Seeking the wisdom of the FList/DWircle

[giandujakiss]

I have now reached the limits of my tolerance for my office's policy of blocking every website I want to visit (currently posting from a very slow and ancient mobile thing). I am therefore resolved to purchase a smartphone or something similar I can use to websurf - preferably something with a real keyboard.

I don't know these fancy French words like "3G" or "HTC.". I just want something with a good fast reliable connection and decent battery life.

Can anyone tell me what I should get?

Comments

[elliemurasaki]

I have no personal experience with the iPhone but everyone I know who has one loves it.

[shadadukal]

I have a Nokia E71, which is a smartphone, but I don't use it for Internet so I can't comment on that. But the full keyboard is quite good, I manage to type quite fast with it. And the battery life is good (several days without needing to recharge), although if I used my phone a lot more, it'd be less of course. And it's Nokia quality so it's solid stuff (dropped it, no scratch, didn't even turn off). My first phone was a Nokia too and it lasted almost 7 years before it stopped working.

No, I don't have shares in Nokia, just a good experience with their phones. ;)

[lithiumdoll]

If no phone isn't a deal breaker, could be worth looking at an ipad. And I didn't _want_ to get one initially, but I have to dev for it ... and somewhere between begrudging its very existence and now I kind of fell in love o_0

The battery life is very good - if you minimise its volume / brightness, you can get ~ 10 hours of video out of let, let alone all the lighter browsey stuff. And if you get bored surfing, the iBook thing is <3

[saraht]

If phone service is not at all desired, an iPad + dock/keyboard + mobile hotspot from (Virgin/Verizon/Time Warner Cable) might be the ticket.

[eruthros]

I've tried out a bunch of smart phones, and mostly I found that the keyboards are really finicky -- I ended up with a Samsung Droid phone, because it had the thing most approximating the kind of keyboard I like, but it's still difficult to use. (When I surf on my phone, I mostly don't comment or send long emails, because it's such a pain.) Lots of people like touchscreen keypads (like the iPhone and the HTC Droid phones), but I can't use them at all. Obviously ymmv.

If you'd like to use it for serious browsing/typing, I like tethering something with a real keyboard to a phone with a data plan, or using a mobile hotspot. My dad does a Droid phone with unlimited data tethered to a cheap netbook, which is a pretty cheap insto-hotspot, and very handy at work and was easy to set up. I think all Droid phones can be plugged into netbooks with USB cables or tethered via bluetooth and become insto-mobile hotspots using free apps, or there are a bunch of mobile-hotspot specific things. (The iPhone can't do that without jailbreaking, I think, plus I don't think there's an unlimited data plan for it anymore.)

ETA: HTC is a brand of phones; they do a bunch of Android phones, so since I was shopping just for Droid phones I tried a lot of them out. They are, I have to say, pretty shiny, even if I hated the keyboards.

[dragojustine]

Basically the two considerations are carrier and keyboard. I'd ask around people at your workplace/neighborhood what carrier they use and how the service is (are you in NY? I quibble with saraht- I'm UWS and Verizon works absolutely great for me, but in other parts of the city it can be sloooow. It really is worth asking coworkers, I think). Then you just walk into a store of that carrier and ask to play with their smartphones, then pick the one with the keyboard you hate least.

Er, YMMV, etc. I like my Droid, though the battery life isn't all I wish it were (if I use the internet heavily I really do have to charge it every night, which I suppose is not unreasonable).

[monanotlisa]

I'm not the best counsel ;) here because I wasn't in the mood for extended sessions of checking, counter-checking, and comparing.

For me, my mobile plan right now works out perfectly (purchased the iPhone in the UK where it was cheapest -- LOL @ that term in conjunction with Apple -- and got a contract that I can cancel every month, now paying only EUR 10/mo. as a flat fee for surfing up to 200MB, plus phone calls, which I don't do much because I hate talking on the phone).

For you, I'd think it depends on what you want.

Phone-wise, wrt surfing, I know most most androids (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-android-phone.htm) are perfectly fine -- graphics aren't as excellent as on the G4, but other people have mentioned they can't tell the difference. *g* If you want to comment/txt more, though, or generally wish to interact via typing, I strongly suggest getting a phone that has a real (if tiny) keyboard; iPhone and similarly designed touchpad phones suck for communicating in more than one line or so.

Plan-wise, don't let them sell you oodles of extra minutes in an expensive plan if you don't like chewing other people's ears off (or have friends who like that). Finance plans are usually disadvantageous options, but you know, privileged person here, so cum grano salis.

Finally, sort of a propos: if you have the money, get an iPad. Light and at least relatively functional re: typing (larger keys, relatively sensitive), not to mention gorgeous. I personally can't justify the expense because I have desktop computers at home & at work, an iPhone, and a netbook that runs flawlessly. But honestly, if surfing is what you want to do and don't care for phone functions beyond Type Number In And Deal With Caller, just keep your old phone and go be good to those Apple shareholders...

[vito_excalibur]

I'm really enjoying my G2. For my money the G1 and G2 have the best keyboards of any phone on the market. But check what service provider has the best coverage in your area.

[ilthit]

The ones with keyboards tend to be expensive. Touch screen keyboards are more likely but very annoying to use, even with autocorrect. Impossible without autocorrect.

Look for these code words: 3G (or 3.5G, 3.75G), quadband, WLAN. If you get a Nokia device, do not set your email up on the phone's app (or if you feel you must, consult me first). You do not need an iPhone - cheaper phones have the exact same features and their own "app stores".

The iPad is much better for accessing the Internet and for comfort of use, being a more comfortable size, but obviously it's ridiculously costly. You might also want to consider getting a mini-laptop/netbook and a SIM instead of a smartphone.

(A SIM card is the little card in your phone that connects it to the network. I think you're American, so you would probably have purchased all your phones with the SIM already inserted, but in Belgium, Finland and Sweden at least it's more common to get a SIM separately. The SIM is operator-manufactured. Some operators sell USB-sticks with SIMs that let you connect your PC on the fly, and some netbooks come with a slot for a SIM pre-installed.)