Mobile phones

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  • Reply 21 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    Oh yeah.. and if you look, T-Mobile's website now has a new "Camera Phones" section... with room for 2-4 phones in some of the page layouts. But there's only the T300... so this means there will be more later. But from which manufacturer? Well, T-Mobile has always had great relationships with Sony-Ericsson, so I'm sure the P800... and the Nokia 3650 is totally perfect for the US market, and just the kind of cool thing that T-Mobile might do, I wouldn't put it past them. We'll have to see. When I call up their customer support, the only future phone info I can get out of them is the 7210 is coming, but it ain't no camera phone. (Hell, the T300 barely is.. the camera is an attachment! If they consider those phones camera phones, then they could put up any newer Nokia phone that supports the Pop-Port connection, which can be used with Nokia's new Pop-Port compact digital camera!)



    So, just more to think about. Argh.
  • Reply 22 of 100
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    A camera with your phone? Why, god why? I don't understand this obsession people have with their cell phones doing everything. The stuff you decided to pass on (bluetooth, touch screen) is more useful in a phone than a camera. I could see PIM functions in a phone, but a camera? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
  • Reply 23 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    Well, guess what. I'm going over to a T-Mobile retail store in Council Bluffs (IA) this Tuesday, and picking up a T300 camera phone for $100.



    A hundred bucks! For a simple, decent-looking color-screen MMS-capable phone with a fun little camera (not to mention it's detachable and upgradable). I'm getting on a great rate plan, too, the T-Zones Talk & Text ($29.99 for 300 whenever minutes, unlimited weekends, 300 text messages, and 1MB GPRS data, plus I'm adding on the $2.99 500 text message feature).



    It's not the best in the world, no, but it's a huge deal for $100. Cricket wants me to pay $150 for a shitty Nokia 8270, hah! And once the phone I really want comes out (and it is less than $200-300 on a new activation), I'll be able to give it to my mom or grandma, or a friend, maybe get on a family plan with somebody. Who knows.



    The best part of it all is, I'll have all the insider info about the latest and greatest rate plans, tricks to get out of a contract early termination fee, and I'll be able to check my own minute usage to make sure I don't go over! Still that downside of a number in a different (but nearby) area code, but at least I can change it at any time.. and I'll know just as soon as I can change it, too.
  • Reply 24 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    Damn it to hell, now I don't know again!



    I guess the bad things I'd heard of the T68i might have just been overstated, quality control stuff and politics like all products may have... maybe I want one... the Bluetooth, after all. And it's only... $100 more. Twice the price, I don't know. But it is less bulky than the T300, and I can still use a camera with it just the same (snap on the bottom)... But then.. the camera costs $130 by itself, and it's being bundled with a T300 for just $100. Maybe I should get the T300, and give it to someone as a christmas gift, and keep the camera, and then get a T68i. But then I'll have to buy the T68i at full retail price... which is going to be more than just $200. Damn it, I just don't know anymore.



    And then, how am I even gonna get a T68i? T-Mobile doesn't appear to sell them anymore on the website or through customer care... do they still sell them in their retail stores? What about the indirect retail stores, surely they must sell them (AT&T still sells the T68i)... but is there an indirect retailer in Council Bluffs, Iowa? I don't wanna drive to Des Moines... but I guess, if I must, for the phone I want, I will. I'll probably get there and they won't even have it or it'll be like full retail price if I go with T-Mobile. Or something stupid, there's always something.



    Aesthetics... well, the T68i has it's own charms, but the T300 is so much more simple and less random, almost kind of minimalist for a phone design. It is a bit bulky, though. Small, but bulky. And the 256-color display that they both have is apparently a piece of crap compared to the 65,000 color displays lots of phones are coming out with these days, so who knows.



    Which is more important, bang-for-your-buck (T300), or suiting my desires and digging into the pocketbook (T68i)? I've totally ruled out the P800, and the T600 doesn't even suit my needs. The Nokia 7650 is going to cost a fortune, and the 7210 has no camera, is ugly, and doesn't even have the PopPort connection to connect a camera. The 3650 might never make it to market and when it does it'll be way too expensive, probably like $400.



    You know what, I'm just going to try the T300, if I don't like it.. it's $100, and a decent phone for somebody if not for me. I'll get some other phone. Upgrade to a T68i maybe. So it's settled, then. For the next 2 1/2 minutes.
  • Reply 25 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    I just picked up Popular Science's 100 best issue, and the P800 is in there; I've gotten sucked in again. I decided this pay period that I'd just save up for the holidays, so I haven't jumped yet, but maybe that will be saving up for a P800 during the holidays.. hehe.



    Then there is the Kyocera 7135.. it's a nice flip phone, not too ugly, color screen, Palm OS, graffiti pad, Palm buttons, and a keypad.. in a surprisingly compact package. It isn't the most beautiful thing, certainly not very interesting, but it at least looks better than the Treos, that's for sure. The price will be the only thing that can sway me toward these, though.. like if they're $150-200 I might get one.



    No price quotes on either one, though. "Price depends on carrier," thanks Popular Science..



    And apparently Sprint and Verizon are already 3G? Whaaat. I don't think that's right... 3G is WCDMA, and that isn't out in all areas.. not to mention there are like no phones shipping to work with it that I can find. Sprint sucks anyway, too expensive for what you get, and they charge you for everything... plus, I really don't need all that coverage, which you end up paying for. Why do I need coverage in some field out in the middle of Kansas? And Verizon.. $4 a month for Yahtzee on your phone. Enough said.
  • Reply 26 of 100
    Wow. A stream of GPRS conciousness thread. Cool.



    I've been checking out a German website (www.cyberport.de) where I buy Apple stuff, and they changed the P800 arrival date from 14-Nov-2002 to 16-Jan-2003. Drats!



    I wasn't going to buy it from there, but their delivery dates are pretty much the same as stores around here.



    If Germany isn't getting this by Christmas, I have my doubts it will make it to the States before then. And maybe this means that Ericsson's act on the P800 isn't quite all there.
  • Reply 27 of 100
    Apparently today Oprah gave away expensive brand new Samsung camera phones and three months of T-Mobile service to everyone in her audience.. did anyone else catch the show? I didn't . I just saw the memo in my T-Mobile CC news. Anyhow, the phone isn't available yet to the public, but it's pretty cool.. silver, flip, small, camera, Samsung, rotatable camera in the little hinge, about 1MP... I think they're several hundred dollars, or will be, rather... very interesting. Not really my taste, but interesting nonetheless.



    So mid-January for hte P800? Blech, what a disappointment. First it was fall, then Q4, now 2003... suck.



    I can't take it anymore. I'll get get a T300. The 3rd of December is coming up, and I'm getting a big ol' check! I hope something better than the T300 comes out. I just need a T325... just like the T300, but with Bluetooth, and a better color display (thousands of colors instead of 256). I'd even pay $50 more for that. Oh, and more colors... apparently the only color that's in circulation thus far is the forest green color.. no one seems to have seen the red or the blue. Keep the form factor and simple/minimalist design and perfect size and camera functionality and joystick and everything, just make it beat the T68i. *whine* But who am I kidding.. that's not gonna happen, especially not in the next 6 months, and even then, it'd be a while. I digress. T300 will have to do. It's a marginal improvement on the mobile phone as it is... perhaps it's better this way. Gradual upgrading.
  • Reply 28 of 100
    Whoopsies, it didn't air today, it was taped today.. it'll air on the 25th. Anyway, watch for the neat upcoming T-Mobile camera phone!! (I guess I ruined that surprise, oh well.)



    Man. They got all kinds of free stuff that show. I think everybody gets 1 free everything that's on her "Favorite Things" gift list. It's like the superbowl of Oprah. Even I'd be in an Oprah audience, if it was that show! *drool*
  • Reply 29 of 100
    Question: Is there a money-back warrantee period for your phone if you cancel your plan with a service provider within the legal time frame? I know you can always cancel your plan for free within a certain number of weeks, but if I buy a GSM phone at one of the service providers and find that the GSM reception where I need it sucks, I need to know if the phone is also refundable.
  • Reply 30 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    There's a buyer's remorse period of 14-16 days depending on your state, but most of the companies want the phones back in complete order and with less than 60 minutes of usage or there will be some sort of charge, or at least not a full refund at a dealer; and then, some dealers can be entrepreneurial and offer you a price for the phone 'used' to resell to someone else at full price. One exception with T-Mobile is if you buy the phone from Amazon.com... in whiich case your buyer's remorse is 37 days; we often get people who buy their phones off Amazon and activate, but tthen there's no service in their area (like North Dakota.. no GSM anywhere), so they basically have to cancel, and we tell them to return the equipment and we waive the contract early termination fee and all that (other than valid usage charges).



    I'm considering Amazon, but they don't discount you on a new activation, they do some rebate shit after the fact which takes 11 weeks or something, and in the meanwhile you have to pay full value for the phone! (And then some, it seems.. it says the T300 is $150 at their site, and I'd be eligible for a $150 rebate, making the phone free, but when I add it to my cart all of a sudden it's $250.00. Where's that logic? Gah.)



    But if you wanna go with T-Mobile (where you get more) just call up 1-800-937-8997 and say that you want to check coverage in your area. They'll pull up an interactive coverage map and you'll give them a city or zip or somesuch, maybe your address and then zoom out, and they can describe what kind/level of coverage you'd be getting.
  • Reply 31 of 100
    There is no way I can go with T-Mobile. Coverage in my area on the regular TDMA or CDMA network is quite worse than coverage on even AT&T's GSM network. Thank's though.
  • Reply 32 of 100
    Huh? T-Mobile uses only GSM... AT&T uses a combination of CDMA and GSM, and AT&T is a T-Mobile roaming partner, meaning they share the same roaming area... I think you must have confused T-Mobile with Sprint or Verizon or something, or maybe I'm just reading what you're saying wrong. Truthfully, CDMA coverage in the US is ten or twenty times better than GSM coverage at the moment... almost covering the country, whereas GSM barely dots the major metropoli and highways. Still, GSM is a better technology, and always expanding, so don't get me wrong, I'm a total GSM proponent.
  • Reply 33 of 100
    Yeah so that's not viable for me. Looks like I will go with regular TDMA service. What do you think about the <a href="http://partner.getconnected.com/motorola/V_Catalog/WirelessPhones/WirelessPhones_Detail.asp?prod=27647&cat=61&vert=2 " target="_blank">Motorola V60i</a> phone?
  • Reply 34 of 100
    [quote]Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce:

    <strong>Yeah so that's not viable for me. Looks like I will go with regular TDMA service. What do you think about the <a href="http://partner.getconnected.com/motorola/V_Catalog/WirelessPhones/WirelessPhones_Detail.asp?prod=27647&cat=61&vert=2 " target="_blank">Motorola V60i</a> phone?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, it's all right.. for a phone-phone. I don't think much of it, good or bad, it's getting to be pretty popular, nothing much about it interests me to be truthful. I guess I'm just not too crazy about the folding flip phones... There's a V60 as well, which is the GSM version. GSM is the future, don't invest too much in inferior technology like T/CDMA or you'll regret it later.
  • Reply 35 of 100
    Right it's 50 bucks through getconnected.com. That's not bad at all.
  • Reply 36 of 100
    Well, just be wary. When phones get cheap, there's trickery. Rebates that give you the run-around, special contracts, longer contracts, service agreements, extra charges, beefed up activation fees. Either way, when you choose a phone and service provider, you're investing a lot of time and money, so choose wisely... and especially make sure you're doing business with a reputable dealer, the internet isn't always the safest place to go about getting a phone and service.
  • Reply 37 of 100
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    Rats, now I'm thinking about grabbing one off of Amazon (a T300), and just screwing the P800, like I'm going to use that anyway. The IrDA on the T300 apparently works great with Mac OS X, and that's all I really need. Cool-looking, compact, color phone, can sync with my Mac (the important stuff), with a camera, and I can even get a neat little keyboard attachment (for cheap), and it's just $99 after rebates. I can't wait for pay day!!!
  • Reply 38 of 100
    xaqtlyxaqtly Posts: 450member
    I've decided I want a Sony Ericsson T68i, and here's why:



    I will primarily be using it as a phone, not a PDA. I don't care about the PDA stuff.



    I want Bluetooth because I want to sync my Address Book with the phone. Syncing the iCal stuff can't hurt either.



    I want tri-band because I will be using the phone in other countries.



    Really, the only thing the T68i doesn't have that I want is polyphonic ringtones... and obviously I can live without those, but I really would like them. Maybe in my next phone.



    So with that in mind I went to a local T-Mobile store (Glendale, California) and they do indeed sell the T68i there. I also learned that AT&T is selling the T68i, so we may be going with AT&T instead of T-Mobile - reason being, we have AT&T on our current phone and we don't want to change the number.



    Does that help? Or does anybody have any thoughts about that?
  • Reply 39 of 100
    [quote]Originally posted by Xaqtly:

    <strong>I've decided I want a Sony Ericsson T68i, and here's why:



    I will primarily be using it as a phone, not a PDA. I don't care about the PDA stuff.



    I want Bluetooth because I want to sync my Address Book with the phone. Syncing the iCal stuff can't hurt either.



    I want tri-band because I will be using the phone in other countries.



    [...].



    So with that in mind I went to a local T-Mobile store (Glendale, California) and they do indeed sell the T68i there. I also learned that AT&T is selling the T68i, so we may be going with AT&T instead of T-Mobile - reason being, we have AT&T on our current phone and we don't want to change the number.



    Does that help? Or does anybody have any thoughts about that?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Just one. AT&T doesn't send text messages overseas. I don't know about interstate.
  • Reply 40 of 100
    xaqtlyxaqtly Posts: 450member
    [quote]Originally posted by fantastic happy dinner man:

    <strong>



    Just one. AT&T doesn't send text messages overseas. I don't know about interstate.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Ah, thanks for that, I didn't know that. It may not affect my purchase because honestly I think I've used text messaging maybe twice in 3 years, but it's good to know.
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