Switching to Verizon - what phone should we get?

[left210]

We are switching to Verizon this week. Any recommendations on what phone we should get?

 

[mousermerf]

For now i'd say some sort of andriod. I have the enV touch and it sucks and has no apps.

 

[PAcpl]

That is a very open ended question. I have a Motorola Droid and think it is BY FAR the best phone I have ever owned. So I agree with the PP and say go with Android.

But it depends on what phone you are coming from, what kind of learning curve do you want, what are you necessities, etc.

You have 3 type of phones at Verizon:

Brew Phones - Your typical flip phone. Very easy to use and basic. But also very limited.

Blackberry - Very corporate type phone. Handles e-mail better then any other phone on the market. Very nice solid devices, but the apps can be limited and the browser experience is awful.

Android - My personal favorite! Tons of apps and more are coming out everyday. Very solid and open operating system. Very solid phones and accessories. Everything works seamlessly with Google.

If I was buying a phone right now I would go with the Droid X. The screen is very big, but the phone is so thin you hardly know it is in your pocket.

But with whatever you do decide I would stop in a store and check it out before you buy anything.

Good luck!!

PS - Here area couple of great forums to help you decide:

Droid Forums

Blackberry Forums

 

[Dancind]

I love my Droid. But it has some drawbacks. I've got the Motorola, the pricier one. My DD and I got two for one. If you aren't careful about moving your hand when you are on a call, it disconnects on you. And it has to be charged pretty often compared to my previous phone.

The biggest drawback, of course, is the extra $30 a month per phone for the data plan. PDA type phones have that too.

 

[Inigo]

We just switched from Env3s to Droids in our house, and love them. We've got 3 Droid Erises (not available now through verizon, but able to put on the plan) and one Motorola Droid (which is the expensive one.)

To save your battery, download the Advanced Task Killer Free, and use it to close apps that are sucking up battery power. I don't use the google apps, so I make sure those are closed. Also, you can turn the screen brightness down quite a bit without any noticeable difference. Mine is set at about 10-15% now, with auto adjust turned off, and I can't tell it's any much different than when it was set at full brightness.

Another thing I can do on my Eris is to have a widget on the main page that lets me turn off the network connection when I'm not using it. If I want to check my e-mail, get on the web, or go to the app marketplace, I can turn it on with one touch of my finger. The regular Droid doesn't come with this widget since it's specific to the HTC Eris. Maybe there's something in the marketplace to do the same thing, but I don't know.

Other things I do to save battery:
Turn off wi-fi unless I'm going to be using it.
Turn off bluetooth completely since I don't use it at all.

The first four days I had this phone, I didn't like it as much because the battery didn't last a full work day, even though I wasn't really doing anything at all with the phone other than a few short phone calls. Now that I've made these switches, the battery is lasting me at least four days, with me shutting the phone off when I'm in bed. And that includes me spending time surfing the Internet, checking my e-mail, and playing games while riding in the car on a two hour round trip drive.

 

[dejr_8]

I got an LG Ally last saturday and love. It has great user reviews (better than other low end droid phones). The biggest issue with it is battery life.

 

[golfgal]

I love my Droid. But it has some drawbacks. I've got the Motorola, the pricier one. My DD and I got two for one. If you aren't careful about moving your hand when you are on a call, it disconnects on you. And it has to be charged pretty often compared to my previous phone.

The biggest drawback, of course, is the extra $30 a month per phone for the data plan. PDA type phones have that too.

I am pretty sure there is a setting that you can make it so the screen is locked during a phone call so this doesn't happen.

I also have to say get a Droid. They are GREAT phones but like others have said, you have to have a data plan for $30/month. If you don't want to go that route DH and DS15 both have the Samsung Intensity. You don't need a data plan and it is a nice phone with a full slide out keyboard for texting. DH would never text on his old flip phone-would give the excuse that it was "stupid" . Since he got the full keyboard he texts all the time-it wasn't stupid, he just didn't know how .

 

[TomD]

Do not get a droid 1 since they have reached the end of life and only scheduled for 1 more update the 2.2 which should happen on the 6th. If the update doesn't come out I will root it

Droid 2 is coming out this month and the droid X is out.


I have the droid 1 and I too think it is the best phone I have ever owned but the battery life stinks.

J

 

[elgerber]

I have a Droid X and it is by far my favorite phone I have ever had! I had several Blackberries, including the Storm, and I wanted to love them all, but never did. This phone is fantastic. The Swype typing feature is amazing! It is VERY large though, which I can imagine might be an issue for some people. I almost didn't get it because of the size, but I am so glad I did.

 

[bonoriffic]

Do not get a droid 1 since they have reached the end of life and only scheduled for 1 more update the 2.2 which should happen on the 6th. If the update doesn't come out I will root it

Just root the phone. Once 2.2 is installed you may not be able to root the phone. Rooting is easy to do and upgrading to new SW is simple. You will more than likely be able to upgrade to the next SW after 2.2 if rooted, but if you allow Verizon to push 2.2 to you, you may be stuck there forever.

Worst case you go back to original 2.1 and get the official 2.2 update, but once rooted you won't ever want to go back.

 

[golfgal]

Just root the phone. Once 2.2 is installed you may not be able to root the phone. Rooting is easy to do and upgrading to new SW is simple. You will more than likely be able to upgrade to the next SW after 2.2 if rooted, but if you allow Verizon to push 2.2 to you, you may be stuck there forever.

Worst case you go back to original 2.1 and get the official 2.2 update, but once rooted you won't ever want to go back.

In English please

 

[dejr_8]

Just root the phone. Once 2.2 is installed you may not be able to root the phone. Rooting is easy to do and upgrading to new SW is simple. You will more than likely be able to upgrade to the next SW after 2.2 if rooted, but if you allow Verizon to push 2.2 to you, you may be stuck there forever.

Worst case you go back to original 2.1 and get the official 2.2 update, but once rooted you won't ever want to go back.

Rooting a phone nullifies your warranty.

 

[PAcpl]

Rooting a phone nullifies your warranty.

You can always un-root your phone if something were to happen. It's as easy as rooting your phone. Devs have come a long way.

 

[pigletgirl]

Hmmm, I'm going to be upgrading my phone next month (sept!) and so I will be watching this thread!

So, subbing!

 

[PAcpl]

Hmmm, I'm going to be upgrading my phone next month (sept!) and so I will be watching this thread!

So, subbing!

If your contract ends in September I would honestly try to wait until the fall/winter to upgrade. With the 4G (LTE) network coming out you are going to see a ton of new phones for the holidays this year, across all networks. And from the few rumors floating around the internet the phones look amazing.

 

[golfgal]

If your contract ends in September I would honestly try to wait until the fall/winter to upgrade. With the 4G (LTE) network coming out you are going to see a ton of new phones for the holidays this year, across all networks. And from the few rumors floating around the internet the phones look amazing.

STOP ALREADY!!! I have an upgrade on my plan and I was going to ditch my much hated Blackberry and get the Droid 2 but now there is a 4G network coming out so I should wait. Stop the train, it's moving too fast, can we just slow down the development for a bit so we can get used to the current stuff

Ok, so what is good about the 4G vs the 3G (faster I assume, anything else?).

This was my first cell phone:

And now you can get a Droid that births your children for you...

 

[PAcpl]

LOL, very funny. But very smart at least waiting for a Droid 2. The LTE network is going to be MUCH faster (about 10x the speed) then the current 3G network that we use. Which is fantastic, but like anything else with speed comes cost.

The $30 unlimited plan that people are talking about in this thread will most likely be replaced with tiered plans. So instead of paying $30 and having unlimited data, you will have packages to chose from. Each package would depend on how much data you want to use and how fast you want your data to download. AT&T is doing something similar now I believe.

There is a rumor floating around that an Android super phone is supposed to be released for Black Friday. It is supposed to be a 4G phone with a 2ghz processor and run Android 3.0 (Gingerbread). But that is all rumor right now, we will see where it goes.

As I said, the Droid 2 wouldn't be a bad choice at all. With the new keyboard layout and the snapdragon processor it will be a very solid device.

Good luck!

 

[tvguy]

This was my first cell phone:

And now you can get a Droid that births your children for you...

Ah, apparently you are a newcomer to cell phones.
My first phone...

My next likely will be a Jitterbug, because I am one of those freaks that only wants to make and receive phone calls.

 

[TomD]

Just root the phone. Once 2.2 is installed you may not be able to root the phone. Rooting is easy to do and upgrading to new SW is simple. You will more than likely be able to upgrade to the next SW after 2.2 if rooted, but if you allow Verizon to push 2.2 to you, you may be stuck there forever.

Worst case you go back to original 2.1 and get the official 2.2 update, but once rooted you won't ever want to go back.

rooted and running bugless beast. So far so good

 

[PAcpl]

rooted and running bugless beast. So far so good

GREAT ROM!! Patiently waiting for BB v0.5, I really want to see the backups app Peter released in action.

Right now I am running Ultimate Droid for the first time in a while and I have to say, I am very happy. I have been running it for a couple of weeks and it has been very fast and extremely stable.