Smartphone Dilemna

Well, I think that I am probably in the same dilemna as many people are with trying to find the right smartphone.  I can’t decide which mix of pros and cons that I want.  The obvious options that I see are the Blackberry Tour, the Palm Pre, and one of the Windows Mobile options available.  To make the matter worse, I am not certain which carrier that I want to use.  Currently, I am a Sprint user and have been for some time.  I am currently not certain that I want to stay with Sprint.  One of the big issues is when I go to visit family in a rural part of Minnesota, Sprint’s coverage is barely adequate.  On the other hand, Verizon is the preferred carrier there.  Based on research that I have done, I think that those are the only two carriers that I really want to deal with.  So that removes the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold from contention (as both are AT&T phones).  So here is the list that I see:

Blackberry Tour

Photo via BoyGeniusReport

Pros: Blackberry Push Email Technology Ease of use Rev. A MicroSD Expansion Slot Cons No WiFi

Palm Pre

Photo via Engadget

Pros WiFi Keyboard Size Cons Sprint Only (thru 2009) Keyboard Feel No Tethering Soft Dial Phone

HTC Snap/ Verizon Ozone

Photo via CNet

Pros Blackberry Feel Keyboard Window Mobile Rev. A WiFi (on Verizon) MicroSD Expansion Slot Cons No WiFi (on Sprint)

HTC Touch Pro

Photo via CNet

Pros WiFi Rev. A Slide out keyboard Windows Mobile microSD Expansion slot Cons Price Bulky Soft Dial Phone Some performance issues reported

I like the Blackberry Tour and I like the Verizon Ozone phones. My fundamental problem with Sprint is that their network is limited in certain places that I go (especially in rural Northern MN). Verizon solves this problem (at least in that area) but their smartphone plans are quite a bit more expensive that the Sprint plans are.

If Sprint would simply offer the Tour or Snap with WiFi… the deal would be done. If Verizon would just offer a more reasonable smartphone plan (see Sprint’s smartphone plans)… the deal would be done. As always the mobile companies seem to be more concerned about how to lock you into their network and not on what customers really want. The journey continues…

P.S. ~ For more reading about Phone options and issues Dave over at AnywhereMan has a similar article called “The only thing that stays the same is change“

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Tagged as: Blackberry Tour, HTC Snap, HTC Touch Pro, Mobile Phone, Ozone, Palm Pre