Smart Phone Help

[LIHR50]

I've been using a Blackberry for the last two years and love the e-mail simplicity. All my clients love e-mail (and many of my trade relationships) and we go back and forth all the time with specs, attachments. It's also used as my business line, so that number is my first contact number. I have another phone number I give to my clients once the job is signed, that's my job-site phone (Casio G'zOne) it's indestructible.

But here is my question, I see all these new phones, Iphones, droids etc... and wondering what will give me the best of both worlds.


I don't want this to turn into "Festool" type discussion, where Iphone lovers pit against other product lovers, I just need some straight advise on product that will give me easy e-mail access and easy smooth web access for product specs. I've looked on verizons site and searched and I just left confused.

Thanks

[tjbnwi]

Re: Smart Phone Help

I have an iPhone an iPad and a MacBookPro.They interact seamlessly. I think that is the key thing to consider, get the phone that works best with everything else you use.

The iPhone is for the most part set in its ways. Not much you can do to change that, short of jail breaking. You get the operating system that works the same across all devices of the generation.

I believe the 'droids are more user configurable. The draw back is each phone can have the same OS by name, but they may not have the same features and functions. As I understand it the same phones can work differently between carriers. All depends on what they want to give you.

There is an iPhone, but there is no Android phone, just phones running the Android operating system.

Tom

[LIHR50]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Tom, thank you for your input.

I don't have anything else except a desk top computer so compatibility is not an issue, but my blackberry is my life line away from my desk. I hear blackberry is best for e-mail and it's all I know. The other day I was shown how the Iphone works with e-mail Not so bad, just need to go thru a few touch screens. It doesn't alert you when you have an e-mail, and I'm constantly getting e-mails.

My biggest complaint with this blackberry is internet use. I played around with the Iphone and it was a breeze to use,nothing like the blackberry which to me is frustrating.

[Ohiobuilder]

Re: Smart Phone Help

I went from a Blackberry to an Android phone and over 2 years later I am still not as fast at typing on this thing as I was on the blackberry. The email is push, it works well and I have it set to vibrate and ring when an email or text comes through.

I have an iPad as well, the Apple products are awesome but I will stick with the Android phones as they can be customized they way I like. I like the larger screens as well, easier to type and surf the web.

Keeping everything in one spot is not so difficult with options like Dropbox-Evernote-Sugarsync and now Carbonite has Snapsync.

I am up for renewal and getting the Droid Razr Maxx next.

[Ottoman]

Re: Smart Phone Help

I jusy switched from a blackberry to an Android. It has been like switching from a life preserver to a yacht. Both wiIll keep you afloat. But one is just embarassingly slow and akward. I had been a BB user for 6 years but I really found out I was missing out. I can't really tell you which phone to look at but I can say that there are options that are many times faster and easier than what you are using.

[tjbnwi]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Gary,

I'm partial to the iDevices. So of course I highly recomend the iPhone. It does not appear as if you are one of the users who would want or need to configure your phone. so the iPhone fits you well. Apple service is the best in the market.

I would suggest asking people in your area how their service is and what device they use.

Email on the iPhone is very easy. Internet access is great. The iPhone is not 4G, so in some areas it may be slower than some 'droids. I never owned a text capable phone before the iPhone, so typing on the touch screen is all I know. I find it quick and easy.

iMessage is nice on the iDevices. It sends the messages to other iDevices via WiFi.

Tom

[Greg Di]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Android is definitely more versatile and configurable...but...if you are not a tinkerer, then get an iPhone because it will do 80% of an Android out of the box.

Android phones are usually faster and have better/bigger screens than any iPhone. I like the big screen and the speed of my Androids. An iPhone is like a toy in comparison, but the iPhone works OK for most people and they like it. Either is a VAST improvement from a BB.

The other BRILLIANT (and I say this all time) thing about Android is that you can replace the stock keyboard app with a bunch of significantly BETTER and FASTER third party apps which you absolutely cannot do with an iPhone. Swiftkey is the one I run and it has saved me 73,567 keystrokes and corrected 27,191 typing errors on this phone since mid December alone. It tracks the stats so this is accurate.

Apple's keyboard BLOWs compared to even the stock Android and when you get into the better third party ones like Swiftkey, you'll wonder how the heck anyone uses anything else and really start wondering about the sheeple using the iPhone! LOL

[Ohiobuilder]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Here's something cool that I just found with Android - Google Docs real time collaboration.

http://www.droidmatters.com/news/new...ting-and-more/

[dgbldr]

Re: Smart Phone Help

My wife is at the Verizon store right now getting her 4th iPhone in 2 months. The first 3 each failed after various lengths of time and could not be fixed - all hardware failures. Nuff said.

The Casio rough use phones are reasonably indestructible and none of the fancy phones will do that. But the Casio is not an interned machine. So you can't have it all, at least for now. You need to choose or keep 2 phones.

[LIHR50]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Thank you all for your time posting your views and personal experiences with these devices. Very helpful and I know the direction I need to take. The general consensus is to ditch the Blackberry and that's exactly what I'll do. As for a droid, Iphone, etc. I'll stop by the Verizon store and see them in the flesh.

Is the Blackberry worth anything to someone? or should I have fun with the guys next time when I'm shooting nails with a pneumatic and pull it out of my pocket as if I'm about to use it, and then curse it and nail it to a stud?

[SpecBid]

Re: Smart Phone Help

I also use an iPad, iPhone and MacBook pro. Switched from Android to iPhone in June. Definitely prefer the Droid. The keyboard/typing apps were excellent. For me, emailing which I do all day is very tough on iPhone. The ability to sync w the three devices for me is key, but if I wasn't using iPad, I'd go back to Android. For my uses, it was perfect. Use the blackberry as a paperweight, or a pet rock. It's that archaic.

[Scrapr]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Lov my Sprint EVO. (Droid) Nice screen size. E mail & text notices. I'm pretty stock on it. Might look at that swiftkey. A bit of FFS (fat finger syndrome)

4g rocks. I had slow DSL at my old office. I think the 4g was faster than that connection.

Be prepared to carry around a battery cord though. I have an inverter in the car. I can't last till 11:00 am without a hook up

You can sey up the Evo as a hot spot. I don't do it often. But it's nice to have. I recently got a Kindle Fire. It will connect to the web through a hotspot. So if I wanted a larger surface (tablet) I could enable my Evo as a hotspot and get on line with the Kindle. (or go to Sbucks/McDonalds)

Never tried the iphone

[Mlandry]

Re: Smart Phone Help

I switched to the Samsung epic 4g a few weeks ago from my blackberry. There is no way
I would go back.

Mike

[SpecBid]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Also, I may be wrong, but I hear the Android can be used as a wifi hotspot for other devices. Apologies, I see that Scrapr already mentioned this. Don't know how to delete.

[LIHR50]

Re: Smart Phone Help

Thanks much again, so basically my Blackberry is one notch above two cups and a string.