Looking for a new Cell Phone

[Russianwolf]

Okay, I'm up for a new phone. My old one is getting kinda worn and all but it stil works.

I was thinking about one of the new Razor V3's since I like the weight and fit and finish of it. But I've read some poor marks on it.

My service is AT&T. So what do you guys recommend for my next phone.

[DUD]

Here in Arkansas AT&T is offering free Blackberry's. My Brother got one today and He

loves it. He gets His email and phone calls on it. Bill

[Slik Geek]

What were the poor marks that you saw?

I've asked a couple of folks who have that phone and they seemed very happy with it, including one of the most important factors for me: Good signal strength.

I'm considering getting one myself, but I'm a little hesitant because the last two Motorola phones that I had were consistently poor in signal strength and all too happy to drop calls.

[jussi]

I had the razor before I got my Tilt. It worked fine for me. Ergonamic, lightweight, and good signal strength. But I think this has alot more to do with the carrier and your area. It's a pretty basic phone in terms features. I had the orginal V3, I know there are many other models of the razor now that have more features.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

Jussi -

How do you like your Tilt? I need something that I can use with MSOutlook, and read/edit MSWord and MSExcel. Or should I wait for the 3G iPhone? My carrier is AT&T.

Thanks,

- Lonnie

[JeffG78]

I know several people with Razr V3 phones that have had nothing but trouble with them. LOML and I both have them as well. She doesn't like hers for texting. I don't mind mine, but it does have flaws. I love the fact that it fits in my pocket easily, but that super thin design makes it very hard to hold with large hands. It's very hard to hold with your shoulder when you need both hands free. My biggest complaint is that the outside screen turns off to conserve battery life, so the time isn't displayed until a button is pushed.

Battery life is average at best. My last Motorola lasted much longer.

[radhak]

All the Motorola K/Razor series have had battery problems; If not each and every battery piece, at least at an overall level for the model : maybe a quality control thing, but for one of mine, only the 3rd replacement battery worked somewhat.

The earlier ones were good enough for just one call, max 5 minutes, then it'd go dead. My kids were able to play games for hours, but it could not handle calls .

In contrast, Nokia batteries have always been awesome; pity (for me) that they don't have too many choices for Verizon (non GSM).

[JSUPreston]

Rumor has it that AT&T will start subsidizing the cost of the iPhone this summer. 2 year agreement may get you the iPhone for $200.

I've used Nokia, Motorola, Audiovox, Sierra Wireless and Blackberry. My personal phone is a used Razr V3r that FIL gave to me after he got the iPhone. My work phone is the Blackberry Curve. I prefer the flip phones myself, thus why I've usually used the Motorola offerings. Having played with the iPhone, I would love to have one but can't justify the cost right now. I have signed up for the beta program to have the iPhone work with Exchange Server, but haven't heard back yet. Once the iPhone can work with Exchange, I can honestly see the Windows smart phones and the Blackberries going away.

[Crash2510]

I previously had the v3m razor and had nothing but problems

4 phones worthless all with varying problems terrible battery

bought one of the new lg env's and love it great battery

all were through verizon

[Russianwolf]

Rumor has it that AT&T will start subsidizing the cost of the iPhone this summer. 2 year agreement may get you the iPhone for $200.

I've used Nokia, Motorola, Audiovox, Sierra Wireless and Blackberry. My personal phone is a used Razr V3r that FIL gave to me after he got the iPhone. My work phone is the Blackberry Curve. I prefer the flip phones myself, thus why I've usually used the Motorola offerings. Having played with the iPhone, I would love to have one but can't justify the cost right now. I have signed up for the beta program to have the iPhone work with Exchange Server, but haven't heard back yet. Once the iPhone can work with Exchange, I can honestly see the Windows smart phones and the Blackberries going away.

I will go back to being a caveman before I get an apple product (won't even use the name they stole for their phone). I'll have another look at the available phone tomorrow and see what else they have. I think there was an LG and a couple Samsung offerings.

[gerti]

I will go back to being a caveman before I get an apple product (won't even use the name they stole for their phone). I'll have another look at the available phone tomorrow and see what else they have. I think there was an LG and a couple Samsung offerings.

I am considering reporting you to the moderators for this blatantly religious and political post!

The iPhones are cool. I don't even mind the price of the phone, as it is dwarfed by the cost for the contract...

Sticking to my prepaid, runs me $7/month.

[ivwshane]

If you really like the v3, the v3xx is a great phone, good signal strength, great voice quality, and decent battery life.
Everything everyone hated about the original v3 has been fixed on it, louder ear piece, faster menus, better camera, memory card slot, a better quality screen.

It's not the toughest phone so if you are rough on your phone you may want to look else where.

For pda's I really like the blackberry curve but if you don't plan on paying for a data plan then I would stick to a regular phone.

[leehljp]

I occasionally read that smart phones are used around 90 to 98 % for pure phone use. Except for the Blackberry which is used for email, I never hear of people using cell (smart) phones for anything else.

So what is the purpose or advantage behind a smart phone if it is not used for more than a cell phone?

It is 2 1/2 years before I got back to life in the US of A and I am sure the phone world will be totally different then, but I would like to know what I am missing now.

Thanks.

[plarval]

I have grown to like the Sony Ericssons myself. I currently have a w580i. Nice features, cool bright screen, best battery life I've had. It is a "slider" phone, so not everyones cup of tea. It's a walkman phone, so the sound is great. It's nice not to have to carry around an mp3 player as well. Myphoneexplorer allows you to sync it with Thunderbird, Outlook and even Google Calendars very easily. I've had a Razor, and the wife has an iPhone. I see you aren't an apple person, but I really like her iPhone. I wasn't crazy about the razor.

[jussi]

Jussi -

How do you like your Tilt? I need something that I can use with MSOutlook, and read/edit MSWord and MSExcel. Or should I wait for the 3G iPhone? My carrier is AT&T.

Thanks,

- Lonnie

I really like it. Fairly compact (for a smart phone), good signal strength, fairly rugged, smooth sliding function, keyboard is easy to use. It has tons of features most of which I don't get around to using. Way more than the Iphone. I was on a plane trip recently and to kill the time I downloaded a movie in the phone and watched it during the flight. You need to do some encoding to make it watchable on a small screen however. I haven't used the MS Office programs too often but I do use Word occassionaly and find it pretty easy to use.

I've played around with a friend's Iphone and the only thing I like better is the touchscreen and specifically the finger scroll. The Iphone I believe has the best touchscreen on the market. The tilt can fingerscroll as well but it's just not as smooth. More importantly (to me anyways) is that the Iphone doesn't have a keyboard. I text alot and I would not want to text using a touchscreen. Plus if you're going to be using Word, I would think you'd have a similar problem in typing.