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Best Verizon Wireless Phone

S

swingerofbirch

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 24, 2003
3,694
4,714
The Amalgamated States of Central North America
Hey everybody,

On thanksgiving I am eligible for my new every 2 deal where I get a $100 toward a new phone at the 2 year contract price. I right now have a really old Nokia candy bar phone. I'm looking at the phones Verizon has--they don't have too many--and I'm not sure which direction to go.

Does anyone have an opinion on Verizon's current offerings? I'm not into frills, I want reliability, voice quality, best reception, best durability and so forth.

Thanks!
 
As I suppose is self-evident, I can only speak from my own experience. Which is that the Verizon RAZR V3M is crippled, fragile and generally sucky. And the Motorola interface makes me wish I'd stayed with Nokia.

When my contract runs out, I'm ditching Verizon -- because of their crap customer service and their ongoing attempts to prevent me from loading music I own (or license -- whatever) onto their phones. I refuse to buy the same song twice -- once using the Verizon interface.

So. Yeah. Verizon sucks.
 
LOL....Ok, any input is good...I was already going to avoid the RAZR cos I heard the reception is bad, and I'm not wild about the look.

I like Verizon's customer service and reliability, but I am quite envious of Cingular's phones....they have some quad band ones that look more "European" to me.....I might go look at some in person, but I don't know much about their network.
 
swingerofbirch said:
LOL....Ok, any input is good...I was already going to avoid the RAZR cos I heard the reception is bad, and I'm not wild about the look.

I like Verizon's customer service and reliability, but I am quite envious of Cingular's phones....they have some quad band ones that look more "European" to me.....I might go look at some in person, but I don't know much about their network.
Click to expand...

I would say the LG 8300 is your best bet. I've played with lots of the different phones, owned a few, and i settled on the 8300. I had an 8100 before and it's also a great phone.
I stay away from other brands besides LG because the processors suck so much... i navigate the menus / text message faster than samsung phones can keep up with.
 
I have the verizon razr and while it's crippled, if the media features don't matter to you, then it should be irrelevant. I've not found it to be fragile or otherwise sucky, and the reception is fine.

My dad has the new K1M and it's pretty nice, but something about it isn't growing on me. Still, it's a nice phone.

LG is dropping a new phone on verizon sometime this week, which is the clamshell counterpart to the chocolate (which, though it looks cool, still remains pretty annoying to use). It's a nice looking phone and should be pretty affordable on contract. Keep an eye out.
 
feelthefire said:
I have the verizon razr and while it's crippled, if the media features don't matter to you, then it should be irrelevant. I've not found it to be fragile or otherwise sucky, and the reception is fine.

My dad has the new K1M and it's pretty nice, but something about it isn't growing on me. Still, it's a nice phone.

LG is dropping a new phone on verizon sometime this week, which is the clamshell counterpart to the chocolate (which, though it looks cool, still remains pretty annoying to use). It's a nice looking phone and should be pretty affordable on contract. Keep an eye out.
Click to expand...

What is crippled on the razr? I am looking at getting one
 
I have a razor from Verizon and, yes, a lot of features are locked down. It plays music, but the files have to be WMA. You can sync your contact to your mac, but your not allowed to sync your calendar. The outer screen is locked down you can't change it. You have to buy the media tools so you can sync your razor with windows media player. It's a good phone for making calls, but that's about it. All the features are useless...:(
 
Thanks for the info everybody. I actually am not terribly interested in music playback, photography, etc. I'm sort of a purist in a way. The idea of having both an iPod and a cell phone that can play music bothers me. It's hard to describe why, I guess it has to do with my OCD/perfectionist tendencies. I feel if I have a feature in something I own I should use it. Otherwise I would like not to have it.

I would actually pay more for a super sleek looking phone that did not have a built in camera or music playing but offered super robust service. To me an object should do very well what it is primarily intended to do. So if I were to pick the virtues of a cell phone that should be expanded upon technologically it would be that the phone be able to be used more and more places (eg rural and international areas and indoors) and that the voice quality improve more and more and maybe one day exceed the quality of a landline.

Alas it's a bit of a pipe dream, because all of the phones Verizon has now look very gadgety and gimmicky. I assume the purpose of adding Vcast and cameras is so that Verizon can charge for the associated services with those functions.

Perhaps one day the two markets (cell phones and cell phone carriers) will work independent of each other and we'll have more choice.

But back to reality, ass far as style goes, I like the two Nokia phones but a quick Google search says they are actually made by Pantech. What do you all think of those two?
 
feelthefire said:
LG is dropping a new phone on verizon sometime this week, which is the clamshell counterpart to the chocolate (which, though it looks cool, still remains pretty annoying to use). It's a nice looking phone and should be pretty affordable on contract. Keep an eye out.
Click to expand...

Do you have a link or pictures? I'm also new-every-two eligible and am debating between the KRZR and Chocolate, but I wouldn't mind a nicely designed clamshell.
 
Dark Chocolate Bar

ive a chocolate, and though it looks svelte, the buttons are tiny and indistinguishable and the cool red lit buttons are damn near impossible to master. however, if u like playing music on your phone and u value looks over function then the chocolate is worth checking out.
 
rstorm said:
What is crippled on the razr? I am looking at getting one
Click to expand...


Only on Verizon's versions of the RAZR...V3c and V3m. You can't use bluetooth normally to sync with your computer...i.e. put music on, take it off, download/upload pictures, etc. You can only use it to sync your address book. It also has Verizon's GUI instead of Motorola's.
 
Motorolas are my personal favorite. I had an E815 when I first got Verizon and it had all the best features on it and the interface wasn't that awful VZW standard red one. I don't like the RAZRs or KRZRs, though. I am currently using an LG VX9800 and love it only because I really needed that keyboard. However, I'd probably suggest an 8300 for you. :)
 
buffalo said:
Do you have a link or pictures? I'm also new-every-two eligible and am debating between the KRZR and Chocolate, but I wouldn't mind a nicely designed clamshell.
Click to expand...

The VX8600 dropped today, pics are here:http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/11/15/verizons-lg-vx8600-chocolate-flip-launched/

I like it a lot, unfortunately couldn't wait a couple weeks to get a new phone and ended up with the razr.

I like the chocolate a lot, but its user interface and those touch buttons for all the navigation quickly get annoying, and they're very sensitive, which often leads to having to go through all the menus again because you brushed the wrong button.
 
I also suggest the LG 8300. LG's in my opinion are the best. Verizon is by far the worst at providing compatibility with Mac. I found a usb cable to sync the calendar, ringers, etc. for $10 shipped. You will have to use third party software as well.

You can find more info out on this LINK. There are links to software at the site as well.

Nuc
 
mr_matalino said:
Just for clarification...isn't this a mac fourm??
Click to expand...

Excuse me Mr. Matalino, but I will have you know I spent a good few minutes reading the name of every forum and sub-forum before deciding to post my question in this forum of all the forums MacRumors offers because I was worried someone would take offense to it being about a cell phone and not a Mac.

The title of it is "Buying Tips, Advice and Discussion."

Granted, a cell phone is not a Mac. But I use this web-site every day. I don't belong to a cell phone enthusiast web-site. What would you have me do? I mean, come on. Really? I didn't know where else to turn.

I'm sorry if my complicated life is an inconvenience to your perfect existence!

/runs away crying
 
the thing i hate about verizon right now is the UI.. its sucks... Verizon if your listening get rid of it... its stupid and pointless.
Now that we got that out of the way... if you can find a moto E815 get it... i have it and i love it...
 
No joke, put down a $100 bucks and get the Motorola Q it'll be the best phone you'll ever have. Not kidding. The thing looks phenom. works amazingly and is just a stud all around. And plus whats a $100 bucks after your $100 discount. Do It...DO IT
 
The Q is probably a bigger phone than he wants...it's small for a smartphone, but pretty big if you're not going to shell out for the internet and email features that make that keypad useful...

I agree, the verizon UI sucks, but a comment on the moto E815...I had the older version, the V710, and in terms of clamshell phones that one is HUGE. I don't know if they're even offering it but at the time it was released it was considered awesomely small for one of the first bluetooth phones...three years later, with no redesign, it's not so good. About the only thing it really had going for it was that it was durable. Looks, not so great, size, not so great.

Much prefer my razr, crap user interface and all.
 
Also, Is there a market for new phones?

Lets say the iPhone comes out at MWSF or sometime shortly after and it works with Verizon (long shot I know). Since this iPhone is going to be truely amazing, I'll probably want one, would I be able to sell the VX8600 or KRZR for anything, or would I have to cut my losses?
 
I have a genral question about the Moto Q-if I dont have bluetooth on my mac how can I sync it with my calenar and contacts-
 
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