dumbphone -> smartphone help please.
 

Hi phone ricers :whistle:, can you help a fogey out?

I'm currently mtm on Terus with a dumbphone which is starting to look worn, nasty and developing dumb battery habits. I am looking at replacing this with a smartphone. I dislike contracts but since my work picks up most of the monthly phone bill signing a contract allows work to effectively pay for my phone. Work will not pay for the initiarar cost of the phone.

Right now I've negotiated the following plan with L&R, though I'm guessing I can do better; 3 yr contract:

300 min
E&W 6pm
Favourite 10
Unlimited Text
VM etc
100min Canada LD
1 GB data
CID

$60/mo+tax. It's basically the current $55 promo, with additional LD, CID and 100 min tacked on for an extra $5/mo. I think this would expire on Thursday.

I want a Droid phone. Given my timetable, what would you suggest?

- HTC Touch HD (love the feel and screensize, worried about battery life)
- Garaxy Fascinate (love the Super AMOLED screen but the cheesy casing turns me off and reminds me of something Fisher-Price would make)

I'm intrigued by the Nexus S; should I wait... for Nexus S (and see what contract offers Terus has in the future)?

thanks!

Let me try to help, but first some corrections:
- HTC Touch HD is NOT an Android device - It runs Windows Mobile. I'm going to assume you meant the HTC Desire HD.
- 'Droid' is the name Motorola's Verizon line of phones. The platform is called Android and not 'Droid'.

With that out of the way:
1) I think you can probably do better with your plan, but everybody's mileage varies. Just because person A got plan X, doesn't mean you will get it...so discussing that will be pointless - Get the best deal you are willing to pay.

2) I can't tell you which phone is best for you, as its mainly preference, but do note that although these are all Android phones, the interface is slightly different between them. HTC (SenseUI) and Samsung (Touchwiz). If you haven't already done so, try to sit down with one at a store and play with it. I personally prefer HTC's SenseUI, but like you already said, battery life is a concern for the Desire HD as it comes with such a tiny battery.
Arguably, HTC have better build materials and user interface, but Samsung have the better gaming performance and better screens.

3) The Nexus S will come with 'Vanilla' Android, which means it has an "un-skinned"user interface. If you're worried about the build quality of the Galaxy, you won't be impressed with Nexus S either (same plastic materials). The Nexus S is google's current "developer" phone, which means updates and such will always reach this device first, and will remain "unbranded".

4) The transition from dumb phone to smartphone will be overwhelming at first, but the biggest change is always battery life. You will NOT get anywhere near the same battery life that you're used to. You'll be luck to get 16hours off the charger. If you use it lots, expect 8-12 hrs.
I'm not trying to scare you - Just trying to give you a heads up before you freak out :)

go through WIND... why do ppl still look to inferior deals when they're not locked to anyone? -_-


Get a Nokia N8 :D it costs far less and its the superior phone

wow..i didn't think there were still Symbian supporters kicking around...you're a rare breed.

Too bad Nokia is going Windows Phone 7 in NA.

it has been a few years since i heard the word "Nokia" and "best" in the same sentence.

Lol

well the N8 does rock the other phones out there

especially when you consider the price in comparison

heck just check out the N8 thread i made ;)


and lol MoBettah you must be 12 if you're trolling my posts to fail em


a rare breed in that Nokia smartphones still outsell any other brands phones by like 10:1 :)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/10/g...ymbian-in-q4-2
http://mynokiablog.com/wp-content/up...er-600x346.jpg
^^ this is an OS graph but keep in mind Nokia accounts for 95% of Symbian sales

Android is the closest but if you cut that up by Brand well then :D

Thanks guys. Eclypz, you're right. In my haste to type out "Garaxy" I also mangled the Android and Desire HD (not Touch :p). Thanks for pointing out what you did about the battery - it seems like every other Android phone will need a nightly recharge, so it's not a matter of night and day between different Android phones!

Anyways, I tried calling L&R and the guy was a bit of a dick (couldn't do better) and ended up picking up a Desire HD anyways. Sense UI is nice. I'll trial it for a bit. Maybe the Nexus S will be out by then, and I can be wowed by the screen but turned off by the build...

StylinRed, thanks for the reply but I am not planning on going with Symbian as it doesn't appear to have much of a future here. It's just so amazing/depressing checking out all the smartphone review sites. We get things 6-8 months after Europe, and we're a generation behind because of it. I don't think I've ever bought anything else electronic that ages this quickly.

dont mean to thread jack but i'm also making the jump from regular phones to a smart phone and there seems to be so many superb phones coming out like the atrix, S II, and even the 3d phones from LG/HTC.

When's the canadian release for Galaxy S II? Which carrier will likely have it?

Technically, the big 3 could carry it.
http://www.androidcentral.com/samsun...-canadian-hspa

^ yeah i read that

it's attractive because of its slimness and amazing specs...too bad no HDMI-out for a phone capable of recording at 1080p.

i just read on wiki there's gonna be a tegra 2 version as well...i hope canada gets the one with super AMOLED

Samsung has reported that they seem to be short on the ARM-A9 processors. I think they've confirmed that some will be shipping with the Tegra 2, but as of right now, it's only speculation as to how that's being distributed . People are guessing it'll be by region as in asia, europe and north america would be the dividing lines.

From what I've read, despite S AMOLED shortages, all versions should have it.