Recommend me a phone and/or plan

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Recommend me a phone and/or plan

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

KillerFuzzball posted:

This thread is perfect, I was just thinking about getting a new phone to replace my () RAZR.

I do a lot of texting, being in class and not able to talk, so I'd like a phone that would allow me to do that incognito. A nice camera would be great as well. I currently have a plan with AT&T, and I'd rather not complicate things by changing it, even though AT&T blows in my area. My budget is pretty limited, capped at around $300.

Anyway onto the specifics. I'm looking for a capable phone that I can just stick my SIM card into. I'm looking for a nice Nokia or something along those lines. A good Blackberry might be nice, too. Could anyone with more knowledge of Nokias or Blackberries point me in the right direction?

The post right before yours pretty much answered your question.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2008 23:44

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:10

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Banana Cat posted:

I hate the idea of contracts which is why I've been with Virgin Mobile for the last few years, although I saw in the stickied threads that apparently you can just buy a phone at full price and go monthly without a contract? I hadn't heard that before, does that basically just work the same way prepaid does?

Anyways, recommendations on either a family plan for the two of us (or if we should just go with two separate plans) and on decent phones would be appreciated.

In the long run, you'll pay less with 2 virgin mobile phones and separate accounts (unless Virgin Mobile has family plans)

You should only take up a family plan if you want the free phones phones that come with it and being locked in for two years. You'll end up paying an extra $20-30 per month compared to your Virgin Mobile prices. That said, the Nokia 6650 is kind of nice

"[chavez posted:

"]
Looking for phone recommendations:

* Country/Provider: US / T-Mobile No data or texting plan.

* Current contract status: In the middle of a 2yr Contract

* Budget: $300-$400

* Features I know I want: Movie & Video. I ride the train to work for over an hour a day so having video to watch on the train is super important. I also prefer a sliding form factor, and hate flip phones.

Right now I've got a T-mo Shadow, which is ok although I absolutely hate Windows Mobile with a burning passion after having to use it for several months. I'm specifically interested in Nokia phones (N95 mainly) but wouldn't turn my nose up at another brand. My kid dropped my wifes Nokia 6300 in a cup of coffee so I'm relegating the Shadow to wife duty while I get something else.

I'm really interested in the nokia N95 (or any N series) and I need something unlocked that will run on T-mobile. I don't care if I have to buy some kind of data storage card to go with whatever phone I get. I don't do a ton of texting, but I found the word prediction / texting function on my wife's 6300 to be pretty poor. I don't know if all nokias are like that, or if it was just the 6300. For what it's worth the texting/prediction on the shadow was pretty good for a non QWERTY layout. I don't currently have a data plan but will probably add one in when I get a new phone. I'm buying this new phone outright, and would like to find something in the three to four hundred dollar range, unlocked.

It looks like you've answered your own question. If you just need a nudge, go for it. The N95-3 is rated for 3.5 hours of properly encoded video.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2008 20:07

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

deathfalls posted:

# Country/Provider: USA/AT&T

# Current contract status: Out of contract.

# Budget (phone/plan): ~$400

# Features I know I want: 3G/Smartphone

After reading some posts here, I was heavily leaning towards the Nokia E71. I started looking at the N95 8G, which is now tempting me as well. I've not used a QWERTY phone before, and generally don't text a lot, so I was thinking the N95 8G may be more suited to my use. Is one of these particularly better than the other or would I be safe going with either of them? Of course if there is a better option available in my budget, please let me know.

When I first started looking for a new phone, I was aiming at the HTC Touch Pro/Fuze, but dropped that idea since I saw a lot of complaints on Windows Mobile.

Have you considered the N85? It should be in your budget from Dell with a coupon.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2009 19:28

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Xaiter posted:

Country: US, East Coast\Mid-West
Provider: Currently Sprint
Budget: <$250 monthly
Features: I just need around 2000 minutes a month, two lines. Just talk time. No internet, no texting, nothing. My brother and I don't really use that stuff.

And don't recommend staying with Sprint.

You could get a 2-line family plan on T-Mobile or at&t for half that monthly price.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2009 06:33

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

jeeves posted:

Okay, looks like the Nokia E71 is pretty much exactly what I was wanting with a nice slim upgrade from my Motorola L7 that is a lot more smartphone-ish.

So if I buy an unlocked on from Amazon-- will it work on ATT? Do I still have to pay the 30$ rear end rape data fee from ATT?

Yes, it will work on at&t.
I think unlimited data is $15 while data + text is $30.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2009 08:22

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Junjun posted:

my current phone which is a Nokia 6210 Navigator) when I go somewhere new

You could get the revamped Nokia 6710. Nearly same phone but it gets over 6 hours of GPS navigation on one charge and the camera is upgraded to 5MP.

Since your budget is so large, you could probably get the N97.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2009 08:33

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Lumieres Train posted:

* Country/Provider: USA/AT&T

* Current contract status: Paying month to month

* Budget (phone): $300ish

* Features I know I want: Full keyboard, web browsing, email, music would be nice

I've got a w810i that I like a lot, but with as much texting as I do it would be nice to have a full keyboard. Also, I'd like a phone that was better suited for email and surfing the web.

I'm paying month to month on AT&T, but my mom and sisters have a family plan on Verizon that they said I could get in on if I wanted. Service for both providers is pretty comparable where I live.

Heads up, Amazon has the Nokia E71 NAM for $289 today only
http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-E71-Unlocked-Camera-Player/dp/B001BZJ54U/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1235843768&sr=8-1

# ¿ Feb 28, 2009 18:56

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Lumieres Train posted:

Both of those phones look really nice. Does anyone here have experience with both? I've never had a smartphone so it's hard to decide between the two, and I don't know where I'd find a E71 locally to find out how it feels in my hand.

Shirley, you must have a best buy near you. They have the E71 and N96 on display.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2009 01:11

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

thesurlyspringKAA posted:

new iPhone- Twice as Fast Half as Expensive

Isn't that the tag line from when they launched the iPhone 3G?

Yeah, any gophone should hold you over.

# ¿ May 19, 2009 03:19

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

powderific posted:

Steinbeck hit on pretty much everything that concerns me about the E71. After watching the videos I can't believe that the interface is still so much uglier than my 4 year old, Sony Ericsson dumbphone. I know it's just a surface level thing and it's still a contender for me since I like being able to just switch the SIM card to another device if I like, but I wish they'd try a little harder.

It doesn't have to be ugly, you can throw on some good themes to make it better.
http://www.e71fanatics.com/search/label/E71%20Themes

# ¿ Jun 23, 2009 18:07

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Nizox posted:

Thanks for the help, I doubt I can get an Iphone any time soon though cause they're all sold out right?

They're sold out? poo poo! I'm switching to at&t in two weeks. I hear they're selling for like $800. I want massive profits

# ¿ Jul 2, 2009 18:56

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

EvilCrayon posted:

So I have T-Mobile right now but my G1 broke last month. I still have the same contract plan and I do miss having gmail and internet on the go.

What I'm looking for is a phone that will double as a music player(one less thing to carry), has wi-fi and 3G. A camera would be nice too but I figure if it has any of the others, it probably has a camera.

I'm a little bit partial to having a full qwerty keypad but if a touchscreen's keyboard is decent, I wouldn't mind too much.

The one thing I didn't like about my g1 was the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack as well as it being kind of... flimsy. The screen was tilted all the time and the touchscreen didn't respond too well after a while.

I've considered the HTC Hero, Nokia N97, Moto CLIQ, and just going back to the G1 for a little bit.

Its pricey, but you want the Nokia N900. It has EVERYTHING you want: T-Mobile 3G, better camera than the G1, qwerty (slide out as well as on-screen), 3.5 mm jack, the works.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2009 21:52

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Infinotize posted:

Phone up to $200

Nokia E63

# ¿ Oct 6, 2009 04:30

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

dreesemonkey posted:

Have you used this phone? I'm interested seeing that you can get it for $200 unlocked and it seems like it would what I want.

I've toyed with it. Seemed solid. Good keyboard.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2009 19:00

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

CheerGrrl92 posted:

for a phone that will be outdated in a year.

This applies to EVERY phone.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2009 09:32

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Darth Ronson posted:

Nokia 5530 - this is quite pricy, but has wi-fi. However, it apparently feels quite cheap.

I like this phone, been using it for about two weeks now. Doesn't feel cheap to me. I like the black one over the white one.

It was selling for under $200 last week, pretty cheap for an S60 touchscreen phone.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2009 19:47

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Does T-Mobile even have 4G plans?

# ¿ May 5, 2010 00:28

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

cixelsyd posted:

Hi guys, I've been looking for the Nokia C5, but that still hasn't been released. Does anyone know when that is coming out by any chance?

I've heard Q2 2010 kicked around but I wondered if anyone had some insight on when exactly it might be available in the US.

Thanks in advance!

I don't think it will be available in the US. The E72 is probably the best alternative and has been on sale from Dell lately for $250.

# ¿ May 29, 2010 18:52

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Baggy_Brad posted:

Or should I just stop being a trend hater and buy an iPhone like half my friends.

Only thing that comes to mind is the N86, but its hard to find nowadays. You should get an Android.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2010 21:31

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

bah, beaten.

budgieinspector posted:

Also, I dig traveling, and it'd be nice if I weren't locked into something I can't use outside of the U.S.

Unfortunately for you, an unlocked Nokia is your best bet.
Get an iPhone, sell it on craigslist, use the profits and buy a Nokia X6 or N97 mini (both are around $350 online). If you can wait until September, get the N8.
Put your sim in the Nokia and take it to an at&t store so they'll drop your data plan. You could get the $15 MediaNet plan and get unlimited data and tethering.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2010 07:57

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Godzilla07 posted:

$15 MediaNet doesn't exist anymore. The last remaining reason to get a Nokia smartphone is gone if you didn't have that plan already. And that's just cruel to recommend the N97 mini.

budgieinspector, get the Nexus One. It's the best phone for your needs since you'd like to go international.

Excuse me princess, its "Data Unlimited" now. Still available since I just added it to one of my other lines.
My 70 year old uncle has no problems using the N97 mini, which has worldwide free GPS navigation.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2010 08:57

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 05:10

Dr Tran: Dec 17, 2002; HE'S GOT A PH.D. IN
KICKING YOUR ASS!

Super Aggro Crag posted:

I ended up getting the Nokia Nuron with the data plan. Best phone I've ever owned hands down. Installed Opera Mini on it like suggested, and it works 100x better than the default browser. I can't seem to figure out if there's anyway to put shortcuts for applications like Opera Mini on the phone's desktop though. Going to "Search Internet and My Content" first and then browsing to what I want can get a bit tedious.

Menu, Settings, Personal, Homescreen
You should be able to change it there.

If you like Opera Mini, try out the Opera 10.1 beta at m.opera.com/next
Its a lot nicer.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2010 18:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Recommend me a phone and/or plan