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Good Verizon Phone?

Mechcozmo

Mechcozmo

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 17, 2004
5,215
2
Looking for some advice... I have a Nokia 6256i that's on its way out (3, 6, 9, and camera buttons don't work). I'm stuck on Verizon. Does anyone have any suggestions as to current phones that will:

1) Sync with the Mac
2) Isn't Bluetooth-crippled
3) Doesn't have that terrible Verizon UI

Those are the big three issues. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? (Alternatively, if you know how to fix my phone, that'd be appreciated... I highly doubt anyone does, though. :()

Thanks!
 
Mechcozmo said:
Looking for some advice... I have a Nokia 6256i that's on its way out (3, 6, 9, and camera buttons don't work). I'm stuck on Verizon. Does anyone have any suggestions as to current phones that will:

1) Sync with the Mac
2) Isn't Bluetooth-crippled
3) Doesn't have that terrible Verizon UI

Those are the big three issues. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? (Alternatively, if you know how to fix my phone, that'd be appreciated... I highly doubt anyone does, though. :()

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Good luck. Verizon puts their UI's on all their phones except smartphones.

Try a blackberry, you might be able to get some luck syncing it.
 
Mechcozmo said:
Looking for some advice... I have a Nokia 6256i that's on its way out (3, 6, 9, and camera buttons don't work). I'm stuck on Verizon. Does anyone have any suggestions as to current phones that will:

1) Sync with the Mac
2) Isn't Bluetooth-crippled
3) Doesn't have that terrible Verizon UI

Those are the big three issues. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? (Alternatively, if you know how to fix my phone, that'd be appreciated... I highly doubt anyone does, though. :()

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What do you mean by sync with mac? Bluetooth? All the newer phones can sync with bluetooth on a mac. But not using isync. No verizon phones can (maybe a smartphone?)

By terrible verizon UI do you mean the one with the red bars?

Anyway id suggest the env2, lg vx8700, lg vx8550, samsung gleam, samsung u740.

a big part of it is what kind of style you want :)
 
I suggest the enV2. I went to Verizon even though I have an iPhone and I loved the enV2. Too bad they dont have it for AT&T. Awesome phone, better than original enV, bluetooth syncing w/ mac. It's cool :D:D:D:D
 
I have the Samsung SCH-U740, or the "Alias". Its the one with the double hinge. I got it when it was first released, with the original "champagne" color, compared to black (that color is discontinued), or the silver, which is the only color now. Now, a lot of people are getting it, as its much cheaper.

I tried to sync it to my iBook via Bluetooth, but it failed. It might work, but after the first try, I just gave up.

Over all, I love the phone. Its great for texting if you tend to do a lot of that.


And yes, it does have the Verizon UI, but it has a blue menu theme!!!
 
Your best bet is probably one of the windows mobile phones. The Q gets mixed reviews, but the Samsung with the number pad and slideout qwerty is supposed to be very good. There's also the Verizon version of the Sprint Mogul.

The reasons I suggest winmob:

-Mark/Space's The Missing Sync works great at bluetooth, wifi and wired syncs.

-Windows Mobile is uber-skinnable, so you can ditch the verizon red in favor of whatever style you can imagine.

-Windows Mobile is also very hackable. Almost anything Verizon puts on the phone you can probably find a reversal on xda-developers.com or pocketpcthoughts.com. They can lock down a lot, but you can also fiddle with it and pretty much regain whatever they block.

-Windows Mobile is in general a lot less controlled than the vzw featurephones. More software, online forum support, etc.

Barring all that, if you're ok with the pricing of the data plans, you could also go with a blackberry. Blackberries are not terribly useful without a data plan, so I wouldn't encourage you to buy one unless you get one with wifi or use a data plan.
 
question fear said:
Barring all that, if you're ok with the pricing of the data plans, you could also go with a blackberry. Blackberries are not terribly useful without a data plan, so I wouldn't encourage you to buy one unless you get one with wifi or use a data plan.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with that. My wife has a Blackberry Pearl without the dataplan. For her its perfect. We sync it to our iMac using Missing Sync in order to get address book, calendar, etc.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I have to disagree with that. My wife has a Blackberry Pearl without the dataplan. For her its perfect. We sync it to our iMac using Missing Sync in order to get address book, calendar, etc.
Click to expand...

Ah, good to know...I've only known blackberries from a data heavy user standpoint, so it's good to know they work well even non-connected.
 
question fear said:
Your best bet is probably one of the windows mobile phones. <snip>
-Mark/Space's The Missing Sync works great at bluetooth, wifi and wired syncs.
Click to expand...
I've played with Window Mobile; really didn't care for it. Also, the use of Mark/Space is a deal-killer. That app is still running on my Mac after three uninstallations and countless crashes, data corruption (on the Palm, thankfully), etc. My mom had terrible luck with the Windows Mobile version... not too eager to throw more money their way unless I actually see a working product.

chrismac00 said:
I suggest the enV2. I went to Verizon even though I have an iPhone and I loved the enV2. Too bad they dont have it for AT&T. Awesome phone, better than original enV, bluetooth syncing w/ mac. It's cool :D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

While the phone itself looks cool, and has a lot of the features I'd want, I can't find any articles that mention it ability to sync with the Mac... do you have any websites for me?

Nabooly said:
What do you mean by sync with mac? Bluetooth? All the newer phones can sync with bluetooth on a mac. But not using isync. No verizon phones can (maybe a smartphone?)

By terrible verizon UI do you mean the one with the red bars?

Anyway id suggest the env2, lg vx8700, lg vx8550, samsung gleam, samsung u740.

a big part of it is what kind of style you want :)
Click to expand...
How exactly do the phones sync via Bluetooth with a Mac without going through iSync?
Thanks for the phone list, I'll check those out.

...and for me, form follows function. I want my phone to work before I worry about how it looks. (My current phone isn't much to look it, but the IrDA port has come in handy more than once :D)
 
i have the blackberry pearl with them... love the phone to death. i would check out the new curve or touch that just came out a few weeks ago. whatever you do, DO NOT get the voyager, its a very expensive and pointless enV.
See if you can find a moto e815 it was one of the last verizon phones to have the red bar UI
 
I have owned the original enV in the past. It was wonderful syncing with my Mac. I could send and recieve pictures and video to and from my Mac. Obviously thanks to Verizon, you can't bluetooth music ONLY ringtones. And I'm like 100% the enV2 has all the features of the enV and more.

All I am saying is get the enV2. It seems worth it. Not only does it look awesome but there are features that you wouldnt find on other phones.

Sorry that I don't have any websites for proof, but it is a new phone. What will you be wanting to do with Bluetooth anyways?
 
chrismac00 said:
Sorry that I don't have any websites for proof, but it is a new phone. What will you be wanting to do with Bluetooth anyways?
Click to expand...

Whatever profile syncing requires, OPEX Push and DUN are pretty important to me. I tend to do a lot of sending notes and pictures between phone/computer or phone/phone or phone/PDA.
 
Turns out, after talking nice to the people in the store, they'll FedEx me a replacement at no cost.

Stay tuned to see how it goes; hopefully, it'll be the right phone that arrives. :)

Thanks everyone for your input on phones... in a few months, I'll probably come back to this thread and figure out if I want to upgrade or stick with my Nokia.
 
communication.jpg


just in my experience.
 
Hummer said:
About a month ago my Verizon rep told me all of their phones had OBEX disabled and that they did it because its an "industry wide standard."
Click to expand...

This phone wasn't ever sold in Verizon stores.
 
Hummer said:
About a month ago my Verizon rep told me all of their phones had OBEX disabled and that they did it because its an "industry wide standard."
Click to expand...

i think they ment to say "verizon-wide standard" :p
they do it because they want you to use the MMS/email/cost a ton of money feature
 
I hate verizon. They have the worst selection of phones and with their UI they put on the phones it makes them 100x worse. Unfortunately I am stuck with them as my dad gets a discount with them and they get the best service around here.

I have/had (currently MIA) the samsung sch-u740 (now called alias) and its a decent phone. Before I had the original razor V3c which had so many software flaws and inconsistencies it drove me crazy.

The u740 is better but there are still many software flaws i.e. when you go to buy a ringtone you can only use the phone in the keyboard mode. However, when you go to type, the phone puts in number typing mode for some strange reason. It takes decent pictures but its impossible to view them on the phone because they come up really small and the phones doesn't let you zoom in. Battery life is very good. Its great for texting too.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I have to disagree with that. My wife has a Blackberry Pearl without the dataplan. For her its perfect. We sync it to our iMac using Missing Sync in order to get address book, calendar, etc.
Click to expand...

How did you get a blackberry without the data plan? I was going to get a BB curve today, until I learned from the local verizon factory store that they will not sell a BB without the data plan? Any suggestions?
 
i don't have verizon, but t-mobile instead. anyways what about the tmobile shadow? i've heard good reviews and i like the wi-fi feature but it seems like the windows os is really clumsy. help? i need a new phone and want to get something with internet capability without buying a data plan.
 
If you are looking into a Blackberry. I am going to suggest a really good forum:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/

I have a Blackberry 8830. I wanted the 8330, but that was not out on Verizon at the time. I plain on switching to ATT when the get Blackberry 9000's in (Bold I think is the one I want) or I may go 3G Iphone. But the Blackberry's are great. They do come with a Verizon theme, But it really is not that bad. But you still have Blackberry Original themes plus many you can download. I personally like the today them. I have not tried to sync with my iMac yet. But I did try the Bluetooth and they both recognized each other. I am still setting up my iMac. Putting all my music from my old CD's on it (I don't know why I never done this with my old computer). But maybe I will try and setup my Blackberry to use with my iMac in a bit and get back with you sometime later. I know you can't do OS updates with anything other then an Windows computers. Also if you really question around and push your way through Verizon over the phone. You can get an Unlimited E-mail & Web Blackberry Data Package for $29.99 a month add on. It beats the full price and you can have what ever plain you want. You just can't have BES support (More likely you will not need that), you can only use BIS.

~Steven
 
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