My hated Verizon contract is finally up in about a fortnight. I’m jumping ship to AT&T and will get a nice company discount on my monthly bill as a bonus. I’ve been leisurely looking at phones and have my choices narrowed down to two.
I wanted to get some kind of smart phone because I want to be able to check my personal email on it (I can’t access external email at my job for various reasons), be able to txt easier (this num-pad txting is not cutting it) and I’d like to be able to run IM services to talk to my friends. IM is the way I keep in contact with most of my friends, who are scattered all over hell and damnation. I find myself staying on my laptop for longer than I want to just because my friend(s) I haven’t talked to in ages are on. I could just have my phone with me and continue talking while :: gasp :: doing stuff! As a bonus, internet connection is nice as well.
I’ve gone to stores where you can play with working models as much as you like. I tried to like Blackberries, I really did. I have friends who love theirs but I just found myself getting aggravated using them. They seem to be over-complicated in their menu design and a bit ugly as well. I didn’t like the Blackjack because the keyboard was shit (like the BBerries, too). I tried the Pantech Duo; I liked the sliding features, but the screen was far too small and websites etc. were crappy looking on it. The Tilt could have been good, but was a bit awkward and I didn’t like how it showed some websites.
So, onto the finalists:
iPhone
I didn’t really expect to like this as much as I did. I’ve seen them and thought they were neat, but figured it wasn’t “my style”.
PROS:
very well designed. I was able to zip through everything in the menus after only a couple of minutes.
websites are rendered excellently. The zoom in/out pinching helps and the large screen really shines here.
the large screen is great, especially with automatically changing over to landscape when you rotate the phone
email can be checked online or the setup for email works well, too.
CONS:
$400 for a freaking phone.
no actual buttons for typing. This isn’t a huge deal, since I found the touch typing a lot easier than I thought it would be.
no built in/native IM client. I know that AIM will be coming out for it soon, but it sounds like you have to stay within that application to continue receiving IMs (see PROS for Moto Q). There’s also BeeJive, but since it constantly connects to the internet, I don’t know how quickly that would drain the battery.
I can’t remember the two different networks, but the internet is only on the slower one (Edge?).
Moto Q Global
I lurrrrrved this thing. I loved the iPhone on my first visit to a store; that one didn’t have a Q so I tried it this weekend. I was shocked that I found one that I like as much (or possibly a bit more, but I’m not sure) as the iPhone.
PROS:
LOVE the keypad. The keys are very easy to type on; I hardly made any typos while using up the store’s internets by signing onto AIM and testing it. In fact, after a couple of minutes, I was typing pretty darn quick; I’d say at least 40wpm (I type 105 wpm on a computer).
The Windows Mobile 6 is really nicely excecuted on the Q. It’s leaps and bounds better than the Pantech Duo and Tilt. It’s much more intuitive than the Blackberry, although less so than the iPhone.
The IM services are nicely done and I can exit the program (to make a call, go online, etc.) and it’ll still receive IMs for me (see CONS for iPhone).
The phone itself is ~$180-200, much cheaper than the iPhone
CONS:
Not quite as intuitive as the iPhone.
If you want to switch between apps, there are more steps to get from one to the other. The iPhone is much nicer in this regard.
BIG CON: The data plan is $20 more a month than the iPhone’s (see below).
So that’s that. The data plan for the Q really is a HUGE con, so while there’s a shorter list, that kind of balances it out. Basically, I’m going on a Friends and Family plan. The other phone is an iPhone. There’s $60/month for voice for both and then $20 is added on for the iPhone’s data plan. If you get a Moto Q, though, it’s $40 for the data plan.
So really, when you think about it, over the course of a 2 year contract, you’ll spend more on the Q:
Q - $189 (device) plus $40x24 = 189 + 960 = 1149
iPhone - $399 (device) plus $20x24 = 399 + 480 = 879
Help me make a decision! Give anecdotes if you’ve had either phone and love or hate it. Talk about iPhone IM apps! Give me more data to make me feel more overwhelmed!
I have a Moto Q9m and my buddy at work as an iPhone… Hmm tough choice. Honestly once the whole iphone novelty wore off ithink i would like my moto q better. It has a full keyboard which i like and more apps for it. Bad things are you cant get youtube (easily) Let me make up a list for you of my likes and dislikes
In case the data plan is bothering you, you can get the Media Max plan which is $20 for unlimited data. If they won’t give it to you, get a non-smart phone with the Media Max plan (obviously this phone has to have internet connectivity), return it and trade it for the Q. The plan sticks, the data sticks, and it’s only $20 a month, just like the iPhone. It’s essentially the exact same plan, 'cause it also comes with 200 texts/month too. This is what I did last year on accident, but then I went to the iPhone anyway so it didn’t matter.
I love my iPhone. I have never used the Q. How much RAM comes native? The 8 gigs on the iPhone is fabulous. I watch videos at hi-res and they look great. The keyboard isn’t that hard to use IMO. Also, I think that the big screen is a plus.
How is the iPhone on the Edge network? I’ve heard it’s slow, which is why I’m waiting for the 3G version that’s supposed to be released this year. But is it fast enough on the Edge network?
The IMHO board loads in 28 seconds with IE mobile on my Blackjack 2, which uses 3G. With Opera Mini, that loading time is 10 seconds. Maybe someone with the iPhone can do a comparison. BTW, the iPhone isn’t the only phone with the complete internet. You get the same thing by using the Opera browser. However, the internet isn’t made to be displaed on such a small screen. Mobile versions of sites are 10x better to browse on your phone.
whatami, that was another thing I couldn’t actually see in the store: battery life. Only 8 hours? Meep.
I haven’t heard of the Media Max plan and I didn’t really see it on their website, audiobottle. It definitely sounds like it’s worth investigating. And treis, I liked how the iPhone displayed websites far better than just about every other smart phone (the Q excluded). I think the finger-pinching zooming in and out helps with that. But I hated websites on the blackberries, as an example. Yuck!
Yep… about 8 hours.
In the phone’s defense though, that includes a lot of e-mailing (I’d say 30-50), phone calls (10-15), and some web surfing.
On the weekend I do considerably better (probably over 24 hours). But if you’re going to use the phone a lot, make sure you have charges wherever you go.
I love my iPhone and am nowhere near tired of it, nor do I ever want to go back to another phone.
Battery life- short, especially if you web surf or watch vids.
Webpage load time- can be slow- AT&T ain’t exactly on the cutting edge, but my phone finds networks all over the place…
But it rocks. very intuitive and user-friendly. I have had complicated phones with lots of features before, and they were, well, complicated. The iPhone is a breeze- even my Luddite mother-in-law uses it like a pro.
But of course, between that and my MacBook, Apple freaking owns me now…
It might not be called the Media Max bundle anymore, but I think that’s what it’s still listed as even on my monthly bill (for the iPhone). Oh, and iPhone gets corporate discount now too I believe, so that can help. As far as battery life, I use my moderately, more web surfing than calls, a bit of Wi-fi usage, and it lasts me the whole day easy, although I do charge it every night. Edge is slooooooow though, so if you can wait, you might want to hold out for the 3G. Of course, that will be expensive whereas you can get a refurbed iPhone for ~$300 now I think.
I’ve read some things about the Media Max bundle, and it looks like they do not want people using it for other PDAs. There were some accounts of people getting in trouble when AT&T sees either how much data they’re using or find out the device they’re using and connect the dots.
The iPhone isn’t on my company’s corporate discounts, unfortunately. And I can’t really wait, unless I’m willing to do month to month with Verizon, but the other phone on our family plan is switching over to AT&T on the 30th this month.
I love my Q (I’m on the SDMB with it right now, actually). It may not be as stylish as an iPhone, but damn it gets the job done right. It’s quite easy to use and type on, and it has a load of built-in apps and coolness.
If you do get the Q, get the extended life battery. It bulks the phone up a bit, but it’s still comfy in my pocket. On my heavy-use days, when I’m making 20-30 emails, 50 or so texts, using my onboard Google Map app to keep up with traffic, and surfing the net nonstop I get about 14 solid hours of battery life as opposed to 8-10 with the standard battery. When I’m less busy, it goes days without needing a charge.
by signing onto AIM and testing it. In fact, after a couple of minutes, I was typing pretty darn quick; I’d say at least 40wpm (I type 105 wpm on a computer).
And I can’t really wait, unless I’m willing to do month to month with Verizon, but the other phone on our family plan is switching over to AT&T on the 30th this month.