Verizon Smart Phones

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
My contract is about up and I am looking for a new smart phone. I would like a touch screen, and I want to stay with Verizon, so what do you recommend or not recommend?
 
I'm in the same boat -- trying to decide if I'll get a Droid X now, or wait a few months and see what the 4th Gen phones look like. The actual 4G rollout will take a while, but figure you'll have that phone for the next 20 mos, at least.
 
I currently have iPhone 4 from AT&T. Att sucks and made me mad the other day so I just started a plan at verizon. I ordered the droid x. I did lots of comparing and review reading and it fit my needs best. Seems like the droid 2 is very similar in all aspects with a smaller screen but does have a slideout keyboard. If you don't want the big droid x the incredible also seemed like a good phone.


Walmart.com has the best pricing....
 
Incredible here. Did the shopping, comparing, and whatnot. They've got them buy one/get one right now, so the wife and I jumped. I love it, but you HAVE to be careful of the speaker. It's got a huge magnet, and attracts metal shavings like a mofo. When I'm at work, I cover the speaker hole with a piece of tissue paper. I'm working on a better plan. I've already had to exchange twice, though, for blown speakers, Blowing off the shavings with my mouth, not compressed air, was apparently enough to distort the diaphragm. Aside from that, and relatively short battery life, it's been a fun phone. Very handy for lists and calendars and such, which is what I was interested in. Plenty of games and applications available, and aftermarket support is pretty good. DON'T buy ANY accessories at the Verizon store, naturally. Get what you need on ebay for half or less. Chargers are waaay overpriced there, too. Don't sweat the lack of a tactile keyboard, you'll get used to it quickly, and the decrease in thickness and moving parts more than makes up for it.

The X looks like fun, and sometimes I regret not getting it, but it's friggin' HUGE! I didn't want to carry a flat-screen TV on my hip. I'm just too clumsy for that. I'm curious to see what the next generation brings, though.
 
I get the impression that with the Android OS now as the mai nstable, what you are buying really is hardware features - kind of liek happened to PCs many years ago.
E.g. the apps or interface that is advertised is really moot b/c you could get whatever you want later.
Is that right?

I'm in thr same boat, I can replace the !@#$ Samsung Omnia I've had on Verizon. Definitely going Droid, avoiding iPhone out of principle, just need to decide on a model.
Any advice on buying outright or slightly used, vs the contract deal?
I really hate Verizon and their business models.
 
I thought the X was enormous, too. Then I laid a 4G iphone on top of it.

It's a little taller (1/4" or less) than the iPhone, but not as thick. Well, except for the fat end where the camera is. Width is about the same.
 
Droid x user here... a few issues when I first got it, but now it's pretty stable. Fast phone, and real easy to get use to especially coming from an iphone. I am not overly impressed with the 8 gb camera, but the HD video recorder is pretty decent. Integrates with gmail easily and the amount of apps available for the device is enormous. The size of the phone is a non issue, in my pocket its no different than an iphone, but when using the screen for web browsing and other general tasks it really makes a difference. Battery life is similar to any other smart phone out there. I do like the the ability to root the phone to push extra performance out of the processor. The GPS on the Droid X is good enough for me to throw my Garmin Nuvi out the window and back over it. I too was waiting on the 4g phones but given that I am not in a major metropolitan area I know I will have time for an upgrade during that rollout.
 
saf-t scissors said:
Explication?
Click to expand...

They nickel and dime you on everything, especially if you are a smartphone user. We have the lowest minute possible plan, so low its not even advertised, "loyalty plan", yet our bill is $144/mo. Even (technically) have an extra fee for tethering the phone, even though you could have the same throughput by the phone itself (luckily there are ways around that). The "loyalty discount" for re-signing with them for another 2 yrs is a whopping $30, on 1 phone only. 30 whole bucks. Wow. I really feel appreciated, thanks.
Meanwhile you can't even change plans after your contract is up w/o a new contract, even if you provide the phone.

But thats just their shitty customer loyalty. What really irks me is how they force the mfr to change the specs of the phone to fit a particular niche in their product lineup - e.g. have them decrease, disable, or remove features that are otherwise available on other networks.
E.g. lock out the GPS so it can only be accessed via their direction service (which you have to pay for), disable part of the RAM so its not too fast or limit the modem speed.
That is complete BS, they are just manipulating (limiting) what you, the consumer, can get so that it fits their marketing better.
The network provider should be just that, a provider of network service and be independent of the devices that you can purchase to use on their network.
 
RatLabGuy said:
They nickel and dime you on everything, especially if you are a smartphone user. We have the lowest minute possible plan, so low its not even advertised, "loyalty plan", yet our bill is $144/mo. Even (technically) have an extra fee for tethering the phone, even though you could have the same throughput by the phone itself (luckily there are ways around that). The "loyalty discount" for re-signing with them for another 2 yrs is a whopping $30, on 1 phone only. 30 whole bucks. Wow. I really feel appreciated, thanks.
Meanwhile you can't even change plans after your contract is up w/o a new contract, even if you provide the phone.
But thats just their shitty customer loyalty. What really irks me is how they force the mfr to change the specs of the phone to fit a particular niche in their product lineup - e.g. have them decrease, disable, or remove features that are otherwise available on other networks.
E.g. lock out the GPS so it can only be accessed via their direction service (which you have to pay for), disable part of the RAM so its not too fast or limit the modem speed.
That is complete BS, they are just manipulating (limiting) what you, the consumer, can get so that it fits their marketing better.
The network provider should be just that, a provider of network service and be independent of the devices that you can purchase to use on their network.
Click to expand...
Sounds to me like its the same as every other carrier....
 
My personal phone is the original Droid from Verizon it is a great phone and as for Verizon’s coverage I travel the lower 48 states and it works in 90-95% of the places I go. My work phone used to be At&t I thought they had the worst coverage and service until we switched to Sprint last month. I would be pist if I was paying for either of those services and had to travel.
 
RatLabGuy said:
They nickel and dime you on everything, especially if you are a smartphone user. We have the lowest minute possible plan, so low its not even advertised, "loyalty plan", yet our bill is $144/mo. Even (technically) have an extra fee for tethering the phone, even though you could have the same throughput by the phone itself (luckily there are ways around that). The "loyalty discount" for re-signing with them for another 2 yrs is a whopping $30, on 1 phone only. 30 whole bucks. Wow. I really feel appreciated, thanks.
Meanwhile you can't even change plans after your contract is up w/o a new contract, even if you provide the phone.
But thats just their shitty customer loyalty. What really irks me is how they force the mfr to change the specs of the phone to fit a particular niche in their product lineup - e.g. have them decrease, disable, or remove features that are otherwise available on other networks.
E.g. lock out the GPS so it can only be accessed via their direction service (which you have to pay for), disable part of the RAM so its not too fast or limit the modem speed.
That is complete BS, they are just manipulating (limiting) what you, the consumer, can get so that it fits their marketing better.
The network provider should be just that, a provider of network service and be independent of the devices that you can purchase to use on their network.
Click to expand...

I use Google Maps on my Inc. NOT VZNav. It's free. Not locked out. I don't know what they did that to you on, but all the Droid phones should be able to access Maps Beta or VZN, but Maps works really, really well. This phone is a better GPS than my GPS, and cost less!
 
I've got an HTC Incredible and like it OK. The phone is lots of fun as well as great apps. Bad parts are some reception issues. (Seems to be an HTC thing.) And the battery life sucks. Absolutely MUST be charged every night or it'll be dead by lunch the next day. And that's if you don't use it at all. If you use a phone a lot I don't really recommend it unless you have a place to charge it during the day. I really don't know how someone like our car salesmen could use one. They'd have to be teathered to a computer or outlet. (Not much of a mobile phone in that aspect.)
 
Just got the Samsung Continuum, and my girl has the Samsung Fascinate. Both are excellent. I went from the Casio Boulder to this and it is pretty freaking sweet. Does whatever I need it to do....
 
My mom and I have the original droid, my dad has the x, and my sister has a blackberry. I like the original droid but there are better options out there know. The X is really neat as well and my dad loves it. The blackberry my sister has can't do a whole lot in comparison to the android os and she is getting tired of it. The new droid pro seems to be the way to go. I like the blackberry like keyboard so its easy to text/email/search and the fact that it still has all the features the other droids have like the excellent web browsing speed, google maps, the market, etc.
 
rattlecanpaint said:
I've got an HTC Incredible and like it OK. The phone is lots of fun as well as great apps. Bad parts are some reception issues. (Seems to be an HTC thing.) And the battery life sucks. Absolutely MUST be charged every night or it'll be dead by lunch the next day. And that's if you don't use it at all. If you use a phone a lot I don't really recommend it unless you have a place to charge it during the day. I really don't know how someone like our car salesmen could use one. They'd have to be teathered to a computer or outlet. (Not much of a mobile phone in that aspect.)
Click to expand...
Lots of these phones have terrible battery life. I mean it does everything that your computer will do plus make phone calls. Do you really expect it to last a week on a battery charge. While on att I had the Samsung Captivate and it had a short battery life. I paid 5 dollars for a second battery on ebay. I did not need it every day but the days I did I had it there to swap in.
 
It's all a matter of compromise. You want it thinner, so the battery can't be thick. There are higher capacity packs out there, some that are even big enough that they come with a new back skin.
 
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