I need a smartphone

[mamamia88]

I went downtown today. some guys where going to take a bus down to a game and i decided i would rather go home. assumed they would just leave without me, but they emailed me and told me they would hold up for 15 minutes. if i would have had a smart phone i could have told them don't bother. i feel horrible about it. also i got lost and just wandered aimlessly (but i had the day off so it was fine). any reccomendations for a not too expensive smartphone? my current carrier is AT&T but wouldn't mind switching if i could keep my number. i am leaning towards an iphone 3gs for $50 since it has the most games but i kind of want an android phone.

[flaak_monkey]

if you are looking for gaming get a Ngage on ebay. Phones are meant for alot more than games, althought that seems to be the trend causal gaming on all Android, Palm, and iPhones.

Android has alot more going for it as does and open source platoform (even Palm).

The iPhone has lost of stuff but cant be expanded upon less apple wants to, Android phones are usually more powerful, more features, and better support.

I would get the Motorla Atrix if you were gonna get a new smartphone on ATT. Or be cool and get a Palm 3 when they come out.

[mamamia88]

tmobile seems to have a deal right now for $10 monthly data. but their phones are more expensive. i already have att and am not dissassitified with it. i have no experience with tmobible is it a good company?

[flaak_monkey]

its not to bad, ATT offers more coverage for a little more money obviously. But you can be on the web and the phone at the same time cause they have seperate 2g and 3g towers unlike any other company.

Plus the Motorola Atrix is only on ATT, as is the Palm 3, Palm Veer

[mamamia88]

now is 200mb data enough per month if i'm near wifi most of time? i have wifi at home and on campus so the only time i would really need data is when i'm out. and i live near chicago so if i'm downtown chicago chances are i can find wifi for free

[jimrz]

Have had T-mobile for several years and like them pretty well. Coverage here is good (but so are pretty much all of them here in town) and 3G speed is ok (and we are due to get 4G running here in about a month, or so). Had a chance to use their 4G a couple weeks ago on a trip and it is fast. Really like my android G2 smart phone(and I understand that the price has dropped recently) + it is 4G capable.

[mamamia88]

i am looking at the htc insipire. looks like a really good phone. anyone have one?

[3rdalbum]

i am looking at the htc insipire. looks like a really good phone. anyone have one?

I've got the HTC Desire, it's a good phone.

I would definitely NOT recommend buying a phone from your carrier. It'll end in tears when you decide you want to switch carriers, or update the phone's OS. Whatever you buy, buy it away from the carrier - that way it's unlocked and YOURS.

If you're after a cheap Android phone, Huaweii makes a couple of phones running Android. Fairly recent OS and have had decent reviews. There's one that sells for $159 in Australia and a bigger-screen version for $229. You should take a look at these; they're pretty much stock Android phones, but I imagine they'd be good as a "first smartphone".

[mamamia88]

how do you buy a phone away from the carrier without paying 2-3x the price? going to have to sign up for new contract anyway because a)i don't have data and b) my contract expired awhile ago

[3rdalbum]

how do you buy a phone away from the carrier without paying 2-3x the price? going to have to sign up for new contract anyway because a)i don't have data and b) my contract expired awhile ago

You still pay the same price for the phone, only you pay it upfront as opposed to paying it off at every bill. You should be able to get a BYO-phone contract that's either cheaper or has better value (more included calls, more data) than the ones that include a phone.

[mamamia88]

really? a carrier will change their rate if i show up at the store with a phone?

[aysiu]

I think the iPhone offers several distinct advantages:

1. It's cheaper (the 3GS for $50 is tough to beat for a smartphone)
2. It plays Netflix streaming (important to some people, not sure if it matters to you)
3. Best integration with iTunes (also not sure how much that matters to you)

If you can be flexible on the price and don't care fo Netflix streaming or iTunes integration, an Android phone would definitely be a better choice.

I recently upgraded from an original MyTouch 3G phone because it was too slow (only 192 MB of RAM--Angry Birds was unusable). I bought the MyTouch 4G, rooted it the next day, and I've been loving it ever since (almost a month now). It has a front-facing camera, which is useful with Tango. It has a decent-sized screen. The battery life is good when rooted (I've read a lot of reviews that say it's terrible with the HTC Sense and bloatware it comes with). And it has 768 MB of RAM, which really helps!

[mamamia88]

don't care about itunes or netflix. price matters but the price of the phone is nothing compared too cost of ownership. how much data do you guys use anyway? can you upgrade without a fee if 200mb isn't enough? what is with the value discrepancy of 200mb for $15 and 2gb for 25?

[aysiu]

don't care about itunes or netflix. price matters but the price of the phone is nothing compared too cost of ownership. how much data do you guys use anyway? can you upgrade without a fee if 200mb isn't enough? what is with the value discrepancy of 200mb for $15 and 2gb for 25?
I'm only a week in to this month's cycle, and I've already used 236 MB, so I would not be good for a 200 MB plan (I'm on unlimited). I don't stream a lot of video (but I do watch the occasional YouTube video). I do a lot of email, text messaging, web browsing, and online scrabble.

Not sure what your use would be like.

[mamamia88]

I live in Indiana about an hour or so from Chicago. My main usage would be checking email/responding,finding good restaurants nearby,finding directions, listening to music, and playing an occasional game. don't think i would be streaming much video. the most browsing i would do would either be facebook or twitter. i have wifi at home and on campus (the 2 places i go to the most). free wifi is abundant when in the city. i am tempted to just get a 200mb data plan and use wifi exclusively at home/school. don't think i would use it much at home anyway since i have a netbook. i just want it because i don't want to ask for directions then find out i was given bad directions and walk a mile in the wrong direction. also i don't want to have an idea what i want for lunch without having any idea where a restaurant that serves what i want is

[Muffinabus]

don't care about itunes or netflix. price matters but the price of the phone is nothing compared too cost of ownership. how much data do you guys use anyway? can you upgrade without a fee if 200mb isn't enough? what is with the value discrepancy of 200mb for $15 and 2gb for 25?

I had to bump down to 200MB for my Nexus S, which I was okay with since I don't get 3G here (Which I hate, terribly, used to live in Chicago and moved to Mid MO... can't wait to finish school), so I might not be a good example.

But anywho, I use the 3G data once or twice a week when I go out of town. I have accumulated 12 MB in the past 16 days browsing the web in this fashion. Most everything I do on my WiFi at home and it suits me well.

So if you keep yourself to strictly WiFi, it can be done very easily.