Which Smart Phone should I get?

[The Ü™]

A bit of backstory: Telephones are the one piece of technology that I'm behind the times with. I mean, I have a cell phone, of course, but it's a very basic one (and also a clam shell). Nothing that I could play with while I'm in the hospital or anything.

I'm ready for an upgrade.

To keep myself amused while at work, at a restaurant, on the road, on an airplane, or at the movies, and to make myself look less creepy in public by staring at and playing with an LED display instead of staring at everything around me, which will also, in turn, lead me to be more socially desirable (seeing how I'll seem to have a life and all) and whatnot.

But enough of that.

Which Smart Phone plan and device would you recommend? How much does yours cost monthly? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Anew Leaf]

I <3 my iPhone 5. It's around $100 a month, which my company pays for since I use it for work. Mine includes unlimited data from AT&T and unlimited texting. (My data was grandfathered in... I don't think these plans exist anymore.) The data portion is $30 and the texting is $20.

Siri is absolutely useless for space travel or if you are kidnapped, FYI.

 

[Glycerine]

It depends on the operating system you want (IOS/android/windows 8).
The carrier you have or want to switch to.
The ecosystem you have with devices and services (Apple/Google/Microsoft)
The features you want.

ATT: Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android), Apple Iphone 5, HTC One X+ (Android), Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows 8)
Sprint: Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android), Apple IPhone 5.
T-Mobile: Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android)
Verizon: Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android), Apple Iphone 5, Droid DNA (Android) HTC 8X (Windows 8), Motorola Droid Razr Maxx (Android)

The above seem to be the highest rated high end phones right now.

The most popular phones right now are Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android), Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android), and Apple IPhone 5.

 

[Kalach]

Samsung Galaxy S3 has one egregious flaw: that glossy back shell. With the phone as thin and wide as it is, that glossy back makes the whole thing one slippery sonofabitch and awkward to handle. Other than that, it's my most wonderful tech toy.

 

[Ivy]

I like my iPhone, but I'd consider jumping ship for an Android if I met the right one. I like the big-ass ones that are coming out lately, even though I would sort of feel like I was holding an iPad to my face. It's like phones got gradually smaller and smaller, and now they're growing again.

 

[Kalach]

My second most wonderful tech toy was a HTC Desire. That phone was a trooper and very entertaining for two years. For a smart phone it has a great feel in the hand and is powerful enough. It was a bit difficult to see in direct sunlight though, and was limited in internal memory. These days I'd choose a Desire S if I were looking for a direct replacement.

 

[swordpath]

iPhone.

 

[entropie]

I wouldnt buy one right now, prices are high. The last Iphone hype is over and more people look for Iphone alternatives, so HTC and Samsung entered the high price policy as well.

Generally I can advice you to never buy a handy with a contract. I have for 3 years now a Desire Z which costed me $450 by the time. I paied that in full and got myself a prepaid provider. Those providers send you a sim card, which you can have automatically paid monthly, so you do not need to manually recharge it. They call it postpaid now. I have a monthly fix price of $2 per month and pay per minute 9 pence. Included in this package is a 200MB data tarif which more than suffices per month. I roughly pay $5 per month, not using sms no more. I am using the mobile for business so it needs to be reliable and it is.

When you basically would choose a contract in which you have to pay more than $20 a month, its a rip-off. I have work colleagues who pay for their Iphones $100 a month an who still have to pay for their old Iphone models. Thats a huge waste of money on just a phone. For $300 you already get a small netbook, which is easy to carry and equipped with Linux a dozens of times more useful.

Be careful with high-priced models, its a huge rip-off at the moment, cause people are stupid. Give it another year or two and this hype will end and the phones will be reasonably priced again. The concept behind every of these phones are basically powerful mikroprocessors who are able to run small operating systems. Here's an example of such a thing, this "computer" is even able to run Linux. I have one as logic for a media center at my home: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

The raspberry costs roughly $25 and the same applies for smartphones. The most costy is prolly the display but the manufactures roughly earn between 300 - 700% depending on how high their high price policy is.

Especially do never support apple ! They are not only very costy and dont even build their own phones, but buy their parts; they are inhuman as well. Its only one month ago when there was a huge uprising in one of their factories in China. Buying stuff from them, you'ld support third world exploitation...

If you really want a phone right now, look for older models or used ones. The older ones are first generation and pretty solid. The HTC Desire is a good beginner model. You should be able to acquire one very cheaply. I wouldnt pay more than $150. Thats about what they are really worth.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Is there anything to think about? This one, of course!



I just called verizon and the Note for me would be $260 or $270, and $75 per month, with limited texts, and $100 for unlimited.

 

[ceecee]

I have a Samsung Galaxy Reverb. It does everything I need without a huge pricetag. I also have Virgin service and the price is unbeatable (300min/unlimited text and data - $25/mo). I would never consider a contact. My husband has an iPhone 4 and he's said many times he would rather have my phone.

 

[Engineer]

I use an Android Optimus V with the Virgin Mobile $35/mo. Unlimited Data and Texting + 500 anytime minutes plan.

I like Androids-- love mine, in fact-- but I'd recommend going with an iPhone because they're uncomplicated and don't require as much app-finding to get how you want them. Functional, if not fully customizable. I think Virgin does a pretty cheap iPhone-supporting plan as well, comparable to the one I use if not identical.

 

[ceecee]

I use an Android Optimus V with the Virgin Mobile $35/mo. Unlimited Data and Texting + 500 anytime minutes plan.

I like Androids-- love mine, in fact-- but I'd recommend going with an iPhone because they're uncomplicated and don't require as much app-finding to get how you want them. Functional, if not fully customizable. I think Virgin does a pretty cheap iPhone-supporting plan as well, comparable to the one I use if not identical.

Identical although the phone has the big price tag vs contract plans.

 

[The Ü™]

Is there anything to think about? This one, of course!

View attachment 8670

I just called verizon and the Note for me would be $260 or $270, and $75 per month, with limited texts, and $100 for unlimited.

This is the phone I've been eyeing, as well. How much data do you get with that plan?

Sprint is the only carrier that offers unlimited data and a Note, but an anonymous source tells me that Sprint service sucks.

 

[entropie]

you are definitly crazy, $100 on a phone. That are $2,400 in 2yrs. If you'ld rather save that and buy some evotec shares from that, which are about to go $1 up per share, you'ld make...lemme calculate... $3,507 from it and after that you can exponentially maximize your money. Or save it with a nice interest of 2%. Or buy drugs with it !!

But not a phone

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

This is the phone I've been eyeing, as well. How much data do you get with that plan?

Sprint is the only carrier that offers unlimited data and a Note, but an anonymous source tells me that Sprint service sucks.

Uh, I don't know stuff like that.

Like I said, it's $100 with unlimited, as far as I know. Verizon has the best service where I live.

 

[UniqueMixture]

Listen to entropie

 

[The Ü™]

you are definitly crazy, $100 on a phone. That are $2,400 in 2yrs. If you'ld rather save that and buy some evotec shares from that, which are about to go $1 up per share, you'ld make...lemme calculate... $3,507 from it and after that you can exponentially maximize your money. Or save it with a nice interest of 2%. Or buy drugs with it !!

But not a phone

But then what do you do when you're bored in public? How do you access TypoC when you're not at home or near a laptop if you have one?

I just played around with someone else's Smart Phone and thought it was the coolest thing in the world, which is the other thing that inspired this thread. But yeah, $100 for a phone is superficially a bit too high (I neither like talking to people nor texting), which is why I'm continuously on the fence about it.

 

[entropie]

But then what do you do when you're bored in public? How do you access TypoC when you're not at home or near a laptop if you have one?

I just played around with someone else's Smart Phone and thought it was the coolest thing in the world, which is the other thing that inspired this thread. But yeah, $100 for a phone is superficially a bit too high (I neither like talking to people nor texting), which is why I'm continuously on the fence about it.

I am not anti smartphones, those things are really cool. In fact ten years ago I used WAP, an internet gateway, to access ICQ via my Nokia 8010 and all people told me I am crazy. I am just against paying too much for that phone. They are a huge rip-off and drive people into debt traps.

But I have done some research and it seems that data plans for smartphones seem to be incredibly expensive in the States. At my place all the data plans are flatrates and when your data amount expires only the connection speed is throttled (and the cheapest cost you like $2 a month).

I've found a page that could help you: http://blog.wapreview.com/4872/

I have no understanding of the US providers :/.

Here's my smartphone model: http://www.amazon.com/HTC-Unlocked-Android-Cellular-2100MHz/dp/B004B3NPJK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356668954&sr=8-1&keywords=htc+desire+Z

Perfect for typoC browsing cause it has a keyboard. It's due to that rather thick, so if you dont like the keyboard look for the Desire Z. They are solid models and dropped in price only 40% in 2 years, which is slow in the electronic world. You can acess and download everything from the android market. The android OS is older on these models but you wont ever have a problem with apps and the OS version. Addiotionally its unlocked, so you can jailbreak it later. That means you can login as root in the android OS and do some nasty stuff. Thats cool if you want to control your toaster via phone

 

[swordpath]

It's true that phone/data plans are way too expensive. I have discounts on my service and its stil $75 a month. I have the lowest minutes plan too.

 

[swordpath]

It's true that phone/data plans are way too expensive. I have discounts on my service and its stil $75 a month. I have the lowest minutes plan too.