Need a New Phone

[irain]

Yup... it happeend; my Sidekick broke the other day. And I now need a new phone. But I'm not sure what to get. Can someone give me a phone/plan suggestion? Here are my requirements:

Phone:
QWERTY keyboad
Fully-functional web browsing
Bluetooth
and possibly the ability to be used as a modem for my MacBook

Plan:
T-Mobile or Cingular
UNLIMITED INSTANT MESSENGING
Basic E-Mail
Basic Phone-capabilities
A plan that doesn't charge by how much data your phone is requesting
(i.e. you go to a site with 1,000 pictures on one page and get charged $15,000)
No plan that adds up anything over $60

I've been thinking either a blackberry, treo maybe the Sidekick 3 or something along those lines.

Any ideas would be appreciated, even if they don't meet the aforementioned criteria. Thanks.

 

[0007776]

If you have the money use a cheap phone for now and then upgrade to the iPhone when it ships.

 

[nitynate]

Go with T-MOBILE & a Sidekick 3...
Sounds like what you need it for.

 

[irain]

Do you know if the iPhone will have an iChat-like instant messenger through which you can connect with an AOL screen name?

 

[Mammoth]

Do you know if the iPhone will have an iChat-like instant messenger through which you can connect with an AOL screen name?

It probably will.

 

[yg17]

BlackBerry Pearl + T-Mobile > *

 

[Aniej]

Irain, I am actually looking to sell a Nokia 9300 communicator, which is a pretty cool phone and sounds like it is right in line with what you are looking for. It is brand new, never even opened. It is going for around $250-$350 last time I checked online. it's a great phone, but I just have no use for it now that I my work provides me all the phone gadgets I could ever want. I am looking to sell it for around $195, but am pretty open to talking about options, though that is pretty close to the lowest I would go. If you are interested let me know.

 

[iMacZealot]

I would go for the Sidekick 3. I love mine. The interface is somewhat improved, the EDGE makes it faster, and you can now save your address book to your SIM (but it's manual, so it takes a while.)

Some great phones are coming to T-Mobile like the BB8800 (which I believe theirs will have a camera) and a stripped-down Sidekick, although nobody knows what it will feature.

SK is best for you. Unlimited web + text + email + IM = $20.00.
Blackberry: Unlimited web + email = $20.00.
Windows Mobile Devices (MDA, SDA, Dash): Unlimited web + email = $30.00.