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LockedNeed a smart phone

posted on February 02, 2009 at 04:06PM Inappropriate?

I need to buy my wife a smart phone that can handle:

Cell phone

Calendar

Email/text

Some internet

I'm looking for 80% of iPhone functionality at half the price.

 Any ideas?

replies: 11 latest post: April 25, 2009 at 02:35AM by GenJones32
Displaying all 11 posts
posted on March 09, 2009 at 08:40AM
 
The answer might vary depending on your carrier... but I've had friends who have loved the Samsung Blackjack and the entry level Blackberry (Curve for AT&T) and it basically does exactly what you outlined.

I actually have both a iPhone (personal) and a Blackberry (for work). The for heavy emailing, the iPhone is suboptimal... but for everything else, it is as great as reported. One of the best internet devices out there, and the Apps are really cool/actually useful.

Happy Hunting.
posted on March 10, 2009 at 10:00AM
 
ok thx
posted on March 26, 2009 at 02:00PM
 
In response to rwsmith96's post from March 10 2009 10:00AM
Not sure this will help because I know you are trying to avoid the Iphone, but it really is the best out there, and I think justifies it's price. I also have both an Iphone and a Blackberry, and the blackberry feels like it's from 1995 with how lacking in features and functionality it is compared to the Iphone. I would even disagree with Ahin and say the Iphone is superior to the BB for heavy emailing. I can type really really fast on the iphone (you will be able to too once you get used to it) and the iphone actually accepts HTML emails. The biggest annoyance of the BB is that the emails are all plain text. Links are all spelled out, you can't look at pictures in the body of an email, drives me nuts. That being said, the BB has the iphone beat on:
-Ability to be able to copy and paste text (apparently will be released in next iphone update)
-Much better battery life.

I would pay 2x the amount for an iphone over a blackberry.
posted on March 31, 2009 at 05:50PM
 
Good points.... but which BB do  you have? The older ones are brutal, but the new ones do a lot of what you're asking for.

Since my original post, I've been working on typing faster on the iPhone. For me, it's just not nearly as fast (if you make a baseline assumption about needed level of input accuracy)...  
posted on March 31, 2009 at 11:26PM
 
I've owned a curve and an iPhone.  I have to agree, the iPhone is worth every penny.    Have you tried BestBuy?  If you belong to one of their RewardZone programs you can get a discount on an iPhone. 

Also - check the AT&T site frequently.  They often have refurbished iPhones at discounted prices that are good quality.  A friend of mine scored an 8gb for $99 this way.

--
Disclaimer:  I am an employee of Sears Holdings Corporation.
posted on April 01, 2009 at 09:40AM
 
In response to SHC-Ahin's post from March 31 2009 05:50PM
I have the BB 8830 World Edition on Verizon. Not a fan.

I probably only hit about 50% of the keys correctly on my iphone but the integrated word correction fixes about all of it. The more you type on it, it seems to "train" the word correction dictionary. So for example, if I type "maief" it has learned to correct it to "Maier."
posted on April 03, 2009 at 10:06AM
 
Yes the iphone 3.0 will have the copy/paste capabilities as well as Multimedia messaging.
posted on April 03, 2009 at 10:06AM
 
Yes the iphone 3.0 will have the copy/paste capabilities as well as Multimedia messaging.
posted on April 05, 2009 at 03:24PM
 

I love my iPhone and would recommend it over anything else. But I've heard good things about HTC and RIM/Blackberry products too.

posted on April 12, 2009 at 07:43PM
 

I'm a Blackjack II owner, and now my wife is, too. It does exactly what you asked, and is really easy to use.

posted on April 25, 2009 at 02:35AM
 

Its really hard to give you a great opinion without knowing what carrier you are with. Since everyone wants to have their own exclusive phones I could end up recommending something that you do not even have access to, and I would never suggest switching carries for a phone.

If you are looking for the cheapest but best Smartphone for the money, to give to someone who has not used one. First I would say the Palm Centro, you have all the basic features you're asking for, calendar, email, internet, texting, music, 3G network, etc. Its also found with most carriers for about $80 (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T) The problem is Palm will soon be ditching the Palm OS for the new Web OS once the new Palm Pre is released.

The iPhone is the best smartphone on the market and will only get better with v. 3.0 and the followed by the HTC Pro and Blackberry. Though the Palm Pre is the phone on the horizon to watch. Can't wait to get one of those. :)

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