Any newer VZW smartphones that have physical keyboards NOT named Droid?

[Jester666]

root, custom rom and kernel and overclock

this will at least improve the situation until there are more selections for phones that meet your criteria

 

[SunnyD]

root, custom rom and kernel and overclock

this will at least improve the situation until there are more selections for phones that meet your criteria

No no and no. Not worth the headache. Last time I did that, I had to RMA the phone after a few months. Not to mention my wife dealing with FCs from an unstable kernel and/or a crappy framework. I've no problems dealing with such issues on my own phone, but I've already got enough nagging about the phone as is.

 

[AstroManLuca]

For starters, I never knew anything about the Merge until s44 mentioned it. So it goes without saying that there's stuff out there that someone other than myself might know about. Second, I'm not up to snuff on the particulars of all the phones that are currently available, which is why I through out specifications and people with experience correlate and itemize phones that have and don't have features I'm looking for.

I'm not going to find out if I don't ask, right?

To answer your edit - no, I want to get her a new phone, something different and somewhat less flaky than the one she has. Experience dictates that it not be a Droid, since between her wants and experience, the Droid isn't what she wants nor what I want to support.

I hear you.

But how is a Droid-branded phone any different from a different Android phone? They run the same OS. If her Droid is "flaky," then either there's an actual hardware issue (in which case a new phone of any kind would fix it), or there's a problem with the Android OS (in which case, no other Android phone would be any different), or it's user error (in which case, nothing can really be done about it). That's why some suggested doing a complete wipe and reset of the phone. Unless you're messing with roms and stuff on a regular basis, or downloading bad apps, I don't think there's any reason it should get progressively slower with time.

Droids are no different from other Android phones; they're not even all made by the same company. Some are Motorola, some are HTC. It's just a brand name Verizon uses.

 

[SunnyD]

I hear you.

But how is a Droid-branded phone any different from a different Android phone? They run the same OS. If her Droid is "flaky," then either there's an actual hardware issue (in which case a new phone of any kind would fix it), or there's a problem with the Android OS (in which case, no other Android phone would be any different), or it's user error (in which case, nothing can really be done about it). That's why some suggested doing a complete wipe and reset of the phone. Unless you're messing with roms and stuff on a regular basis, or downloading bad apps, I don't think there's any reason it should get progressively slower with time.

Droids are no different from other Android phones; they're not even all made by the same company. Some are Motorola, some are HTC. It's just a brand name Verizon uses.

Kernel modules (drivers) and various vendor specific OS code changes exist from phone to phone. This is most people's major complaint about Android in general - the experience tends to be fairly uniform across the platform, but it's not necessarily so under the hood. I have no problems with this aspect of Android, but my job is to get my wife a phone that works well.

I agree, it could be the hardware - which is why I'd prefer to stay away from another Droid. But it could be vendor-specific software - which is why I'd prefer to stay away from another Droid. Unfortunately, the Droid 1 is pretty much EOL'd given it has successors out, so hoping there's a potential software fix for whatever ails my wife's phone is all but nil.

 

[notposting]

I'm pretty sure that if my wife ever goes to a smartphone...it would have to be an iPhone. I couldn't imagine her running Android daily. Maybe wait and see if any of the WP7 models on VZW have keyboards?

 

[Ksyder]

Of course having it on Page Plus puts you in somewhat of a jam...as you know smartphones on there are desirable due to web and mms working without any modification....any thing pre Droid is a downgrade, or else you could go with a feature phone like an env3 our whatever the newest one is...but then you'd have to fix wap settings and such....life isn't perfect in Page Plus land...if you want a full html browser phone on Page Plus the last sensible choice is Droid 2 or Droid Pro, it seems. Do you think she would be happy with an HTC Ozone? That is above all else a good phone.

 

[simonizor]

Either live with what you have or get a Droid. Either the pros outweigh the cons (oh noes it's too heavy) or they don't. Droids are the only choice you have right now at VZW for a good phone with a large screen and a keyboard.