Good verizon phones

[rjohnstone]

I originally signed up with Cingular through Letstalk.com.
My rebate was instant.
Great deals to be had on there.
I wanted an iPhone though, so they were of no use to me.

[CharvelRocker]

Those Chocolate are awful... I got one and sent it back. First off you need all this crap to put music on it, it has like no built in storage for music, and you need Vcast for it to work with Music. The touch buttons are either too sensitive or too don't want to work. I have smaller fingers and had issues just hitting the right one. I would skip it for sure.

[emperor_black]

Other than the voyager...any recommendations?

The most important reason I'm changing carriers is because of service. I found this cool website which tells what works well near your area and according to it, verizon got 5 out of 5 near my house.

http://www.cellreception.com/

EDIT: ok, no chocolate then.

[emperor_black]

Any users of the Motorola W385? CNET reviews of the phone seem to be nothing less than spectacular.

[toejam]

Here's a good forum for all things related to cell phones...
http://www.howardforums.com/index.php

[toejam]

I have been with At&T for about 4 years now. But I feel that ever since cingular became at&t again, the quality of service has gone down. When AT&T became cigular, their service was awesome. Now, the phone does not work in my apartment, office...even my brother feels the same. But he's stuck in a contract. mine ended and I want freedom.

I think certain phones don't get as good reception in certain areas as others, but I've not heard about the service quality going down with the switch between AT&T and Cingular. Strange.

[thetroy]

I have got my phones from Amazon

[emperor_black]

I think certain phones don't get as good reception in certain areas as others, but I've not heard about the service quality going down with the switch between AT&T and Cingular. Strange.

Yes it did. I've had the same nokia phone for the past two years. I got the phone when at&t had become cingular. I am in the same workplace and living approx two blocks from the apartment that I was living a year ago. Now in both places my phone doesnt work. Its not even fewer bars. The phone is dead in my cubicle. period. If I try to place a call, it says "Network not found".

the phone is great...battery is great...I charge once a week. that's it. I use the phone as my alarm clock every night cause I dont want to wake the baby up. verizon's choice of Nokia phones seem to be sub-par when compared to other brands...

[~K~]

My wife and I have Env's .They are built well and we like thefull keyboard function. 2 megapixel camera. mini SD slot, bluetooth etc...

Not long ago she dropped hers near the mailbox and the mail carrier drove over it. The phone still worked fine but the LCD was cracked so they replaced it. The thing is built like a brick imo ..

[10secondLX]

Here's a good forum for all things related to cell phones...
http://www.howardforums.com/index.php

Another good site for cell phone info is www.phonescoop.com.

[rjohnstone]

Yes it did. I've had the same nokia phone for the past two years. I got the phone when at&t had become cingular. I am in the same workplace and living approx two blocks from the apartment that I was living a year ago. Now in both places my phone doesnt work. Its not even fewer bars. The phone is dead in my cubicle. period. If I try to place a call, it says "Network not found".

the phone is great...battery is great...I charge once a week. that's it. I use the phone as my alarm clock every night cause I dont want to wake the baby up. verizon's choice of Nokia phones seem to be sub-par when compared to other brands...

Did this Nokia have a SIM card?
When Cingular bought AT&T, AT&T was still using TDMA phones, not GSM phones.
They killed off TDMA over time. All AT&T has been doing is adding capacity and leasing it from other carriers until they got their own towers up.

[toejam]

Did this Nokia have a SIM card?
When Cingular bought AT&T, AT&T was still using TDMA phones, not GSM phones.
They killed off TDMA over time. All AT&T has been doing is adding capacity and leasing it from other carriers until they got their own towers up.

That's a good point if it had a SIM card. It might need to have an upgraded card from 32k to 64k or 3G.

[emperor_black]

Did this Nokia have a SIM card?
When Cingular bought AT&T, AT&T was still using TDMA phones, not GSM phones.
They killed off TDMA over time. All AT&T has been doing is adding capacity and leasing it from other carriers until they got their own towers up.

My phone has a SIM card. Yeah, I remember the TDMA phones. my room-mate used to have one. he could not wait to change to cingular. :ROTF:

[LouSiffer]

I will give you the skinny on the phones:

LG VX10000 aka Voyager: Great phone. Seems to be reliable and call quality is great. It is everything the i-phone wishes it was. You would be wise to get an extended battery as it is a little bit of a pig for power.

LG VX9900 aka enV: Another fantastic phone and the one I have had for the last year and a half. Recomend the extended battery for this as well unless you get a spare wall charger to keep at work. I don't talk much ( about 250-300 mintes a month ) , but, I do use the web a bit. I seem to have to charge the phone every 2-3 days with the normal battery and about 5-7 days with the extended.

LG VX8800 aka Venus: Doesnt seem like any issues yet, but, basically it functions like a chocolate with a different input method ( touch screen ).

LG Chocolates: Stay away from these.

LG VX8700*: A solid thin form factor. Good calls and looks.

LG VX8350: The replacement to the 8300, which in my opinion, for call quality and battery life, was the best damn phone released on anyone's network at anytime. The 8350 seems to follow the 8300's footsteps.

Samsung Juke: This is not a bad little phone for people that want a compact music phone. My wife has one and you need nothing. 2 GB onboard memory, comes with the data cable. Call quality is good. Battery life is average.

Motorola 385: Motorolas are generally junk, this one is the exception. Not too many bells and whistles, but, seems to be a solid caller.

Motorola RAZR V3M/KRAZR*: Essentially the same phone with nearly identical software. Battery life is not that great. When the RAZR first hit, it was a little buggy, but, within a couple months, Moto got the kinks out.

Motorola RAZR V9M*: This is a phone that is all around decent and you can feel the quality of the build. However, for the cost of this device, for a few bucks more, you can get into a PDA.

PDA/Smartphones-

Treo: Doesn't matter which one......they are all turds.

Samsung i760: If you want a smart phone with Windows, this is THE one to get. Solid, reliable. Comes with the standard AND extended batteries.

Blackberry 8830: This is my choice if you want a reliable workhorse and do not need Windows.

Blackberry 8130 aka Pearl: Seems to be a good phone that is geared for the consumer/business customer. I don't care for the siamesed keypad though.

* When it comes to thin form factors, the battery life is generally shorter. It really has nothing much to do with the battery as much as the form factor that causes this. The smaller devices have a tendency to run hotter and this is the reason the batteries need charged more frequently. The phone can not decipitate the heat as well.


I-phone history: Apple went to Verizon first with the phone. The device had so many short comings and Apple wanted to price it in a manner that you just about buy a laptop for the same price. Verizon made requests that Apple would not change ( removeable battery, high speed, better pricing, etc). Verizon foreseen the problems this phone would incur and sent Apple packing.

The i-phone is nothing more than good marketing on Jobs behalf. If this device were branded with any other name and manufacturer, it would have been a flop. The device is not a bad device, but, it just doesnt live up to the price people are paying for it when there are other devices that do so much more for the same money. The only thing that people make a big issue about is the "pinch" screen. If I walk in a room, whether I flip a switch or move slider to turn on the lights, I don't care as long as they come on.

Overall, Verizon has better coverage and quality than any other provider. Overall is the key word. There are places where AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile, etc all have better coverage than the others. Thats just the nature of the beast. Not one carrier is the best for everyone. Try them all out in your area. -Lou

[emperor_black]

Wow Lou. Thanks! So, the Motorola 385 gets the from you? We plan to check that one out this weekend.