Need smartphone help please (carrier info/phone info/etc).

[Pr0d1gy]

My wife and I are finally getting our own personel smartphones....yeah we're the people living under the rocks in the Geico commercial...and I wanted to get some insight from you guys. Since this is our first phones I would like to get unlimited data, but am willing to hear out any opinions on that perceived need on my part.

What I want: Well I want to play some games on my phone, like when I'm riding in the car or waiting somewhere for something. I would like to play music on my phone without making a house payment for the songs. I won't be talking much because we have a land line.

What she wants: She talks more than I do on the phone, she wants to be able to text and email. She doesn't care about games or super fancy stuff. She just wants the typical functions and a decent camera in case she doesn't have her camera on her.

We really aren't sure of all the great things these phones can do, or what limitations our wants will place on us. For instance, if I play a game online with the phone (if that's possible) does that count towards your data plan? Would I need unlimited data?

I know I should talk to someone at a store but 95% of those people are going to lie to get you to buy what their spiff/ommis/etc fattens their pocket the best. What other functions are available that we should look into?

Obviously, we are trying to get the most effective plan based on usage and cost and have mostly looked at T-Mobile and Sprint because they're the only unlimited data plans. Again, I don't claim to know much so if you know something I don't about Verizon or AT&T let me know. The phones we've looked at include HD7, G2, Droid X (yeah Verizon isn't unlimited, but I like the phone), and a few others.

 

[Spoooon]

Well, when my wife got her smartphone a while back, she was all "I don't need anything complicated, I just want to email, text, and facebook." And now she really hates her phone (Palm Pixi Plus) with a passion. No games, the screen is too small, it's not powerful enough, and there are no apps. None of which were things she wanted when we first started looking at phones.

So, if you are getting her a smartphone, don't mess around, get her a SMARTPHONE.

edit: On unlimited with Verizon, day 7 of 31, up to 367MB of data so far. I saw a thing somewhere (can't remember where), if you take the plunge and go for the HTC Thunderbolt, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for unlimited LTE.

edit2: Stock Android, my wife finds fairly intuitive. Coming from WebOS for her won't be a big deal when we can finally get her a different phone. She closes her cards immediately, no matter what. I think I've only seen her multi-task once or twice (really, serial tasking, pretty much the same sort of multi-tasking you'll get from Android, or the latest ios, etc.)

You'll need to figure out what exactly you want to get out of your phone. I think that, for most people, as long as the hardware is good, it doesn't matter what operating system you end up with (assuming you're picking from Android, ios, WP7 at the moment).

As far as unlimited or not, I'm more comfortable with the option of having unlimited. I've only gone over 5 GB a few times, but it's nice to not have to monitor my data usage.

To give you an idea of the flexibility/customizability of Android, you can check out the following links:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12135933&postcount=23071
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12135011&postcount=23066
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12129387&postcount=23049
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12112993&postcount=22980

 

[smartpatrol]

I'm using an HD7 on T-Mobile and I love it. I've used Android (had an Evo 4G on Sprint for 8 months) and recently switched to Windows Phone 7, and personally I like WP7 a lot more.

WP7 is very focused on music and gaming. It uses the Zune software to sync music to your phone, which IMO is a hell of a lot better than iTunes. You can sign up for the Zune Pass subscription, which gives you unlimited downloads and streaming from their store. The songs have DRM and will work as long as you're subscribing. Plus, it comes with 10 song purchase credits. Songs you purchase are in regular old MP3 format with no DRM Of course you can always purchase stuff without becoming a subscriber. It's generally around $10/album.

As far as gaming goes, WP7 has Xbox Live integration. Even if you don't care about Xbox, the Live-enabled games tend to be higher quality than your typical smartphone games. They're very polished and full-featured.


Android and WP7 have very different "philosophies" behind their design. Android is super-flexible and customizable -- you can customize every aspect of it. You get multiple home screens to customize with all sorts of widgets. It has lots of "legally questionable" apps, like GBA/SNES emulators. You can change UI elements, software keyboards, even use different app stores.

Unfortunately, the Android OS updating situation is a gigantic clusterfuck to put it bluntly. Expect to wait at least 6 months after a new OS version is released before your phone gets updated. You have to wait so the OEM and carrier can put all their custom crap on it. That's if you even get an update at all. . . if your phone is over a year old, you will probably never get a new OS update again.

WP7, on the other hand, is all about SPEED and simplicity. It's designed to give you lots of info at a glance without appearing cluttered. Everything about it is fast and smooth, and to be honest, it's just a lot of fun to use. Try an Android phone and a WP7 phone side by side, and you'll see what I mean. It's a much newer platform but IMO it has a ton of potential.

 

[s44]

Consider the Optimus V on Virgin Mobile. A bit of up-front cost but the monthly price difference is ginormous. Downside: it's a midrange Android, so the screen isn't as big or hi-res, but you may not mind that as much if you're upgrading and not downgrading.

 

[smartpatrol]

If you do go with an Android phone, I'd definitely go with the Nexus S on T-Mobile. It's a Google-branded phone, which means you get the stock Android OS with no crapware or custom UI. And, you get OS updates on day 1.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

What is really scaring me about WP7 is the whole Zune thing. Anytime I hear DRM all i can think of is someone is trying to make me pay for something I already paid for again. Any opinion on your ability to load songs from CD or existing mp3 file on your computer to the phone? Alos, how does music work on the Android OS? I will have to check into Thunderbolt if they're doing unlimited 4g.

 

[Kabob]

You're going to get different answers from everyone. Let me break down my personal thoughts (note: I am an Android user). Sorry, but this is long-winded.

iPhone: As much as I despise Apple as a company and I hate to admit it, the iPhone 4 is still THE best smartphone out there, especially if you like games. Why? Because there's only one model. It's like console games vs. PC games, with the iPhone dev's don't have to worry about compatibility and such, they just make the game, make sure it works on the latest version of the iPhone, and sell it. You're stuck with iTunes and you've sold your soul to Steve Jobs, but it simply works the best. Yeah, buying music from iTunes is expensive but if you're ripping from CD's or adding MP3s from your library it's no more expensive than any other route.

Windows Phone: I personally don't know alot about the platform, so take this part with a grain of salt. There is alot of good stuff going for the WP7, Xbox Live integration, Outlook integration, etc. My concern is that it won't have the staying power of Android or the iPhone, their market share just isn't big enough, and as such doesn't have nearly the amount of support/apps that the others offer.

Android: Ahh Android, theoretically I should love you with my heart and soul...unfortunately it suffers from a few problems. Not every phone is great, not all the apps work on every phone, updates are dependent on both your service provider and the phone mfr, etc. It is getting better all the time, but I think that this generation (and probably the next few) the iPhone is still the way to go (even if it uses "outdated" hardware).

Example here, I recently purchased "Dungeon Defenders" for Android. I've got a Samsung Galaxy S "Fascinate" that is one of the better gaming phones out there, and it is one of the recommended phones for the game. The game...SUCKS...on my phone. Massive frame rate drops, skips, freezes, etc. Others have no issues at all. If you've got a phone slower than mine you can't play the game at all. The iPhone version of the game runs well on pretty much every iPhone 4 out there.

That's just my insight, I really think that in the next few years Android will be #1 and WP7 will be...niche, but that's just my wild ravings.

As for a carrier, if you don't want the iPhone and you use ALOT of data (I'm talking several GB's) you want Sprint. Sure, the coverage area isn't as great but there is no data cap/throttle/etc. If you don't use that much data and need better coverage I'd go Verizon. For non-4G there is no data "cap" like there is on AT&T, but if you go over 2GB/Month on 3G they throttle your speed. I have a harder time recommending T-Mobile or AT&T as IMHO T-Mobile is outdone by Sprint in the "cheaper" segment while AT&T is outdone by Verizon in the "more expensive" segment as far as coverage/call quality/data/customer service.



If you do go Android, here's my phone recommendations:

Verizon
You: HTC Thunderbolt - The Thunderbolt is your best bet ATM, it comes out tomorrow on Verizon. More RAM, faster processor, etc. It'll be expensive though.

Samsung Fascinate - I know, I've got one and it's not my favorite, but it is a decent phone overall. Fast processor for 3D applications, good camera, although you may hate TouchWiz (easily remedied with a launcher or a root though).

Droid X - Not as good at gaming as the others but a solid performer overall. Talk-time battery life is better than the HTC or Samsung, but standby battery life is not as good as the Samsung.

The Wife: Motorola Droid 2 - Mid-range phone but if she likes the full slide-out keyboard this will be her best bet for sending those long emails.


AT&T
I don't know as much about AT&T's offerings, but I'd look at the Motorola Altrix, HTC Inspire 4G, and Samsung Captivate. My boss has a Captivate and loves it, but he's very easy to please.


T-Mobile
You: LG Optimus 2X will be the first Tegra 2 phone available and I believe it will be coming out for T-Mobile, but exactly when that happens, who knows.

The Nexus S (as mentioned above) is another solid choice. Kin to the Galaxy S line but with Google support vs. Samsung (a VERY good thing). Quick updates, solid phone. Side note though, this is only available through Best Buy.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G - It's a Galaxy S phone with 4G...

T-Mobile G2 - Decent all around phone, especially if you want a slider. The processor isn't clocked as high as the other offerings but it holds it's own.


Sprint
You: HTC Evo 4G - An oldie but a goodie, probably my single favorite Android device. It's showing it's age and can't play the top end games, but it's solid all around. Only weak point is the battery life.

Samsung Epic 4G - Sprint's Galaxy phone, different from the others in that it has a slide out keyboard and front-facing camera.

Her: HTC Evo Shift 4G - Little brother to the base Evo, not quite as quick though, but it has the full keyboard.

But do some research, go to the store and find what you like.

 

[Kabob]

Alos, how does music work on the Android OS?

Music is handled by the phone's built in MP3 player. You can load songs/movies/etc using the USB cable or by removing the SD card and popping it into your computer. You can probably transfer over bluetooth but I've never tried. It's VERY simple, although it isn't nearly as slick looking/functional as iTunes.

 

[smartpatrol]

Yeah, you can definitely load all your own MP3s to a WP7 device using the Zune software. The Zune program can also rip your CDs to MP3 format. It indexes all the music in your My Music folder (or you can add other folders). When you connect your phone to your PC, a phone icon appears in the lower left of the Zune player. Just drag and drop any song, album, artist, or playlist on the phone and it syncs it. You can even sync wirelessly if your phone and computer are on the same wifi network.

I'm no fan of DRM, and I would never buy music in a DRM-protected format, but I gotta say that Zune pass is pretty cool. For the price of 1 CD a month, you get unlimited usage of everything in the Zune marketplace (and you can use it on WP7, PC, and Xbox 360). Plus you get 10 credits/month to purchase songs for keeps, and everything you buy for yourself is in regular MP3 format. I consider Zune Pass to be one of the biggest selling points for WP7 if you consume a lot of music.

As far as Android goes, you don't need any special software to transfer your music to it. Just plug it in to your PC and you can mount it like as a storage device. Then just drag whatever files/folders you want.

(P.S. WP7 has a very fast-growing app selection. They recently passed 10,000 apps, and that happened faster than it did for iOS or Android.)

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Wow, thanks for all the info guys. We decided to go ahead and order the HD7 phone for both of us as they have a great deal on Amazon for them with new contracts from T-Mobile. I'm glad to hear the Zune pass isn't horribly expensive and I can use my existing mp3's and CD collection. I'm looking forward to seeing how this thing works and would just like to thank you all for the great amount of information you gave me. +1 to everyone in this thread ~_^

 

[smartpatrol]

Cool! Hope you both enjoy your HD7s as much as I'm enjoying mine.