I apologize in advance for the long post, but here's the deal. I'm considering switching from Verizon to Sprint, primarily due to the massive amount of money I'm spending with the Big Red V every month. I currently have a BlackBerry 8830 and carry 900 anytime minutes, unlimited text messaging and unlimited BlackBerry email and data (BIS). All that for the low price of $119 per month before taxes and fees. Ive been with Verizon for five years, but now Sprint is one of my company's clients and they've allowed us to take advantage of the Sprint Employee Referral Offer (SERO). Through this plan I can get 1250 minutes, unlimited text, picture and video messaging, unlimited email and unlimited data for $49 a month. That's a difference of $840 a year. I don't see how I can stay with Verizon for that kind of money. I called them to see what they could do for me and they basically just gave me instructions on how to port out. Real classy, Verizon.
So anyway, here's my issue. I need a smartphone for work. Like I said, I'm currently using a BlackBerry 8830. It's my second smartphone. The first was the disaster that Motorola thrust upon us in the form of the Q. What a nightmare! The Blackberry is everything that the Q was not. It's pretty quick, very stable, has great battery life and it always gets my email. That said, I'm frustrated with the terrible browser (busted formatting, semi-unreadable fonts, pathetic Java/JavaScript support, no Flash) and the way that it actually handles my email. I get the quick push (which I love) because i route all of my email through RIM's servers, but it's stripped of anything other than plain text. There's no rich text support, half of my attachments never arrive and embedded documents and images are stripped entirely. BlackBerries also only maintain one inbox on the device, no matter how many accounts you're pulling through BIS. My company doesn't maintain a BES server, so I have to forward from my Outlook to BIS and get the push from there. I do the same thing with my personal Gmail account. This creates a problem, as I can also only have one reply-to address and neither of my inboxes is maintained in real time. I still have to delete unneeded mail and reorganize my folders every day, which I HATE!
All that said, I love the BlackBerry (at least compared to the Q) but I'm open to change. Sprint will throw me the cheap love on any smartphone EXCEPT a BlackBerry. I'd have to pay $30 in addition to the $49 in order to have BIS support. And I'd still be stuck with the issues I just described. When you sum it up $79, while still a good deal compared to $119 and something I'd be willing to consider, just doesn't ecxcite me like $49 does.
So what I'd like to know is which of the below smartphones you folks would recommend. I use my devices primarily for phone calls, text, email and web access. I'd like a camera but I've gotten used to not having one. I need to be able to get email from my Exchange server at work (preferably with an Exchange Direct Push) and my personal Gmail account (preferably with true IMAP support). I don't care if they come to the same inbox so long as I can just respond to emails from the address to which they're sent. I'd also like a browser that doesn't suck. The BlackBerry browser is bad, but IE Mobile is HORRIBLE. Good call quality is a must, as is the ability to at least view MS Office attachments. Creating and editing attachments would also be very nice. Threaded text conversations (a la the BlackBerry) would be fantastic. And it goes without saying that I need to be able to sync to my 10.5.2 MacBook as easily as possible.
I know I've said a lot about what I'd like in terms of what the 8830 offers, but that's just because it's the device that showed me those features. I know they've got to exist on other platforms. Listed below are my options from Sprint (BlackBerries not included). Give them a look and let me know what you'd recommend. If that's a BlackBerry then so be it. I just want to explore all of my options. One last thing. My contract's not up until September 28, but the $175 isn't exactly going to slow me down due to the fact that I'll more than break even on the cheaper Sprint plan by the time September rolls around. That said, if any of you know of some upcoming model that I shold wait on I'd be glad to hear that suggestion, too. Let me know what you think!
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/centro/
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo755p/
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo700w/
http://direct.motorola.com/ens/MotoQ9c/q-home.asp?Country=USA&language=ENS&productid=30729
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=mobilephones&type=mobilephones&subtype=sprint&model_cd=SPH-I325DLASPR
http://www.htctouch.com/
So anyway, here's my issue. I need a smartphone for work. Like I said, I'm currently using a BlackBerry 8830. It's my second smartphone. The first was the disaster that Motorola thrust upon us in the form of the Q. What a nightmare! The Blackberry is everything that the Q was not. It's pretty quick, very stable, has great battery life and it always gets my email. That said, I'm frustrated with the terrible browser (busted formatting, semi-unreadable fonts, pathetic Java/JavaScript support, no Flash) and the way that it actually handles my email. I get the quick push (which I love) because i route all of my email through RIM's servers, but it's stripped of anything other than plain text. There's no rich text support, half of my attachments never arrive and embedded documents and images are stripped entirely. BlackBerries also only maintain one inbox on the device, no matter how many accounts you're pulling through BIS. My company doesn't maintain a BES server, so I have to forward from my Outlook to BIS and get the push from there. I do the same thing with my personal Gmail account. This creates a problem, as I can also only have one reply-to address and neither of my inboxes is maintained in real time. I still have to delete unneeded mail and reorganize my folders every day, which I HATE!
All that said, I love the BlackBerry (at least compared to the Q) but I'm open to change. Sprint will throw me the cheap love on any smartphone EXCEPT a BlackBerry. I'd have to pay $30 in addition to the $49 in order to have BIS support. And I'd still be stuck with the issues I just described. When you sum it up $79, while still a good deal compared to $119 and something I'd be willing to consider, just doesn't ecxcite me like $49 does.
So what I'd like to know is which of the below smartphones you folks would recommend. I use my devices primarily for phone calls, text, email and web access. I'd like a camera but I've gotten used to not having one. I need to be able to get email from my Exchange server at work (preferably with an Exchange Direct Push) and my personal Gmail account (preferably with true IMAP support). I don't care if they come to the same inbox so long as I can just respond to emails from the address to which they're sent. I'd also like a browser that doesn't suck. The BlackBerry browser is bad, but IE Mobile is HORRIBLE. Good call quality is a must, as is the ability to at least view MS Office attachments. Creating and editing attachments would also be very nice. Threaded text conversations (a la the BlackBerry) would be fantastic. And it goes without saying that I need to be able to sync to my 10.5.2 MacBook as easily as possible.
I know I've said a lot about what I'd like in terms of what the 8830 offers, but that's just because it's the device that showed me those features. I know they've got to exist on other platforms. Listed below are my options from Sprint (BlackBerries not included). Give them a look and let me know what you'd recommend. If that's a BlackBerry then so be it. I just want to explore all of my options. One last thing. My contract's not up until September 28, but the $175 isn't exactly going to slow me down due to the fact that I'll more than break even on the cheaper Sprint plan by the time September rolls around. That said, if any of you know of some upcoming model that I shold wait on I'd be glad to hear that suggestion, too. Let me know what you think!
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/centro/
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo755p/
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo700w/
http://direct.motorola.com/ens/MotoQ9c/q-home.asp?Country=USA&language=ENS&productid=30729
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=mobilephones&type=mobilephones&subtype=sprint&model_cd=SPH-I325DLASPR
http://www.htctouch.com/
