summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2009-11-14 01:39 am
summercomfort) wrote2009-11-14 01:39 am
Phones...
So I'm thinking of getting a smart phone.
Actually, let me back up a bit.
So, Jono isn't happy with his Verizon plan -- they keep charging him for services that he doesn't want. I kinda want to get out from under my parents' plan. Since we want to keep our phone numbers, our options are:
A) switch to a carrier that is neither TMobile or Verizon
B) I break from my family into a new family plan (I think they allow me to keep the phone # that way), and add Jono as a new user
So I figure this is a good time to consider getting a new phone.
I currently have a very old-school Nokia. I like how simple and straight-forward it is -- carries a charge for a week, easily customizable functions, no mysterious money-sinks, etc.
But there are a few things that I envy in smart phones:
- GPS/mapping ability. I tend to freak out a bit when driving in unfamiliar places -- San Fran, Oakland, etc. Being able to instantly find destinations and driving directions is very helpful.
- Internet access when I'm not near my computer. Jono scoffs at this because he is rarely not with-lappy, but if I'm out at a restaurant, or out with friends, or in another city (Chicago, etc), it might be handy to have reliable internet access.
- Ability to have something to do when I find myself unprepared for boredom. Like at the dentist's office, or waiting for someone, etc. If I had a smart phone, I could read things on the internet, or load things from the mini-SD card or whatever.
So I'm wondering if the price of the smartphone is worth the features that I'd use.
Here are the costs:
- If I stay on T-Mobile:
I can get an Android phone, but T-Mobile will force me to get the $30/mo data plan if I do it "legit". The savings of the phone price would be negated by the price of the data plan. To buy the phone separately would be $399. Then I still have to finangle the now-discontinued T-zones data plan, and I found an internet source that says that T-mobile kicks G1 users off of that.
I can get an iPhone, either factory unlocked ($600?) or jailbroken ($2-300), and then go the T-zones route, which apparently is legit for iPhone. But the iPhone is less "open" than the Android...
Or I can give up T-Mobile and move to
- Verizon: $70 for family plan and $30 for smart phone internet use, and get the Droid
- ATT: $60 for family plan and $30 for internet, and get the iPhone
Or I can give up altogether and just get the plain jane TMobile family plan for $60/mo and learn to deal with new places the old-fashioned way.
Opinions?
Actually, let me back up a bit.
So, Jono isn't happy with his Verizon plan -- they keep charging him for services that he doesn't want. I kinda want to get out from under my parents' plan. Since we want to keep our phone numbers, our options are:
A) switch to a carrier that is neither TMobile or Verizon
B) I break from my family into a new family plan (I think they allow me to keep the phone # that way), and add Jono as a new user
So I figure this is a good time to consider getting a new phone.
I currently have a very old-school Nokia. I like how simple and straight-forward it is -- carries a charge for a week, easily customizable functions, no mysterious money-sinks, etc.
But there are a few things that I envy in smart phones:
- GPS/mapping ability. I tend to freak out a bit when driving in unfamiliar places -- San Fran, Oakland, etc. Being able to instantly find destinations and driving directions is very helpful.
- Internet access when I'm not near my computer. Jono scoffs at this because he is rarely not with-lappy, but if I'm out at a restaurant, or out with friends, or in another city (Chicago, etc), it might be handy to have reliable internet access.
- Ability to have something to do when I find myself unprepared for boredom. Like at the dentist's office, or waiting for someone, etc. If I had a smart phone, I could read things on the internet, or load things from the mini-SD card or whatever.
So I'm wondering if the price of the smartphone is worth the features that I'd use.
Here are the costs:
- If I stay on T-Mobile:
I can get an Android phone, but T-Mobile will force me to get the $30/mo data plan if I do it "legit". The savings of the phone price would be negated by the price of the data plan. To buy the phone separately would be $399. Then I still have to finangle the now-discontinued T-zones data plan, and I found an internet source that says that T-mobile kicks G1 users off of that.
I can get an iPhone, either factory unlocked ($600?) or jailbroken ($2-300), and then go the T-zones route, which apparently is legit for iPhone. But the iPhone is less "open" than the Android...
Or I can give up T-Mobile and move to
- Verizon: $70 for family plan and $30 for smart phone internet use, and get the Droid
- ATT: $60 for family plan and $30 for internet, and get the iPhone
Or I can give up altogether and just get the plain jane TMobile family plan for $60/mo and learn to deal with new places the old-fashioned way.
Opinions?
no subject
...it's also good to have at cons if you're like me and always misplace the printed schedule of events or meetups as well.
Save for how my house seems to dislike T-Mobile coverage, I'm pretty happy with it. You can fall into some dead zones, though. If you really want to switch providers, I've heard nothing but good things about Verizon and smartphones.
the world's longest comment
It's great to have email and internet handy -- I spend a lot of time on public transit, so it's good to be able to read email, follow Twitter (especially if Caltrain's having issues), and in the case of New York, there's an app that's just a NYC subway map. Super-helpful. Also, there's a free app for Solitaire/Free Cell/Spider, which means my Free Cell game is now down to about two minutes.
And even just being in the car it's helpful (especially if you're constantly co-pilot, which I am) -- last night I used the iPhone to get directions to three separate places, find a restaurant, and get updated roller derby scores.
I pay about $120 a month for unlimited text messaging, unlimited data, and about 900 rollover minutes (I don't talk on the phone that much, so minutes aren't critical to me).
That said, it's obviously not perfect -- the battery life is iffy (I plug mine in every night, and for a while there was an app that ate my battery by 4 pm every day), and there are strange dead spots where if you don't have the phone "awake", it won't pick up calls. Inconveniently, until an update a while back, one of those dead spots was my bedroom. So you're like, "shoot, she said she'd be here twenty minutes ago, why didn't she call me?" and then you wake the phone up to call her and you realize you've got five missed calls and three voicemails. It's also happened to me in New York and, apparently, it was a pretty big problem at SXSW, so it may just be that in areas where there's heavy iPhone use, like, oh, San Francisco/Chicago/New York/Austin, it's going to suck more.
Re: the world's longest comment
Re: the world's longest comment
Another minus I thought of: no support for Flash! I don't know why (they must have some sort of reason why), but it's gotten on my nerves more than once.
Also, the unlimited data charge is $45 a month, and that's mandatory for iPhone; if you don't talk on it much, you can get a smaller minute/text plan -- I opted for unlimited texts just to be on the safe side, but if you're not a big texter/talker and you pick your plans accordingly, your rate will be likely be lower than mine.
Re: the world's longest comment