Topic: Verizon phones

[Shaymin]

You could probably rig something up with Bluetooth.

[Stogi]

Bluetooth would be too slow for what I'm thinking of doing.

[Adrock]

Has anyone ever used webOS? If so, how is it? I've heard nothing but great things. The HP Pre 3 is on my short list of phones I'm thinking of getting when I switch to Verizon later this year. HP hasn't announced any carriers, but AT&T and Verizon are front-runners. I believe the HP Veer was just announced for AT&T.

The other phones on my list are the Blackberry Bold 9930 (definitely coming to Verizon since its a CMDA phone) and the Motorola Droid 3. Right now, the Pre 3 is the frontrunner. RIM's Jesus phone with a QNX based OS isn't coming until probably late 2012 at the earliest. I don't feel like waiting so I'm getting a new phone for the interim. Yes, all of these phones have a physical keyboard. I just can't get the hang of touchscreen keyboards.

[BranDonk Kong]

Not a fan of WebOS. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, but it will never, ever, catch up to Android or even Windows Phone now. Taking time off was probably the worst thing HP could have done when they bought Palm. The Pre and the Pixi were pretty nice, but what has there been in between? It's just too late. BlackBerry waited too long to go for mainstream appeal too. Every BlackBerry product until the PlayBook was catered to businessmen (even the "hip" phones like the Storm and the Tour) and people who don't want to actually do anything cool with their phone, other than try to look cool (ever taken a look at the available BlackBerry apps? They're horse ****.). It's just over. Nothing will ever surpass Android.

[Adrock]

Every BlackBerry product until the PlayBook was catered to businessmen (even the "hip" phones like the Storm and the Tour) and people who don't want to actually do anything cool with their phone, other than try to look cool (ever taken a look at the available BlackBerry apps? They're horse ****.). It's just over. Nothing will ever surpass Android.

Lulz. Blackberry App World is pretty pathetic, but honestly, it suits my needs. I don't own a smartphone because I need to do anything cool with it or even look cool. Blackberry got off the hip train something like 4 years ago. I got a Blackberry because its physical keyboard is literally unrivaled. I've messed around with a number of different phones and the Bold keyboard rapes and murders all other mobile keyboards in its path, even the Curve's. It does what I need it to do. Honestly, I have like 4 apps, all of them are free: Google apps, Facebook, NBA Gametime Lite (which stopped working for some reason and I only need for like 8 months anyway), and Text From Last Night (for lulz purposes). Besides the basic functions of a cell phone like texting and that thing where people dial a predetermined set of numbers and speak to another person (and who really uses it for that anymore...), I'd like to browse the web and watch youtube videos (again, for lulz purposes).

I'm currently on Blackberry OS5. Apparently, OS6 is better (it does have the Torch Mobile browser which blows the old browser away) and OS7 is supposedly just an extension of 6. I'm probably the only person who's excited for the Pre 3 and I'm only considering it because RIM is taking its dandy ol' time with the QNX OS which steals borrows a lot from webOS anyway.

You're right though. It's basically a 2 horse race in the mobile OS market between Android and iOS, especially in terms of apps. Everyone else is vying for a distant 3rd. I think RIM takes that one and not because I own a Blackberry or have some special attachment to Blackberry phones. Between RIM, MS, and HP/Palm, RIM is the only one with a following. They've made some great moves to prepare for the future like acquiring Torch Mobile, The Astonishing Tribe, and QNX, but they'll always be 3rd at best because they're ridic slow at rolling out changes (how/why did it take them 3 years after the iPhone to get a WebKit browser?) and they focus too hard on their own fanbase.

[BranDonk Kong]

Yeah the new BB OS looks like a total ripoff of the last WebOS. When I saw the PlayBook commercial I was wondering why there was this new Palm tablet, then I saw it was BB. Half the people that use BlackBerrys have no idea how to even use them. Some lady brought one into our store and was trying to figure our how to send picture messages, I gave up after like 10 minutes because it was the most retarded, ass-backwards process I had ever seen on a phone.

[Ceric]

My wife got a webOS phone this time, I've personally had iOS and I currently have Phone7.  If you are looking for a phone that is a pretty tight complete package and are willing to go through the slight learning curve it is a solid phone OS.  I like a lot of what they do in it.  If Phone7 doesn't get some QoL upgrades by the time my contract is up and webOS is still viable I probably go that direction.

[Stogi]

I agree with Brandogg. Nothing can beat Andriod. There's a whole community making even the worst android phones into something spectacular.

I just recently picked up the Atrix 4g and it's amazing how terrible Motorola's proprietary UI is compared to a custom rom that some guy made. I mean the difference is night and day.

I haven't used WebOS, but simply because you are stuck with it, no matter how polished it is, it's automatically worse.

[Ceric]

I agree with Brandogg. Nothing can beat Andriod. There's a whole community making even the worst android phones into something spectacular.

I just recently picked up the Atrix 4g and it's amazing how terrible Motorola's proprietary UI is compared to a custom rom that some guy made. I mean the difference is night and day.

I haven't used WebOS, but simply because you are stuck with it, no matter how polished it is, it's automatically worse.

I personally find that as a weakness more than a strength.  For my phone I really don't want to fiddle with it much.  Part of the reason I like Console gaming more in general because of how complicated PC gaming can get.  All the none game stuff that can get in the way and things randomly going boom.  Its a lot of power being able to change thing but that makes it a lot of ways to shoot yourself in the foot as well.

[Stogi]

I guess it's personal preference, like always. I see it as freedom, you see it as complicated.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Verizon just offered me a REALLY early upgrade to a 4G phone. I'm not due for an upgrade till 1 year from earlier this week (5/22/12). I turned it down for now even though my DroidX gives me issues, n favor of waiting to see what the next batch of 4G phones are. Was that a good call on my part?

Any word on whats coming up for Verizon in the Android phone market?

[Stogi]

The sickest phone on the European market, the Samsung Galaxy S2, is suppose to make it over to the states this summer. It's suppose to be on all the major carriers as well. So yeah, I think you made the right choice.

[BranDonk Kong]

I think the Droid Bionic has been cancelled. Droid X 2 just came out, it's awesome in every way except no 4G. I'm almost considering trading my Thunderbolt for one since there's still no 4G in this area anyway. Only other bad thing (and ti's not that bad) is the DX2 doesn't have a front facing camera. I'd be giving up the only phone on Verizon that can do talk and internet at the same time though...on second thought, I think I'll keep it. Droid Charge (Samsung Stealth) is out now, I've seen mixed reactions to it. Other than that the LG Revolution is coming soon, the Sony Ericcson Xperia Play should be out in a couple weeks on Verizon. The Droid 3 will be out later this year (probably sooner than later), and for all the iPhone lovers, the iPhone 4S (that's right, 4S, there will be no iPhone 5 this year) will be out and it should work on just about any carrier, though it will probably only be sold through Verizon and T-Mobile (or directly through Apple). The Galaxy S2 is awesome, but to be honest it looks exactly like an iPhone, and that kind of disappoints me. If you really want a good Android fix, you might want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or 8.9 when they are available soon, seem to be the cream of the crop as far as tablets are concerned.

[Stogi]

GS2 looks like the iphone? I don't see it.

I'm most excited by it cuz not only does it come with Honeycomb stocked but it has Wifi-Direct and NFC. I want to make an app for both so that's the phone to have.

[BlackNMild2k1]

GSII vs iPhone was similar enough that Apple named it specifically in the lawsuit against Samsung.

They aren't identical, but I'm not sure how you can say you don't see the similarities.



But then is it possible to not be similar taking a standard rectangle shape with a large screen, minimal bezel on the side, speaker at the top and a single button on the bottom?
I think it's highly unlikely to mistake one for the other if you can actually see them, and I also don't think any "similarities" are simply because of limited design choices of a already set standard. Next Apple will be suing other laptop makers for making laptops that look similar to the MacBook.

[NWR_insanolord]

That is really similar. Except for the back of it, which is pretty clunky.

[Stogi]

Aesthetically, sure. They do look like one another. Feature wise, they couldn't be more different.

[Stratos]

My old Razor (Razr?) went out and I had to switch to a backup Razr that won't charge the battery. But I CAN charge batteries with the broken one so I'm using the bad one as a charger and swapping batteries in the good one. Doubt this will last long considering the older Razor is falling apart so I took it as a last chance sign to upgrade before they both go out completely. I ordered a free Motorola Bravo through AT&T which appears to get good ratings as a medium level smart phone. It has Android and can be rooted so I might start dabbling in that stuff.

Any thoughts? Did I make a good choice? I don't have the money to dump $100 on a new phone yet (which I had hoped to do later this year) so I don't have much of a choice now.

How does the Android market work? Can I transfer apps from this phone to a new one down the road or do I have to re-buy stuff?

I'm with ATT because the service it good in my area and I get a nice 23% discount through my job.

[BranDonk Kong]

Apps bought through the market should transfer over with your Gmail account. The Bravo isn't anything to write home about, but it's still better than any Android phone on Metro, or the Motorola Citrus. My advice - before you even start to use that phone, root it and flash a custom ROM like this one, it should be a huge improvement over the stock software. There might be other custom ROMs, but this came out earlier this month and is apparently the very first one, so maybe there aren't any others. Can't be bothered to check.

[nickmitch]

My old Razor (Razr?) went out and I had to switch to a backup Razr that won't charge the battery. But I CAN charge batteries with the broken one so I'm using the bad one as a charger and swapping batteries in the good one. Doubt this will last long considering the older Razor is falling apart so I took it as a last chance sign to upgrade before they both go out completely. I ordered a free Motorola Bravo through AT&T which appears to get good ratings as a medium level smart phone. It has Android and can be rooted so I might start dabbling in that stuff.

Any thoughts? Did I make a good choice? I don't have the money to dump $100 on a new phone yet (which I had hoped to do later this year) so I don't have much of a choice now.

How does the Android market work? Can I transfer apps from this phone to a new one down the road or do I have to re-buy stuff?

I'm with ATT because the service it good in my area and I get a nice 23% discount through my job.

Engadget recently posted what they think are the best phones for each carrier.

[BranDonk Kong]

That list sucks. First, the iPhone 4 is not the best phone on AT&T, and if they think it is, then why don't they rank it as the best phone on Verizon as well? The Atrix is the most powerful phone on AT&T, still even more powerful than anything on Verizon, yet they rank the iPhone 4 higher on AT&T, and rank the Droid Charge highest on Verizon. It simply doesn't make any sense. The only list they have that makes sense is T-Mobile's, since the G2X is basically the best phone on the market, at least in the US. Kind of retarded that they even put any Windows Phone 7 devices on the list (and 2 on AT&T's), since WP7 holds less than 5% of the market.

[NWR_insanolord]

That list sucks. First, the iPhone 4 is not the best phone on AT&T, and if they think it is, then why don't they rank it as the best phone on Verizon as well? The Atrix is the most powerful phone on AT&T, still even more powerful than anything on Verizon, yet they rank the iPhone 4 higher on AT&T, and rank the Droid Charge highest on Verizon. It simply doesn't make any sense.

You're very biased against Apple, and could never admit that Apple made the best phone even if they did. Also, power isn't everything. Just because it's more powerful doesn't make it the best.

Anyway, a list like that is stupid, because which phone is best depends on what you're looking for. No phone is best for everyone.

[Adrock]

No phone is best for everyone.

That's not true at all.

[BlackNMild2k1]

....

I'm sorry, was it a list of what phone is most powerful, most popular or "best"?

[Stratos]

Apps bought through the market should transfer over with your Gmail account. The Bravo isn't anything to write home about, but it's still better than any Android phone on Metro, or the Motorola Citrus. My advice - before you even start to use that phone, root it and flash a custom ROM like this one, it should be a huge improvement over the stock software. There might be other custom ROMs, but this came out earlier this month and is apparently the very first one, so maybe there aren't any others. Can't be bothered to check.

Got any links to a good tutorial for rooting and flashing a phone in general. Since this will be my first time I want to do it right and not brick my phone.