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Your next cell phone?


VelvetVoices
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Any plans or know what your next cell phone will be? Anyone going with Apple's new iPhone 4? or Blackberry? or Android?

 

Currently I own an el-cheapo Nokia, cost me around $2 a month (play as you go) to text everyone. I've never been one to follow the trend so the iPhone is out for me, price wise Blackberry's seem pretty reasonable but the Android seems to be coming along nicely that it has a strong future ahead.

 

My pick is the Android will be my next phone.

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I've been resisting the smartphone thing for a while now. I had a Samsung Blackjack a few year ago through my job and while the body was solid it ran Windows POS Mobile which is really really bad. That was well before the first iPhone ever came out.

 

It's such a (monthly service) price jump from a "dumb" phone with text and internet to a smartphone, but I think my next one will probably be an Android phone. I'm curious to see what the Dell Streak costs when it hits the US, though it might be too large to use as my everyday phone. I rarely use my phone for voice calls so it might be worth it.

 

The Nokia N900 looks interesting as well, but I won't seriously consider that until it's clear if they'll truly support meebo on it.

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Right now I have an old Samsung. It does what I need it to do - it can call and text. I don't really use my phone for much else.

 

I'm moving to the U.S. in a bit and I heard cell phone plans were so much cheaper there so I looked up what it would cost to have a smartphone...ouch! I'm too cheap to pay that. If I wasn't cheap, I'd probably buy an Android.

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This summer, I'll be getting a smartphone. I resisted it until now, but as I enter clerkship (my in-hospital training), the ability to use electronic medical references is too powerful a feature for me to pass up. I was planning on an iphone 4, but am hearing about reception issues due to the around-the-body antenna. If that turns out to be a bust, chances are I'll go with Android. I want something touchscreen so I can look things up and scroll through pages easily, and the only touchscreen blackberry is the Storm, and I've heard bad things about it.

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IDK how it works across the pond, but I'm planning on getting a Droid Eris (Hero) or perhaps something a bit snappier, then just using Skype when I am in range of a wifi network (which is most the time). I figure a $3/month plan is a heck of a lot better than a $70/month plan!

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IDK how it works across the pond, but I'm planning on getting a Droid Eris (Hero) or perhaps something a bit snappier, then just using Skype when I am in range of a wifi network (which is most the time). I figure a $3/month plan is a heck of a lot better than a $70/month plan!

 

Forgive my cell phone ignorance, but how does that work? Don't you still have to pay a monthly fee for using a smart phone? Or is there a company that only charges you $3? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I don't know anything about cell phones.

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I have a 16GB iPhone 3GS and its excellent. Some minor problems sometimes someone don't hear a thing of what I say or when I text they receive non-sense sms but when I keep it very short it always work.

Medman you wont be allowed to have a cellphone turned on in hospitals right ?

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IDK how it works across the pond, but I'm planning on getting a Droid Eris (Hero) or perhaps something a bit snappier, then just using Skype when I am in range of a wifi network (which is most the time). I figure a $3/month plan is a heck of a lot better than a $70/month plan!

 

Forgive my cell phone ignorance, but how does that work? Don't you still have to pay a monthly fee for using a smart phone? Or is there a company that only charges you $3? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I don't know anything about cell phones.

Oh no worries, most people don't like the idea of only having service in wifi areas, so they don't consider it.

 

Android smartphones (almost all of them) work with a program called Skype, which lets you call people using an internet connection, whether or not the person you are calling has internet/Skype. Skype charges $3/month for a 'phone number' that people can call you on, and you get unlimited calling and texting to anywhere/anyone in the US (and international rates are way cheap). It's so cheap because it goes through the net and not over satellite, but this is why you need a wifi connection to use it. Now normally I pay $70 to have calling and texting with Verizon, which is quite a bit more. The only benefit is that I can use my phone pretty much wherever I am. But 90% of my time is spent in wifi areas (school or home) so I would really only be giving up cell reception while driving and at restaurants/the store. Since you aren't doing a traditional contract you must also buy the phone yourself. The Eris/Hero is running about $150 used online, but that's only about 2 months of Verizon, so it's a small cost IMO. For a $67/month savings I am ok with these two limitations (only works in wifi, must pay for own phone).

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Medman you wont be allowed to have a cellphone turned on in hospitals right ?

 

Actually, we are. Sensitive equipment is always in shielded rooms to prevent interference. I know they always ask people to turn off their cell phones, but the policy doesn't seem to apply to doctors. I think it's because the sheer number of patients and family in the hospital could cause problems if their cell phones were on, but it's not an issues when the much smaller number of doctors have them on. Most of the time, if you're near sensitive equipment, you get 0 reception because all the walls are shielded. The main thing I'd need it for within the hospital is to use electronic medical references, which are stored on the device's hard drive or accessed through WiFi, so it doesn't matter if I don't get good reception.

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