using the Nokia E90 (Euro phone with 2100 UMTS band in hopes that AT&T will light up 3G on this band.). Here is the Nokia I'm rocking: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e90-1857.php

 

[moddestmike]

is cingular on the same network as at&t? if so, get a cheap phone and switch to a better provider when your contract runs out, because i hear at&t has one of the worst networks out there.

What you here is totallly wrong. AT&T is Cingular and vice versa, there is no difference in the network beccause its the same company. And as far as network reliability its probably one of the best out of the big 3 Telecom providers. Cingy/AT&T has about 89-92% saturation over the USA with GSM/Edge and is aim to replace GSM/Edge with WCDMA/HSPA while maintaing that same sturation. They are THE only provider with quad-band 2G network and tri-band WCDMA. T-mobile which is the other GSM provider cant hold a candle to this and has not even worked out its plans for a next-gen network. Put it to you this way. Cingular/AT&T to T-Mobile is what FIOS or Satlink is to 14.4kbs dial-up. I co-op for a year at AT&T in the RF Engineering and Modulation department and before I was a retail sales rep at Cingy so I feel that I can speak on this subject. Now I currently work in WNRT at Verizon. I must say as an employee this is a MUCH better company and their network is quite competetive (they were the first to launch a mobile-broadband or 3G network). They use CDMA (not to be confused with WCDMA on AT&T) for voice and EVDO for data. The only bad thing is that even with Rev. A EVDO it DOES NOT support voice and data simultaneously. You either have to be on one or the other. This is where AT&T pulls ahead, the video conferencing is one reason why HSPA tech is superior. EVDO Rev.B will launch in about a year but AT&T will have engaged HSUPA on the uplink and further saturate their wirelss broad-band network. Verizons coverage is excellent though about a tire with AT&T. Now Sprint is the WORST of them all. Their network had already been suffering and the acquisition of Nextel further enhanced their issues. Merging a 2-channel radio network with a CDMA network is not easy nor smart, as the 2-channel or walkietalkie as it is known floods their spectrum bandwith and they only have bandwidth on two bands and each radio can only support 8 channels AT&T is double that and will soon tripple once they get their algortihms solved (I give it 6-8 months tops.). I do see competetivness and hope from Sprint in the distant future as they will be the first to launch Wimax (a full cellular IP based network) tech on a full scale cellular network. AT&T will only use Wimax for backhauling purposes. LTE is the 4G step for AT&T but I wont go into that as its still too soon to discuss. With potential backing from SK Telecom they will be a competetive company in the near future. For all you Iphone lovers out there, quit being Lemmings and get a phone thats actually worth some good. In case you havent notice, just abou all PDA's do what the Iphone does and they have 3G. The Iphone does not. Now when the 3G version of the $Phone launches then maybe you can scream and shout but for now its just a fad item that some people get just to look cool. It sucks!!! :beer:

 

[TDMCobra]

What you here is totallly wrong. AT&T is Cingular and vice versa, there is no difference in the network beccause its the same company. And as far as network reliability its probably one of the best out of the big 3 Telecom providers. Cingy/AT&T has about 89-92% saturation over the USA with GSM/Edge and is aim to replace GSM/Edge with WCDMA/HSPA while maintaing that same sturation. They are THE only provider with quad-band 2G network and tri-band WCDMA. T-mobile which is the other GSM provider cant hold a candle to this and has not even worked out its plans for a next-gen network. Put it to you this way. Cingular/AT&T to T-Mobile is what FIOS or Satlink is to 14.4kbs dial-up. I co-op for a year at AT&T in the RF Engineering and Modulation department and before I was a retail sales rep at Cingy so I feel that I can speak on this subject. Now I currently work in WNRT at Verizon. I must say as an employee this is a MUCH better company and their network is quite competetive (they were the first to launch a mobile-broadband or 3G network). They use CDMA (not to be confused with WCDMA on AT&T) for voice and EVDO for data. The only bad thing is that even with Rev. A EVDO it DOES NOT support voice and data simultaneously. You either have to be on one or the other. This is where AT&T pulls ahead, the video conferencing is one reason why HSPA tech is superior. EVDO Rev.B will launch in about a year but AT&T will have engaged HSUPA on the uplink and further saturate their wirelss broad-band network. Verizons coverage is excellent though about a tire with AT&T. Now Sprint is the WORST of them all. Their network had already been suffering and the acquisition of Nextel further enhanced their issues. Merging a 2-channel radio network with a CDMA network is not easy nor smart, as the 2-channel or walkietalkie as it is known floods their spectrum bandwith and they only have bandwidth on two bands and each radio can only support 8 channels AT&T is double that and will soon tripple once they get their algortihms solved (I give it 6-8 months tops.). I do see competetivness and hope from Sprint in the distant future as they will be the first to launch Wimax (a full cellular IP based network) tech on a full scale cellular network. AT&T will only use Wimax for backhauling purposes. LTE is the 4G step for AT&T but I wont go into that as its still too soon to discuss. With potential backing from SK Telecom they will be a competetive company in the near future. For all you Iphone lovers out there, quit being Lemmings and get a phone thats actually worth some good. In case you havent notice, just abou all PDA's do what the Iphone does and they have 3G. The Iphone does not. Now when the 3G version of the $Phone launches then maybe you can scream and shout but for now its just a fad item that some people get just to look cool. It sucks!!! :beer:

Good Lord .

Im probably going to get 8525 because I cant wait and it seems like a sick ass phone. Thanks for all the responses. I had no idea some of this technology was out there. JEBUS.

 

[moddestmike]

Oh there is much more, for example this program called ORB. Its like a VPN tunnel to your personal computer at home. It allows you to access any media file on your home PC no matter where you are with your windows based PDA (8525 as one). You can stream video, music and read E-Books all from the Palm of your hand. Why I was at work just the other day and watched 22 episodes of Family Guy. All you need to do is acquire the program and leave your home PC on while running ORB and viola. You also need the mobile app for your PDA. This should get you started: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobilelife/reviews/orb.mspx

 

[Gringo185]

I have T-Mobile and a Blackberry pearl:

I've had it since January and I love it. By far the best phone I've ever had. Although, I do wish I would have waited a few months. Because almost immediately after I bought mine, they released the Blackberry 8800:

It's just like the Pearl with the track ball. But it has a full QWERTY keyboard. Don't get me wrong, the condensed one works great. But the full version is unbeatable.

 

[HYBRED]

i Manage a Cingular store, Do Not Get the Blackjack, that phone is horrible, there is a reason it comes with 2 batteries. I cant hold a charge.

I have a BlackJack, and it's the best phone I've ever had. I don't know what you mean can't hold a charge, mine is good for 4-5 days, and the extra battery is one of the coolest things about it. You never have to plug it in to charge, you just swap the batteries and you're good to go! I love it most for the size, though. It's not like talking into a brick, like my boyfriend's Nokia E55.

 

[snake134]

t-mobile sucks.

 

[hoamskilet]

I've had my blackberry 8830 for about a month and I love it

 

[YesterdayAgain]

The iPhone is pretty gay.

 

[wurd2]

The iPhone is pretty gay.

While there may be some flamboyant flamers and asshats out there with iPhones, the product itself is awesome. Never mind the feature aspect; the touch screen interface is superior. Either way, the iPhone has clearly raised the standard for cell phones, which is a good thing regardless of your iPhone opinion. Non-virtual buttons are a thing of the past. For those that have experienced the ease of touch screen interfacing, we know this to be good riddance. Bye bye keypad.

 

[ViciousJay]

While there may be some flamboyant flamers and asshats out there with iPhones, the product itself is awesome. Never mind the feature aspect; the touch screen interface is superior. Either way, the iPhone has clearly raised the standard for cell phones, which is a good thing regardless of your iPhone opinion. Non-virtual buttons are a thing of the past. For those that have experienced the ease of touch screen interfacing, we know this to be good riddance. Bye bye keypad.

too bad its a year behind what its capibilitys are intended for

 

[RedfireVNM]

Do Not Get An Iphone They Are Horrible!!!!!!

 

[YesterdayAgain]

iPhone Review

 

[moddestmike]

While there may be some flamboyant flamers and asshats out there with iPhones, the product itself is awesome. Never mind the feature aspect; the touch screen interface is superior. Either way, the iPhone has clearly raised the standard for cell phones, which is a good thing regardless of your iPhone opinion. Non-virtual buttons are a thing of the past. For those that have experienced the ease of touch screen interfacing, we know this to be good riddance. Bye bye keypad.

Its quite obvious you dont own one. The Iphone is a fragile piece of shit. Think about WHAT it was intended for and then think about why Apple left out those exact features. No over that air music downloads (EDGE is too slow, even with its revisions.) The sensorsd on the screen have a VERY short life, give it 6-8 months and you will officially be assed out. Just "playing" with one does not make you an expert. It does make you a fanboy.

 

[wurd2]

Its quite obvious you dont own one. The Iphone is a fragile piece of shit. Think about WHAT it was intended for and then think about why Apple left out those exact features. No over that air music downloads (EDGE is too slow, even with its revisions.) The sensorsd on the screen have a VERY short life, give it 6-8 months and you will officially be assed out. Just "playing" with one does not make you an expert. It does make you a fanboy.

What's obvious is the impenetrable ignorance with which the average member here criticizes the iPhone. I do own an iPhone and I am intimately familiar with its features. You claim that the iPhone is fragile and composed of feces, yet the whole of my firsthand experience with the product completely and utterly contradicts this. The reality here is that your claim is gibberish, much like the majority of your post. You also claim the sensors that reside underneath the optical-quality glass screen only last 6 to 8 months. Do you know anyone that has owned an iPhone for this length of time that can attest to your claim? Considering the release date of the iPhone, I won't hold my breath for an answer. Did the notion of providing at least a smidgen of support for your unfounded ranting ever grace your mind?

You anti-iPhone knuckleheads have completely missed the intent of my post. It is clear that the iPhone has raised the bar for cell phone interfacing. In terms of interface value, physical implementations simply cannot compete with virtual implementations. And thanks to the Darwinian element of competition present in our economy, we will all benefit from this improvement in technology. It's just a shame that several of our members are too dimwitted, shortsighted, and ignorant to realize it this early in the game.

-iPhone Expert

.

 

[YesterdayAgain]

I heard wurd is anxiously awaiting the release of the iProduct.

 

[moddestmike]

What's obvious is the impenetrable ignorance with which the average member here criticizes the iPhone. I do own an iPhone and I am intimately familiar with its features. You claim that the iPhone is fragile and composed of feces, yet the whole of my firsthand experience with the product completely and utterly contradicts this. The reality here is that your claim is gibberish, much like the majority of your post. You also claim the sensors that reside underneath the optical-quality glass screen only last 6 to 8 months. Do you know anyone that has owned an iPhone for this length of time that can attest to your claim? Considering the release date of the iPhone, I won't hold my breath for an answer. Did the notion of providing at least a smidgen of support for your unfounded ranting ever grace your mind?

You anti-iPhone knuckleheads have completely missed the intent of my post. It is clear that the iPhone has raised the bar for cell phone interfacing. In terms of interface value, physical implementations simply cannot compete with virtual implementations. And thanks to the Darwinian element of competition present in our economy, we will all benefit from this improvement in technology. It's just a shame that several of our members are too dimwitted, shortsighted, and ignorant to realize it this early in the game.

-iPhone Expert

.

Wow, like I stated before you are a fanboy of Apple Products. I have firsthand experience as I was given an Iphone right before I left AT&T engineering and modulation. You say the majority of my post are gibberish. Name one! The fact that you fail to realize how simulated time-lapsed test work befudles me. For someone who "trys" to sound so educated on a FAD product you sure seem to be swiss cheesing your own statements. 6-8months is based on simulation and time-lapsing. Simulation is far less vigorous and harsh than real world test. Why you ask, because humans are careless and the phone will not be within a controlled enviorment. I have used the Iphone, sold it on www.anandtech.com about a week later because I saw signs of poor feedback from the tilt-landscaping when rotating the phone. The retail locations here in Houston average 8-10 Iphone returns a month. I tell you what, pm me in 6-8 months when you have shipped your phone to Apple because of touch-flo lag.

Peace.