Alternatives to iPhone?

[DisgruntledVirus]

Well I just went out and played with the Instinct. It wasn't too bad, and was kind of enjoyable to use. The onscreen keyboard (OSK) is weird, and was fairly accurate. The one issue I had was when you misspelled a word the only way to correct it was either A) minimize the keyboard and use the arrow keys to move back to the error, delete it, and retype it or B) delete all your text to that point and retype it. I don't see why they don't allow you to touch where you want the cursor to go, or touch the word and have a FF like drop down box that auto-corrects it. That would be 100x easier and more logical IMO.

The GPS was fairly good, but couldn't seem to find a way to do 2D directions. I don't mind 3D, but would at least like the option of 2D so I can see more of my route then a 3D view provides. It took a few to load, but was fairly fast for being a cell phone getting data through a cell network. I didn't do a side by side with a BB Curve/WE but it appeared the Instinct was faster and easier to use.

The menu's were intelligently laid out, and I could find what I was looking for or wanted to do within a few taps of my finger. Much faster then on my Moto Q in ability to get to apps/programs.

One of the big issues was with the music/tv stuff. I never really had a use for either of them on my phone but with Sprint's everything plan I could use them both. So I played around with them, and hated it. I don't know if it's the phone or the service itself but it sucked.

Overall it was a solid phone, and I cannot compare to the iPhone because I have never really used one before. The only real "issue" I had with it other then then OSK/autocorrect issues is that when you use the 3 buttons (back, home, call) it sometimes takes a second tap of the finger because it didn't recognize the first one. Not a big issue, but a tad annoying either way.

The Instinct is my favorite phone I have looked at so far (from BB's, to the EnV2, to just about all of Verizon's phones). Unfortunately it is on Sprint, and it would be too expensive for me to switch away from VZW. I would give it an 8-8.5/10, with the Curve being an 8, and the WE being between the two somewhere. I am really waiting for the Bold and Thunder though, and think I can hold off for another month or two to wait for them.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Thank you for the lenghty review! I think ill head to the Sprint store to check it out tomorrow. It would take one hell of a phone to sway me from my 8330 though.

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: Teetu
I don't get why these guys can't make decent browsers, do people not really use them?

I use the browser on my iPhone so often that it bugs my wife. Now, if we are at a restaurant talking and we can't remember something, I wikipedia it. She thought it was neat at first, but now she thinks it's annoying. If I'm waiting at the airport, I'm usually surfing the web on my phone, if I'm bored in some meeting, I browse on my iPhone - waiting at the doctor's office, etc. I buy and sell stocks on ETrade, I monitor Ebay auctions, I read things here at AT - I use it almost compulsively.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the browsers on other phones, but I do know that I went from using a Nokia from the late 80's that had no browser at all last year to an iPhone and now I'm starting to worry about internet addiction. If you have a good web browser on your phone, I believe that most technologically internet-inclined people will use it... a lot.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: pm

Originally posted by: Teetu
I don't get why these guys can't make decent browsers, do people not really use them?

I use the browser on my iPhone so often that it bugs my wife. Now, if we are at a restaurant talking and we can't remember something, I wikipedia it. She thought it was neat at first, but now she thinks it's annoying. If I'm waiting at the airport, I'm usually surfing the web on my phone, if I'm bored in some meeting, I browse on my iPhone - waiting at the doctor's office, etc. I buy and sell stocks on ETrade, I monitor Ebay auctions, I read things here at AT - I use it almost compulsively.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the browsers on other phones, but I do know that I went from using a Nokia from the late 80's that had no browser at all last year to an iPhone and now I'm starting to worry about internet addiction. If you have a good web browser on your phone, I believe that most technologically internet-inclined people will use it... a lot.

That's exactly why the iPhone sells. There is no other phone that can touch it for web browsing. Those who haven't tried it, don't know what they are missing.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Well just got back from the Sprint store. The Instinct looks really nice. I like the vibrate function when you push keys and the interface looks cool. However, for my use, the Instinct was a no go. I thought it would function like a smart phone but apparently it's geared towards multimedia. So I had no choice but to stick to my 8330 which does everything I want it to do and more.

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Thank you for the lenghty review! I think ill head to the Sprint store to check it out tomorrow. It would take one hell of a phone to sway me from my 8330 though.

I think coming from a Curve you will be highly underwhelmed. Dont get me wrong...the Instinct is a cool phone...but its a toy. The Curve is pretty bulletproof IMHO. I dont own either (but looking at the 8330 also), but I, like everyone else, was all hyped up about the Instinct till I played with one for about 20 mins. It's OK, but not for me. I dont do alot of business stuff, but occasionally I like to do editing of Word docs or something, and you cant on the Instinct. There are also syncing issues with PC that concern me. Anyway.

No phone is perfect, and we have to pick what annoyances we're willing to live with. But, like I said, coming from a Curve, I dont think you'll like it. YMMV of course

P.S. My opinion for phones is the same as PC hardware...get what you want/need NOW. If you wait for xxx to come out, there will be a new and improved xxx in a few months after that. It's never ending waiting. Also, I dont think I've seen one phone in the last two years that BEFORE it was released 90% of people were oooo and aaahhhhh I gotta get one! But then after release it's kind of meh. Pretty funny


EDIT: I just saw you already checked it out With the results I thought you would have hehe

 

[Naeeldar]

Originally posted by: blackangst1

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Thank you for the lenghty review! I think ill head to the Sprint store to check it out tomorrow. It would take one hell of a phone to sway me from my 8330 though.

I think coming from a Curve you will be highly underwhelmed. Dont get me wrong...the Instinct is a cool phone...but its a toy. The Curve is pretty bulletproof IMHO. I dont own either (but looking at the 8330 also), but I, like everyone else, was all hyped up about the Instinct till I played with one for about 20 mins. It's OK, but not for me. I dont do alot of business stuff, but occasionally I like to do editing of Word docs or something, and you cant on the Instinct. There are also syncing issues with PC that concern me. Anyway.

No phone is perfect, and we have to pick what annoyances we're willing to live with. But, like I said, coming from a Curve, I dont think you'll like it. YMMV of course

P.S. My opinion for phones is the same as PC hardware...get what you want/need NOW. If you wait for xxx to come out, there will be a new and improved xxx in a few months after that. It's never ending waiting. Also, I dont think I've seen one phone in the last two years that BEFORE it was released 90% of people were oooo and aaahhhhh I gotta get one! But then after release it's kind of meh. Pretty funny


EDIT: I just saw you already checked it out With the results I thought you would have hehe

I think the key thing there is that so many people thought this would be a full up hardcore smartphone/pda. People that needs the Curve would not be happy with the instinct.

That said after the weekend of playing with it I don't believe the phone is perfect but with future software updates we should have a pretty solid phone thats media focused but has some decent smart phone capbilities. For me the most I'll use it for business use other then as phone is the OWA access. Which is pretty nice.

Web browsing def needs a few software updates and I'd like to see some Mac support but overall I'm finding myself very happy with the phone.

The iPhone improved a lot since release and I expect the instinct will too.

 

[intogamer]

n95

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: blackangst1


EDIT: I just saw you already checked it out With the results I thought you would have hehe

Yeah. I thought it was a cool phone and could be a cool phone if I was younger and not in the profession I'm in, but for what I do there was just no way the phone could have done what I required. By numerous reviews I can tell people are loving the phone - good for them. For $130 I don't think it can be beat.

 

[EKTELESTES]

Samsung Omnia i900 beats them all hands down.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-2422.php

It has already been released in Singapore, so hopefully it will be out in the rest of the world too.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: EKTELESTES
Samsung Omnia i900 beats them all hands down.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-2422.php

It has already been released in Singapore, so hopefully it will be out in the rest of the world too.

I believe this discussion is about phones that are available in the U.S. Market. In addition, you obviously cannot say that phone beats everything hands down when you have never experienced it yourself.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: EKTELESTES
Samsung Omnia i900 beats them all hands down.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-2422.php

It has already been released in Singapore, so hopefully it will be out in the rest of the world too.

it runs on Windows Mobile so to say it "beats them all hands down" even if you have used it. I would laugh at that statement. WM is a POS, ok maybe that's a bit harsh but it's not really good at all, it's just decent. I've owned a WM phone and will never buy another unless version 7 is a way better. The i900 looks interesting, good specs but I'd still take an iPhone over it any day of the week just for the fact the iPhone's web browsing is 100 times better, even over EDGE speeds. And the iPhones interface won't be seriously challenged anytime soon, maybe ever. I don't like Apple but I don't hate them either. As far as the interface goes they almost have it perfect on the iPhone.

 

[abaez]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: EKTELESTES
Samsung Omnia i900 beats them all hands down.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-2422.php

It has already been released in Singapore, so hopefully it will be out in the rest of the world too.

I believe this discussion is about phones that are available in the U.S. Market. In addition, you obviously cannot say that phone beats everything hands down when you have never experienced it yourself.

You can easily import any phone - there are tons of reputable asian websites that allow you to get most of the newer phones released.

 

[EKTELESTES]

Guys, i900 will definitely sell in the Us / rest of the world too. They'd be too dumb not to.

Quebert - Yes, Iphone has a perfect interface, but specs are bad I mean, if you use it as an internet tablet, then you miss the point, don't you?

We shall soon see anyway.

 

[xspsi]

I have the T-mobile dash (window smartphone OS) and the T-mobile Wing (windows professional OS) and yes they do suck out of the box, but if you search cell specific forums and the number one forum for windows mobile phones XDA-Developers.com they're many people that have learned to modify the OS to fix many of the faults that Microsoft has made. Once I modded the OS on my both of my phones the OS was noticably faster and I had more available ram and program space...

 

[Gunslinger08]

Don't get the Instinct. I got it today and I'm taking it back tomorrow. If you're like me and frequently switch between applications, it will lock up frequently. I've had it for about 6 hours and I've had to do hard reboots 20+ times.

 

[Naeeldar]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Don't get the Instinct. I got it today and I'm taking it back tomorrow. If you're like me and frequently switch between applications, it will lock up frequently. I've had it for about 6 hours and I've had to do hard reboots 20+ times.

I've had mine since the 19th and I've only had to do a hard reboot once. Not sure how you got it to lock up thatm uch.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: Naeeldar

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Don't get the Instinct. I got it today and I'm taking it back tomorrow. If you're like me and frequently switch between applications, it will lock up frequently. I've had it for about 6 hours and I've had to do hard reboots 20+ times.

I've had mine since the 19th and I've only had to do a hard reboot once. Not sure how you got it to lock up thatm uch.

Mine locks up every time I open "Messaging." I can't hit any of the buttons.

 

[MadAmos]

I played around with the LG Dare a couple days ago and finally ordered one that is scheduled to arrive Monday. I will let you know how I like it after some time to use it. Based on my impression in the store it looks and feels very nice way faster and smoother than the Voyager and I get to stay with Verizon with all there faults at the end of the day where I need the phone to work they have the best coverage bar none. The dude I work with bought a first gen iphone and he borrows mine 4-5 times a week due to no signal and he complains of constant dropped calls as well. If the Dare does as well as my VX8700 for signal strength it should be a keeper.

Amos

 

[Naeeldar]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: Naeeldar

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Don't get the Instinct. I got it today and I'm taking it back tomorrow. If you're like me and frequently switch between applications, it will lock up frequently. I've had it for about 6 hours and I've had to do hard reboots 20+ times.

I've had mine since the 19th and I've only had to do a hard reboot once. Not sure how you got it to lock up thatm uch.

Mine locks up every time I open "Messaging." I can't hit any of the buttons.

Sounds like you got a dud then. I've had no problems with mine.

 

[TraumaRN]

I got an LG Dare today, and must say I'm fairly impressed. I've played around with iPhones and such but I get such good deals on Verizon phones because of work(25% off phones + accessories and 22% off my bill) that I wanted to stick with VZW. While it doesnt have Wi-Fi like the iphone it does have verizon's broadband access which is just blazing fast and connects from about anywhere. The virtual keyboard is very similar to the iphone.

Signal strength has been great even in my basement. $15 a month for unlimited data. Phone feels solidly built as well. The camera takes OMGWTFBBQ images for a camera phone. Seriously I was amazed at how good the pictures have come out for a camera phone. The screen is smaller than an iphone tho, and the phone in general is actually smaller. The UI is 10000x better than anything I've seen on a verizon phone. Best part was I managed to snag the phone for only $100 plus a $50MIR.

Definitely a very good alternative to the iphone.

 

[TraumaRN]

So little update on my LG Dare its great for surfing the web and im actualy posting the from the full version of AT not the mobile version. Also the main menu is fully customizable to your needs

 

[Pollock]

Originally posted by: DeathBUA
So little update on my LG Dare its great for surfing the web and im actualy posting the from the full version of AT not the mobile version. Also the main menu is fully customizable to your needs

Do Google apps, like maps with my location, work fine? How's the browser overall?

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: Pollock

Originally posted by: DeathBUA
So little update on my LG Dare its great for surfing the web and im actualy posting the from the full version of AT not the mobile version. Also the main menu is fully customizable to your needs

Do Google apps, like maps with my location, work fine? How's the browser overall?

Well google apps dont work and apparently according to google it's because the BREW OS on the Dare is 'locked' Now supposively there is a way to crack this, however no one has figured out how to do that yet.

Brower wise it's a decent browser and once again I'm posting this from my phone. The only sucky part is some website don't downsize so scrolling through them can be a bit of a bitch. Otherwise I've been really impressed with the phone.

Also of note and it's something that I've noticed, but the phone itself is really really light and doesnt have feel like you have a small brick in your pocket.

 

[IcePickFreak]

I picked up the LG Dare last Saturday as well, since my 'new every 2' was up and my old razr needed to be put to rest ASAP. After a week with it I really have no complaints. I've never touched an iPhone so I can't really compare, but browsing on the Dare works great. Texting on the virtual qwerty works great as well (and again I'm coming from an old razr). It seems extremely responsive in both the touchscreen and moving about menu's and apps, as well as loading web pages. The camera takes great pictures (considering this is a phone). Even the battery life isn't too bad. I went with the unlimited data plan so I can use it as much as needed and not worry about extra charges, and things like VZNavigator I found to be excellent and is included with the unlimited data plan, so I never bothered with google maps. And since it's a phone, I should mention that call quality is great. The music player also sounds great surprisingly even from the mono speaker, but there's a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for practical use and it sounds great. Only gripe is the way music sorts is a little messed up ATM but I suspect that will be fixed in an 'over the air' firmware update, and really is my only gripe, albeit a minor one, so far.

Also, I picked it up on July 5th, the phone officially released on the 3rd. I was in the store for a total of about 30 minutes and I walked out with a working phone (no, I won't camp out for a friggen phone). I ended up getting a 8gb micro-SD card, decent leather case (I never use cases though), and a car charger all for free. A nice bonus was the salesguy brought up corporate discouts, so for the heck of it I had him look it up and ended up with a 15% discount on my monthly bill. So it's worth a shot to inquire about that as well, the guy said you'd be surprised at how many places have corporate discounts. You do however need something "official" with your name and the companies name on it should you be eligible for one.