Which cellphone do you prefer?

[Rixer 1337]

HTC G1 or HTC Fuze. I can't decide which phone to get. So I want your opinions. Whichever phone I decide to get I am going to get it unlocked so don't worry about the carrier or anything like that. Thanks!

[Rixer 1337]

I forgot to add that if you have another cool smartphone with a qwerty keyboard then you could suggest it to. Just not an iPhone.

[Kurt_]

I prefer a cellphone that can make calls, and gets a strong signal.

What's all this about a keyboard and videos?

[bicostp]

I've got an LG 600 on TracFone, and it does everything I want it to:

- CALL PEOPLE (It's a PHONE for chrissakes. WTF are you doing typing on a phone?! I guess I'm just too old for all this text messaging junk. )
- Take the occasional VGA-res picture of something stupid I spot at the store
- Copy said pictures to the PC via Bluetooth
- Flip closed so my car keys don't inadvertently call Guatemala

It was $30 at Target, and with TracFone you own the phone outright; you don't pay the carrier $100 to borrow it.

[Zeturi]

Hey Bic, for Tracfone, do you ever have any problems when the phone first turns on? I bought one with double minutes a while back, and it works great. Just when I first turn my phone on, it takes several minutes before its able to get reception.

[bicostp]

Nope. It takes about 5 seconds to go through all the logo screens and the remaining airtime, but it can make a call as soon as those are done.

[Zeturi]

Its probably my phone then... it was refurbished when I bought it. But yeah, tracfone service is definitely good if you don't talk a lot.

Hey Rixer, if you want a keyboard, good internet, mp3 playback, video playback, and all those bells and whistles then get a netbook with a cheap data plan. The data plan for the netbook is cheaper than cell phone data plans, I think. Then just get a reliable talk-only phone on the side.

[Negative_Creep]

- CALL PEOPLE (It's a PHONE for chrissakes. WTF are you doing typing on a phone?! I guess I'm just too old for all this text messaging junk.

Not spending tons of money when it's quicker and easier to text someone?

[tom61]

Hey Bic, for Tracfone, do you ever have any problems when the phone first turns on? I bought one with double minutes a while back, and it works great. Just when I first turn my phone on, it takes several minutes before its able to get reception.

How many bars of reception does it have after it does get reception? I've found with two bars or less, it takes awhile before getting displaying that it has reception.

[Zeturi]

How many bars of reception does it have after it does get reception? I've found with two bars or less, it takes awhile before getting displaying that it has reception.

Like I said, my reception is great when I finally get it. After startup, I almost always have full bars.

[Kurt_]

- CALL PEOPLE (It's a PHONE for chrissakes. WTF are you doing typing on a phone?! I guess I'm just too old for all this text messaging junk.

Not spending tons of money when it's quicker and easier to text someone?

Let's use pay-as-you-go rates for simplicity. Sure, you can get a texting plan, and a phone plan, but we'll consider those irrelevant right now.

Virgin Mobile's rates:

One text: 15 cents
One minute of calling: 30 cents

One text message can convey at most three sentences. One minute can convey an entire conversation. Hell, I make plenty of one minute or less phone calls.

Average talking speed: 130 words per minute.
Text Messages: 160 characters.

Assuming you only use two letter words ( Why would this not surprise me), then text messages come out on top. Otherwise...

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Virgin Mobile's rates:

One text: 15 cents
One minute of calling: 30 cents

False. I have Virgin Mobile and a one minute call costs me 10 cents. The other thing to take into consideration is the plans, or "plans", for pay-as-you-go. Currently, the cheapest month service charge you can get through Virgin Mobile is $15/month, and that gets you 1000 texts, and you pay 10 cents a minute for your calls. The cheapest "plan" that includes minutes is $30/month. I currently pay $20/month, which gets me unlimited texting (which I still kind of hate myself for getting, but I managed to find myself a girlfriend, so I think it's mandatory) and then 10 cents for each minute of talk-time. If I were to primarily call instead of text, I would get charged more. Texting is super lame, I certainly won't deny that, but it saves me money. And I'm a cheap bastard.

[Kurt_]

http://www.virginmobile.ca/vmc/en/rates ... do?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

30 and 20.

[eagle5953]

Maybe it's different in Canadia...

[Kurt_]

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;