Cell Phones (off topic)

Supply House Rick

Complete package, cell phone, Internet including yahoo email, google, everything your desktop can do except burn cds. Even has the push to talk feature like nextel. I put a 2GB micro sd card and watched a movie at the airport yesterday! Does it all!

Rick

Jamie Pompetti_2

We have Verizon wireless for our cell phones and are ready to get "smart phones" so we can gather our e-mails and communicate a little differently. What phones do you guys use and like?

Jamie

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Home Depot Employee

Blackberry is the true email machine

Timco

I have the motorola sidekick and the screen slides up to expose a true, full keyboard. All my email accts get sent to my sidekick as well as my pc at home. It really works great and has a web browser. I am with t-mobile and have excellent service...

Tim

Jamie Pompetti_2

Which one? They have so many different ones...

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EMB

iphone

we've only had them a few weeks and now wonder how we survived before. My favorite feature is the GPS function. Doesn't talk to you like a navigation system, but will pinpoint an address which is usually all I need.

There is also a very neat voicemail feature which allows you to view who left messages, and listen to any message you want without going through all the others.
Enda

Plumb Bob

There is no way to know what is best for you. I can tell you about my own efforts last month. After getting "iPhone envy", I asked to try out a friend's phone. I found it to be basically a toy, completely useless for real work because it is too much trouble to type on a virtual (onscreen) keyboard.

But by then I knew I had to have a smartphone. I considered Blackberries, and they do have real keyboards (and not tiny ones like in the phones with slide-out keyboards), but they don't have touch screens and that was no good.

Finally what I really found useable is a Palm PDA. They make two types, ones with the Palm operating system and ones with Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile is flashier but buggy. Palm OS is old but it just works and there are many free and cheap programs available for them. I went for a Palm Centro (which has the Palm OS and is only $100 with contract at Verizon). GPS is built in and Google maps will use GPS information to pull up a map centered around where you are. E-mail is just as good as on Blackberries,the browser is better, it is more customizable with downloaded programs and utilities, and the screen is touch-sensitive (comes with stylus for use if you have fat fingers). Also real keyboard, of course.

IPhones have larger screens though, and if the phone is for fun and/or showing off and/or using the phone as a lightsaber, then the iPhone is better. Good luck changing the iPhone's battery or expanding the flash memory...it can't be done easily or cheaply. Apple does things their way and doesn't like to give customers any control. With a Palm (and most other smartphones) you can just drop in a (mini/micro depending on the PDA)-SD memory card ($20 for 4GB my mail order), and you can just remove and replace the battery if it is worn out.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, try every kind yourself and determine what features you need and whether these features work well for you. Other people's recommendations are worth no more than what you paid for them.

Unknown

I'm reading the wall

I'm reading the wall and websites, e-mails, IM, texting,and use the relay services with t-mobile sidekick LX since the phone is not hearing impaired capable. Monthly charges cheapest of all with limited coverage and horrible customer "care" services.

Jack

Iphone...at last

I've had Blackberry's, an early one. I've had a Treo 700W for the past couple years and I just last month got the iphone 3G, so I've had some use from it. I use the Jawbone ear piece, the best of them in my experinece, with my phones. Without the earpiece, I am a menace on the hwy. I'm a rep, on the 3000min plan and I use them. I had "push email" on my Treo and it was great. The same on the iphone, only greater.

I do a lot of contractor training and with the screen size, resolution and speed the iphone is going to be my primary training tool, so when I speak with a contractor on the job or at the counter I can get excellent resolution for my lines web sites. For a contractor, I cannot imagine a better tool to get specs or troubleshooting info. Attachments load easily. I haven't put any music on it, but I hardly ever use my regular ipod. I'm so nosey that with head phones on I'm always afraid I'm going to miss something.

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I am rather...dim! You might want to remember that to respond to some of my other postings. I need a piece of equipment that is easy to operate and to just deal with. I had a heck of a time with both the Blackberry and Treo. They were very capable machines. I was the weak link in the chain. The iphone is very well supported with online tutorials, but simple enough that I haven't needed to use them very much. Handling email is delightful on it. Photos can be emailed simply, which is nice when I visit job sites. The keyboard is taking some getting used to, but it is okay and if you want to compare it, try typing on a Treo. I could do better with the old full sized B-berry, but on balance, the iphone is better for me. I wish the keyboard would go into landscape mod. That would be a big improvement.

I've been waiting, not very patiently, for a long time for a handheld device that I could really USE. The iphone is it.

As well, in January I changed my laptop to a Mac. It hasn't crashed once and has been really nice to use. Interfacing with the iphone is just easy, and again, that is what I need. All the technolgy in the world does no good if you cannot access or understand it.

In the final analysis, while I am admittedly dim, nosey, obviously opinionated and startling impatient I am also absolutely way to cool not to have one!

Unknown

smartphone

I too got an iphone, wanted something easy to use, didn't want to have to read a dictionary sized manual just to turn it on. the iphone is so user friendly I haven't had to even look at any literauture yet. Also, the freeware programs you can get are invaluable: a very powerful unit converter, scientific calculator, flashlight, compass, and yes, even a level! and with the notepad feature I never misplace my important notes and just delete them when done, no more forgetting where I wrote that serial#, material list etc. etc.

Those who say it's not rugged enough for real work need just get one of these: otterbox defender

JohnNY

My ideal phone...

...is not offered through Verizon.
It should have a camera, be able to be used world-wide and have web and email access.

Any help with that one would be greatly appreciated.

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Joe Grosso_2

the new lg dare