cell phone contract is up and i need a new phone

Gotcha Force

Alright im very tired of my w600i which has fallen apart at the swivel hinge making it a huge pain in the ass to use, and the things bulky and heavy as hell, and the num pad is absolute shit on the thing.

Im in california and AT&T and verizon are the only really good carriers in my area... so i want one of their phones.

After the contract rebate i definitely dont want to spend more than $100 on the phone, not even $1 above it. I have an ipod touch for mp3 player ability and use my phone for rare instances of calling and thats it so i dont need some PDA blackberry nokia N95085101 weather tracking device, i just need something small thats reliable.

The w600i was a real piece of bulky shit so i want something thats thin and small so it doesnt bulge out of my pocket constantly. cingular are also a bunch of scamming bastards who had a button that connected you to the internet (charging you up the ass) on the front of the phone if it accidentally unlocked (which happened a LOT), so it seems this time i want to get a flip phone so that shit doesnt happen.

ive been looking at the Z750 since it seems to have a lot of hype surrounding it and it just recently came out and is $50 after rebate... is this a good choice? i like sony ericsson phones (well my t610 candybar phone was absolutely awesome) i just hate the w600i.

i would probably get the w810i but of course for some reason it is now discontinued and the only candybar type phone is the w580i slider... which makes no fucking sense and boggles the mind.

Nitz3r

Hey,

I have the w810i and while it is a sexy phone it's probably not what you're looking for. As I said it's a sexy phone but it's back full of a shit ton of features that most people don't need, especially if you just want it to send/receive calls and SMS/MMS.

One issue with going with a Verizon phone is that they use CDMA instead of GSM. While it's more secure you lose the advantage of being able to swap phones on the fly by swapping the SIM card. They also tend to have less options available for handsets and they cripple basic features like MP3 ringtones, etc.

If you were to go with them I'd recommend the Moto RAZR V3m. It's thin, has all the basic features, is only $9.99 on a two year contract (sweet) and if you've used a Moto phone before you'll have no troubles adapting. Also it uses iTap which kicks T9's ass.

If you were to go with Verizon you're going to be shooting yourself in the foot for roaming. While it works well in Canada because of Telus, Bell and Aliant; you will have very limited coverage in Mexico and almost nothing in Europe/Asia/Australia, except for China and other scattered countries.

Going with AT&T you have access to pretty much any GSM handset available so you have no worries there. You also have the advantage of being able to swap out for a local SIM card (if that handset is unlocked) when travelling so you can use a local SIM with a local number to elminate roaming charges.

As handsets go I'd recommend LG CU515. It's a very nice, thin and feature packed handset. You can get it for $90 on a two year contract and it has a rebate right now for $50 off. You can also get the Moto RAZR V3 through AT&T as well... I'll be honest and say I hate Moto phones but since they're so popular there's a lot you can do with them. Moto Phone Tools is an awesome application.

To sum it up: CDMA or GSM? I support CDMA as my job but I use GSM personally. I suggest you call both providers and see who will you give you the best deal. Because of WNP (wireless number portability) cell phone providers can give you hundreds of dollars worth of features to you if you agree to sign a contract. Also, try making a couple calls during different times of the day to see how long it takes to get through to their client care/technical support. If it takes 30 mins each time then you probably don't want that company as your provider.

Good luck!

*the "hundreds of dollars worth of features" part is if you're a high income/high value client with your current provider. If you're paying your current provider $150/month most companies will offer you the same for $120 or the same price with more features. It doesn't cost them anything to give you vioce mail/caller ID for free and it makes them look good.

Gotcha Force

yeah the gimping of the phones by verizon makes ATT my preferred carrier, verizon seems to have better coverage but i think i would rather have ATT. Even for a minor thing like the pain in the ass mp3 ringtones is a sort of a deal breaker for verizon

The LG CU515 looks interesting, pretty thin. Im going to the ATT store tomorrow to check out the phones they have and get my hands on some and see the sizes and stuff...

From what little ive used of motorola it seems like im using a phone thats 5 years behind sony ericsson and samsung all the time, everything seems super out dated. So i share the same hate you do for motorola, they have slick looking phones but they have done nothing to impress me.

edit: The W580i is also a good candidate but it seems a boatload of people already have the things, and its going for $100 refurb from ATT or something, yet with a plan its $50 new or some horse shit. Just seems like a waste for me to extend my plan 2 years on a a very "pay as you go" type phone (which it is). I guess theres the Samsung A737 slider phone which is around the same price but it seems like the w580i is overall a better looking, performing,and featured phone.. damn

Nitz3r

You'll probably want to stay away from slider phones. From my experience they tend do break much more frequently than a flip phone or candybar style phone. Too many moving parts. Plus they have those crappy touch sensitive front buttons that are always frustrating. The LG Chocolate Spin (8550 I think) did pretty good as a slider and the Sony Ericssons are always top quailty but it's still like being the best of the worst.

Regardless of whatever you choose, make sure you speak with their "Loyalty" or "Retention" team and get as many free features as you can.