Foo - Time for a new phone...

I've just entered my "New every two" window and can upgrade phones. My wife wants a Blackberry, or some other PDA/Smartphone. We went and did touchy-feely with the BB Curve and Tour as well as the Motorola Droid tonight.

Do any of you Foosters have experience with any of these phones and if so, what are your thoughts? Thanks!

I use a Curve during the week. It's fine for Outlook, as a GPS and a phone. It's poor for web browsing and as a camera.

the droid is really nice, my friend just got one i have htc touch so i use the android os as well. there are some really cool capabilities with these phones especially for cyclists. i like the instamapper and my tracks apps. also ability to embed gps coords into decent looking pictures. which is nice to add into your maps etc.

What are you looking to use the phone for? I have a BB 9000 (Bold) and I really like it. It's great for keeping in touch, cranking out email/texts and viewing documents that I get. On the other hand the browser is terrible and it is a bit big for some. I personally find the size a plus as it gives me a bit larger keyboard and screen.

If you do decide on a BB you may want to wait a bit. The new Tour and Storm are coming out.

*glances at his perfectly functional 4-ish year old phone*

Huh.

Nope, can't say as I do. :)

*glances at his perfectly functional $10 tracfone which he pays approximately $100/year to use*

Uh...um...

Nope, can't say as I do either. Granted I don't make a lot of cellphone calls. :D

My Moto Q started dying just in time for the DROID. I ordered it just a few minutes ago so I'll let you know what I think in a couple of days. Squee!!!

I've just entered my "New every two" window and can upgrade phones. My wife wants a Blackberry, or some other PDA/Smartphone. We went and did touchy-feely with the BB Curve and Tour as well as the Motorola Droid tonight.

Do any of you Foosters have experience with any of these phones and if so, what are your thoughts? Thanks!

Does your current plan include data? If not, depending on the carrier, you will have to upgrade your plan.

What are you looking to use the phone for? I have a BB 9000 (Bold) and I really like it. It's great for keeping in touch, cranking out email/texts and viewing documents that I get. On the other hand the browser is terrible and it is a bit big for some. I personally find the size a plus as it gives me a bit larger keyboard and screen.

If you do decide on a BB you may want to wait a bit. The new Tour and Storm are coming out.

The Tour is out... unless you mean there's a new version. Like I said, we did a "touchy-feely" on the Curve, Tour, Droid and a couple of others.

Use? No land lines, so these will be our primary phones for everything. My wife wants the BBish type phone. I could go either way, though do like tech gadgets, so certainly am not going to try and stop getting them.

Up until now, however, we've just had basic phones (except for a couple of years where I had a BB for work... and may again soon, too). This will be our first foray into the whole mobile computing devices.

I have a curve and love it.

*glances at his perfectly functional 4-ish year old phone*

Huh.

Nope, can't say as I do. :)

Woohoo! I'm not alone. Mine actually hit the market way back in 2003, although I've only had it 4 years. Unfortunately, the battery's dying and I can't find anything quite equivalent.

However, so as to not entirely hijack the thread, I wanted to contribute that if I were in the market for a smart phone, the openness of phones meeting the OHA standards like the Droid would be very appealing. So many people complain about Microsoft being closed and monopolistic in terms of computer software, but don't seem to care that the status quo is mobile telephony is still more of a proprietary zoo than anything Microsoft could have ever hoped to achieve.

Funny that the EU is so upset, for example, at Microsoft including IE and Media Player for free with Windows, but phone companies going as far as restricting applications is ok.

Wife and I got matching HTC Keisers (AT&T Tilt) little over a year ago. Windows Mobile, touch screen and slide out keyboard. She went through three lemons. Finally she (was able to) switched to a BB Curve. She hasn't looked back. She doesn't do much web browsing, but for email and --gasp-- actually calling people, it rocks. Even lived through the washing machine (which required two days in a bag of rice), but she loves it.

Me? I suffered with WinMo for about a year. Jumped on the iPhone 3GS when it came out, and haven't been happier.

Lesson? Stay away from Windows Mobile.

The Tour is out... unless you mean there's a new version. Like I said, we did a "touchy-feely" on the Curve, Tour, Droid and a couple of others.

Use? No land lines, so these will be our primary phones for everything. My wife wants the BBish type phone. I could go either way, though do like tech gadgets, so certainly am not going to try and stop getting them.

Up until now, however, we've just had basic phones (except for a couple of years where I had a BB for work... and may again soon, too). This will be our first foray into the whole mobile computing devices.

haha I mean the Tour 2. Trackpad instead of a trackball and has Wifi. If you are going to be using these around your home and you have wireless set up that will be a huge plus over the original tour. Of those 3 that you posted up I would choose the newest incarnation of the Tour for the wifi. Has a better form factor IMO than the 8900 and I disliked the keyboard on the Droid. Although the Sense UI the Droid has is really nice :) Tough choice my friend, they are all really nice phones.

Although all this is pointless IMO if you get a carrier with bad reception in your area. As long as you choose someone with good signal in the areas you are going to be in the most then they will have the best phones for you ;)

*glances at his perfectly functional $10 tracfone which he pays approximately $100/year to use*

Uh...um...

Nope, can't say as I do either. Granted I don't make a lot of cellphone calls. :D

+1. Don't have the need for more.

the droid is really nice, my friend just got one i have htc touch so i use the android os as well. there are some really cool capabilities with these phones especially for cyclists. i like the instamapper and my tracks apps. also ability to embed gps coords into decent looking pictures. which is nice to add into your maps etc.

Good to hear this. Wife and I are going to finally get a combined contract when my 2 year window is up (in Feb) and I've had my eye on the Droid. Was hoping to hear some experiences with it before then.

How's the web browsing on it? I know that's what my wife is most interested in.

I got the iphone cause of the e-book factor.

Good to hear this. Wife and I are going to finally get a combined contract when my 2 year window is up (in Feb) and I've had my eye on the Droid. Was hoping to hear some experiences with it before then.

How's the web browsing on it? I know that's what my wife is most interested in.

Feb should be great for that...they'll have worked out the bugs!

Feb should be great for that...they'll have worked out the bugs!

that was my thought/hope. ;)

+1. Don't have the need for more.

Need has nothing to do with this! :D

Woohoo! I'm not alone. Mine actually hit the market way back in 2003, although I've only had it 4 years. Unfortunately, the battery's dying and I can't find anything quite equivalent.Yep. I think mine came out in 2004/05, and I still see it for sale once in a while. Just a simple Nokia bar phone. Not a lot to go wrong. The only issue has is that the battery cover creaks when using the keys.

I looked around to see what's currently available, and thankfully there are still a few models that fit the "simple" bill. Most can be had for around $50 outright (not "$50" with the rest subsidized by your telephone bill and contract), unlocked. Nice.

If the amount of press that the Droid (and Android itself) is getting on sites like Engadget and Gizmodo is any indication, there's at least something there for those who like a Jack-of-all-Trades/Broken-All-At-Once unit.

I have a BB 8350i that was issued by my company. No camera (I work in a security area). I love this thing. My only complaint is the GPS reciever that keeps screwing up, which forces me to reset the firewall about once a week.

The new storm is out. (http://phones.verizonwireless.com/blackberry/storm2/)

What service provider do you have? Because if you have T-mobile or similar service that still uses SIM cards, you can use one of the older Iphones. Geohot just came out with a ridiculously easy way to jailbreak (unlock) the Iphone for non-AT&T customers.

Yep. I think mine came out in 2004/05, and I still see it for sale once in a while. Just a simple Nokia bar phone. Not a lot to go wrong. The only issue has is that the battery cover creaks when using the keys.

I looked around to see what's currently available, and thankfully there are still a few models that fit the "simple" bill. Most can be had for around $50 outright (not "$50" with the rest subsidized by your telephone bill and contract), unlocked. Nice.

I'm pretty sure there's no phones from 2005 still on the shelves new anywhere except perhaps Amazon. If so, they were probably made in 2005, which means the battery was made in 2005. LiIon batteries degrade over time whether used or not. They're not likely to live much better than mine.

Mine is also an old Nokia 6010 bar phone. Works great. Apparently the current replacement (1661), however, has poor reception and really bad sound quality. The display toy I played with also has almost unusable keys. Right now I'm looking at the Motorola Renew. Reviews seem ok, but for some reason it got pulled from the market after only a couple months. It can still be found on Amazon for $30, though.

From experience the curve browser lacks!

If I were to buy a phone among the lineup, I'd spring for the Droid. In the same size form factor as an iPhone, the Droid offers 16 gigs (expandable to 32) of memory, a 5MP camera, a sliding keyboard (which makes a text message session a lot easier), and fairly decent plans from Verizon.

I'm spoiled by my rickety old HTC Wizard. It originally shipped with Windows Mobile 5, but I reflashed it with a newer version, added a bunch of custom programs, and overclocked its battery saving, but sluggish, OMAP 850 so it can do Skype. Of course, it can do tethering, both via a USB cord, or through BlueTooth. However, since the phone was made before 3G was out, is is dog slow Internet-wise. Other than no 3G, the only other glaring thing is that the UI expects a stylus for a number of things (something that has essentially cost Microsoft the PDA/smartphone market because MS did not get out multitouch fast enough.)

Because MS seems to have dropped the ball with WM, I am also looking to buy an Android device soon. At least Android is fairly easy to start writing on. If you are running Linux, OS X, or Windows, you can download the SDK and start coding.

From experience the curve browser lacks!

Opera mini ftw!

I have the Tour for me and my son. Great phones, although his had a trackball issue. The ETF's on Verizon's smartphones is about to go up to $350 on 11/15, so keep that in mind

Tell me how the Droid goes. Is the one with the keyboard or no?

Tell me how the Droid goes. Is the one with the keyboard or no?


Yeah the Droid is the one with the slide-out keyboard.

dingster1: the trackball issue was addressed with the Tour. All the new ones should be fine. Although the Tour2 has a trackpad, so no worries there ;)

I have the Tour for me and my son. Great phones, although his had a trackball issue. The ETF's on Verizon's smartphones is about to go up to $350 on 11/15, so keep that in mind

Whoa :eek:. I thought AT&T's ETF of $250 was bad.

I got a DROID yesterday.....LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!!!

I only have two complaints so far:
The flash sucks.
I can't figure out how to accept a calendar invite via my sync to Outlook. It only seems to allow me to reply to the message as an email.

Otherwise everything works splendidly. Very intuitive, lots of great free apps, super fast, etc...

Got the Droid last night and so far, so good!

One tip, though, if you're planning on getting one: Set you gmail account before you go in and make sure they use that to activate the phone. If you leave them to their own devices, they'll create some generic account that you don't want to use and to replace it with one of your own choosing, you'll have to reset the phone to factory default and re-activate it. Not a big deal if you haven't started customizing things, but it takes some time and poking around to figure it out.

The phone itself is pretty cool. Now I just have to figure out how to make use of all this stuff!!

I've just entered my "New every two" window and can upgrade phones. My wife wants a Blackberry, or some other PDA/Smartphone. We went and did touchy-feely with the BB Curve and Tour as well as the Motorola Droid tonight.

Do any of you Foosters have experience with any of these phones and if so, what are your thoughts? Thanks!

I has blackberry with full keyboard, curve I think. iz good.

Opera mini ftw!

Precisely.