So my phone is completely busted and now I've got the opportunity to get out of my god-awful contract. I'm pretty much set on switching over to Wind and their 45$ deal they have going on right now.

But, I hate looking through 20430 different products, so if y'all can help me out, that'd be great.

Things I liked about my iPhone:
1) Doubles as my mp3 player
2) touch screen
3) threaded text messages
4) "unlimited" characters (I know if my message was too long it was cut up, but I was able to type indefinitely without being cut off )
5) didn't need headphones to listen to my music (idk if more phones do this, I don't keep uptodate )

And uh, I can't really think of much else to be honest.

I'm looking to spend 150 tops pretty much.. so that I can use the windtab. Can't really afford to pay anything upfront.

Any suggestions?

I would recommend their low end Android devices - the Huawei U8100 for $130 or that Alcatel Tribe for $170. My buddy has got the Alcatel and I've played around with it. Pretty solid. Does GBA games. It's got a touch screen and hardware QWERTY; IMO the best combo. It's $20 over your budget, but definitely worth it.

Originally Posted by Freija

I would recommend their low end Android devices - the Huawei U8100 for $130 or that Alcatel Tribe for $170. My buddy has got the Alcatel and I've played around with it. Pretty solid. Does GBA games. It's got a touch screen and hardware QWERTY; IMO the best combo. It's $20 over your budget, but definitely worth it.

Yea, they both look pretty qt. Thanks for the suggestions. Do you know if they can both play music out loud?

But yea, I'm pretty set on touch screen and qwerty.




"External Memory: microSD™ slot for external memory up to 16 GB"
Anyone know how much these normally go for?

Most of the online reviews say the Huawei is a bit better than the Alcatel, but essentially they're the same (the Alcatel is a bit bigger, but has a physical keyboard as well). Every feature you listed is available on every Android phone.

Fair warning that these phones will be a step down from your iPhone though! I think its worth it for how great the plan is, but you will have to get used to typing on a worse touch screen

EDIT: I got my 8 gb on sale for around $15.

You will absolutely hate the Huawei U8100 if you are moving from a iPhone. This is coming from first hands experience since my family have a Huawei U8100.

The screen is resistive (which means you need to interact it using brute force) and isn't very responsive. Its size is quite small at 2.8 inches. Low sensitivity plus small working space equals to absolute misery when trying to text or interact with the phone.

Comparing to a Blackberry Bold 9700 and Nokia 5230 (noted for best antennas), the Huawei U8100 does not have good reception.

The only advantage of it is the fact that it is a Android. However due to the mentioned limitations, you will just end up having a overall bad experience with it.

You _may_ like the Nokia 5230, but you might not. I did not spend much time playing around with it because it did not interest me that much. The only reason why I even tooled around the Huawei U8100 is because of the constant complains.

The screen response a lot better than the Huawei U8100 even when it is also a resistive screen (probably better software). Signal is also better.

I really like Phone Arena reviews. Here is a relevant video and link for you. They did not do a review for the Huawei U8100.



http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/No...-Review_id2403

With your price range though, I don't see much options. Only 4 smart phones falls within that price range.

EDIT:

Forgot to mentioned. The Nokia 5230 that Wind sell will also work with Rogers and Fido on 3G. From my knowledge, it is the only phone that Wind currently have that has this capability.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Yea, they both look pretty qt. Thanks for the suggestions. Do you know if they can both play music out loud?

But yea, I'm pretty set on touch screen and qwerty.

"External Memory: microSD™ slot for external memory up to 16 GB"
Anyone know how much these normally go for?

The Alcatel Tribe does have a external speaker for music.

Canada Computers has a 16GB microSD for $30. Depending on how lucky you are, you can save about $5 to $10 using eBay.

EDIT:

I was reading up on the Alcatel Tribe. Seems like it has the same screen problem as the Huwei.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/11/28/re...alcatel-tribe/

I would avoid the Wind network completely.
My friend switched to Wind... and now getting a hold of him via phone has become nearly impossible.

The Nokia one that Wind has is pretty good too; however it's no iPhone, but for the price you can't really complain

I've been on Wind for 2+ months now and so far so good. It obviously isn't quite as good as some of the more established networks, but are you sure its not the particular phone that has weaker antenna performance?

I'm using the BlackBerry 9780 and my signal is pretty strong throughout campus. Elevators and everything have at least 3 bars or more. However I get pretty much nothing in the ETB; so if you plan on using your cell phone a lot in that building, it's not really worth it.

I don't have a phone recommendation, but wind overall is great

Originally Posted by lawleypop

So my phone is completely busted and now I've got the opportunity to get out of my god-awful contract. I'm pretty much set on switching over to Wind and their 45$ deal they have going on right now.

But, I hate looking through 20430 different products, so if y'all can help me out, that'd be great.

Things I liked about my iPhone:
1) Doubles as my mp3 player
2) touch screen
3) threaded text messages
4) "unlimited" characters (I know if my message was too long it was cut up, but I was able to type indefinitely without being cut off )
5) didn't need headphones to listen to my music (idk if more phones do this, I don't keep uptodate )

And uh, I can't really think of much else to be honest.

I'm looking to spend 150 tops pretty much.. so that I can use the windtab. Can't really afford to pay anything upfront.

Any suggestions?

The xt720 is the closest thing to the iPhone, but its approx 300 upfront. It has its drawbacks, but I suggest you try all the phones in the store!

Everyone seems to like the tribe a lot though. Just pop into the Jackson wind store and play around.. theres nothing stopping you from buying a non-wind phone, but you have to pay 25$ for a SIM, however.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Everyone seems to like the tribe a lot though. Just pop into the Jackson wind store and play around.. theres nothing stopping you from buying a non-wind phone, but you have to pay 25$ for a SIM, however.

Though one has to be careful to get an AWS phone. Wind is on the AWS spectrum, and standard GSM phones will not work.

Originally Posted by paulelastic

Though one has to be careful to get an AWS phone. Wind is on the AWS spectrum, and standard GSM phones will not work.

Thats a very good point, I didn't even know that, myself.

The one thing I have experienced with friends on Wind's network is that text messages are quite unreliable. I have routinely gotten texts from separate friends around 1:45 asking if I was going to a 1:30 class. Not a huge issue, but something to consider.