Cell Phone Recommendations

[David Whatley]

I have a friend that is havign major issues with her 3rd cell phone so I told her I would ask here. She needs one that has a qwerty keyboard, large screen and that she can get her email. Also needs to run a win OS.
What would you recommend?
TIA
David

[Rson]

the network dictates the phone....i have sprint with a Samsung Ace....good phone....crummy service.

[KenJulio]

What carrier does she use now? I'm not sure of a stable or battery efficient WinMo device, with that said, I'd recommend the blackberry's. Good qwerty kb layout, the newer screens are bright and crisp, more stable OS than WinMo.

If GSM based(ATT, Tmo) - Blackberry Bold
If CDMA based(Verizon, Sprint, Cricket) - Blackberry Tour(VZW and Sprint)

If neither one of those appeals to her, possibly look at the Android OS phones from T-Mo

[groovyone]

Touch Pro 2. I have the TP1 and it is decent, but the TP2 is supposed to be faster. Hopefully both will get the Win6.5 update. Mine is on Sprint, and with me and the wife using them, we have unlimited EVERYTHING except 1500 minutes for $130/mo or something.

I LOVE the keyboard on the Touch Pro, and the TP2 is even better.

[VisualOddity]

If she is on TMo, go with the G1, hands down...

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by VisualOddity

If she is on TMo, go with the G1, hands down...

Actually if going Android I'd say wait for the HTC Hero, but he did say needs WinMo.

*my bad, no hard keyboard on the Hero.

[David Whatley]

Carier is not important at this time. Her contract is up next week, but hse has been with Verizon fro 10 years. She doesnt know which phone she has now, but its the 3rd one in 12 months.

[GW2]

Blackberry Bold has very short battery life, 3-3.5 hours talk time. I feel like I'm recharging constantly. I hate it after my pearl for that reason. Nice screen and full keyboard are +s but keys are tiny.

[groovyone]

For battery life, the TP2 is improved over teh TP1, although I am sure neither is great. If I have all the data stuff turned on, I do have to charge my TP mid-day most days, but it can be charged with any standard Mini-USB cable, so I plug it into my laptop with a spare cable.

[KenJulio]

If she is happy with Verizon, have her check out the blackberry Tour, it just came out within the last 3-4 weeks. The screen is bright and crisp. If she is looking for a winmo device, the Touch Pro is nice, but I couldnt deal with the mail interface and the lack of battery life of it. With my Tour, I have gone just about 2 days, with streaming music about 8 hrs in the 2 days, about 120m of talk, receiving/sending of approx 300 mails and about 50 sms messages. The BB Tour uses the same battery as the BB Storm, so there are larger capacity batteries if needed which will give you 10-20% increase in battery life.

If she doesn't want to extend her contract at this time, I have a HTC Touch Pro for Verizon with 2 batteries and stylus for sale. If she doesn't like it, she wouldnt have to worry about a contract and its early termination fee, in which she can sell the phone outright. With the BB Tour, if she wants to get it as cheap as possible, she'll need to sign a 2 yr contract, and I believe you could get it as cheap as $50 with her new every 2 discount, if not, then $199 from VZW or bestbuy. BestBuy will sometimes throw in some free goodies at that price vs VZW is just the phone.

[RKEnnis]

Just wondering why the Win OS requirement. I don't keep up with all the latest developments in mobile phones. Are there really that many compelling apps that only run on Windows Mobile?

[Cajungaltx]

I'm a iphone swapper - there is nothing that I could do on my blackberry, or my motoq - that I can't do easier, and faster on my iphone. nd I can do MORE stuff with my iphone than I every could with either of my previous phones.

[cooltouch]

I too am wondering why the Win OS requirement.

We've been with Verizon since before it was Verizon around these parts (they bought out GTE Wireless about eight or nine years ago, I guess). But we're switching to AT&T when our contract is up later this month. My daughter and I have already picked out our phones -- the LG Xenon. Really cool phone with a large touch screen, plus qwerty keyboard. Built-in 2mp camera (with flash). Full internet capability, yadee. Takes the micro SD chip so you can play your favorite tunes on it as well.

Verizon just didn't offer anything as attractive as the Xenon, nor did T-Mobil. Sprint wasn't an option.

[Dobick]

I am also wondering about the win os requirement.

How do you go through 3 phones in 12 months? If she is physically damaging them, then it does not matter the recommendation that we make, if she will not take care of them.

With that in mind -- google turned up this one: https://www.imate.com/product.aspx?product=810f

[KenJulio]

Yeah, I'm preaching the Blackberry with VZW again, if she is abusive, then the Otterbox Defender case should help protect it from drops, scratches, etc.

What should could do, is try the device she is interested in with the carrier and if she doesnt like it, she can return it, with the prorated plan she had signed up for. I did that with the G1(tmo) and iPhone(att) so I can see how the reception is at the places where it'll be utilized the most. She may also do the same with VZW with whichever phone she chooses.