It’s been a long time, but with a new job comes the chance to buy a new cellphone to replace my very beat up but dependable phone that has carried me through three solid years.
The old phone had to be pretty stripped down on features, because of the nature of my job (going into lots of government buildings, including sensitive and restricted areas, it couldn’t have a camera or internet capabilities or memory more than what was needed to keep an address book). My phone has been my office, strapped to my hip, and it had to be the lowest common denominator on “safe” features, or lack thereof.
But now I’m starting a new job that will give me a business cellphone that is vetted and cleared in advance. And I want a new personal cellphone, not needing the strictness on features that the old one had, not needing the excessive number of minutes on the cellphone plan that the old one had to have for the sake of work, and so that we may combine my wife and I into one bill.
I’ve not really invested any time into knowing anything about phones that have come out in the past year or two, so I’m a blank as to where to begin. I know I’d like (roughly in order):
- Solid service. Verizon has served me well, but so had Sprint in the past (note: both without any significantly advanced features such as internet browsing). I’m not tied to any provider, either emotionally or by service plans. However, I really don’t want to deal with switching out chips on unlocked phones, especially if I’m looking for various advanced or phone-specific features. Something I could just buy a phone and the service plan for that phone at once in-store.
- Wi-fi access. Actually, internet use in general, but something I could avoid wasting my minutes on if I’m at home or the library or any of dozens of stores/cafes that have free wi-fi.
- A nice, big screen. Something that allows for standard web viewing, not just cell-screen capable sites.
- MP3, possibly even movie, playback. Preferably through wired headphones, please.
- Storage. Enough to keep more than a dozen albums worth of music, maybe even a full movie or two.
- Good speakerphone capabilities. Barring that, strong Bluetooth support.
- Real physical buttons. None of that non-tactile touchscreen stuff. It’d be nice, but if doing away with the buttons to have more easily viewable web/email access is the cost, so be it.
I’m quite aware that the iPhone has most of the features I’m looking for, but I’m wary because I want to run a phone for quite a long time. My current phone is on its second battery, and it looks pretty battered and beat, having taken a few spills on DC sidewalks (I’m careful, I really am!). I’ve always viewed Apple’s decision to avoid replaceable batteries as pretty despicable, even more so on a phone. Also, with a max storage of 8GB, that’s not much music, and certainly not more than one movie. Feel free to convince me I’m wrong, that I could reasonably put a few hundred songs and a movie or two on there, and that Apple’s battery replacement plan isn’t just “we send you a new phone and/or wipe the memory of your old one when we replace it.” While iPods are not overly difficult to open up and replace the battery yourself, the iPhone looks like a bitch.
Blackberries and Trios are possibilities, but I just don’t know where to start with them.
I’ve got this puppy, which I’m pretty happy with. The display is nice, big and bright, the web looks like the web, and I can compose documents with it. We bought an extra memory thingee (I’m not the technical one in our family) and it has wired headphones for mp3s. I think it converts them to mp4s, actually. Connects to my computer via USB and you can use “Nokia PC Suite” software to do stuff.
I haven’t opted for getting email on it, so I can’t review that bit.
- has buttons
- has Bluetooth
- speaker seems good
- web browsing is good
- good screen
Minuses:
- Slow to load apps
- “Own” key - fine, but it took forever to find out how to customise it
- Had a heart attack when I tried to load “Sense & Sensibility” (text file from Project Gutenburg that I saved and transferred to have “something to read”)
- Keyboard is still too small for typing if I had white-hot inspiration and needed to do some fiction writing.
Overall, I like it. It makes me feel like an executive. 
I love my Q, although I’ve never tried to watch movies on it. That’s why I have a laptop.
Wired Magazine put out their annual “Test” issue that is sort of a Consumer Reports of this year’s gadgetry. They have a section on cell phones, and a section dedicated specifically to “multimedia phones.”
I can’t find it online at all, but apparently you can get it at the newsstand. They liked the Sony Ericsson w580i the best (doesn’t play movies…) but you will want to at least skim the reviews to see what they say about all the phones (they list what they like and dislike) and a handy comparison chart.
I have an HTC-8525.
It’s got just about everything you want… wifi, large storage, music player, large screen, hardware keyboard, speakerphone, and bluetooth. I’m not exactly loving it, though.
I have to reboot at least once every two days. The interface is slow, clunky, and non-intuitive. I have trouble using it as an MP3 player, because the battery life isn’t all that great and it’s all too easy to accidentally activate something else while you’re listening to it while it’s in your pocket. Text messaging is awkward.
It also puts out a lot of interference- it makes my computer’s speakers chirp constantly if I set it on my desk.
Well, at least I got it relatively cheaply.
Having looked into it a bit, gotten a line on a few good phones, I realize there was one major requirement I left out of the OP: Service plan price.
What phones can I reasonably expect to get a plan that includes unlimited data?
I’d hope that when I want to quickly look something up at home, or I’m at Panera, or wherever else with open wi-fi available that I could use that without any fee from my service provider. But in the event that I’m not near a hotspot, it looks like some of the phones would not have any internet connectivity without add-on data service on top of the (already exorbitant) monthly phone service costs. I know that iPhone is unlimited data use, and it looks like T-Mobile has a $60/mo plan with good voice minutes and unlimited data (and from a look at some cnet reviews, the Blackberry Curve 8320 is a very nice phone on T-Mobile’s service), but otherwise, it could be anywhere between $25-$60(!) more per month for data on top of voice.
I am going to pick up my new Blackberry Pearl tomorrow. I’ll let you know if it is worth buying (although I have heard from people that it is not, I like the features it comes with- specifically the ability to open word files)
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