[geeks] iPhone alternatives

[velociraptor]

On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Nadine Miller <velociraptor at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Jan 29, 2009, at 10:35 AM, Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>
>> What do you guys think of iPhone alternatives these days?
>>
<snip>

Just following up with further details after reading some of the
others' responses.

All of the HTC phones (G1, Wing, Shadow, various others) all have use
the mini USB for charging and wired headset.  One *BIG* ugly with the
HTC devices--if your battery is fully drained (e.g. the device will
not power on at all), you can *only* use an OEM charger to re-charge
the battery.

All of the HTC devices, afaik, have generic WiFi.

The sensitivity of the screen dialpad is poor, but I put that down to
the crappy T-Mo stock ROM (but, that means work to fix, including
doing the unlock stuff to put on a new ROM--which is not the same as
carrier unlock.  You can only carrier unlock the Wing via the code
that T-Mo provides).

You can sync almost any phone to a Mac using various 3rd party
software--some don't even need that.  I was able to sync my Motorola
RAZR to my Mac w/out software, ditto my Samsung T519.  I sync my Wing
using "Missing Sync".  I don't know if Missing Sync works with Android
or not.  There's another third party software for syncing phones to
Macs, too, but I don't recall the name at the moment.

Samsung also has some PDA options.  I messed about with an unlocked
Blackjack I for a while, but didn't care for the size/shape.
Samsung's coming out with some other phones for T-Mo that might fit
the bill, depending on what you want.  I had a lot of problem with
these phones dropping calls in LV, but don't know if that's due to my
coverage there, or problems with their newer phones.  Hubby's old R225
Samsung was very, very solid.  One of our customers' R225 still worked
after his kid tossed it out of the window at highway speed.

Another option to consider--Nokia has been doing PDA phones for quite
a long time with their Symbian OS.  They have free software that you
can use to connect to Exchange if that is a requirement.  I'm
considering buying the Blackberry-looking device that they announced @
CES which is coming to the US (it's been out in the EU for a while),
since it's a lower price point than the current model they offer in
the US.  But if I end not needing data for work, I'll probably go with
the 6310 which reminds me very, very much of my Sony Ericsson T68i
which is probably my favorite cell phone thus far (I still have it).
The 6310 has a remarkably sharp screen for such a small phone and is
candy bar style, which I prefer.  The fact that it is Symbian 40 is
gravy.

There's also the Sony Ericsson PXXX series you might want to look at.
I think these phones are all based on Symbian OS as well.

=Nadine=