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advice for first time smart phone buyer

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by eric, Apr 26, 2010.

  1. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    This is all presuming that the update is available in the first place. We know from Android Market figures that only a little over 1/3 of Android users are on 2.1.

    They're older Android phones that the carriers haven't bothered to update.
     
  2. eric

    eric New Member

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    anyone care to talk me out of going with sprint and the htc hero? at this point sprint has the lead with their $69.99 plan that has 450 minutes with unlimited messaging and web.

    ill be honest. im a cheap S.O.B. thats the biggest reason i dont already have a smartphone and required data plan. that 69.99 plan from srpint is really talking to me because it saves money every month.

    ther hero isnt one of the newest phones with the 1ghz processor or a camera flash, but it is android, has the sense UI on top of it, and comes with a great rate plan. im sure the htc evo wont be available with this same plan since its a 4g phone. it will probably cost more per month.
     
  3. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The cheapest iPhone plan will run you $5 more for the same thing (450 minutes for $40, unlimited data for $30, 200 texts for $5).

    (Okay, you miss out on unlimited texting, so Sprint wins there.)
     
  4. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    You'll be the happiest person alive with an iPhone.

    /thread
     
  5. eric

    eric New Member

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    thats not what im hearing and reading from other people who have had the iphone but prefer something else now. everyone is different though.
     
  6. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    i have ripped through jus about every smart phone from Windows mobile (never used this latest one though) to Samsung's creepy OS, to Android powered phones (also, first gen Android)... The iPhone is the only thing streamlined and well thought out. There's so many Android phones that every month, yours becomes obsolete. Apps work on some phones and not others. All kinds of mess.

    iPhone... iPhone.... IPHONE
     
  7. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    I don't agree with this. With Android, it's all about the OS. I don't think the phone itself really makes that much of a difference, at least not yet anyway. HTC just released the 2.1 update for Hero and some other phones, and it's a lot smoother. As long as they release the necessary updated versions I think they'll be alright.

    I have heard people complain about some apps not working on some phones, although I've not yet encountered a single problem running an app on my phone, and I've tried well over 100 of them. So who knows.
     
  8. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    I have the Hero. Loving it so far. Make sure if it doesn't come with 2.1 (it probably doesn't) you update it or have the people at Sprint do it for you. It's pretty easy to do yourself, only took me about 10 minutes. Just make sure if you do stuff on your phone (like take pictures or download apps) you create a backup because the downloading the new version will essentially delete everything.
     
    eric likes this.
  9. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Rumor: Apple has ceased shipments of the iPhone 3G to AT&T stores. 2 weeks out from WWDC this probably means that the iPhone 4G/HD will come out in June, and the 3GS will replace the 3G at the $99 price point.

    Second rumor: the iPhone is coming to Sprint this summer.
     
  10. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    Honestly, as a Hero user, I would get the EVO 4G which comes out June 4.

    HTC and Sense rock. The Hero is a great phone, but it can be quite sluggish (though Android 2.1 has really helped here). You're not going to have that problem with this phone. Not to mention it's just a badass device.

    http://now.sprint.com/evo/?id9=SEM_Google_C_Sprint_HTC

    EVO will also get Android 2.2 in July.
     
  11. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    iPhone 4G/HD will have video chat provided by a front-facing camera.
     
  12. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    As will the EVO.

    This arms race is only getting better.
     
  13. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    I dont care what the next iPhone costs.... I'm getting one.
     
  14. TJamesW_Phinfan

    TJamesW_Phinfan New Member

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    I'm still in a wait and see what the new Iphone has mode but I am liking a lot of what I see on some of the HTC's such as bigger display, faster processor, etc. I'll admit there is lot of good about the Iphone too which is why I'll wait a few more weeks.

    One negative to me for android is all the that's being said in here about updates. I'm a lazy guy and not sure I like having to back up the data on my phone to update it. How often are updates released? Does this apply to the Iphone too?
     
  15. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    The iPhone is so simple it's ******ed. Plug it into iTunes, it updates, you continue. When you plug it into iTunes, it also backs up your phone and contacts. So if something happens you reload it. It's all very easy and as simple as connecting it to your computer (PC or Mac).
     
    Fin D and TJamesW_Phinfan like this.
  16. eric

    eric New Member

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    just called the sprint store and the evo 4g is not an option for me.
    you can get it on the 70 dollar plan...but it then becomes the 80 dollar plan. in fact any plan you get it on will require an extra 10 dollars a month for the 4g coverage. they said they wont even activate the phone without that.
    there is a waiting list for the phone, which means its going to be a P.I.T.A to get.

    i hate all these BS restrictions.
    im tempted to just buy a nexus one from google for $530 and pay tmobile $60 a month for 500 minutes, unlimited text and web, with no contract.
     
  17. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The real significance here is that the iPhone is getting a feature that's been rumored ever since the 3G's debut.

    Eric, Google is ceasing direct sales of the Nexus One.
     
    Boik14 likes this.
  18. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    Why??
     
  19. eric

    eric New Member

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    google hasnt stopped directly selling them yet.

    and ive called tmobile SEVERAL times. each person i get on the phones knows even less then i do. one woman accused me of having inside information. because i read the newspaper article about google soon stopping direct sales, and because i knew the htc desire was already available for tmobile in europe.

    they cant tell me when the nexus one will be available directly from tmobile
    they cant tell me when or what phones are coming out anytime soon for tmobile
    the best they can do is try to push the hd2 which is out of stock and not what im looking for. i doubt they would even give me a discount on that thing unless i signed a new contract....and that would make my monthly bill 20 dollars higher for next two years then going without a contract.
     
  20. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    No one's buying the phone directly. So instead they'll focus on getting the Nexus One into stores where people can demo them.

    Eric, I really wouldn't bother with T-Mobile. This is a pretty good opportunity to switch to a better network.
     
  21. eric

    eric New Member

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    i ordered a nexus one from google last night.
     
  22. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    You caved, eh? I hope that decision works out for you. :up:
     
  23. eric

    eric New Member

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    i hope so too but it seems like the clear cut winner

    will have the cheapest rate plan.
    no contract
    android 2.2 is out as of like 2 days ago
    it has flash
    it enables the phone to be a mobile hotspot, like the HTC evo 4g from sprint....just without the extra 30 dollars a month for that feature
    has the 1ghz processor
    very nice HTC phone
    a very nice screen
    ive read several claims that its 5mp camera(with flash btw) is better then other, higher MP cameras.
    its google's phone so i will get any updates ASAP. no wondering when or even if the manufacturer will release an update for my phone.
    dont have to wait untill june....to wait some more on a waiting list.

    if at any time something i want more comes out, i can sell it on ebay and get the other one, on any provider since im not under contract.
     
  24. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The one part of your list I take issue with is the part about the screen. Its screen actually doesn't reproduce colors accurately. It's not fully RGB.
     
  25. eric

    eric New Member

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    for everything this phone does and will do, i can deal with the colors being slightly off. i havent read anything about it so i assume it cant be that bad.
     
  26. eric

    eric New Member

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    Posting this on my new nexus one
    Its smaller then I thought it would be
    I guess I have bigger hands then the people in the review videos
     
  27. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    You sure you were looking in the right places?

    Hope you enjoy the phone, man. (And yeah, hand models always have small hands, for some reason.)
     
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  28. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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  29. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    And I think this explains why Apple refuses to be a slave to Adobe and Flash

    http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and...Player-101-on-Android-Slow-But-Pretty-188395/

     
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  30. TJamesW_Phinfan

    TJamesW_Phinfan New Member

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    That realty surprised me to see that much banding on the Nexus display in the test screens.

    It would be nice if screen (LCD, OLED, etc) designers could eliminate those kind of artifacts. Besides a new phone I'm also shopping for a new TV and it's frustrating that all models I research and look at in stores have some drawback but not always the same. Model A may have bad banding where model B has none but has light bleed that the other doesn't or blooming or whatever. Even in the same brand but different generations. I'm seeing some models like with Sony and LG where previous generations seem to look better than the newest models. I hope that isn't the case with the new Iphone.

    I'm hoping the new Iphone has a bigger higher res screen than it's predecessor. I'm old with bad eyes so a bigger screen would be nice. I have to say though despite those tests I've seen some good image quality on a nexus but admittedly its was very brief occasional viewing of a friends phone.
     
  31. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Jobs' open letter about the topic is pretty encompassing, IMO.

    They could, but consumers haven't shown much interest in color quality on mobile devices, whether phones or notebooks. That's why notebooks are still sold with inferior quality display panels. In the mobile segment, price is generally more important to consumers than quality. People would prefer a $500 item than a $1000 item, because the general impression is that everything is about of equal quality.

    In a market where people think that putting rabbit ears on an HDTV equals HD content, it's a steep uphill battle to convince them that not only should they care about display quality, they should be willing to pay more for it. When people can't tell the difference between SD and HD, think that iPod earbuds playing back 64Kbps MP3s sounds good, and take the attitude the cheaper is better because the computer will be obsolete in six months anyway, you're not going to convince the manufacturers that they should up their quality level.

    Now, Apple is the exception here, because they've spent a decade slowly educating consumers one feature at a time, and marketing their products as being truly different from the rest of the pack. That sort of carefully-crafted message hits home, and it's the reason behind Apple's success. (Of course, Apple still cheaps out on notebook display panels, but that's a side effect of designing a product to a price point and a general lack of high-quality notebook panels available to install at the factory.)

    The rumor is that the iPhone 4G/HD's screen will double the resolution from 320x480 to 640x960.
     
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  32. Dolphin1184

    Dolphin1184 Member

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    I have had my phone for a few weeks now. I really like it. It is much faster than my old phone. WM6.5 is a major improvement over 6.1. It may not be as pretty as the iphone's interface, but I don't find the iphone's interface significantly better.

    I love my phone's e-mail interface. The build quality of the phone itself is MUCH MUCH better than my old Samsung Epix. The speakers are especially good, and you can actually feel the vibration when I am on vibrate. The vibration on my old Epix was terrible, and caused me to miss calls. I have gotten used to the "pressure" based touch screen and have grown to like it. It is subtly different from my ipod touch, for example, you have to keep putting pressure on the phone when you scroll. You cannot flick it like the Ipod touch/iphone. The on screen keyboard is not bad either on vertical or horizontal mode. The text messaging utility is the familiar WM interface.... which I like better than the iphone's texting interface.

    All in all, I have had no problems with my phone so far.

    [​IMG]


    Thank god for ATT's insurance. They always give me an updated model when they stop making/selling my current phone, all for a $50 deductible.
     
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