which phone to take???

[wasabisashimi]

Rogers customer retention is offering me 3 phones to upgrade in order to resign me a 36month term on a select data plan.

HUP plan
1) HTC dream ---$79 36month, must add minimum $25 500MB data

2) HTC magic ---$79 36month, must add minimum $25 500MB data

3) SE X1a ------$79 36month, must add minimum $25 500MB data

which one should i take? below is a description about me and phone usage.

I dont think or plan to use data too often, maybe occasional yelllowpage look up....etc

I use GPS to navigate alot. I have tomtom mobile on my SE p1i

I don't care about games or crazy apps like iphone users.

I am currently using a very basic phone with music player capability.

I dont use camera on the phone, cuz i have a separate camera one for picture taking.

I text and talk on the phone alot... alot.

I dont like slow phones that loads slow and freezes.

I like a good keyboard cuz i txt alot.

I dont like finger print magnet phone.

I have no color preference.

I am quite noob to technology in terms of software downloads and tuning.

[!Yaminashi]

I'd opt for a berry, none of those do it for me. WM FTL

[hongy]

I would go for the x1a out of those 3 since I personally don't like the looks of the htc phones nor the keypad dream. However if you can get an e71 or a blackberry then yeah go for those ones instead.

[wasabisashimi]

Windows mobile slow?,, please someone help me pick a phone between the two

[Eclypz]

windows mobile is slow and laggy.

Out of the 3, i would go with either the Dream or Magic.

Dream = physical keyboard
Magic = touch screen only

So it's just a matter of preference.
There are other advantages to a Magic, but since you said you're a newb, you wouldn't care about custom ROMs and the advantages of more onboard memory.

IMO, Google Android is a good operating system..it's a good balance between a casual/media/business users. Over the next few years, you'll be seeing more and more Android phones popping up.

With that said, it still won't be as snappy as a "dumb phone", but it's definitely snappier than windows mobile

PS: To take full advantage of Android, you'll need a gmail account.

[ddr]

you can flash the HTC phones to firmwares like the Hero's now. maybe that'll sway your decision more heh

[yuusha]

^ Sense UI firmware update coming to Magics in October, I heard.

Anyways to answer OP's question: the SE X1 is too slow. It outweighed all of its positive traits.

Go with a Dream or Magic, depending on whether you absolutely need a hardware keypad or want a little more power under the hood. (Personally, I find the on-screen qwerty absolutely annoying since when you type in landscape mode all you can see is the keyboard and the stuff you're typing, and nothing else, but I think it was worth the trade-off.)

[alex.w *//]

x1a gets my vote

[wasabisashimi]

good news: I decided to go with with HTC magic,

Bad news: Rogers only has black color???? WHY oh WHy,,,, Is this for sure, will they ever carry white Magic?

[yuusha]

I don't know why they didn't carry it in white but I thought the same thing when I picked up my Magic, lol.

Black's not so bad, though. I call it "Black Magic" xD