The battle of the Droids??!

[Gideon]

Originally Posted by tomato

Thanks Gideon !
You're gonna like it!!! Quite a bit different from the BB collection you have ;)

Very true, although keep in mind those were my work phones specifically, I carry two phones on me so the others are normally my work/play phones. I've had more phones than fingers. (My WinMo phones I've used. )

[tomato]

holy cow that's a lot of phones. ^ So I take it Sprint works for you?

I had Sprint years ago, wasn't that great back then but it looks like the network is considerably better these days (according to Root Wireless, Beta)

[Kioshi]

I voted for HTC Evo/Incredible....the 8 mp attracts me, but VZW plans won't :(
Sprint charges an arm and a leg to buy the phone, but cheaper monthly plans than AT&T and VZW....

I am in the market for a phone, but more along the lines of a Motorola Droid type phone. I'd like a 8 megapixel camera w/ that kind of styling...I have a flip phone w/ 5.1 mp...can't downgrade to photo quality and i hate carrying digi cameras...pockets look FAT.

[Gideon]

That's just a few, I'm rocking a Palm Pre right now, which I really like. (Build quality aside)

Sprint has worked very well for me. I travel a decent amount and haven't had any issues. With the exception of visiting relatives in the boonies in upstate NY near the Canadian border.

Customer Care was a different story although Sprint's customer care today is 100x better than what it used to be. No more 50 minute hold times, reps hanging up on you, etc.

[tomato]

I got the same impression with Sprint customer care when I tried to get the Hero 2 months ago. It's kind of a long story, but they pretty much refused to give me the plan I had found online at their own website on a technicality (I wanted a business plan and they said self-employment didn't qualify for a business plan, they said I had to be an employee of a corporation. Uh? That's weird, because the IRS and other entities have no problem with that, "dba's / sole proprietorships and small businesses " are businesses too, last I checked ) so anyway after arguing with them a while, then I decided not to get the phone at the moment.

The Sprint business plans are a little different, more flexible (or were, at the time) you could start w/ a 200 minutes voice plan if you wanted whereas the consumer plans start with a 450 minute voice plan, mandatory). I only use an 60 minutes voice per month on average, and that's when I try real hard to use my phone.

I've learned my lesson, though, next time, I won't even bother going into the store, except for trying out the phones. I'll just do everything online and hope for the best

That's part of the appeal of the N1 for me. You get the phone on your own, then you shop for the best possible plan you can get and NO CONTRACT. I think when the N1 comes to Verizon and Sprint, that will force more flexibility w/ the plans. That's also part of the reason I'm still waiting even though I started this process 2 months ago already. I don't want to be stuck with a 2 y contract with any given company, if I can find a better rate and no contract, and everybody knew that the N1 was coming to the other carriers in the Spring.

sorry for the long winded post. I just never had any luck with Sprint

[Gideon]

IIRC when I looked into business plans all they require is a business tax ID number.

[tomato]

Kioshi, be sure the quality of the photo is good. The number of MP alone doesn't necessarily equate to good quality photos, and there are other things like shutter speed, on board editing functions, etc.

Still, I can't wait to see the initial reviews for this phone. Hope it won't be too much longer now.

[tomato]

Originally Posted by Gideon

IIRC when I looked into business plans all they require is a business tax ID number.

Yeah, but when you file your tax return your business tax ID number is your SS number if you're self-employed.

[Gideon]

Right, what I meant is they only consider businesses with tax ID #s as businesses eligible for those plans.

Not that I would consider that a problem, since all Sprint's plans are cheaper than Verizon's AND they have some crazy discounts. Like 10% for just being a credit union member, lol.

[tomato]

BTW, I'm not saying I wont get a Sprint phone, what I'm saying is if I find an equivalent phone with a better plan attached, I'll go to the better plan (if the coverage is adequate in my area).

[tomato]

Originally Posted by Gideon

Right, what I meant is they only consider businesses with tax ID #s as businesses eligible for those plans.

Not that I would consider that a problem, since all Sprint's plans are cheaper than Verizon's AND they have some crazy discounts. Like 10% for just being a credit union member, lol.

10% is that on the phone, or on the plan? I didn't know that. Can you link?

I hear what you're saying but shouldn't these plans just say specifically "these plans are offered if you qualify for ...... and .... and ..." instead of just saying "business plans"?

[eTiMaGo]

To throw some more oil in the fire, I had to chance to play around with a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, their own Android superphone.... Snapdragon CPU, very sexy styling, gorgeous, huge screen, and some pretty swanky custom interface improvements.... But I am not sure that it is available in the US... And, it's running on the older Android 1.6, with an upgrade to 2.1 coming "soon"...

[tomato]

^ it is, it is *sigh*

http://www.phonedog.com/2010/03/22/s...n-impressions/

At some point, I gotta narrow it down, though.

I'm not considering any phones attached to AT&T because the coverage is ***terrible*** in SF

that leaves Sprint, VZW, and T-Mobile. In my experience out here in the Bay Area,

- Sprint has good coverage in the Bay Area but still so-so customer service (although they're rumored to be working on it?) pretty good plans, especially if you talk on your phone a lot (I had Sprint for a few years)

- VZW has a rock-solid network, equally solid / extremely professional customer service, but the most expensive plans.

- T-Mo has so-so coverage, but *excellent* and I mean *excellent* customer sce. For each person who drops the ball in some way, there is 1000 others right behind them trying to make it right for you. And their plans are the best, most flexible (especially since they got the N1, they've come up with additional plans)

(this is just my opinion based on where I live).

[tomato]

Poor Moto Droid isn't getting any love in the polls, uh? ;)

[tomato]

Wow, Evo / Incredible clearly in the lead.

OK, I get the message ;)

Keep voting, though

[Kioshi]

The more i see Sprint commercials showing their $69.99 everything plan, the more i lean towards them when they come out with the hTC Evo or...HTC Pro 2.

A few of my coworkers have Sprint and have constant signals...on the other hand, AT&T gets a lot of dropped calls...dropped calls is soooo 4 years ago :)

tomato - yeah i usually go to Cnet or another mobile phone review site to look at photo quality before purchasing. I took a pic of a white Nissan GTR couple days ago while at a stop light, and man..do i love the quality on this phone :)

[tomato]

+ 1 on AT&T's dropped calls. I see it all the time. AT&T s...cks @ss in SF.

Sprint's network actually looks really good for us here locally according to Root Wireless's map.

If you go to Sprint, they'll give you freebies like NFL live, and Nascar with their unlimited data plan.
It's a good package. As long as you get a good phone and don't have to deal with them too much, it's probably the best bang for the bucks.

I get a really good deal with TMo but only because I have an old plan. They don't offer these plans anymore, so that's kind of an incentive for me to keep the account active. But their network is a bit spotty, although not where you live Kioshi (at least the 2 or 3 Google employees I saw in the commute with the N1 on Tmo told me they had no connectivity issues down in the South Bay)

I guess I"m just gonna have to wait and see what shakes down in the next couple of weeks!

[Gideon]

Originally Posted by tomato

10% is that on the phone, or on the plan? I didn't know that. Can you link?

I don't have a link from Sprint.com specifically, but here's one from a 3rd party dealer linky.

There's also an employee referral site at sprint.com/sero which has plans that start out at $59.99 for 500 minutes (for landlines since they have free mobile to mobile for ANY carrier) and everything else unlimited. So really it's $10 less than the comparable plan and you get 50 additional minutes. idk if they let you stack the credit union discount on top of that, but it's still a pretty good deal regardless. (Though it does require an employee email address and ID number to place an order, you can probably find one on google to use or PM me and I'll give you mine. )