Time for a smartphone?

[jpr62902]

It may be. I know little to nothing about these attention thieving abominations, but it looks like I need to take the plunge and get one sooner than later. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, although I can't see myself getting an iPhone. Apple's proprietary crap just pisses me off.

 

[Galvatron]

For a few years now i use Sony....had the old Xperia but recently got a new Xperia P.....the feature i love most is it comes with a hdmi lead that connects to the TV,gaming films music ect goes to a whole new level.

Easy to use and stylish.

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-p/

 

[bczoom]

The Sony Xperia is a leading phone but it's still trying to catch the Samsung Galaxy S III. When we were shopping for a smartphone, we were at a couple places and asked "what's the best smartphone out there (but leave the iPhone out of it)?". Every answer came back with that Samsung.

Those inquiries were made for a phone for Mrs. Zoom but she got the iPhone anyway since she already has the iPod & iPad.

Myself, I asked what the toughest phone is that's a tried and true workhorse. The answer for that one was the Motorola Droid with an Otterbox added for impact and water protection. I got this one and have been happy with it.

 

[JimVT]

I never had a cell phone but I bought sonys new pocket camera. It's like one without the phone.touch screen ,music, edit,paint

 

[rlk]

I realize you don't like iPhones, but my iPhone 4S is the best phone I have ever had.

I understand Verizon is giving free iPhone 4 with a 2 year contract. Not a bad deal at all.

Bob

 

[EastTexFrank]

I realize you don't like iPhones, but my iPhone 4S is the best phone I have ever had.

I understand Verizon is giving free iPhone 4 with a 2 year contract. Not a bad deal at all.

Bob

Not bad apart from the 2-year contract bit.

I think that I'll just stay with my Trac-Fone and $100 a year card.

 

[bczoom]

I realize you don't like iPhones, but my iPhone 4S is the best phone I have ever had.

I understand Verizon is giving free iPhone 4 with a 2 year contract. Not a bad deal at all.

Bob

While supplies last... I don't think there's anymore around here as it was really slim pickings on them when we almost went that route last September.

Oh, one other thing. These newfangled things just eat up the battery. Plan on the charge not lasting a full day. Mrs. and Daughter Zoom are kind of pissed about their iPhone 5's in that regard since the charging connection is proprietary so they suck the $ out of you for aux. charger cables (e.g. 12v car). I think most every brand has universal connects for charger connections.

www.cellphoneshop.com has all kinds of accessories really cheap. Imported directly from China...

 

[loboloco]

I have a blackberry curve. Good enough without getting into all the extraneous crap some of the others have.

 

[bczoom]

I have a blackberry curve.

Is that the one with the little keyboard instead of the touch screen?

I have a hard time with those little keyboards. That said, I have a hard time with touchscreen keyboards as well but the touchscreen is a lot larger.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I had a blackberry curve before. Hated it. Been using a Sony Ericson xperia arc since last year. It's a love hate relationship. Some days, it works great and I love it. Other days, it slows down and freezes and I hate it. Considering trading in for a Samsung Galaxy 3.

Had to reset the sony to factory settings a couple times now and just recently, I can no longer plug it in to the computer to update/download photos etc. But it will still charge if plugged in. Not a computer issue as it does this on any computer. Also freezes up the computer its plugged into by deactivating all other USB devices plugged in including the mouse and keyboard.

 

[rlk]

While supplies last... I don't think there's anymore around here as it was really slim pickings on them when we almost went that route last September.

Oh, one other thing. These newfangled things just eat up the battery. Plan on the charge not lasting a full day. Mrs. and Daughter Zoom are kind of pissed about their iPhone 5's in that regard since the charging connection is proprietary so they suck the $ out of you for aux. charger cables (e.g. 12v car). I think most every brand has universal connects for charger connections.

www.cellphoneshop.com has all kinds of accessories really cheap. Imported directly from China...

Zoom, try http://www.cellularoutfitter.com/ I purchased some accessories from then at very reasonable prices (12 volt charger; A/C charger, etc.). Most everything came in a Verizon box and was a lot cheaper than Verizon sells them for. My purchases were for the 4S - I assume my experience will hold true for the iPhone 5. Seems like I read somewhere that there is an adapter that allows the iPhone 5 to use the older accessories.

I just looked at http://www.cellularoutfitter.com/ and saw their car chargers and A/C chargers are all under $20.

Bob

 

[JEV]

It may be. I know little to nothing about these attention thieving abominations, but it looks like I need to take the plunge and get one sooner than later. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, although I can't see myself getting an iPhone. Apple's proprietary crap just pisses me off.

They are attention thieving abominations if you allow them to be. As far as proprietary crap, they are entitled to to this as capitalist innovators and market makers of products. The other socialist phones are all the same, just like socialism says it should be. You are sounding hateful toward their success because they are different, and in many respects, better. How liberal and intolerant sounding of you. Just sayin'...

I own all Apple products and have no problem with controlling the time I allow them to occupy me.

 

[Dargo]

They are attention thieving abominations if you allow them to be. As far as proprietary crap, they are entitled to to this as capitalist innovators and market makers of products. The other socialist phones are all the same, just like socialism says it should be. You are sounding hateful toward their success because they are different, and in many respects, better. How liberal and intolerant sounding of you. Just sayin'...

I own all Apple products and have no problem with controlling the time I allow them to occupy me.

I have probably owned 8-10 different brands and types of smartphones. After all is said and done, IMHO, none come close to competing with the iPhone (as much as it pains me to say that).

 

[grizzer]

Does the new Iphone5 and the new Ipad use the same recharger connector?

 

[Dargo]

Does the new Iphone5 and the new Ipad use the same recharger connector?

No, but I have to admit that I do like the new one much, much better. It's like new keys for cars; no up side or down side to them, they go in either way. Data seems to transfer much faster too. I bought adapters and new cables on eBay for a couple bucks each. Yeah, they came from Japan and China, but that's where the Apple products were made anyway.

LOL, my dad bought a new Lenovo (the old IBM) laptop. Guess where it was directly shipped from? Yup, it was shipped to him directly from the Lenovo plant in China. It never went through an American store. The ONLY people making money in the US on that would be Lenovo and the delivery people. Pretty well the same as me buying additional new Apple plugs; directly from China.

 

[grizzer]

ugg the adapters have a way of being missing when needed.

Maybe the Samsung GIII and the new Thinkpad Tablet use the same recharger connector, plus the Thinkpad has MS Office built into the OS. The ship date has been delayed from Nov so maybe after the consumer electronics show CES in Jan...

Samsung has moved away from a blizzard of models and this newest offering has a giant screen and giant battery to go with it. Beats the Iphone for longevity. Dunno if the android apps are any cleaner than last year tho.

 

[Kane]

Just imagine the money the service providers are bringing in. Consider that every man, woman and child over 5 in the free world has one of the damn things, with a voice and data plan, all coughing up a hundred bucks a month.

 

[OhioTC18]

We went the iPhone route and got the 4, not the 4s. I really like it and so does my wife. They were offering all kinds of free phones but not the iPhone4, it was $49. After I bitched long enough I got transferred to Customer Retention and got $50 credit on each line on my next months bill. So I guess they were more or less free.

 

[tiredretired]

It may be. I know little to nothing about these attention thieving abominations, but it looks like I need to take the plunge and get one sooner than later. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, although I can't see myself getting an iPhone. Apple's proprietary crap just pisses me off.

There are some Android phone right now for little to nothing with a two year commitment. That for me is always the way to go.

Nothing against iphone, it is just they are 200 bucks when other phones are free. Easy decision for me.

My Droid and wife's Galaxy Tab use the same micro usb for charging, same version of Jelly Bean software and can swap micro SD cards to share files and pictures. Can't do that with Apple and I own APPL so I would love to see all of you buy and iphone.

 

[JEV]

I like the way I can take a picture with my iPhone, sit down and find it already in iPhoto to be viewed, edited, sized to be exported to another file folder or uploaded to my Photobucket account. All seamlessly and without removing cards and putting them in other devices. Like this one taken while we decorated Christmas for the first time with our granddaughter.

 

[tiredretired]

Yup, can do the same with QuickPix, upload to GoogleDrive (first 5GB are free) and share among devices. Just pointing out how Apple devices do not have external card storage. Now don't get me wrong here, I like Apple products too, but they do not have a monopoly on technology and I feel their ecosystem to be a bit too limiting for my tastes. Others, apparently yourself included do not, and that is good too. Open source Android, whereas Google encourages hacking of their Nexus devices and rooting is a really cool thing and fun to do when one has a friend (like I do) that can walk me through it and improve my devices. Of course if your smart enough to do it on your own which I am not that is even better.

Nexus 4 is a way super cool phone. I love the loving stares it gets from iphone fans. My friends Droid DNA is is a 10/10 on the cool meter. The 1080p 5" screen is unbelievable. Stunning. Again, don't take me wrong. I love seeing iphones and ipads in everyone's hands. Helps my bottom line after all.

Enjoy the technology.

 

[BigAl]

Easy to use and stylish.

And this statement from a man who wore "Fishnet Stockings" with a Plaid Mini skirt .
That was just tasteless .......

Any good cross dresser would have gone with a solid color skirt . JMO

 

[Doc]

I have a problem with Apple's propitiatory software ways. But I got an iPhone anyway and all I can say is, I love it. All the others try to be like the iPhone. You do not have to use the iStore, you can transfer your mp3's to the phone easy enough.
I've have the iPhone 4 now. Got it one month before the 4S came out. No problem, I like it. If you go with a prior version of the phone you can get the phone cheaper.

One way or another, you owe it to yourself to go iPhone if you are ready for a smart phone. You will be glad you did.

 

[tiredretired]

Ok, next question. What's the best Scotch and the best cigar to smoke with it?

 

[Galvatron]

Ok, next question. What's the best Scotch and the best cigar to smoke with it?

here is where i am at on that...

 

[Galvatron]

And this statement from a man who wore "Fishnet Stockings" with a Plaid Mini skirt .
That was just tasteless .......

Any good cross dresser would have gone with a solid color skirt . JMO

Let me pick the clothes whilst you pick your nose

 

[300 H and H]

Good info here....

I haven't made the plunge, still old school. (funny that didn't even exist that long ago, or I am getting old)

This technology is ever changing, and this smart phone thing leaves us non users looking dumb foundedly at a new sight, people interacting with the device in front of their face nearly every free moment they have and some they don't as well..

Every where I turn it seems to be the thing those operators are doing, operating their device. I've been told that in a bar with younger set "hangs" they are still on them, instead of talking to one another?? Is it really this bad? How many more distracted drivers are we going to see with this latest marvel? How many lost hours of productive work or time that could have would have been used to be donated to some thing that makes s difference? For me this tech looks to be a game changer from a non user's prospective. It's no wonder battery life is less thatn a full day...I guess it's all dependant on the atitude of the owner. Some will know when to put it down...It would appear to me however, most don't.

Regards, Kirk

 

[Dargo]

Yup, can do the same with QuickPix, upload to GoogleDrive (first 5GB are free) and share among devices. Just pointing out how Apple devices do not have external card storage. Now don't get me wrong here, I like Apple products too, but they do not have a monopoly on technology and I feel their ecosystem to be a bit too limiting for my tastes. Others, apparently yourself included do not, and that is good too. Open source Android, whereas Google encourages hacking of their Nexus devices and rooting is a really cool thing and fun to do when one has a friend (like I do) that can walk me through it and improve my devices. Of course if your smart enough to do it on your own which I am not that is even better.

Nexus 4 is a way super cool phone. I love the loving stares it gets from iphone fans. My friends Droid DNA is is a 10/10 on the cool meter. The 1080p 5" screen is unbelievable. Stunning. Again, don't take me wrong. I love seeing iphones and ipads in everyone's hands. Helps my bottom line after all.

Enjoy the technology.

Did I mention that when I did get anything Apple it was kicking and screaming all the way and only because my college kids HAD to have Apple and told me that I needed to "open my eyes". That and melensdad assured me that Apple was the only way to go. With bad attitude and all, I hated it for the first month or two.

After a year I went and bought the absolute best smartphone Verizon had (they didn't have an iPhone then) for a 2nd phone. I feel I gave it a good test since I kept it 6 full months and hated it so bad that I gladly paid my way out of their contract to be rid of the thing. Unfortunately, I discovered that any smartphone not called an "iPhone" has about zero resale value upon leaving the store. Grrrrr! Besides, I fell for Verizon's "map commercial" on coverage. I'm absolutely sure it depends on where you live, but Verizon positively sucked for coverage and dropped more calls than not for me.

Not to be deterred and go right back to AT&T and Apple, I spent 6 full months doing the Sprint dance with their "superior" smartphone and the new "Ice Cream Sandwich" Android software. As I said, I gave it 6 months. It sucked. You had to have an app to kill all the damn apps that kept starting on their own and making the phone so slow it was useless. According to one of my employees, it's still that way and they just expect that it's normal for you have to open an app to close all 'rogue' apps that open and take over your phone several times a day. Again, I bought my way out of that contract but, this time, I had to get an attorney. It seems that Sprint feels that it's perfectly acceptable to charge me a $35 fee as an additional fee for my early termination fee. WTF?! I guess they get by with it more than not. After having my attorney sent them a "do you really want to fight and have this go public" letter over a bogus 'fee' that is simply a made up fee; not anywhere in the contract, they promptly dropped it along with the threats of collection agencies and litigation. Besides, each of the 6 months I was with Sprint, they stole from me and I had to have them correct my bill. That tens of millions of dollars Sprint spent as the primary sponsor for NASCAR must be putting the hurt on them. Either way, for stealing from your customers and having bad service, you Sprint and the horse you rode in on!

That is the long story of why I now have an iPhone 5. I basically spent the last year, and wasted a few hundred dollars, trying to get away from AT&T (I'm really no fan of theirs) and Apple only to discover that they had, by far, the best plan and hardware for me and my family's needs.

 

[muleman]

Heck the plain phone i have is smarter than me. Don't need a computer in a phone.

 

[tiredretired]

Way back in the day when I sold used cars on weekends there was an old expression that goes something like this. There is a car for every ass and an ass for every seat.

Applies to phones as well, I guess.

Like I said, I love APPL. Been going up 25% or better per year for me for some time now. Gotta love it.