Educate me on the new smart phones.

[Oneslowz28]

I lost my phone the other day and had my mind set on a Palm Pre, but today I find out that Sprint no longer offers service my my area. They closed up both stores and both kiosk in the mall last month. So the Pre is no longer an option. So educate me on the new smart phones.

My needs are:
Browser
Email
keyboard would be nice but not a necessity

Do not need:
Camera is not a need. I have 2 very expensive cameras if I need to take a photo

iPhone. I have a iTouch and I drop my phones to much for an iPhone to survive more than a month.

[Luke122]

Despite being Canadian, I have nothing but hate for Blackberries. HTC has always been good to me, and plenty tough for myself. I'm fairly "droppy" also with my phones.

www.howardforums.com is a great site if you want some actual user feedback, and even some cool tips/tricks.

[BuzzKillington]

Go for the HTC G1.

The adroid OS's has tons of tweaking ability so it will keep you happy with customizing. There are also a TON of free apps on the market.

Full HTML browser is a huge plus, full qwerty keyboard, 3.2mp camera and accepts up to 32gigs of micro sd.

I've dropped mine at work onto concrete, onto metal framing, etc and it has zero nicks or scratches.

[Bopher]

I found that my Dash (which is made by HTC for T-Mobile) was a good little phone. I had it for 1.5 years before it started flaking out on me. I was able to run the browser off of the local networks and install what ever I wanted for the most part for apps. My wife traded me her Blackberry Curve and we bought her a new lower grade phone because she liked the Blackberry but didn't know how to use half the features. If a Blackberry is looking good for you then make sure you get a data plan or something because I am really limited on what I can do just on wireless LAN. Though I do like the fact that if I am in range of a router the phone will use the internet instead of a cell tower for call connects which keeps the calls clear. I don't know who you're going to go with on service but I've been using T-Mobile for close to 8 years with no problems.

[billygoat333]

I had a htc xv 6800 (on verizon, think it was called the mogul on sprint) which was an awesome phone, but short lifespan. It wasn't very durable, although the job I was working at the time was rough on phones so I probably shouldnt have been using a smartphone anyways :P

[BuzzKillington]

With the G1, you also have 1 touch tethering which turns your phone into a router. It takes about 30 minutes to get "root access" which gives you this ability and a few others such as multi-touch that works the same as the iPhone on the web browser and maps.

[Kayin]

Fsck all that, the G1 is overclockable.

[Drum Thumper]

I've got a Verizon Wireless SMT5800 (http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-smt5800-verizon-wireless/4505-6452_7-32815505.html). Decent enough phone, is more powerful than my first computer, but doesn't hold up to well to accidental drops. My immediate supervisor has the same phone and she dropped it on concrete. Busted it up pretty good. Surprisingly, her phone still works.

The price was right too-free with a two year contract.

[Oneslowz28]

Thanks for the input guys. Any specific model of black berry I should be looking at?

[Luke122]

I had a htc xv 6800 (on verizon, think it was called the mogul on sprint) which was an awesome phone, but short lifespan. It wasn't very durable, although the job I was working at the time was rough on phones so I probably shouldnt have been using a smartphone anyways :P

6800 touchscreen was useless in cold weather. Other than that, a cool phone. I had one for a short while.

The 6700 was a brick of a phone, and the slightly older sibling to the 6800 (durrrrr). :D It was damn near indestructible, and could probably be used to kill someone if you hit them with it.

Both had slide out keyboards, but the 6800 had upgraded radio and built in GPS as well. You can pick either up used for under $200.

*EDIT* NVM all this.. just saw that you are going Blackberry. Recommendation: Anything but the storm.**

[Oneslowz28]

Well I might not be going blackberry. Just doing my research.

[Drum Thumper]

If you get a blackberry, you HAVE to get internet/email access (at least with Verizon you do). I had my eye on a Storm but that little detail killed it.

[Oneslowz28]

I dont mind a data plan because I will write most of it off in business expenses

[Collinstheclown]

A friend of mine has the Storm, he says it terrible and preferred his old first gen iPhone. I have the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. It runs WinMo 6.1, and has a nice slide out qwety keyboard. After some tweaking the Xperia is an awesome phone. I just wish there was a way to upgrade to WinMo 6.5, and 7 when it comes out...

I've dropped it a coupe times, and it still works fine. The battery cover flies off and usually the battery pops out as well.




-CollinstheClown

[Trace]

I love my HTC Touch Pro through Sprint. Verizon has it too.