Best GSM smartphone for a non-techie, that has great signal strength?

[GeekDrew]

My mom has been recently asking me about cell phones - in particular, smart phones. Right now she keeps a hard-copy Franklin Planner for her annual calendar, and has pages of contacts in it. I think that she's considering making the leap to an electronic device for all of that - less to carry around and keep track of.

Her office is in a small town, and she lives in the middle of nowhere. Signal strength is the highest priority. Must have a Qwerty keyboard. The next priority would be ability to sync her contacts/calendar with Outlook on her PC. Not Exchange, not GMail, no wireless syncing, just syncing to Outlook on her PC (USB cable for ActiveSync or etc). Final priority would be ease of use... she can figure most things out, but gets frustrated when it's not obvious, and pissed off when it's too slow.

Data plan should not be required - she won't be using it for email or internet or etc., at least at this point.

I personally have a Palm Treo Pro, and I think that she'd like it, except that she says the Qwerty keyboard keys are too small. I used to have an AT&T Tilt, and while its keys should definitely be big enough, I suspect that it's way too slow... I got pissed off at it for being too slow, and I'm much more patient with technology than she is. I only had a BlackBerry for a few days, and I absolutely detested the UI, but I don't know - perhaps she'd like it. Are BlackBerries able to offline sync with Outlook, and operate without a data plan? Are they noteworthy for excellent signal strength? How about call quality/volume?

Reading reviews for phone after phone isn't helping me much... I need someone who can make a recommendation based on experience or something.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I'd say the Touch Pro 2. It's being rolled out and I think Tmobile's is due out some time in September last I knew.

 

[Muadib]

What carriers work at her home?

What's the budget? The Touch Pro2 that thecoolnessrune mentioned is $350 with a 2 year contract, and requires a data & voice plan. That's with T-mobile. A new smartphone without a data plan won't be cheap.

 

[GeekDrew]

I knew I was leaving out something critical in my original post.

AT&T is the only carrier that I've been able to get to work reliably at both her home and office. Budget is undefined... but as inexpensive as possible, since I'm sure that I'll end up buying it for her. And my requirement for no data plan required is because she's on my family plan, and I don't feel like paying for data for her, when she really doesn't need it.

 

[erwos]

Honestly, no data plan on a smartphone is kind of a bad idea. If you put it on there, she'll use it.

 

[pm]

The Nokia E71X from AT&T has a decent keyboard - for a non-slideout anyway. I'm pretty sure it syncs with Outlook and it definitely doesn't require a data plan (there's a $50 rebate that needs a data plan but forgo the rebate and no data plan is needed). The signal strength is better than my iPhone... it generally seems to pull in a signal when my iPhone says there isn't one...

There's a great review of it in this forum - just search... I'd link but I'm posting from my iPhone on a plane and I need to shut it off now.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: erwos
Honestly, no data plan on a smartphone is kind of a bad idea. If you put it on there, she'll use it.

I'll have the carrier disable data on that line altogether, so she can't use it. If she wants to start using it at some point, we'll address it then... but baby steps. Right now she doesn't have a need to at this point.

Thanks for the recommendation for the E71x... I've read some good things about it. Perhaps I'll get her to go check it out in-store with me. I'm still going to be looking around for some others.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

I love my BB curve. its simple, small, and probably cheap now. Compared to the bold its got better battery, smaller, looks better (i think) but lacks 3G and a really nice screen. BB interface seems alot easier then other smartphones too.