Hey there, guys. I need some advice. If I get this job I’m working on, I’m going to get a cell phone for my girlfriend and I (we’re probably the only folks in LA without them). I don’t need any camera or anything fancy, and would prefer a flip phone. With that in mind, which phone can y’all suggest? Also, which service could you suggest? I’m currently leaning towards Verizon, based on my limited research.
Thanks in advance.
If you don’t want anything fancy, but a flip phone, check out the LG VX3200 for Verizon or the Samsung A650 for Verizon. They’re fairly similar - color internal screen, no external display, small, lightweight - but the LG VX3200 also has a speakerphone, which is nice. Both have the standard 2.5mm headset jacks, so you can use most phone headsets with them. They’re also priced nicely, at roughly $20-$50 each with a 2-year agreement, depending on where you go.
I got a clamshell Motorola V525 (only available in Europe, but seems like the V600) since January. I like the features like BlueTooth for transfer of MP3 ringtones and stuff and I am going to get me a BT Headset soon, another thing is the quad band features. You really get a connection any place in the world that has GSM. I think the Moto V700 could be doing as well.
I am not impressed with a clamshell phone, I thought it would be more practical. I think I will get me an even smaller phone where you slide the display up, next. Still the V600 is not a bad phone.
I have had Sprint, Nextel, and Verizon, and I can say with ease that Verizon was the best of the three.
It’s funny, on another forum, these same two phones were suggested. I think my choices are narrowing. Thanks!
As for the phones themselves, I’ve been warned to stay clear of the Ericsson phones.
I’ve never tried Ericsson phones, but I hate Motorola phones with a black passion. They all seem to be slightly rushed with some obvious design flaws, plus most of them are ugly.
Verizon - best connections overall, but not the best rates and doesn’t get as many of the really cool phones as soon as other guys
Sprint - pretty good connections and service, but not as good as Verizon. Gets lots more supercool phones sooner, though.
T-Mobile - has the Sidekick from Danger which is neat. Has some great deals. Connect rate and quality tends to suck, and customer serivce people are some of the worst (in the cell phone business, that’s saying something!) Also is the spawn of Satan.
Everybody else - jesus, don’t bother, if you want to actually be able to send and recieve calls.
Me? I have a Verizon phone and service (the LG VX6000, though they offer other picture phones for good prices now), but I wouldn’t shy away from Sprint.
Bah, just wait till the LG VX8000 comes out.
Any particular reason?
I’ve had my Sony Ericsson T610 for 8 months now and I have no complaints. If anything it’s the best phone I’ve owned. And not just because it’s modern and feature-heavy either. It’s the little practical details like phone size, button layout, button stiffness, menus and the like that all come together. In general I never, ever, have to think “I wish I could do that easier”.
It’s also passed my clumsiness test, having survived 1m falls onto concrete twice. :wink:
Sony Ericsson phones are pretty good. Ericsson phones by themselves were mostly crap.
Stay away from Samsung made handsets. Both I and my brother used them but they develop problems ridiculously quickly and are really more trouble than they’re worth. You can’t go wrong with T-mobile as a provider though.
I have to agree with that one. T600 owner here since Jan. Works just fine.
I feel the same way, but exactly opposite.
For what it’s worth, all the carriers are horrible, though.
I feel the same way, but exactly opposite.
For what it’s worth, all the carriers are horrible, though.[/quote]
How so? T-mobile’s crap but Samsung are okay? wasn’t sure of your meaning.
I had a Samsung phone that broke twice within one year, it just refused to charge. My brother’s was a photo phone and the screen light broke within 2 weeks, it just refused to light up. T-mobile were very reasonable for me, I felt they were better than any I’d used before and anything my friends had.
Yeah, I’ve not had a lot of problems with Samsung phones, beyond their generally hokey interface, at least. In fairness, though, most of the work I do with them doesn’t leave me time for long term testing, so things like build issues don’t always come through in the short term.
As for T-Mobile, there are things about their service and the way they run their network that I love, but their customer service is so supremely screwed up that I can’t recommend them to anyone. I used to work in customer service, so I have a high tollerance for screw ups, but I’ve never been lied to and misdirected so thoroughly as I was by T-Mo.
I used an SGH T100 for two years without any problems and now have an E800, which is a great little phone.
I used an SGH T100 for two years without any problems and now have an E800, which is a great little phone.[/quote]
Obviously YMMV. To be fair, I’ve never had much luck with phones, they always break on me so I’m probably not the best person to be talking about it. :wink:
In the past, I’ve used Nokia phones (IMHO Nokia’s cellphone design has completely stagnated - and what’s with their inexplicable aversion to the flip-phone design?) but am not fond of the newer ones; Motorola phones (their build quality has really gone downhill since their height with the StarTac), Samsung phones (no problems at all, but my A310 just devoured that battery), LG phones (4400 and VX6000 are both very solid), and Sanyo phones (my new favorite cellphone manufacturer).
If you go with Sprint, I can’t recommend Sanyo enough, my Sanyo 8100 and now my Sanyo PM8200 are the two favorite cellphones that I’ve owned.
If you go with Verizon, anything by LG should serve you very well.
If you go with T-Mobile, Sony Ericsson’s going to be your best bet there.