Overwhelmed by phones

[K-Man]

My old phone got wet, and I need a new one.

We have sprint, but our contract is up and we are both due new phones (could also switch carriers easily)

We have a kid who might be getting a phone soon.

I am starting to want e-mail and internet access through the phone. My wife seems happy with just a phone.

Should I get iphone, blackberry, palm pre, google android, or other?

What plan is good for families?

Thnaks!

 

[txtxyeha]

Gotta admit that I use my iPhone for:

Phone (though AT&T tries the patience on coverage at times)
iPod for music, podcasts, and movies
Kindle (book reader)
Manifesto for RSS (getting all my fav sportswriters pushed to me)
Internet browser
GPS for directions (not as good as a stand-alone, but good enough that I gave my Garmin Nuvi to my wife)
Flight Tracker
Wall Street Journal (free for now)
UltraList (I should seek professional counseling for all the ToDo Lists I maintain)
Salesforce.com
DirecTV scheduling for those V8 moments
Sync with Google Calendar, Contacts, Email

What helps is my employer pays the $100 a month for unlimited voice, and I fork over the $50 for unlimited data. Good luck with your choices.

 

[omnipresent]

props to TMobile unlimited talk $49 per month and $25 data plan -- using Blackberry. I'm gonna be patient an pass on the Mytouch and get the Motorola Cliq. Google Android phones - once i got a data plan - it saved me so much time and frustration! One great thing about some phones is the ability to tether, meaning if you have a data plan, you can use your phone as your internet connection for your laptop..which i find very helpful when I'm opening large PDF's or Excel docs. Make sure to get 3g service - of course a basic phone is all a phone newbie would need though -

 

[ballrific]

palm pre.

 

[Dusty]

iP 3GS 32GB-

Recent upgrade from a LG C1500. Actually it’s a transformation.

WiFi
Video with editing
Voice recognition
I’ve loaded 50 albums, Movies and UT Fb games so far.
Apps: dB meter, iheartradio (Clear Channel-KVET WOAI) banking, Statesman, Bump exchange (so far again). Trying to choose a golf GPS rangefinders app. I’m not a gamer, but I can imagine how addictive this device could be.
Accessories galore. This will be the most supported device. Form fitting “battery” cases available to extend operating time.

Favorite sneaky feature is if you tap on an address in the contacts list it’ll switch to Google Maps and drop a pin at that location. A couple more taps and you have driving directions.

Toggling by Nov. Flash and Silverlight afterwards.

To think my first handheld was a Toshiba KT-S2 in '81. Its’ FM tuner was a cassette.

This iP is so sick of a device I forget I’m paying AT&T/Big Brother for it.

 

[alden]

I think the iPhone is at the top of the heap for the foreseeable future. It's pricy, but I think it's worth it. Internet on your phone is awesome. If you're doing LOTS of emails, like it's a work phone, a hard keypad might be nice. But otherwise, touch screen is fine.

It seems like all service providers have some kind of family plan. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference between them, but I haven't investigated recently.

 

[Dionysus]

Nothing comes close to the iPhone.