Buying a new cellphone

[thorgrim29]

Hey, so I,m on the market for a new phone, and since I like the idea of apps (not so much Internet and FB on the phone) I'll be going with a smartphone. Thing is, I want an actual physical keyboard plus a touchscreen for navigating, so the Iphone is out (it still would be, I really dislike Apple as a company while having a sort of unwilling admiration for their genius at marketing). I went to a Future Shop and the lady there suggested a Sony Eriksson Xperia Pro (because poor literacy is kewl!), and I like the keyboard, and the interface (Android plus some proprietary stuff) looks nice. Problem is I know basically nothing about it's hardware. I.e.: does the battery stay good a long time, does it crash for no reason, does it break easily, etc....

So if anyone has experience with that phone or another model to suggest, that would be really cool.

Thanks

[Abrexa]

I'll only say that I had similar doubts to yours, but when I got Android touchscreen phone, they disappeared. Touchscreen horizontal keyboard is larger than any slide-out one would be, the device is lighter, no moving parts mean more reliability and battery lasts longer :smallsmile:

[grimbold]

I'll only say that I had similar doubts to yours, but when I got Android touchscreen phone, they disappeared. Touchscreen horizontal keyboard is larger than any slide-out one would be, the device is lighter, no moving parts mean more reliability and battery lasts longer :smallsmile:

this

me and my sister got phones august before last

i got an Iphone style touch screen phone

she got one with a slide out keyboard

guess who's phone bust first?

[Castaras]

It takes a little time to get used to onscreen keyboards, but they're good.

And as for your requirements... depends on how much you want to spend. If you're looking at one of the Xperias, sounds like you're willing to splash out, so I'd take a look at the higher end phones - those are more likely to have both touchscreen and keyboard. Fraid I can't give any help with that, my phone was crazy expensive (to me) at £80. :smalltongue:

[Serpentine]

http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/8/12/thisthreadisr128630427301256418.jpg

I'm considering getting an unlocked smart phone for taking overseas. Something with easy to access internet, usable everywhere, and as cheap as possible.
Just as long as people are thinking about this stuff anyway, any thoughts on that score would be helpful...

[Tonal Architect]

You could try an Nokia N900, an often overlooked strong contestant. Nearly all applications are free, considering its linux roots, you can modify the phone a lot if you're into linux.

It plays a lot of video formats, has a full desktop browser (albeit nokia never bothered taking flash 10 to it, it runs flash 9 just fine, which means you can visualize most web sites as they're meant to be seen). Aside from having it's own hardware keyboard, it also support the use of bluetooth keyboard AND mice (that's fancy on an airport). A few get to overclock to 1.15ghz, though most will remain stable only up to 800/900mhz.

It also has a few good and robust pdf readers, so in case you want to carry book parts relevant to your characters and patch them up as your own character's handbook, that's doable. Or maybe use it as a mini-kindle.

It also has GPS support, along with a good number of map programs, so using it for guidance is a go. I'll usually use it for interstate road travel.

It also makes phones calls.

Too bad Nokia stopped producing those, but that also means they go cheap on ebay. On the downside, you have to buy a screenshield (the ones from Zagg are good) as soon as you buy the phone, the screen scratches too easily. The thing is a tank otherwise, I've had mine survive a car crash, get thrown out of the car, and it still works flawlessly.

I think it's a great phone, best one ever made it you ask me, but then again I own one, so I'm obviously biased.

[Serpentine]

I just looked up the Nokia N900 and man, does it look intense. It does really reassure me, though, that if something that... uh... feature-packed can be bought for that low (I've found lots under $300 on ebay), and unlocked to boot, I should be able to find something that does just what I need for a lot cheaper.
But man, this thing's tempting...

[SDF]

If you have a (presumably moral) problem with Apple why would you turn around and buy a Sony product? :smallconfused:

A touchscreen Android phone is going to be largely the same from company to company. So it comes down to carrier, price, and battery life. You can jailbreak just about anything so carrier would also be irrelevant. There are a lot of sites comparing the newest phones on the market with a google search. I don't know a whole lot about specific phones today (the trend seems to be every 4-8 months completely turning over new product lines. These things are out of date faster than PCs) but my best experience has been with Nokia.

[Serpentine]

Hey, if I were to get the Nokia N900 (or similar smartphone), keeping in mind I'll apparently need to get a new simcard in every country I go to, how... well... how will I pay for it? Can I/do I need to have prepaid? Will I need/be able to have a plan?
I've only ever used Optus prepaid with my crappy old Nokia within Australia, so I have no idea what I'd be doing there.

[SDF]

You can get multi-national cards. Apparently National Geographic is in the SIM card business. (http://www.cellularabroad.com/cellAbroadSIMcard.php)

[Serpentine]

That... That looks pretty much perfect, actually. Anything in it I need to watch out for?

[Alarra]

On the keyboard debate.... Personally, I love love love my slide out keyboard and am not nearly as fond of the on-screen one. Zeb has a droid X (onscreen keyboard) and I have a Droid 2 (slide out keyboard), so I type on both of them frequently. The slide out one is much easier to use, especially if you have fingernails. Our battery life seems comparable to one another and while both of our phones have broken, it's because Zeb seems incapable of keeping phones dry and has nothing to do with which keyboard type they have. As smartphones go, both of these models have made us quite happy.

[thorgrim29]

After much shopping I'm probably going to go for a Samsung Galaxy Ace with Koodo. The SII Infinite looks awesome but only Bell and Rogers have it and it would cost me like 65$ plus tax a month, so sadly enough I'm going to have to settle for a slightly lower-end phone. But the phone itself isn't all that expensive and there's no multi year contract so next year when I finish my MBA and finally (I'm 22 this week, it'll be about time) move out I'll get a better one.

[Abrexa]

If you have a (presumably moral) problem with Apple why would you turn around and buy a Sony product? :smallconfused:

Because they're pretty much mirrors of each other? :smallconfused:

You wan a good phone, buy HTC, LG, or Samsung...

[Asta Kask]

http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/8/12/thisthreadisr128630427301256418.jpg

That is a very, very cute cat. Coincidentally, he looks like mine.

[Abrexa]

And sadly, not at all like mine :smallfrown:

I always found all-black cats to look awesome.