Phone recommendations?

[Saracen]

In my job as an inspector, I need a laptop. Unfortunately, I can't take one into the places I have to go. Consequently I need to upgrade to a smartphone. Right now I'm on Verizon and I'd like to stay with them for the coverage area. My projected needs are:

-access at least 3 email accounts.

-open .doc and .pdf attachments

-look up identification and reference info on the web (need full html browsing), but speed isn't the first priority.

-possibly review powerpoint files (not necessarily edit, but it would be nice)

-ability to take decent photos or short videos and email them

-GPS navigation would be a great asset.

-and play Ogame!

Is there something out there that can do all of this? In my old job (of ten years), I just needed a phone to talk, so I'm a little out of my element looking at Blackberries and Palms.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Baddums]

Oh there's tons of options out there! People seem to like the Samsung Omnia (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=4366), although I'm not a fan of full touchscreen myself (they usually perfer fingertip and I have long nails, so it's a hassle) but it has all of the features you listed. Or the Samsung Saga (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=4326), which is almost the same thing but with a full QWERTY (awesomeness).

There's also the Palm Centro (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3805#overviewlink), a good classic phone, and has everything but the VNavigation.

I'm super super picky about the way a phone feels and how the menus are organized, so I'd say go to a store and just play around with how they feel, if you're brave enough to face the sales people that follow you around!

[Mushok]

HTC Touch Pro if you want something sexy with touchscreen,and has a better camera/video capture capability.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=4331

Samsung Saga if you want something more practical, without touch-screen and does about the same things.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=4326

Back when I sold Verizon we didn't have any HTC equipment, so I really don't know how to recommend them. I did sell Samsung PDA's and they where some of the best put together, fuctional PDA's out there.

edit : Here's a little advice as well to anyone who want's to make sure they really are getting the best deal on their phones when they buy. This goes for Verizon only. Make sure you log-in your verizon account and go to Upgrade Phones for your phone (if your available) and check out what it will cost you online. Next go to the store and play with the phones your interested in and check out the in-store price (make sure its a Corporate location first). Next try and find a Cellular Sales store (Authorized-Retailer - it will look just like a Verizon store, and is licensed by them so it has all the same stuff on the walls and the Verizon logo). At the authorized retailer you can tell him the price your paying online/in-corporate-store and see if he can beat that (will normally involve a mail-in-rebate of 50-150 dollars, but so will in-store buying of phone at corporate). Authorized retailers are able to adjust the cost of the phone as long as its cost effective to them so that they make money on the contract still, and you may save a little of money.

If you hate mail-in-rebates avoid all of this and just go with internet ordering.

[Straeter]

What about the blackberry curve? I have an HTC Mogul I believe it is but referenced under XV 6800 and it seemed GREAT when I got it, full touchscreen and a qwerty keyboard slide out, BUT not it seems to be pausing a lot, the keyboard seems to not work sometimes, sometimes you hit the key multiple times... I was looking at going to the Blackberry Curve or something off the Windows Mobile OS. I use exchange and when I was looking at BB first off you had to buy their BES crap which was like 400 bucks. But now they offer a personal or something BES that allows for 1 user to use it for free w/ exchange and then you can buy the license 1 at a time after that up to 30.

I need to open and edit Excel files
Open Word files
Open PDF
And obviously be able to email any of those.

Any idea of the BB's do that?

[Mushok]

Blackberries run off their own OS, so no they won't inheritably do the things he needs/you need.

Although you can buy Microsoft Office on your Blackberry to make it capable (its expensive to buy).

I am a hardcore Blackberry fan but if he wants video/camera/all the capabilities he listed built in already then go with a Microsoft OS. If you have money to burn and want a more complete PDA go with a Blackberry (some of the newer ones have video/audio/camera's now) and pay the extra for all the other features you need. Blackberries have the best E-mail system because it updates constantly, instead on a set-time like Microsoft email does. Meaning you get your emails instantly instead of with a bit of a delay on a Microsoft PDA.

[Saracen]

Thanks for the tips. ...and thanks for the buying advice Mushok. I'm probably going to go into one of the stores because I want to try each of the phones out for a week or so before I settle on one.

It's always a little awkward when you have to buy a new gadget and you aren't familiar with the technology. At first you have to just learn what questions to ask... I'm kind of slow and methodical about these kind of buying decisions. I was wanting to narrow it down to a couple of contenders and you all have made some great suggestions.

Much appreciated.

[Kinetic]

Some of those super tiny and portable laptops out there really aren't much bigger than some of these behemoth phones that have been mentioned in this thread, and probably weigh almost the same as well. Unless your limitation is "no computers allowed", you might want to just check your options that way as well and see if it is viable. The kind and amount of work you are describing would make me want to kill myself if I had to do it all on a cell phone.

[Saracen]

Yep, no laptops allowed in many of the areas. Nor do I want to carry anything extra, even a small one. I do have to have a phone, so I'd like to use it if it isn't more trouble than it's worth.

I have other resources, and I'm skilled at what I do, ...but if it's possible (and it will conceivably make my job easier) I want to try and avail myself of new technology. Getting the email and web access where ever I happen to be (or enroute where ever I'm going) would make my job easier and faster.

Thanks.

[kaifus]

HTC Touch Pro FTW.

[Badd]

Work purchased a Samsung Saga for me. I hate it. It slows down constantly. You can not select more than one email item to delete a few at the same time. The mouse mode is cumbersome as you can not reach one side of the screen or the other in medium mouse speed, I could speed it up but then I have trouble going to items in the middle of the screen. It has shut down several time on its own and it does not get as good reception as my schi760, also by Samsung. It does have a touch screen. The mouse mode does not work well in direct sunlight.

[Alair]

In my job as an inspector, I need a laptop. Unfortunately, I can't take one into the places I have to go. Consequently I need to upgrade to a smartphone. Right now I'm on Verizon and I'd like to stay with them for the coverage area. My projected needs are:

-access at least 3 email accounts.

-open .doc and .pdf attachments

-look up identification and reference info on the web (need full html browsing), but speed isn't the first priority.

-possibly review powerpoint files (not necessarily edit, but it would be nice)

-ability to take decent photos or short videos and email them

-GPS navigation would be a great asset.

-and play Ogame!

Is there something out there that can do all of this? In my old job (of ten years), I just needed a phone to talk, so I'm a little out of my element looking at Blackberries and Palms.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

the touch/touch pro/diamond are NOT what you want. if you're actually wanting to type in any reasonable fashion these phones are simply too small (yes, i own one). http://www.htc.com/www/product/tytnii/overview.html may be interesting to you, as it's keyboard is not constantly exposed and it runs on winmo6 so has native office document support

[Straeter]

I'm not sure verizon supports the TyTnII or whatever. I know the one that I have what they call the XV or VX 6800 is supported, but not sure if you can still buy it or not. now they sell the 6900 but it has no REAL qwerty keyboard, it is all touch based and I would HATE to have to type on it. the only real problem I have with my 6800 is that I think I have to claim my insurance on it since it seems that some of the buttons don't want to activate correctly when typing. sometimes the O and some of the upper right buttons won't fire at all, and sometimes they fire 3-4 times. Makes typing a hassel. I've heard of a bunch of folks on the Windows OS having lag associated with them, myself included, and makes you have to reboot the thing every so often, not sure on the blackberries. I also thought I was reading somewhere that the newer Blackberries were coming with built in support to open and view Word/Excel/PDF files. I've never heard of any of my friends with them having issues.