I do plan to keep my notebook around most of the time. I’m not sure I can afford a smartphone and an Ipad but when I do have enough money, it seems like it would be a good idea.
More generally, do you all find it easier to type on touchscreens or keyboards such as the Blackberry or the slide out keyboards*?
*Like this: phones-online.org
About ten years ago, I had a Blackberry, and I think its keyboard was easier to type on than my current iPhone, but I don’t type much on the iPhone, so perhaps it’s a matter of having enough practice. I think you ought to visit a store and try the touchscreen keyboard vs the regular keyboard vs the slide-out keyboard.
Also Blackberrys used to use the pager network for sending messages, which had better coverage than the cell phone network. But I don’t think they do that any more.
There’s really no way for us to say it’s all opinion. Also, it has nothing to do with how big your fingers are.
For example, as I stated earlier, I had the original Droid with this awful keyboard. I never, ever used it. I couldn’t. It was a flat keyboard and I couldn’t feel the keys. OTOH, one of my acquaintances, that’s probably 150 pounds overweight can type on it faster then most people can type on a full size keyboard.
Personally, I’m very happy with an on screen virtual keyboard and don’t see ever going back to a physical keyboard. However, plenty of other people will argue the other way. The only way you’ll know for sure is to go into a store and play with one. Or get an Android with a slide out keyboard since as far as I know they all have virtual keyboards as well. You’ll know by the time you’re up for a new phone if you want to get a new one with a physical keyboard or if you can get rid of it.
I think you’ll find that there is no simple answer to this one - it’s all user preference.
(I have a sister-in-law who has a phone with a “real” keyboard and firmly believes that touchscreen keyboards are unusable. Her husband has a phone with a touchscreen keyboard and firmly believes that “real” keyboards are stupid and just provide additional points of failure. Their marriage is doomed.)
I’m happy with the touchscreen keyboard on my Droid X, but that may be at least partially because it features an extra-large (4.3" diagonal) touchscreen and my fingers aren’t particularly wide. In addition, this particular cellphone came with Swype pre-installed, and I just love that app.
I’ve had an Original Droid, Droid Incredible, and HTC Thunderbolt - in speed of typing for me it was Droid (physical keyboard), Thunderbolt, Droid Incredible. That is to say, Larger screen = faster and Physical was faster than that. That said, the keyboard on the Original Droid was awful for a physical keyboard- I could type twice as fast on my wife’s LG Env feature phone.
My company deals with some very proprietary information and will only allow iPhones or Blackberries on the network.
As others have said, you really need to go to your service provider and play with some phones. You’ll find the one you love. Definitely an iPhone or a high end Android.
Well, sort of. (At least here in the States.) The phone and the contract are two different transactions, and certain types of the latter make you eligible for in-store rebates on the former. How much the rebate is and what kind of plan you need to get it varies by the model of phone. For the one I got last week, signing a one-year contract would get you a rebate of retail minus one penny because I like the cheap little basic phones that let me call people and maybe take the occasional picture or notation to myself. For fancier phones, the rebates were much smaller and the bars to clear for them were higher–longer contracts, or having to add unlimited texting or certain data plans. What kind of rebates are available on what phones varies over time, too, so the phone that’s $75 with contract this month might be $19 with contract next month, or vice versa.*
*The sales people usually know what kind of changes are coming up in the special offers and what phones they’re going to be getting in or phasing out soon. If you’re very nice to them, a lot of them will share this information with you to help you out. If you’re not very nice to them, they won’t tell you diddly squat.
“Yes, but in Miracle Whip vs. Helman’s it was decided that…”
I Googled up iPhone apps for attorneys, and found this site - it might help you:
I am another iphone business user because I don’t have the time to mess around with settings on a Droid.
I don’t think a laptop is as useful as an iPad unless you have files that require specialized software. Also keep in mind that unless you get a phone that works as a hotspot you will need a data plan for the laptop also. With a ipad you don’t need to wait for it to come out of standby.
I’d suggest a cheap phone with good reception and texting and spend the money on the ipad. I got a Samsung Juno with no contract and unlimited voice, text and internet and it is $40 now. With the shrinkage it is 45 a month and going down to 40 a month in December.
Make sure you check the reviews. A phone that doesn’t get good reception is never a bargain.
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/?tag=reviewCategories;revCatWrap
http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/reviews.php
As far as the phone company is concerned, you need to check with other people around the courthouse and see who has the least problems. Every company is going to have dead spots. You need to find the least number of dead spots in places you care about.
If I want to be able to read my emails once in a while, how big a monthly data plan do I need? 50MB, 100MB, 500MB?
How data intensive is it to use a phone as a navigation aid?
Looking at my options, I’m starting to think that a Nokia C1 might be a good start. It’s 50$ without a commitment (I can take a prepaid plan for 30 cents a minute) so if I ever need to upgrade, that won’t have been much of an investment. Right now, I don’t need to take my emails or consult maps but I anticipate that I will. If I ever do, perhaps I’ll keep the very basic phone and get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
It’s a GSM phone rather than 3G. Does that mean the reception will be bad?
With basic phones you are either are using GSM or CDMA. GSM phone either use ATT or T-mobile. CDMA phones are either Verizon or Sprint. I may be wrong, but I think that is the 4 networks used by all cell phone companies in the US, except for the Sprint/Nextel phones. I get my phone service from Boostmobile, which is part of the Sprint network. You still need to check which phone company has the best reception where you are going to using the phone. As far as I know, the Nokia C1 has okay reception, so need to figure out if ATT or T-Mobile work best at your location.
The bolded features are where Blackberries excel. They are far and away the best phones of the smart phone crowd, with powerful receivers, excellent speaker phones, clear sound and a wide range of volumes. Frankly it’s not even close. They have much, much better battery life than a Android, WP7 or iPhone due to less ambitious processors, fewer background processes and smaller screens. And last but certainly not least, they have a real tactile keyboard. Touch screens have their uses but typing on one is never going to be remotely comparable to a Blackberry keypad. The are merely serviceable. BBs absolutely trounce every smart phone in this category. Some Androids and WP7s have slide out keyboards but they pale in comparison to the BB keyboard and they are almost exclusively landscape sliders. Portrait keyboards are faster to access and easier to hold.
Blackberry as an OS is becoming antiquated, but there’s some very good reasons why it’s still the leader for business use. The App market is limited for games and social features and the cameras can’t compete with an iPhone or the best Androids, but they are still pretty good. The biggest issue with BBs was the web browser. I haven’t used the new BB OS yet to see what strides they’ve made, and supposedly they are much better, but big touch screen slates are tough to beat for web browsing.
ETA: Also, avoid AT&T like the plague.
Blackberry bold 9700 on Rogers. You almost always get it with the contract, at which point the prices for the phone become almost the same.
Canadian case law? I had to use CanLII on my blackberry YESTERDAY, as a matter of fact, since the wi-fi went down at school. It was ok and stuff I downloaded off LexisNexis was in my drop box. Would I want to LOOK up a case on QL or Westlaw using my phone? Good God, no. I don’t know if that would be better with an iPhone or Droid, but it’s just a thoroughly unpleasant experience to go through all the prompts and login screens on a phone. Kinda like checking this message board!
