I’m getting the impression that Blackberry isn’t long for the road, though apparently they still have a big presence outside the U.S. My current phone is a Droid (Samsung Captivate), and I’ve been very pleased with it. I’ve found an amazing variety of good free apps and widgets, and I love being able to sync with my Google account. I haven’t missed the slide-out keyboard of my previous phone at all – the Swype feature on the Droid’s on-screen keyboard is very nice. I would avoid HTC hardware; in my experience, their phones don’t hold up well at all.
While I can’t speak for the current HTC offerings, I have a G1 that has been going strong for 2 years now. I have had to replace the battery this month, but other than that everything is working well.
The HTC Dash was my predecessor to the blackberry. Asides from not running 3G speeds, it was a beautiful, beautiful phone. Possibly even better than my Blackberry is now.
In my experience, the HTC Incredible is aptly named. Love it.
Had a Dash as well, that I replaced with the G1. I had the Dash for close to two years, and one day I cracked the screen. Went on Ebay, purchased a new screen for $18. I found a video on YouTube that showed step by step how to replace the cracked one. Try that with a iPhone!
My previous phone was a Blackberry Curve, and that was just before GPS became standard in pretty much every phone. Now, I have a HTC EVO, and I love it. When I switched phones, I also switched carriers, so, when I was shopping, I was looking at all the high end phones for all carriers at the time and also their service plans. Sprint made the most sense to me, and was willing to work with me to get my business (I was bringing over three phone lines).
It’s a big phone. The EVO Shift is a little smaller, but I’d echo what previous folks said and tell you to go to the store and play with them. I really enjoy my phone and the things it can do, that other phones can’t. It’s got an 8 megapixel camera, which is a better camers than a lot of people’s actual dedicated camera, records HD video, has a nice, big screen, and has been a very good experience.
Also, if you root your phone (The comparable nomenclature for the iPhone is “jailbreaking”, but it’s more like gaining and exercising your administrator privileges on Windows.) you’re open to a lot more functionality that you get. For example, Android, natively, lets you use your phone as a wireless hotspot. Sprint locks that down and makes you pay $30/month for that, but not if you root your phone. You get that, and the ability to load the newest versions of Android, before it gets released through the manufacturer and carrier (If it gets to your phone at all. Some lesser Android phones don’t meet the requirements or don’t get the priority.)
If you’re a techie kind of person and like to tinker, you’ll probably love the hell out of a high end Android phone. I’ve messed with a couple iPhones in my day, and nothing extensively, but all the high end phones pretty much do the same thing. It’s just about which camp you want to identify with and all the little things (maintenance, battery replacement, minor functionality, Flash).
Oh yeah: No Flash on iPhones. Apple considers this a feature, not a bug, noting the potential for security risks. I’m fine with the lack of it in the year that I’ve had my iPhone 4. I’d probably get very ragey if it was the only way I accessed the Internet, but I surf the web from my (Windows-based) laptop when I’m at home.
Get an HTC-made Android phone. You will not regret it. The Droids are all partnered with Google, so you get the world’s best GPS navigation, Google Turn-by-Turn Navigation, for free.
Concur. I’m an iPhone user and really like it. However, I have seen friends’ Android phones, and they vary from “really cool, works beautifully, very happy user” to “piece of garbage that breaks constantly and had to be taken back to the store and replaced under warranty twice in the first six months of use.” (That was my mom’s phone, and I don’t remember the model, unfortunately.)
Regarding the Flash issue, I surf the Web a lot from my phone - a lot - and have only noticed the lack of Flash a couple of times, mostly with streaming video from my local TV station’s website. A lot of sites seem to be implementing HTML5 to get around this issue.
I don’t really have a “vote” for what you should get. Just thought I’d throw in my experiences.
Emphasis on recent and powerful. Some companies make underpowered new models, like the HTC Bliss.
I also cracked my screen (I was raging at it one day…long story…lol), but didn’t have the nerve to try fixing it myself. And you got a way better deal on your screen, friend! :eek:
I love my Motorola Atrix, and wouldn’t trade it for an iPhone 4 if it came with a cash bonus. (Wouldn’t consider a Blackberry, ever.)
The thing is smoking fast, and has a bigger display than the iPhone4, with a similar resolution. It integrated my gmail, google+ and facebook contacts immediately. ( I didn’t even know I had some of those phone numbers. 
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It uses a micro-USB cable for charging and data, so I can charge it in the bedroom, at work, in my home office, or livingroom without having to drag a special cable anywhere. Plugs directly into my TV through HDMI and turns into a remote for displaying movies at 720p or photos in full HD resolution. (Music too, natch.) Media can be added to it with drag-and-drop, so I don’t have to have everything mediated by iTunes which made me miserable when I had to deal with it. It plays everything I throw at it natively.
It supports Flash. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Apple is providing pressure to break developers of the habit of depending too much on Flash - but while there is still content out there that does depend on it, I prefer to have the option of having it on my phone.)
Very sweet phone.
Heh, I still consider a micro-USB a special cable. 
Only thing I have that runs off one is my cordless headset for my computer.
Yeah, in my case this would definitely qualify as “having to drag a special cable around.” Although any time you want to charge something you’re going to need a cable of some sort, so, not a huge deal IMO what sort of cable it is.
I guess YMMV, but I already had two in my junk drawer (admittedly one of the still in the package 'cuz I’d accidentally bought it instead of a mini-usb cable) and have a couple lying around at work. I really appreciate that it uses a standard type USB cable instead of a proprietary cable, such as I used to have on my ipod, sansa player, and my last three phones. Just with what I have lying around, I can leave the cables plugged in. (It also comes with an AC charger you just plug the USB cable into.)
Hugely more convenient than either having to ferry the cable between rooms (or to work and back) or just hope that there’s enough juice to make it back to “base.” (Or splash out $40 or more for another cable/charger.)
Well, what wouldn’t qualify as having to drag a special cable around? 
Micro-USB is as close to a universal standard you can get when it comes to phones, media players, and other small electronics these days. Like you said yourself, if it charges, it needs a cable, and better to have one that you can buy a spare or two for for $1 on Amazon than something like an iPhone that will charge you $20-$30 for an official cable, and even the knockoffs run $10-$15, and IME, are likely to cause problems, since it’s not like a simple USB cable with only 4 pins.
Between my first android phone, android tablet, second android phone, spare cable, car charger, I have enough cables that I never am without something easy to charge it. One stays plugged in to my desktop, one goes with my laptop bag, one is plugged into the wall in the living room, and as said, my car charger.
I also have two spare batteries, and a charger that charges a battery from the wall, AND provides a USB port to also charge the phone at the same time. Which is another android plus, most models have a very easy user-replaceable battery. After a long day, rather than have to have my phone tethered to an outlet or my PC, I just turn it off, put the spare that’s been charging all day in, put the old one in the charger, and bing bang boom, back to a 100% charge in 30 seconds.
Actually, you can get a knockoff, iPhone/iPod cable for less than $2 at monoprice but your point still stands. I love my iPhone but a micro USB cable is far superior, IMO, and is a big selling point for Android based phones.
That’s my point. Although I do see Larry Mudd’s point about it being non-proprietary. It’s just that if you only have one or two things that use the non-proprietary “standard” cable, it’s basically just another “special” cable from the perspective of how much crap you have to haul around. If that makes sense. (Likely not. 
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Similarly, that was my interpretation. If I lose a cable, I go to a computer store and buy a replacement. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s a micro-USB or an Apple brand sync cable. When I forgot to bring my iPhone’s cable and charge plug when I went on a business trip and was waiting for my plane at O’Hare, I went to the Brookstone there (at 5:30 am, impressive!) and bought one, same as I would’ve with any other cable I needed.
If you’re the kind of person who has a boatload of micro-USB-run equipment, that might make a difference to you. Otherwise, probably not.