Blackberry's have a memo/plaintext application, and it's easy enough to copy/paste with it. Also, they have a a trio of shareware word processing, spreadsheet and simple slideshow applications bundled if you want a bit more editing power.
Thanks for that. Yes, I thought Blackberries would have. Unfortunately, there's still that other issue: data residing on a server. Any chance there's a way around it? Topic-related coincidence: Today, a college student sitting with his dutifully silent girlfriend spent an entire bus ride telling a friend on his phone to get rid of his iPhone and buy an "iTouch," which he said wasn't "crazy locked down like Apple stuff" and added, "You can do anything after you put Android on there. Google maps . . . google maps. . . . " Ten minutes later, I realized he might have been talking about installing Android on an unlocked HTC Touch Pro. The gist seemed to be that his was the best phone to own because it was his.
I have been on this planet since before cell phones and even before cordless phones in your house. I'm going to tell you to get whatever seems to do the job today because within the time period of your contract something better WILL come along. Get today's available phone - Blackberry or HTC or BOB's phone company. Try it and find what it doesn't do. That's important. Live with a phone for a year or two and then make a better list of what's available and what meets your needs.
I was hoping perhaps for a third recommendation or Blackberry workaround, but your suggestion that people buy a phone, any phone, and live with it for a year is very good advice. It's also a way to prevent someone buying something expensive only to find it doesn't suit them. Now to determine the median point above the wretched phone I owned all summer.
I can say this about my Blackberry Curve: It's the most overengineered phone that I've ever used. RIM has thought of pretty much everything that a user would want, and gone beyond.. The build quality of my Curve is beyond any other phone (besides my ancient indestructible candybar Nokia backup). It's also cheap, if you're on AT&T you can upgrade to a Curve 8310 for free at Wal Mart. It's EDGE only, but if EDGE can smoothly stream Pandora then it's good enough for me. Just try a Blackberry, they've basically been working on the same OS for like ten years, and it's aged nicely (unlike Nokia's software..). If I had to recommend a certain model, I would say Curve 8900. If you're on Verizon, spring for a Tour or wait for the Onyx (Bold replacement).
My Curve 8900 is 13mm? To the OP: if you want email, nothing IMO does it better than a Blackberry. I've got a Curve 8900 and I had a Bold 9000 as a work phone. There's a new one coming out soon (the above mentioned Tour/Onyx) which has a better camera like the 8900 but with the 3G of the 9000. Well recommended.
Hmm, that's not too bad. But considering the E71 is 10mm and my previous phone (Moto L2 pos) was 10mm, all the RIMs (don't remember which models specifically) just felt too thick. Even though 2mm doesn't sound like a lot, holding the E71 up to a RIM there was quite a big difference. Also some of the models I was looking at didn't have wifi, which is really important for me since I don't have a data plan. Maybe by the time I get rid of this phone, I'll try out a blackberry or an iPhone.
iPhone, HTC Touch or HTC touch Pro, Blackberry Storm, Blackberry Curve, LG Env3, LG Env Touch, LG Versa Those are the best phones I can think of off the top of my head. iPhone is win overall, even though it comes from Jobs
I got the HTC Hero and its an awesome phone. The only thing not perfect for me is the camera which in daylight is great but has no flash. Email and web browsing is a breeze, applications are plentiful and the interface is just great.
I'd recommend an android based phone if you don't want the iphone. HTC hero was the latest one out last I checked (admittedly a while ago). Android has many of the advantages of apple (apps!) without being locked down. What more could you want? It did take a little getting used to, but I quite like the keyboard. I often hit the wrong key but the phone automatically corrects the mistake and manages to correctly guess what word i was aiming for 90% of the time - assuming your mistake doesn't lead to 'real' word being spelt! In fact, I often find that my texts are now roughly equal in length to emails - spanning 2/3/4 texts in one go... it's just so easy to do, especially as texts are displayed like a conversation! Battery life is variable. The ipod part uses v little power so if you just use it for this and the odd call/text then it'll easily last 3 days. Turning on wifi takes it down to about 2 days. Using push email takes it down to 1 day. Luckily the charger is compact so it's easy to carry around if you're away over night (not that you should have to!) The biggest downside to the iphone though is a major one - you're tied to Apple. This isn't too bad while you own the phone, but if you ever move away from the platform all your apps are gone. Again, not too bad if you only stick to cheap apps, but if you get something like TomTom you're going to want to use it longer than the phone contract, forcing you to either stay with Apple, or use your old phone as a standalone sat nav, in which case you may as well have got a separate unit anyway!
iPhone, like Krikkit said. Otherwise, you can give the newer HTC phones a shot. Depending on how comfortable you are with 100% touchscreen texting, you can really pic and choose whatever catches your fancy. Spend a little time on GSMArena and familiarize yourself with processor/RAM/SoC terminology and figuring out how software runs on different hardware (WinMo saxxxx, for example). If you're going touchscreen, I would only recommend capacitive technology as resistive is just not up to today's expectations. A few personal recommendations besides the iPhone: 1. RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520 (almost the same guts as a Curve 8900/Javelin minus the crappy trackball) 2. HTC Hero 3. HTC Magic
You can't really compare the E71's aesthetics to a BB Curve.. The E71's keyboard and screen suck, but it looks great and is very thin. I wish my Curve was as thin as my E71, and that the casing was made of metal like the E71, but alas it isn't.
Google Android would be a good one, being that you can do like anything with it.. That and a HTC <insert model name here> would be my first two choices here
Nokia E71. Qwerty, A-GPS (1yr navigation licence), QuickOffice 4 with MS Office03 doc/xls/ppt support (upgrade available for Office07 compatibility/QO Premiere 6*), stupidly long battery life and it is built like a tank. Oh and it is very fast when compared to older models like the E61i I had. Boots in 30 seconds instead of five minutes. I'm very happy with mine after two months. *: I'm not sure if the Nokia sponsored update is still good. I'll make a public thread tomorrow if it is.
Not sure if you'll cope with the small keyboard but I'm gonna get a Palm Pre when it comes out on O2 this month, I'd advise looking at it.
I forget the model name, but there is a HTC (i think its the Touch Pro, its been on verizon for a little) that has a touch screen on the outside and a slide out qwerty keyboard... that phone kicks ass.
I'm finding it really hard not to cave and buy a new mobi. A HTC touch diamond 2 @ £25pm or go nuts and get a Iphone 3gS @£35 I hope sumut happens soon, either new HTC or windows 6.5 variants. I strongly suspect I'll have made a really bad decision by Friday. Well bad as in as soon as I get it either a new uberphone comes out, or prices drops to half of what I've paid. Someone throw a bucket of cold water over me to cool me down, and stop the burning money in my pocket. eekkkk Help.
Okay, I went for a BlackBerry Curve 852 because it was the easiest to use, did everything I asked for, and it doesn't have a stoooopid wheel thingy... On £20 a month Orange.