I have a Cingular 8525 (HTC Hermes) that I bought before the iPhone came out, hence the Cingular moniker. I recently replaced this with an iPhone 16 3Gs.
ATT has never been a problem for me. My phone is a computer first and a phone second so the only hitch is the lack of access to data underground in the Metro, which is supposed to change in the coming years. I was very happy with my 8525. It never stopped working, but was getting a little long in the tooth. Browsing with SkyFire was a pleasure, very comparable in quality to the iPhone in my opinion. They¹re different. SkyFire is more like a desktop app. Safari for the iPhone is more like an iPhone app. The newer, Windows Live apps for the mobile are great, including the voice input for Windows Live Search (all free). I never felt like I was a slave to MS with my WM phone. I could survive on third party apps (almost all free) and the Mobile Office that came free on the phone as part of the OS. Updates for the phone came from HTC, not from MS. I tried the Pre in stores and wasn¹t impressed. Compared to the iPhone, it was very slow. And there were six, yes, six apps in their app store at the time. I don¹t know why they released the Pre with so few apps to get. The Pre did play streaming video without wifi better than the iPhone. Maybe because of Sprints good data. Also, it took me four Sprint stores before somebody actually knew how to use the phone and even then weren¹t familiar enough with it to answer all my questions. I still stump people at the Apple store, but they are clearly better trained. I entertained the notion of an Android, but couldn¹t find a store where I could play with one before I bought and I think there¹s a G2 phone on the way. I wasn¹t impressed with the HTC Fuze (it just felt cheaply put together), the HTC Touch Pro wasn¹t available on ATT, and the HTC Touch HD wasn¹t coming soon enough. Neither did I like any of the Blackberry devices, or LG or Nokia phones. I put off getting an iPhone because in order to be truly functional with the device you have to be a total tool of Apple (iTunes, iCal, Contacts, etc. handles everything on a Mac) or a tool of both Apple and MS (must have Outlook to be truly functional with iTunes in Windows). I have both Macs and Windows machines so it¹s not a major issue other than standing on principle. I went round and round on this with Apple, even to the point of having an Apple Store floor person raise his hackles and jump up my backside for asking how I could sync all my info without iTunes. I decided to stop letting my principles get in the way of trying arguably the best PDA phone on the market and bought an iPhone. It¹s an elegant device, everything you would expect from Apple. It¹s sleek. Feels good in your hands. Feels well made. It¹s fast. My wife, who is not technorati, but is an Apple fan, loves hers despite having to replace the first one after a week because of a white screen of death. No explanation from Apple. They just replaced it. Mine has been working fine. I¹m lukewarm on the iPhone so far. I have not had a need for copy and paste, yet, but the no apps in the background has lost data for me twice. When a call comes and it switches to the phone, you may lose data in the app you were just in if it wasn¹t saved. It appears to depend on the developer of the app. Unlike my WM phone, where I felt free to do anything I wanted in terms of mobile computing (all kinds of free apps, connectivity to my Windows machine; you know, access to the usual stuff that¹s only a Google search away), I do feel limited¹ by the App. Store and iTunes with the iPhone. You also can¹t try anything that¹s not free and if you don¹t like an app, it¹s only a big, squeaky wheel that will earn you a refund from Apple. Apps for WM almost always have a trial before you buy on non-free apps. The iPhone is still new to me, though, and since it doesn¹t drive like OS X (really) it may take some getting used to. The thing I notice most with the iPhone is the lack of cursor keys. The magnifying glass¹ is available, but not nearly as functional for me as arrowing¹ around. For example, if you have a long text string in the Google search input field, you can¹t get to the right end of the string on the iPhone (At least I can¹t. And on other text fields as well in other apps). I don¹t miss a slide out keyboard as much as I thought, but typing in non-landscape mode on the iPhone with MY fingers is really hit-or-miss. Take my points with a grain of salt. I¹m just one person. I just thought I¹d give you my two cents worth. Mark On 8/6/09 8:20 AM, "mike" <[email protected]> wrote: > Coverage isn't an issue where I live, not enough of one to force me into one > carrier. I'm already with tmobile so obviously coverage is not my concern. > My concern are cost and the quality of access to the internet from the > handset and then coverage. The touchscreen phones are the only ones with > above average browsing experience, right now it's iphone or the palm or > perhaps android. Opera on WM on an HTC handset is a possibility. > > On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 5:08 PM, b_s-wilk <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > On Aug 4, 2009, at 2:21 PM, mike wrote: >> > >>> >> Ok, this coming October I was pretty much set on the iPhone..the apps, >>>> >>> full >>>> >>> HTML browsing etc was worth going to AT$T. At least from what I know. >>>> >>> >>> >> >> > Which phone company has the best reception where you live and travel? That >> > should determine your choice. >> > >> > I don't like any of those phones, including iPhone, but for $99 why not an >> > HTC--T-Mobile has been using them successfully for a few years. Maybe you >> > can haggle to get the price down like I did at T-Mo. If I had a choice, I'd >> > get a Nokia with WiFi, but I doubt Verizon has them. WiFi is nice. >> > Touchscreen is nice, but not a deal-breaker. Besides, I already have an >> iPod >> > Touch. >> > >> > Does ATT cover better in AZ [aren't you in AZ?] than in SoCal? Coverage is >> > most important, unless you plan to carry two phones. >> > >> > Betty >> > >> > >> > >> > ************************************************************************* >> > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** >> > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** >> > ************************************************************************* >> > > > > ************************************************************************* > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
