I’m looking into gett Cingular service when my current contract expires. Any Dopers with one of the Razr phones? What are the phone’s pros/cons? Does it break easily like the Sidekick? Good signal? Superpowers? Carcinogenic?
Tell me all about it. Please. I can get one with service on eBay for $75. Anyone else done that? Am I going to get scammed?
Stream of conciousness follows…
It’s less small than I thought. It seems to be well built as I’ve dropped mine a couple of times with no consequences. It works like every other recent Motorola phone I’ve used, so if you like their OS then you will like the RAZR. For an expensive phone, it’s kind of behing the times wrt data protocols. GPRS only, no EDGE or UMTS or HSPDA. Most people won’t care about that, but I use the phone to connect my laptop to the internet, so it’s slower than some of the competition. Reception seems to be good. The screen is nice and big.
Here’s the big plus for me: It’s quad-band, meaning that it will work just about anywhere in the world but South Korea and Japan. It came not sim-locked so I can put my Hong Kong or China SIMs in when I’m there for work and avoid the enormous roaming charges.
On a related note, does Cingular (I’m assuming you use Cingular, correct me if not) provide you with the ISP services when you connect your laptop, or do you pay them in addition to some dial-up place?
And how do you go about getting a new SIM card when your overseas? Honestly, I’m not too familiar with GSM phones and their trickery, so I need to bone up on this stuff a little.
It’s just a connection to the internet, same as if you plugged into a random ethernet jack or used WiFi in a public place. Warning: Cingular has more than data plan, and their CSRs are often confused about which plan does what when it comes to ‘advanced’ topics like tethering your laptop to a phone. They often will try to sell you a very expensive data plan that is unecessary for the typical user but they cannoit explain how to set up the less expensive plans that don’t have a special software component. Howardforums.com (specifically the Cingular section) will be more helpful than just about anywhere else. Search on ‘tethering’.
It’s hard not to find a place that sells SIMs in the UK and China (where I travel most). I use a pay-as-you-go service in Hong Kong and China. You can buy recharge cards all over the place that allow you to top off your account when your minutes are starting to run low. Keep the card reasonably current and you’ll never lose the phone number.
Goto the the cingular store at the market place in north davis. I believe they sell the razr. You can look at it there.
The thing is WIDE. I don’t like it.
I checked it out just now. The CSR wanted to sell me on some $80 a month data plan that I don’t think is necessary. I liked the Razr, though, I didn’t think it was too wide. But I have big hands.
How thick is the Razr? The impression I had was that it’s really thin, which is what I find appealing, more than width.
13.5mm
CynicalGabe,
I was recently doing some cell phone research of my own and found this web forum that may have useful information. It appears to be one of the biggest mobile phone forums on the web.