What is it with the current gen cell phones?

[DisgruntledVirus]

I am looking through new phones (currently with Verizon, and they have ads running for red hot deals crap), because my plan is up in 2 months or so. So I start going through and looking at the phones on Verizon's website, and have come to the conclusion that I don't like any of them. It seems as though none are any better then my current Motorola Q (although it has its issues because of its age and abuse it's taken), and are just really bland.

The new Moto Q's don't add anything over mine.

The Palm Treo's are just over priced.

The Verizon VX smartphones (with qwerty keypad) all seem cheap. Everybody I know that has gotten the VX series phones has them break within a few months. Then the Verizon XV6900 screams "I want to be an iPhone, but I am not" so bad.

The Blackberry Curve and 8703e are the only ones I even KIND of like, but even those appear to be the same as everything else on the market.

So what is it with cell phones anymore? They all seem to be copies of each other and no real innovation, or uniqueness exists anymore (the iPhone is about the only thing that was unique but now is copied by everybody).

Moved from Off Topic
moderator allisolm

 

[sdifox]

err, they all suck. Costdown ftl...

 

[Riverhound777]

I have a BB 8820 for work and a LG VX8700 for personal. I think they are both great phones. Have you read about the new BB Bold coming out this summer?

 

[K1052]

I don't require my phone to by unique or trendy, I require it to have many features and have them function well.

I recently got the Blackberry Curve (8310) and it is by far my favorite (by far) that I've owned to date.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
I have a BB 8820 for work and a LG VX8700 for personal. I think they are both great phones. Have you read about the new BB Bold coming out this summer?

Yes but it appears to be a AT&T only phone, which is sad. I have to stick with Verizon, for a few reasons (have a discount, among other things). So the Curve seems to be out.

BB looks to have some of the best phones on the market, but even they don't seem that great.

K1052 I require the same thing. My Q was a kind of cool phone, but after 2 years it has developed a lot of issues that hurt its functionality. I don't want a all glittery phone or w/e, but I would like a phone that adds some unique features which appears impossible to find anymore.

 

[jdini76]

I have to agree with the OP. I think it is only Verizon that has that issue. My Fiance has Verizon and I have AT&T. She is trying to get me to switch to Verizon and I took a look at the phones and non of them really "wow" me. I currently have a the Slvr whoch I liked alot, and am thinking about getting the Blackjack, but Verizon doesn't have the Blackjack. The only Verizon phone that is remotely interesting is the Voyager. But at $300 I might as well just get an Iphone.

 

[sjwaste]

I have a Palm Centro and love it, but I don't think Verizon can offer that yet. When I was selecting a corporate phone (ended up with the Tilt, which is ok at best), we had our pick of carriers, and Verizon's offerings seemed the worst. The i760 was the only one I really liked from them.

My preference has always been PalmOS, but my company doesn't support that any more. In general the WM6 Pro platform just doesn't impress me. The UI lags, the phone interface isn't that good, and battery life is horrible. PalmOS takes a lot of abuse for being old, single-tasking, blazer being outdated, etc, but the bottom line is it just works. The phone UI is intuitive, the OS is fast, blazer is acceptable, SMS interface is great. Most (all?) Palms have a one-handed design with decent keyboards.

Go with the Treo (non-WM), you won't be disappointed if you're in it for a productivity tool. If you're a smartphone user for casual use, it'll work well for that too (my centro is), but don't expect a 3MP camera and junk like that.

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: K1052
I don't require my phone to by unique or trendy, I require it to have many features and have them function well.

I recently got the Blackberry Curve (8310) and it is by far my favorite (by far) that I've owned to date.

Isn't that unique?

 

[DivideBYZero]

The Curve is cool and the 4.5 OS update is due very soon.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
I have a Palm Centro and love it, but I don't think Verizon can offer that yet. When I was selecting a corporate phone (ended up with the Tilt, which is ok at best), we had our pick of carriers, and Verizon's offerings seemed the worst. The i760 was the only one I really liked from them.

My preference has always been PalmOS, but my company doesn't support that any more. In general the WM6 Pro platform just doesn't impress me. The UI lags, the phone interface isn't that good, and battery life is horrible. PalmOS takes a lot of abuse for being old, single-tasking, blazer being outdated, etc, but the bottom line is it just works. The phone UI is intuitive, the OS is fast, blazer is acceptable, SMS interface is great. Most (all?) Palms have a one-handed design with decent keyboards.

Go with the Treo (non-WM), you won't be disappointed if you're in it for a productivity tool. If you're a smartphone user for casual use, it'll work well for that too (my centro is), but don't expect a 3MP camera and junk like that.

That is what I am looking for, a smartphone for staying connected (AIM, text, phone) with a real qwerty keyboard. I HATE typing on a num pad, it just bothers me so I won't do it. I have no use for a 3 mp camera or any high mp camera, just something that does have a camera because I don't always have my P&S with me.

The other thing is I want to sync up my email accounts (gmail, yahoo, school, and work) all to push through to the phone. My Q doesn't really support any kind of push functionality AFAIK (haven't really looked either though), and I don't want to have to go in and have it connect and download. I want it to get sent right to the phone. AFAIK BB is the best option for this (although the Treo might be as well).

I just hate Verizon's phone lineup. It sucks majorly.

 

[uli2000]

Verizon is getting the Curve (8330) relativly soon if they havent already. Ive got a ppc6800 (came from a ppc6700), which are the Alltel versions of the Vx phones, and the build quality on the 6800 has been fabulous. Much better than the 6700, and I say better than the curve or pearl. I disagree the touch is a iphone clone. The gsm version (which has the same design as the CDMA version) was out a month or two before the iphone (came out last April or May). Its also a nice phone, but without wifi and a keyboard, I decided to stick with my 6800. I say take another look at the VX6800 and also the Blackberry 8830 (newer version of the 8703, better build quality that pearl/curve).

 

[Alienwho]

I'm forced to move to Verizon for work, I'm looking at the env2 or possibly the samsung alias. Anybody have any opinions? I'm coming from a Pearl which i absolutely love. I want whatever I get to be the same size with an interface that is as easy and logical to use.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: Alienwho
I'm forced to move to Verizon for work, I'm looking at the env2 or possibly the samsung alias. Anybody have any opinions? I'm coming from a Pearl which i absolutely love. I want whatever I get to be the same size with an interface that is as easy and logical to use.

Then get the Pearl Or stick with BB at least, because they should all have a similar interface.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Verizon's phone selection is lame and the carrier is boring, honestly I don't see how they're still in business.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Verizon's phone selection is lame and the carrier is boring, honestly I don't see how they're still in business.

teh network, and great CS.

I love my Pearl, and my friend's new Curve rocks.
A few of my friends have the env, and they are pretty solid devices.

 

[Alienwho]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus

Originally posted by: Alienwho
I'm forced to move to Verizon for work, I'm looking at the env2 or possibly the samsung alias. Anybody have any opinions? I'm coming from a Pearl which i absolutely love. I want whatever I get to be the same size with an interface that is as easy and logical to use.

Then get the Pearl Or stick with BB at least, because they should all have a similar interface.

I don't want to pay for the monthly data plan for a BB when my work will completely cover the cost of any other phone.

I'm seriously leaning towards the env2, i'm liking it more and more. I'm just worried about to many teenage girls having this phone, and looking like a douche flipping it open to do the cool stuff.

Anybody have experience with the VX6900 (HTC Touch?) It looks pretty cool.

 

[RandomFool]

I really like my enV2. It's a solid phone and not too bulky. IIt does just about everything I want it to do and didn't cost $200+ like other phones. I haven't had any issues with it so far. I'm not a big fan of the touch phones, they're too bulky for me and I wouldn't use the features enough to justify the price.

 

[Alienwho]

hmmm, now i'm really liking the XV6900 (Touch) for its hackability and slick factor. But I do like other features and excellent battery life. I guess I'll just get whatever I can get the better deal on.

 

[Alienwho]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I really like my enV2. It's a solid phone and not too bulky. IIt does just about everything I want it to do and didn't cost $200+ like other phones. I haven't had any issues with it so far. I'm not a big fan of the touch phones, they're too bulky for me and I wouldn't use the features enough to justify the price.

Regarding the text messaging on your enV: One thing I really like about the Pearl is the layout of threaded text messages. All my previous text conversation shows up when receive a new message. Does the Env2 do this as well?

 

[Deeko]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=66&threadid=2138290
See this thread...I agree. There are a higher quantity of phones similar to the Q (or in my case, the SDA/Dash), and the price is *slightly* lower, but in general mainstream phones haven't changed in a few years. GPS is really the only new feature, other enhancements are just evolutionary.