Need a new phone

[wheel]

Say I want a new phone, mostly for researching marketing, social media etc. I want to be hooked into what the young folks are doing.

What phone would I get?

I get a new phone every 10 years or so, even if there's nothing wrong with my current one and it's about time.

[LifeinAsia]

I just bought a phone with push buttons- finally got tired of the rotary dial...

[incrediBILL]

We just got rid of the rotary dial too and I really miss the party-line.

Very odd to pick up and get a dial-tone instead of hearing the neighbors talking on the phone.

hint: Android Sprint EVO or Verizon Droid

[Matthew1980]

Well, I just recently got the sony-ericsson X10 mini which is touch screen & android powered - and somehow came unlocked?!

Initial teething problems but now since the new android finally got updated all seems good.

Recommend the HTC Desire too - get yourself down to the local 'phone shop, one of those that offer impartial advice, then you shouldn't be forced into something you don't like.

I'm interested to see what you plump for, so please let us know :)

Cheers,
MRb

[lawman]

I have a Droid X. Sorta miss my blackberry.

[Lexur]

If you want to do what everyone is doing, obviously you must to buy an iPhone. I hate Apple, but they are setting the trends right now.

[bhonda]

I'd vote for the HTC Desire too. Good phone. It's serving me well at the moment. Few little issues, but nothing too major.

[piatkow]

finally got tired of the rotary dial..

When I moved in to this house a rotary dial phone was installed. When my daughter wanted to make a call she didn't understand how it worked.

[wyweb]

I've got a cheap phone. You wouldn't like it.

It has minimal functions. It lets me check email though. And that's become more important lately.

A cell phone is just something else for me to lose. The only reason I got it in the first place is because I was driving an old busted up pick-up that could break down at any minute. And I didn't want to have to walk anywhere when it did. I wanted to call somebody to come get me.

Ask a kid. They know everything about them...

[topr8]

>>I want to be hooked into what the young folks are doing.

blackberries are massive with the teens of today

[wheel]

I've got a blackberry. It's stupid :). Touch screen is horrid. I can call you as long as your phone number doesn't include a 9.

Many of my teenager's friends have blackberries, but a few have iphones. My daughter's got an apple and loves it.

I'm curious about the droid and other OS's though.

[Samizdata]

The young folks I know use iPhones, Droids and BlackBerries.

I found the iPhone the most impressive (and it is the most common mobile in my website logs) but the HTC Droids also seem pretty good.

I still use tincans and string myself.

...

[wyweb]

I still use tincans and string myself.

LOL... nice one...

[incrediBILL]

problem with the tincan phones is they're still using RTR (Robbie the Robot) and haven't upgraded to Android yet.

[weeks]

I can call you as long as your phone number doesn't include a 9.

Picky, picky, picky...

I need a new phone as well. I'm buying an iPad2 with 3G (on order), and I'm thinking of carrying that around and using it for what I would use a smartphone's features.

If I do that, I don't need a smartphone or its $25 to $35 a month data plan. I have the money, but I have noticed that more and more services in the world are working for these ongoing relationships with my bank account and I resent it. It adds up.

The Verizon and ATT are offering as-you-need-it 3G plans for the iPad2. For me, this is appealing. A simple phone for calls and texting when I'm out and about, the simple phone with iPad2 for going to meeting to meeting.

I can likely get a free phone. I will not use the 3G very often on the iPad since most places I meet have wifi. Say three months a year. That means I save $25 a month on data plans for 9 or 10 months. The cost of a quality smartphone is about $200. So, for $675 for my iPad2, I'll be ahead in about two years. And I get an iPad2, which is more useful and fun than an phone. And, no, I'm not likely to get a new phone or iPad in two years.

Wheel, when you say "hooked into what the young people are doing," how young. If it's the 20-somethings, yeah, it's the iPhone or a full-featured Droid-type phone. But most parents buy their teens the cheaper phones because, well, they're going to lose them or download $37,000 worth of iTunes. Teens are into texting and Twitter.

[wheel]

I asked my 16yo daughter about this this morning as I was driving her to school. She didn't want to take the bus this morning because she wanted the extra time to do her hair. I guess she feels guilty or obligated when I drive her to school, because communication extended beyond grunts today.

She indicated that she loves her iphone, but most of her friends use blackberries because they like BBM. She described it as kind of a social media thing, like facebook, but not facebook. All in a tone that declared she was talking to someone internet-illiterate.

She sometimes forgets how her father makes his living.

[wheel]

Wheel, when you say "hooked into what the young people are doing," how young. If it's the 20-somethings, yeah, it's the iPhone or a full-featured Droid-type phone. But most parents buy their teens the cheaper phones because, well, they're going to lose them or download $37,000 worth of iTunes. Teens are into texting and Twitter.

I dunno how young. I only market to adults, 35 years and older type of thing. It's not the market I need to reach, it's the technology.

After the last pubcon I realized I missed the boat on the potential uses of social media so I'm going whole hog on that right now. I think there's little mobile stuff in my market right now (I believe most people will sit down for an hour or two to research my product, it's not a fly-by shopping deal) but I also think I should probably have a half baked idea what's going on.

[wyweb]

I realized I missed the boat on the potential uses of social media so I'm going whole hog on that right now.

Absolutely. I missed it too. And playing catch up is hard sometimes.

You sound like you're on top of things though wheel.

Except for the phone anyway....

[weeks]

I missed the boat on the potential uses of social media so I'm going whole hog on that right now.

There are a lot of people claiming to be expert. Everyone is quoting each other. Much like phones.

Social (Twitter, FB, Tumblr and even email; and marketing via services such as Groupon.) can work magic for some retail and for political or issue marketing. For b2b, I have not seen much success in a day-to-day setting. On special events such as conventions, it might be useful on b2b for some industries for some products. Not that I am an expert-example: FourSquare is beyond me.

[WebWalla]

+1 for Android, whichever model takes your fancy. I own a Nexus 1 and am very happy. Mobile is the in thing at the moment, and it's not an age thing either. It seems that every startup mentioned on Techcrunch at the moment has developed some new mobile app or other.
All the social stuff is accessible too: Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, you name it.
And one thing I do like is the possibility of syncing my contacts, agenda and some docs to the cloud, as well as having email on the go. There may be some privacy concerns to this, but for me the benefits are greater.

[weeks]

WebWalla, why did you pass on the iPhone?

[WebWalla]

weeks, for both economical and technical reasons.

At the time the iPhone was on iOS 3, with no multitasking. This was a MAJOR technical con for me. And the major economical pro for the Android, was the number of free and open apps. At the time there were many apps, like Google Translate, that simply weren't available on the iPhone. And Angry Birds is free on the 'droid! :-)

I don't want to get into a debate about Android vs iPhone because it's a debate that's going nowhere - each to his or her own is what I say, and I'm sure there are good and bad points for both systems.

For me, Android has more than covered my needs, but my father has an iPhone which more than covers his needs. So good luck to all, but I can only recommend from my own personal viewpoint and for me it is Android.

[wheel]

I asked my daughter about droids. She called me a nerd. She said she's never even heard the word droid at school. Then she called the droid a p**** iphone knockoff.

I don't know where she gets that language. Probably her mother.

[weeks]

She called me a nerd.

See, she DOES know what you do. Bright child.

I have a friend who is an actor and he just got an iPhone. When I asked why, he replied, "peer pressure." He explained that if you didn't have an iPhone, you were not a player in the movie biz. He's 44 years old. He was embarrassed about it because he is an actor and he can't really afford it.

And, while I do not hang with the hip crowd a great deal, among the executives I have to deal with, at one time you had to have a Blackberry. I mean, you just did. Now, not so much. Iphones and Droids are ok. The engineer-geeks I know (not coders, industrial big iron types) walk around with the Droid. They wrap them in big rubber cases.

So, I'm looking to go simple and inexpensive, but I don't want to embarrass myself either.

[Samizdata]

I don't know where she gets that language

There's probably an app for that.

...

[incrediBILL]

They wrap them in big rubber cases.

I have my HTC Hero in a rubber case, I'd put an iPhone in a rubber case too, what's your point?

It's thin, slippery, hard to hold securely and slides on the table without that thin rubber covering that keeps in securely in my hand or stuck on the table.

It's a functional thing.

[wheel]

8-10 kids eating my cupboards bare tonite. Everyone says blackberry. But I've already got a blackberry. That's no good.

[wyweb]

8-10 kids eating my cupboards bare tonite

That's when it gets good man.

Children can get me laughing faster than anything and laughing is a good thing.

[Leosghost]

I saw what you did there Bill ;-)

#:4287625<= the innuendo is worthy of Kenneth Williams ;-)

Good choice of co-mod for foo ..keep it up ..fnar, fnar ;-)

[weeks]

So, the day went to heck first thing this morning. Really in a foul mood.

Therefore, I decide to go buy a phone. Here's what I got;
[phonearena.com...]

It has video and camera, can do email if I want. And it's a phone. People say I sound fine on it, but others sound a bit tinny to me. But, texting is easy to handle. (It's easy to delete mgs with this phone.) Best of all, the keyboard lockdown is first rate--I had a problem with that on several phones. Paid about $120 after rebate with a package with car charger cord, 4GB card that includes a little thingy that allows me to put into a USB port and a rubber case.

Until my iPad2 arrives, I'll be carting around the laptop. And that is that. (The prime setting I needed is to bring up the calculator quick. Got that done.)