vB Easy Archive - Any hope for me? I need -serious- advice.

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Any hope for me? I need -serious- advice.
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Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

My contract with Sprint will be up this year. I'm waiting for that opportunity to get a new phone as is my girlfriend. We currently have Sanyo Katanas, the very first model (SCP-6600 I think?) to be specific. I love the phone's features, I love the overall quality of it, and the fact I can get signal whereas anyone else I know won't have signal just makes me glad I went Sanyo for my phone.

So what are the problems?
1. My girlfriend and I text a fair amount, and I browse the web a lot. I use the Opera Mobile browser as the default one on the phone just flat out sucks. So a keyboard is probably going to be my new best friend on my next phone.

2. The QCP format of ringtones for this phone is just MURDERING anything I attempt to use for a ringtone. It seriously has warped awesome songs into sounding absolutely horrid and distorted. Its like listening to someone fart on a snaredrum underwater for the most part. This is with bought ringtones and ones I've made, and its the same for my girlfriend's phone, so I believe the QCP format is the culprit.

3. I'm beginning to think either the phones my girlfriend and I are using have had it, or Sprint's service is being screwed with, because we will go into Digital Roaming out of nowhere, even though we are well within Sprint coverage. I have never gone into Digital Roaming until recently, but in places where I know for a fact I shouldn't, such as my work.

4. The pictures suck no matter the settings. 'nuff said.

My girlfriend only requires a keyboard to make her happy on her next phone, so whatever has a keyboard is what she's getting. Me on the other hand, I require a little more.

1. A keyboard would be nice for text and for browsing the web.

2. Something that doesn't use QCP format for ringtones, preferably MP3 or M4A or anything that, y'know, sounds like the music that was intended to be put in.

3. A phone that's going to have a good signal connection. I know on Sprint it will be hard to even compare to Sanyo in terms of signal strength/quality, but honestly, I think i'm done with Sanyo until they start putting out a phone worth the cash.

4. A decent camera that isn't sucky. I don't need a Carl Zeiss lens with zoom rivaling a point and shoot camera, but I also want something that can take decent pictures period. I need this more for my work than anything, as I use it to send photos of product we get in that is damaged so I can refuse it with my boss' approval when he's not there to see it himself. Plus there's the occasional Kodak moments in life that catch you when you don't have an actual camera handy.

I don't -need- to stay with Sprint if it means I can get real sounding ringtones, by buying them or making my own. But for terms of coverage I will definitely say I need something decent in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, as I live in Illinois, and travel up to Michigan when my girlfriend goes to visit her parents, if that helps any. Last I had seen, Sprint was the only carrier that had decent coverage in Michigan.

That said, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Posted by: Dette

Well a smartphone will do all of the things you need but it will take a 3rd party program to send pics with sprint sadly but thats real easy to get and use
most of the smartphones only have a 1.3 or 2.0 megapixel camera
and they play MP3's from your MS or the phones memory directly
as for keyboard
the Motorola Q9c is really nice
the BB keyboards are good
but if you dont want smartphone i would recommend getting the Rumor for its slide out full keyboard that is spaced out quite nicely so good for big handed people
but if you dont need a full keyboard
the new Razr V9 would be a good choice i think
or you could get the Katana DLX because it is a music player
i would just look at sprint.com and see what features each phone has
i have a smartphone
but if i didnt i would probably get the Razr or the Rumor or possibly the Upstage which has 2 screens
one on each side and is good for music

Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

But I can definitely set mp3s as ringtones on the Q9c right? Or at least chop an mp3 down to ringtone size and use it without having horribly warped sound? That is my biggest concern as far as ringtones go.

I'm not too keen on the BB's, but if they're that much better I would definitely consider it. My girlfriend wants the Rumor, but I don't think I'd be satisfied with it. So she will definitely be picking that up, pending on whether or not she finds something better.

The only information I can't find on sprint's website is the format of ringtones the phones use. Everything else I can find. Its just that particular bit I seem to be failing at finding.

what do you think of the Samsung Ace? It looks pretty sharp to me and I know a guy at work who has a Blackjack that he loves.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Have you given any thought to buying an unlocked phone? Should you switch to AT&T or T-Mobile in the future, you'd be able to use almost any phone you'd like, most of which have no problems with MP3's (of any size) as a ringtone, and plenty of them have QWERTY keyboards.

Posted by: Dette

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamuraiInBlack

But I can definitely set mp3s as ringtones on the Q9c right? Or at least chop an mp3 down to ringtone size and use it without having horribly warped sound? That is my biggest concern as far as ringtones go.

I'm not too keen on the BB's, but if they're that much better I would definitely consider it. My girlfriend wants the Rumor, but I don't think I'd be satisfied with it. So she will definitely be picking that up, pending on whether or not she finds something better.

Ok well
the Rumor will use ringtones like the Katana im pretty sure
the Q9c... I just put songs on my memory stick.. either i chop them up or i just use a whole song and then the phone will be able to set it as a ringtone no problem
the samsung ace would be good... in my opinion not as good as the Q9c because it has horrid battery life ... if you dont use data then it wont be so bad and you could easily use it ... but i use a lot of data and sometimes my Q9c only lasts a day depending on how much data i use and i have my email checked every 30 minutes so yeah

and also the samsung ace has second level security so 3rd party apps will not install because they are not signed by a company that the phone "trusts" .. there is a way to unlock it but i am not sure how and its kind of complicated .. the Q9c will install things no problem... the ace also does NOT have its GPS enabled for reason only known by sprint =\ it does have GPS but sprint decided it didnt want to use it... the Q9c does have GPS enabled
the Q9c has a nicer keyboard too
the thing i do like about the ace is that its smaller and easier to hold and fit in a pocket.. but its not a problem for me.. i have small hands and i hold my Q9c just find and it goes in my pocket pretty nicely too
i would go to a sprint store and look at both of them and see what you would want..
but my advice is the Q9c

Also with BB's... they are not any better then a Windows Mobile smartphone... the only thing better is the email support because it supports HTML emails and its fantastic for corporate emailing and stuff that i have no need for at all lol
and its less customizable.. its real easy to use though... so its a good medium between palm and WM i think
i prefer windows mobile because it has more apps and it doesnt have the extra BB costs
so if you do a lot of push email and corporate emailing and what not then the BB is an alright choice.. but that doesnt seem like what you need at the moment

Posted by: aggie99

the new Sprint Blackberry Curve 8330 would definitely be my choice if I was on Sprint. IMO the curve has the best QWERTY of any phone on the market. And the Sprint Curve, unlike the AT&T/TMobile versions has high speed (EVDO) data. The Q is a good phone but I'm just not real keen on Windows Mobile. Email and Text on the Blackberry is about as good as it can get. And for web browsing, when I'm using my Curve and not my N95-4, I use Opera Mini which is excellent on the Curve.

Posted by: LG Product Pro

I highly recommend the Rumor. It fulfills all your requirements.
* It has a full QWERTY keyboard
* Stereo sound (supports MP3, M4A, MP4, AAC, etc)
* 1.3 megapixel camera (not the best but definitely not the worst)
* Mobile Media
To get more information about this phone check out the data sheet at:

http://www.lgcommunity.com/FileLibr...54/Default.aspx

There is information on other phones as well.

Posted by: Dette

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie99

the new Sprint Blackberry Curve 8330 would definitely be my choice if I was on Sprint. IMO the curve has the best QWERTY of any phone on the market. And the Sprint Curve, unlike the AT&T/TMobile versions has high speed (EVDO) data. The Q is a good phone but I'm just not real keen on Windows Mobile. Email and Text on the Blackberry is about as good as it can get. And for web browsing, when I'm using my Curve and not my N95-4, I use Opera Mini which is excellent on the Curve.

i agree the BB is nice
but it doesnt seem like what he would need
i dont know though its his choice

Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Have you given any thought to buying an unlocked phone? Should you switch to AT&T or T-Mobile in the future, you'd be able to use almost any phone you'd like, most of which have no problems with MP3's (of any size) as a ringtone, and plenty of them have QWERTY keyboards.

It was something I considered, but I don't foresee myself switching from Sprint unless I truly do get the shaft on my needs, or they royally hose me on my billing.

The BlackBerry is a bit too much to be honest. It looks like a sweet phone, but it has features I'd never make use of, as its been pointed out. Having less customization also is a bit of a negative for me as well.

Thus far the Motorola Q9c sounds like its going to be my best bet. The Rumor is what my girlfriend wants so she'll probably be getting that.

Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

Quote:

Originally Posted by LG Product Pro

I highly recommend the Rumor. It fulfills all your requirements.
* It has a full QWERTY keyboard
* Stereo sound (supports MP3, M4A, MP4, AAC, etc)
* 1.3 megapixel camera (not the best but definitely not the worst)
* Mobile Media
To get more information about this phone check out the data sheet at:

http://www.lgcommunity.com/FileLibr...54/Default.aspx

There is information on other phones as well.

According to the datasheet on the Rumor, music ringtones assigned from the microSD card won't be possible. I don't plan on getting the Rumor for myself, but I know my girlfriend is dead set on it. I think this may be a bit of trouble. So if you can't do music ringtones from the card, how would you go about setting music ringtones on it?

Posted by: Dette

you would download them from a ringtone site like http://myxertones.com (i used that for my old Katana)

Posted by: rachelb24

Use BitPim!! I live and die by BitPim!

Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

Man, BitPim is a bit more work than I want to go through. lol

But I guess you have to do what you have to do.

Thanks for that site link Dette. I'll have to give it a shot sometime

Posted by: Dette

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamuraiInBlack

Thanks for that site link Dette. I'll have to give it a shot sometime

not a problem

Posted by: jose1983

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

amen to that! get free from sprint and come where the door are always open to new phones not been stuck to their phonesa

Posted by: Dette

wish i could do that but nope

.. im contracted to sprint for another 2 years with 2 other people on my plan.. i would like to go to AT&T but not yet it looks like

Posted by: SamuraiInBlack

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but while I'm waiting for my $150 savings to come around, I was researching a bit more on the Q9c, and it seems as though it can support up to a 32 gig mini SD card, per the Motorola website. Is this seriously true, or is the "up to" in reference to a future firmware update or hardware revision? If its true of it now, then I would like to know, as at my work I can get a discount on mini SD cards, and having 32 gigs to work with would be awesome.

Posted by: Dette

i think it might be correct yes!

Posted by: JonnyBruha

If the phone is SDHC compatible, then it will support cards up to 32gb.

Posted by: Dette

i looked up if the Q9 could support that high oh memory and it said it could..
i only have a 1gb stick that is supposed to be a 2gb but some how it only shows up as 1gb and ... hmm
anyways
yes it should hold a 32gb card