Smart phone

[DFRESH]

Windows mobile is where it's at, if you're geek enough to use non-standard firmware/software... If you want an out of the container solution, I hate to admit it, but iphone will prolly do it for you, although I have a few bros that use the droid, and they swear it's awesome.... just sayin... if there's a chance to save you from switching to the dark side...

[USAF Pirate]

I have the droid, and love it. I had an iphone too, and loved it.

One thing I liked about the iphone was it was like having an Ipod with you everywhere you had your phone. My droid has a music player but right now I can't sync automatically with itunes, but I think there is an app or program that makes that happen. Instead I have to use this crappy program called Motorola Media Link, and it is not as instant as syncing an ipod with itunes.

The droid pros for me:

Open Source - More customization for the phone. There are apps that change the number of screens, customize the LED notification light, allow text message popups, change the contact list, change the text message appearance. The customization is limitless because google doesn't prevent application developers from changing key features.

Widgets - Cool little things that appear on your screen and display information without accessing a program. I have a calendar widget on the homescreen that syncs with google calendars automatically and shows me what I have going on. I have a weather app that tells the temperature and weather.

Pull out keyboard - makes writing texts easier for me, but iphone on screen keyboard isn't that horrible.

Free navigation - You can get the droid for around $199 with 2 yr contract and it is basically a GPS navigator in a box. I paid more than that for my Nuvi and it does the same thing, actually better because I can dictate directions to my phone to navigate (I haven't actually tried it since I don't have the car dock for the vehicle, but I know what it can do).

The iphone is a great phone, and I'd still probably be with AT&T if I didn't break it. But only because I didn't realize how great Verizon was for my area, and how great the Droid is. The small things make the difference to me and I'd choose droid over iphone again and again.

edit: three more pros

Voice Search (or text search): One of the few physical buttons on the phone is a search button. It searches your music/contacts/internet. It makes google searching easier on the phone. I press it, say what I want it to google, and it opens the browser and searches for it. It has a great ability to recognize speech and convert it to text.

Integration with google: The phones integration with google is a big plus for me. I have all my contacts online (@ www.google.com/contacts), and it syncs to my phone over the air. It syncs with my google calendar. It syncs my gmail.

Google Voice: It is a great service if you aren't familiar with it, check it out. You have to go to google and request an invitation for the service but they will eventually admit you. It does a lot of things, but it has free long distance calling. Iphones can get this service, but in order to make the free long distance call, you must: Go online to google and dial the phone number on the internet, it will call your phone and then connect you. There is an app for the droid that allows you to dial from your google number, which is something apple is not allowing at the moment.

Edited December 29, 2009 by USAF Pirate

[FlyingBull]

I also have a Droid and love it. It can do everything an iPhone can and then a little bit more. To me the biggest advantage is definitely the physical keyboard and the much better resolution of the screen. If you are considering a smartphone, then you need to check out the Droid.

[Gravedigger]

Google Voice: It is a great service if you aren't familiar with it, check it out. You have to go to google and request an invitation for the service but they will eventually admit you. It does a lot of things, but it has free long distance calling. Iphones can get this service, but in order to make the free long distance call, you must: Go online to google and dial the phone number on the internet, it will call your phone and then connect you. There is an app for the droid that allows you to dial from your google number, which is something apple is not allowing at the moment.

By the way, military folks can get priority invites to google voice by going here. Google voice is probably the coolest thing from google out there right now. For people that can't have their phones at work (my entire base), being able to send and receive calls, texts and voicemails at work is awesome! Military get invites within 24 hours, compared to about a month for civilians.

I highly recommend everyone checking it out.

[Guest AFJWest]

Just got the droid eris, and love it. Seems to do almost everything the Motorola droid does, save for a few options. On the plus side, it is a lot cheaper, not nearly as bulky, and the HTC systems are very intuitive. BeforeI bought it, every review I read sang its praises, and know I know why.

[Techsan]

Has anyone tried out this new phone from

?

The user interface is a little dated, but looks like an awesome phone!

[nsplayr]

Has anyone tried out this new phone from

?

The user interface is a little dated, but looks like an awesome phone!

I shit you not my dad had that exact phone way back in the day. I remember thinking it was so cool...

[M2]

Shit, those were da bomb back in the day!

My Dad's first cell phone had to be carried around in a brief case! This is more of what I remember our first cell phones as being like...

Speaking of which, the wife and kiddies got me a Sprint HTC Hero for Christmas. My old phone wasn't that far removed from the one in that video. Texting was like sending Morse Code. This new one is taking me a little while to figure it out, but I am beginning to like it!

One observation though...why do they still call them "phones" as that is such a small aspect of what they can do?

I figured someone would dream up some term like "Personal Communication Devices" of something like that. They probably have, I just haven't heard about it.

Cheers! M2

[M2]

The more I play with this new phone, the more I like it! I finally figured out how to load music on it, and I just found an application that allows me to turn a song into a ringtone! As such, incoming calls are signaled by Dick Dale's Misirlou...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9rg2uP_xXk

And when my oldest son calls, it's the latest from Alice in Chains...

(It's his favorite song at the moment, and I like it a lot as well! )

Wow, this 21st Century stuff is pretty cool!

Cheers! M2

[skinny]

Moving back to CONUS soon and I'm looking at what I should get once I get back. I've had horrible experience with ATT in the past so no iPhone for this guy. I've basically got it narrowed down to either the BB Storm2 or the Motorola Droid... leaning more towards the Droid. I've read the posts above regarding the Droid but I'm curious if you can tether it to a Mac, same for the BB. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks!

[Flare]

Moving back to CONUS soon and I'm looking at what I should get once I get back. I've had horrible experience with ATT in the past so no iPhone for this guy. I've basically got it narrowed down to either the BB Storm2 or the Motorola Droid... leaning more towards the Droid. I've read the posts above regarding the Droid but I'm curious if you can tether it to a Mac, same for the BB. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks!

Buy a iPhone while you're still overseas, then take it back to the US and get a sim card from the company of your choice (this will rule out Sprint). My iPhone from Italy works perfectly in the States.

[skinny]

Buy a iPhone while you're still overseas, then take it back to the US and get a sim card from the company of your choice (this will rule out Sprint). My iPhone from Italy works perfectly in the States.

To buy an iPhone outright isn't very cost effective just to avoid ATT. Had I got one when I first got here (mandatory 2 year contract with a copy of orders) that would have been the route I would have taken, However with 2 months left here, I can't justify forking over the roughly $600 for the iPhone.

[Texaco]

Thread Revival for iPhone 4!

I'm PCSing to the UK this fall and want to get the iPhone 4 for the wife and I. My plan was to get a family plan with AT&T after it's release this Thursday. I would then pause my plan when I move to England, switch out SIM cards and use it there. Then when I'm TDY back in the states or the wife travels home, un-pause my plan and re-insert the AT&T SIM card.

Problem: I'm pretty sure the U.S. version of the iPhone 4 is locked to AT&T only and it uses a Micro-SIM card. I would love to buy it for $199/iPhone here and just pause the plan; or will I be forced to buy the iPhone over in Europe?

The new features look sick, especially the Wi-Fi FaceTime video calling, so I could talk and see my wife, even while in BFE.

Please chime in if you're a tech-geek who knows how to unlock this shit!

Thanks,

-Cucci

[brabus]

I guarantee unlocking software will come out, you just have to be patient enough to wait. So, how long until you move to England?

[HerkFE]

I have a BB 8330 Curve and like it except that I'm on my third phone in less than a year and a half. My wife is in the process of trying to get a new one because her's is messed up. They're great when they work but are not very dependable IMO. I am thinking about going to the Droid as soon as I'm able. Does the Droid have a Droid-to-Droid messenging app like BB messenger? That's probably my favorite and most used feature of the BB and I may have to reassess if Droid doesn't have something similar.

[scoobs]

Which phones have sim cards? For the heavy drivers out there which company has the best international plan?

Edited June 23, 2010 by scoobs

[Texaco]

Well, I just got back from the Apple store and AT&T to ask my question. AT&T said they will pause my account for military and when I un-pause it, they will prorate the days I'm back in the states TDY/visiting.

They also said AT&T will not unlock your phone for you; you will have to do that on your own. If you choose to unlock your phone, you void the warranty, but you can always lock your phone again. O2, who operates in the UK, does have Micro-SIM cards for their service plans.

Does anyone recommend a particular software to unlock the iPhone? I know there's a lot of free shit online and some others you have to pay for.

Brabus, I won't be going over until October.

[Guest Crew Report]

Well, I just got back from the Apple store and AT&T to ask my question. AT&T said they will pause my account for military and when I un-pause it, they will prorate the days I'm back in the states TDY/visiting.

They also said AT&T will not unlock your phone for you; you will have to do that on your own. If you choose to unlock your phone, you void the warranty, but you can always lock your phone again. O2, who operates in the UK, does have Micro-SIM cards for their service plans.

Does anyone recommend a particular software to unlock the iPhone? I know there's a lot of free shit online and some others you have to pay for.

Brabus, I won't be going over until October.

Jailbreak = iPhone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailbreaking_for_iOS

[uhhello]

Well, I just got back from the Apple store and AT&T to ask my question. AT&T said they will pause my account for military and when I un-pause it, they will prorate the days I'm back in the states TDY/visiting.

They also said AT&T will not unlock your phone for you; you will have to do that on your own. If you choose to unlock your phone, you void the warranty, but you can always lock your phone again. O2, who operates in the UK, does have Micro-SIM cards for their service plans.

Does anyone recommend a particular software to unlock the iPhone? I know there's a lot of free shit online and some others you have to pay for.

Brabus, I won't be going over until October.

Just wait until you get there and get a free Iphone/Nexus one or whatever your heart desires. European plans blow anything offered in the States out of the water. 2 year contract will get you whatever phone is hot at the moment for FREE.

[Chiller]

Anyone have any good aviation-related apps for the iphone? More specifically, good aviation weather apps that show int'l destinations in additon to the US stuff.

I've got a BB 8310 that I use world-wide. I use Flightaware.com througout Europe and SW Asia and Africa. Compose e-mail in the "to" block type wx@flightaware.com Then in the "subject" block type the 4-letter ICAO identifier. Hit send and your METAR and TAF, depending on your e-mail service, shows up in a few seconds. Flightplan.com seems to work fairly well for weather/notams and maps. Of course it's internet dependant and I've got old technology so I found it a little slow especially in SWA. One of the reasons I subscribe to AT&T is that it works most everywhere on the blue ball. I would like to return to Sprint since it is a hell of a lot cheaper but their international data plan ($70)requires a one-year subscription and their GSM phones are limited. Same price at AT&T but they'll let you use it on a month-to-month basis. Again, the BB 8310 is old technology and my phone doesn't like google maps. It works, the "Latitude" feature is great (and free) but populates slow and after I've used the application I find I have to re-boot my phone. Thinking of going to the iphone. Thanks everyone for the reviews on this thread.

JW

Edited June 23, 2010 by Chiller

[JeepGuyC17]

Which phones have sim cards? For the heavy drivers out there which company has the best international plan?

The only two GSM carriers in the US are ATT and T Mobile. GSM is the phone standard that uses SIM cards and is what most of the world uses. A quad-band GSM phone will get signal almost anywhere. AT&T seems to work pretty well overseas even though their domestic network sucks. Even without the international plan, you can receive texts for free if your domestic plan includes unlimited texting, and they are only 50 cents to send. It's a great way for people to contact me if they need to when I'm out God knows where without e-mail access. I can't vouch for T Mobile working well overseas, but my wife has it and I seems to get signal in a lot more countries than she does when we travel.

By the way, I would highly recommend any of the current generation of Android phones that have come out since January or so. I have a Nexus One and love it. Great alternative to iPhone if you're not a fan of the Apple walled garden. I bought my phone unlocked directly from Google so that AT&T can't try to charge me for the tethering/wifi hot spot feature when Android 2.2 is released.

Edited June 24, 2010 by JeepGuyC17

[Guest PredGuy]

So how is the iPhone 4?

[DFRESH]

Disregard all of my previous comments about winmo being the best... here's the order of my list

Android

Android

Winmo

Nokia

Android

iphonOS

[Guest TampicoHeavy]

I can't vouch for T Mobile working well overseas, but my wife has it and I seems to get signal in a lot more countries than she does when we travel.

I can, T Mobile works great abroad. Used throughout Europe, South America, and Qatar/UAE.

[JeepGuyC17]

I can, T Mobile works great abroad. Used throughout Europe, South America, and Qatar/UAE.

Good to know, especially since ATT's selection of subsidized Android phones just plain SUCKS. I guess it all depends on what kind of signal bands your phone supports.