This is Good Buy Tuesday, and this time, instead of telling you a good buy, I am asking your opinion. The hubot and I have waited patiently for our current phone contract to be up. It is. We really want iPhones, but our provider is Verizon, which doesn’t have iPhones. Any consultant at any Verizon store will tell you that there is a “rumor” they will get the “4G” version, but we’ve been hearing these rumors for over year. Here is our dil
emma: We really like Verizon. They really do have good coverage. iPhones are only available on AT&T. We don’t know about AT&T, other than what the ads say — dropped calls and lack of coverage.
We went to have a look at smart phones at the Verizon store. We looked at the Droids and the Blackberry touch screens. The Droids are fancy, but neither of us could text anything but jibberish. The touch screen needs to be pressed really hard, and the keys are so close together we had to try too many times to get our words right. We could text on the blackberry touch screens, and it was really a touch. But in the end, we preferred one of the Blackberries with actual buttons. Verdict: Neither phone knocked our socks off.
We drove to the Apple Store and played with the iPhones. We loved them. Much easier to use, a superior touchscreen, and our texts were clearer. They were really a step above the other phones. Plus, we have the ability to sync with our Mac computers at home. I am sure this can be done with a windows based phone, but I am too old and too lazy to learn. Although I will if I must. Sigh. 
But then we got down to the service plan. Wow. By the time we add up all the unlimited stuff (texting and internet) we want, we are looking at another $50 a month over our current plan, plus Verizon wants to keep us so bad, they are offering a loyalty discount of 20%.
We are going Blackberry or iPhone (we both agreed, the Motorola Droid phones were cumbersome to use and we didn’t like them at all).
What to do? Go with an inferior smart phone but better service plan? Or go with the better smart phone and worse service plan? Comments, suggestions and advice most welcome. And if you don’t advice, tell us:
What kind of phone do you have? What is the most important feature of your cell phone: Calling, texting, or internet access? What would you advise a couple of semi-tech literate, but too old and lazy too learn a bunch of new stuff people?
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
We actually made the jump from Verizon to AT&T two years ago just for the iPhone. We LOVE IT! Our bill is cheaper each month and the iPhone is just fun, along with being a great phone for texting and calling. Ironically enough, Verizon never even balked when we closed our account. We had been with them for years, but they didn’t even try to keep us. My DH, a customer service freak was appalled. I had a Treo with Verizon and I loved it too, but the apps are what are so much fun on the iPhone.
That is so good to know! I think we’re going to do it in the next few days
I have an LG cell phone and we use AT&T. Hubby and son have fancier versions with touch screen and keyboard, but I don’t. It can’t e-mail, but that’s fine with me. I use it to call and text–love text messaging! So, basically, I’m no help whatsoever with your decision, Julia, but I wish you lots of luck. xox
I have the Sansung Rant cell phone from Sprint. I also have an I-touch. The I-touch I can do everything the I-phone does but call people. Before Sprint, I had Cingular (the name before it was AT&T) and HATED the customer service. I have no problems with Sprint and they have a touch style phone. Before you make your decision check out Sprint. I think you can get the best of both worlds. PLUS — you won’t have to pay for text messages. With Sprint, everything comes as part of the package.
I’m partial to anything called a rant.
As you know….I love, love, love my iPhone. Love it. And despite the dropped call thing, I still love it. I don’t talk on my phone much (I mostly email or text), and when I do, it tends to be about the same as it was on my T-Mobile blackberry. Except at my house. I live in a cell hole that ATT can’t penetrate. Only in the house. Garage, yard, no problem. House, yes. So I forward the cell to the landline. But that is a pain.
But mostly I love the iPhone for the other things. The apps (my check registers, my blog, my diary, my calendar…I’ve actually got so many of the things I’m going to start posting reviews on line).
I thought I loved my Blackberry, but the emails didn’t sync properly, and they would disappear–and being able to clear out emails on the go was the reason I went to a smart phone in the first place. So when I sat down to write I wasn’t facing a mountain of email. But I did love that you could have simultaneous programs running. Can’t do that on the iphone (with the exception of a few like the timer, alarm, iPhone, Phone). And you can’t add an external keyboard. But overall, I have not regretted the switch at all. And, yes, when Verizon gets the iPhone, I’ll switch carriers. Until then, I’m fine.
Just got a Samsung Mythic. Not a smart phone but one step down. It is a touchscreen with virtual keyboard. I liked it better than physical keyboard because it’s bigger and with my old eyes easier to see (so in your circumstances would opt for iPhone.
So far I love it. Although some of the features I’ll probably never use. TV, music player (I did import a couple of songs but I love my ipod). And for me the internet because I’m not ready to make the leap to paying for data dump. HOwever, I’ve used it twice just for fun and it is faster than I expected.
All that to say — quite happy with my new phone and AT&T which required a two year contract extention so that I could afford the phone!
Still am moving into the new century – I can text now
Hey, are you calling me old?
you’re on ATT? I heard that was the really big issue in NYC — that ATT coverage sucked. Maybe it’s just their 3G coverage?
I have a blackberry pearl. It was the only phone at the time available in pink…major selling feature for me!
What I love about my phone is the capacity to get emails and access the net, and I’m able to access twitter and facebook and my ereader. Also for an additional fee with Verizon you can actually use your blackberry as a wireless modem for your laptop, if you are not in a wifi area, but the cost is like 35 buckaroos a month. Things I don’t like about the blackberry. Almost all of them have what they call leakage or something to that effect. At random times the phone will clear out your call list, emails, texts etc. They remain on your PC but not the phone. I have to yank the battery and restart it when it happens which is about once a week. Iphones have more options as far as the features you can add to them, so many applications and download capabilities. From what I gather the Iphone is not only a phone, it’s a MP3, it’s internet, it’s a handheld PC. I would lean towards the Iphone because it will ultimately be more useful than the blackberry. (And I think you can get it in pink!)
Yea, we really liked the iPhone best. We didn’t love the plan, but you know, we are good Americans, and we’ll probably do it anyway because we want what we want RIGHT NOW.
I called this the ’see it want it gotta have it now’ syndrome. My ex-husband has it bad.
Also good buys: Julia London’s Dangers of Deceiving a Viscount in re-release (trade paperback, Julia?) and The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance, featuring a story by Kathleen Givens. Just saying. Someone’s got to plug books around here.
Thanks Sherri. This is a trade release of a mass market book. Its a promotional thing they are doing in Canada, but is also available here. I just got an alert from the publisher that it’s available.
And so many books can be read on the iPhone! Heh. Seriously, I rarely use my actual Kindle anymore. I mostly read my Kindle books on the iPhone.
I just upgrade my phone last month. I got the HTC Hero which required me to also upgrade my cell phone plan. I got the Everything Data plan with Sprint. The plan includes voice, unlimited text and unlimited data for one price. I live in an area that Sprint doesn’t officially cover, but I get outstanding cell service here – better than what my friends get with their Alltel cum Verizon phones. I’ve even since learned that the Everything Data plan also covers the RIM fees for the Blackberry. This sounds like a better deal than what either AT&T or Verizon can offer.
Now see, we never even thought of Sprint. I don’t know what a RIM fee is, BTW. What is that?
I was just talking to Verizon last night b/c it is time to update my phone. I was interested in trading up to the LG touch screen w/keyboard. The Verizon rep informed me that I could get the phone but I would also have to purchase the data (forgot the exact name) package too. She also informed me that I would have to purchase it for each phone user on our plan regardless if they accessed the internet or not. That is an additional $50 to our plan for 5 people. Needless to say I decided to wait on updating my phone and have decided to shop around and see what is available before I commit to another $50 a month going out of my pocket.
BTW she said that all Verizon users would be charged the additional $10 per phone and that they sent out a notice to all their customers. It was news to me!
That’s news to me too, Michelle. They failed to mention it Sunday when they were trying to make us a better deal.
Adding to my twitter comment I have a bb at work and it is nothing compared to my iPhone. Would love to not need it.
Jim, everyone with an iPhone says that same thing.
I do not have a phone. I occasionally borrow my daughter’s phone, because she can live without it. (Yes! a sixteen year old who doesn’t text constantly, with a mother who can live without a cell phone, shocking). I do need a phone and I’m not really skilled with texting, so anything that makes it all easier would be great for me. I’m starting to think I need a phone. Though, I still don’t want one.
I would love to have an iPhone, but I don’t need it. So, I’ll just keep my old phone with Verizon service for awhile.
OT: Sherri, I forgot to tell you that I LOVE the book cover! It’s wicked awesome.
I have one of the old motorola flip phones and am on Verizon, but my plan is up in 5 days. I’ve been lusting after the Iphone ever since Barbara Vey let me play with hers at breakfast one day. I text a lot since its the only way my kids easily answer me, including the one in the next room,lol! My husband and daughter have Palm treos and love them. I’ve looked at the droid, and it’s “close but no cigar” to the Iphone. I may hold out a little longer since I can’t decide, but right now I’m leaning toward a Palm or a Blackberry Curve (free on plan). Be sure to let us know what you decide and if you like it.
I wondered about the Palm treos, Debbie. That’s good to know.
I switched from the BB Curve to the iPhone and, yes, I paid to cancel the Tmobile contract because I was So.Freaking.Frustrated with emails getting erased. Am glad I did. And, hey, I helped the economy, too!