What phone on AT&T would you get?

[JAG72]

Ok, this might come as a surprise to some around here but I am looking into options for a new smartphone. Currently have a iPhone 3GS and the wife has the 3G model. She is wanting to upgrade to the 3GS for more space and a quicker phone. I am using this as my opportunity to look at other phones for me and just pass my 3GS on to her and sell the 3G to cover the upgrade costs.

I would really like to hear some honest feedback on the pros and cons of other devices. The only requirement is that the phone must be available on AT&T. The phone I am currently looking the hardest at is the HTC Tilt 2.

Please don't turn this into a iPhone or AT&T is junk thread and provide some honest feedback that others could also benifit from.

Edit: The last requirement is that it also needs to interface with a Mac.

 

[mike123abc]

If you want a smart phone but not the iPhone, Google's new phone may be a month or so away.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17115

 

[JAG72]

It's not to say I don't want the iPhone still. Just using this as a potential to move to something different.

 

[TheForce]

I would really like to hear some honest feedback on the pros and cons of other devices. The only requirement is that the phone must be available on AT&T. The phone I am currently looking the hardest at is the HTC Tilt 2.

I stopped in to see the htc Tp2 AT&T version and as a matter of fact, I liked it's design of the KB better than the Verizon's. It was easier on the eyes. If you did go the tilt 2 route, you will find that switching to another carrier will be easy since you can swap out the SIM module to Verizon's or Sprint's. I won't expound on all the good the TP2 has because the list is just too long. Rather I'll tell you what disappointed me in the htc TP2. ( same phone as the ATT Tilt 2) IOf I didn't have such a good deal ($99) on the TP2 with Verizon, I would have selected the AT&T model and subbed it on Verizon but that would have cost way too much.

What I don't like about the TP2-
1. Due to a high res screen, some games and the TomTom application does not work on this phone. I had quite a bit of money invested in my TomTom system but for end use, the phone actually does quite well with the Google Maps and with Tracky, a $20 app, will store the Google maps in a cache after you download them once so you can operate the navigation without having any internet service, just in case you were out in the desert somewhere.
2. The Opera browser doesn't appear as robust as the Opera browser I had working on my XV6800.
3. Flash- Not ready for prime time, still an issue of the high res screen compatibility.
4. Some game software requires two hard buttons that this phone doesn't have. One pinball machine software compensates for this with tapping on screen regions to operate the levers. Not quite as intuitive but still works. My Pac-Man software does not work at all on the TP2, no way to control the game.

So far that's about all the negatives I have on the TP2.

 

[JAG72]

Thanks Don. Since your list of positives is so large could you just list out your top 5?

 

[Ira Lacher]

Not too accustomed to phones interfacing with a Mac, but Blackberries do. Before I switched to the iPhone, I had a Blackberry Curve, which I was very pleased with. Even though it's not the latest iteration of the device, I do believe it runs the latest OS, and RIM has released the final of the Blackberry Desktop Manager for Macs.

 

[TheForce]

1. Never needs rebooting as it never locks up, hesitates, etc. I've even loaded up 12 applications and switched back and forth, run 4 at a time with no hesitation at all. This is the first PDA device I have had that can do this. On my old XV6800, I could load up 4 applications and begin to switch back and forth but in 10 to 15 minutes, it would become sluggish and require a reboot to fix.
2. Touch Flo 3D- Makes the screen wiz by in scroll mode, Fastest screen redraws of any phone I have seen and only the iphone can equal it ( or vice versa ) The Droid is good but the TP2 has it beat in a side by side test. Where you really notice this is in scrolling down through contacts that are synced with my Outlook on the PC. It will wiz down through hundreds and when you get in the region where you want, say the m's, touch the screen and it stops where you can then scroll slower to find your contact. The speed of the scroll is the speed you swipe your finger across the screen.

3. The built in apps are really nice and I didn't need to buy or go to 3rd party, such as the stock portfolio, Google Maps, RSS application, weather, Opera browser, PDF reader, Yahoo finance, etc already loaded from htc.

4. Hardware-
Ability to plug in a small low cost accessory cable and pull stereo audio / Video and connect to a large screen TV. The application converts the screen to TV compatible video and it is pretty sharp. Makes internet surfing, movie watching, and gaming easier with a big screen. I've always wanted this capability. Prints e-mail and winword excel power point stuff etc to a color laser printer via wifi on your lan. It's an application they built in.

5. The application integration is much better. It is more like an iphone in how you can easily be on a phone call, and snap a picture and send it to the other person and not have to go through all sorts of application musical chairs to do that. With CDMA you have to have wifi to do simultaneous web browsing and any TCPIP connections while on a phone call. The phone call takes priority. However, you can still view your e-mail during a call that was received before the call was made. The AT&T add is a bit misleading on this I saw. I also have my phone set to record all conversations and save them to MP3 files on my uSD card. This is automatic on every call. I could never do that with my old XV6800. I do this with a 3rd party application, however. I don't know if it is possible with the built in Notes voice recorder. The app is Audio Notes.

6. OK that was 5 from me but I know digiblur would jump on my case if I didn't mention his favorite- the ability to custom the ROMS to make the phone unique. I really haven't found a need to compel me to experiment there yet. Too much to do with it stock and this PDA really works.

 

[digiblur]

Nice comment Don once you load up a ROM with the new WinMo UI and TouchFlo 2.5 you'll see what I'm talking about.

I was also going to recommend the Tilt2...very nice phone and highly customizable.

Don, you can't switch out the SIM card on the phone for Sprint or Verizon. It's not going to work. The reason why there is a SIM card is for internation travelling with the CDMA version. You can put any SIM card in the device when you are overseas in one of the non CDMA countries. The SIM card does nothing in the US....unless you unlock it, then you can use the SIM card in the US, but that's a whole other story and we are talking about the GSM version of the phone.

 

[JAG72]

Digi, is the tilt 2 just as easy to customize as the regular TP2?

 

[digiblur]

Digi, is the tilt 2 just as easy to customize as the regular TP2?

I know the unlocker for the GSM version was released before the CDMA version so there is probably more development, plus you've got the Europe guys also developing ROMS for this phone too.

XDA-discussions.com is a great site for GSM folks. Here's the link to the forums for the Tilt2 (Rhodium). And of course you aren't locked into just the apps they talk about in that forum, most everyday WinMo apps will work fine on the phone.

Rhodium - xda-developers

As you can see below...some of the aftermarket ROMs add quite a few features and eye candy:

|R|6.5.3|WWE| ? EnergyROM "Leo" 28011/21884 |Dec 13| ? Sense 2.5/ MaxManila /Dusk ? - xda-developers
[ROM][13/DEC/09]THE CELL PRO SERIES [2.1 V9] [2.5 V1] [Lite V5] [AT&T V2] UP NOW - xda-developers
[ROM][NLD][13-dec-09]Rhodium M-Rom (v1.37) WM6.5.3 (build 28014) Sense 2.5 !! - xda-developers
[14-DEC][GSM][silentUC]Valkyrie_v5.2 FireStorm\RHODIO\LEO 28014-21885|LEO-14-85update - xda-developers

It may look a little difficult at first, but you'd be surprised how simple it is... if you really get into the nitty gritty it can be difficult but that's only if you want to go that deep into customizations.

 

[TheForce]

Digiblur- The Verizon htc Touch Pro 2 has both GSM and CDMA technologies contained. It was advertised as one of the first htc phones to have this capability by Verizon. In the manual they describe how to remove the Verizon module SIM and replace with another GSM SIM. The card is a bit larger than I recall my T-Mobile sims. The card in the htc Verizon is Red / Black says "Vodophone" on it, and about the size of a Sony Memory stick. I understand that to use the phone with a different carrier, it would have to be unlocked.

As an experiment, I removed the Vodophone sim card and the phone works fine. When I put the SIM back and booted the phone- a screen pops up during boot up that says, " SIM Card Detected, your phone will now operate in Global mode."

I think my point is what the salesmen from both ATT and Verizon said. You can plug in a sim card from another carrier ( GSM ) with a different phone number account and it will switch to that account.

PS, thanks for the links, I will review them again to see if there is anything I should consider.

 

[JAG72]

Doing a little more research besides the Blackberry's AT&T pretty much only has the iPhone and Tilt 2. I guess I am now down to deciding on the Tilt 2 or just buying her a new iPhone and keeping my 3GS.

Thanks guys. Do you also have any links on a good location to find apps?

 

[digiblur]

Don't use those links on your VZW phone. Those are the for the GSM version. You'll brick your phone. For the CDMA phones go to PPCGeeks for your ROMs for the Touch Pro 2.

I'm talking about this quote: "If you did go the tilt 2 route, you will find that switching to another carrier will be easy since you can swap out the SIM module to Verizon's or Sprint's."

The Tilt 2 will not work on Sprint or Verizon's network. As far as I know, it doesn't even have a CDMA chipset.

And just the opposite... take your friends AT&T or TMobile SIM, and put it in your phone and it will not work. The SIM card slot on your VZW phone is for GSM use out of the country. Now, there are ways to unlock the radio on your phone so it can work with AT&T, but I'm not sure 3G will work, since it is designed for 3G overseas.

 

[digiblur]

Doing a little more research besides the Blackberry's AT&T pretty much only has the iPhone and Tilt 2. I guess I am now down to deciding on the Tilt 2 or just buying her a new iPhone and keeping my 3GS.

Thanks guys. Do you also have any links on a good location to find apps?

I find lots of cool stuff and links between XDA-Developers and PPCGeeks...mostly free stuff.

There's MSN Marketplace on the phone that has lots of free apps and also apps to purchase.

Several other websites for free apps.... google "freeware ppc"

 

[JAG72]

I guess I am now down to deciding on the Tilt 2 or just buying her a new iPhone and keeping my 3GS.

I am still looking android if they release a version prior to her upgrade date.

 

[DodgerKing]

Doing a little more research besides the Blackberry's AT&T pretty much only has the iPhone and Tilt 2. I guess I am now down to deciding on the Tilt 2 or just buying her a new iPhone and keeping my 3GS.

Thanks guys. Do you also have any links on a good location to find apps?

You sound like me a few months ago when I was deciding between the HTC Touch Pro and the iPhone

 

[JAG72]

My biggest problem is that I really like my iPhone but I would like to try a different phone that people have given high remarks to.

The one piece that I really want right now is the running multiple apps at the same time. I am getting frustrated at work when I am listening to ooTunes and I get a text message that I have to look at. I wish the program would not stop to look at the message. I use the iPhone for pages from work so it happens frequently throughout the day.

 

[digiblur]

The one piece that I really want right now is the running multiple apps at the same time. I am getting frustrated at work when I am listening to ooTunes and I get a text message that I have to look at. I wish the program would not stop to look at the message. I use the iPhone for pages from work so it happens frequently throughout the day.

That would drive me nuts... I listen to streaming radio on my phone at work at times since they block stuff like that on our network. I'd throw my phone out the window if I couldn't browse, text, and listen to music at the same time.

 

[JAG72]

Digi, that is the reason I started to look again. I know that I could do what I want with a jailbroken iPhone, but I really don't like the idea of it.

I just wish I had a friend local with a TP2 to try for a little while.

The bad part is that I have until March to make my choice.

 

[TheForce]

digiblur- Yes, I knew those links were for JAG72 to look at for the GSM phone. Don't worry, I'll do lots of research before I ever attempt to experiment with my main mode of communications. Even then I'll only do it on a weekend of low phone traffic. Anyway, I didn't see anything compelling over the stock, IMO.

Thanks for the explanation on the SIM. It varies a bit from what both salesmen told me. Your belief is that the ATT version does not contain the CDMA technology at all whereas the ATT salesman said it does. And, that the Verizon will not work at all with an ATT sim card in the US. The Verizon salesman said it would. However, you qualified it with having to unlock the phone yada yada... Could be the Verizon guy was talking but leaving out that small detail. The ATT salesman may have just been ignorant.
Anyway, it's not important to me as I don't intend to dink around like that and having signal in the middle of the Saudi Arabian Desert is not important either. Having service in Mexico or the Bahamas is more likely important to my needs.

Jag72- I've always said that the iphone is a great technology, but what I hated most about it is the service provider, AT&T. The whole reason I went to Verizon is because I was doing lots of travel to areas that AT&T and T-mobile had no service and all the locals used either Nextel or Verizon. As I gathered information around the country on what works and what didn't, I soon saw the Verizon footprint being much more reliable than my, current T-Mobile or my assistant's AT&T service.

The second thing I hated about the iphone is Apple's own restriction and control. It's why so many power users resort to jailbreaking. But that still doesn't resolve my other complaint which was no access to the battery. But these are just my complaints. and they don't bother many iphone users.