said by r81984 :

Only phones with real QWERTY keyboards are good.

The best designed phones ever made were the Nokia 6800, 6820, and the E70. I wish they kept making those style of phones, but with better software.

said by Alcohol :

Touch screen only phones suck.

Get the HTC Touch pro 2. One of the best keyboards ever made.

said by ender7074 :

I have an EnV Touch. Has touchscreen and qwerty keyboard. Its a great phone. I guess my question, though, is that if someone doesnt like touchscreen phones, why buy one or rant about one. Someone holding a gun to your head to get a touchscreen?

said by Vchat20 :

Fairly short rant but still as big of an annoyance as they come.

What is it with this huge fad nowadays to make phones/smartphones/etc that only have a touch screen and MAYBE a few function specific buttons (send/end/etc)? With a minimal amount of added bulk you can add a simple slideout keyboard to many devices which would make for TWO, count em TWO, different but viable forms of inputs depending on your taste.

I've been eyeing a number of HTC smartphones for a while but sadly only a couple current models actually offer anything other than a touchscreen-only formfactor. And seems like with upcoming models they are stepping away from that.

Yes I know what the logical answer will be: American Marketing/Corporate garbage. Schlepping under-par devices to the public at a high markup because they can get away with it. Or all of the above. If it wasn't for AT&T being pretty much the only major GSM provider here in the US I'd import a proper phone from overseas that isn't crippled to timbuktu and back and still comes in at a fraction of the cost as those sold here. But sadly even that is probably a lost cause with the different GSM bands used in different countries.

I swear with the way things are going I have no doubt there's going to be notebooks and netbooks within a decade that have no keyboards, just a touch screen. If that day ever comes, those manufacturers can go screw themselves and I will gladly pay a hefty premium to keep my current notebook operating for years to come.

said by Gbcue :

I don't know where you live, but here, T-Mobile and AT&T are the big GSM carriers.

I have T-Mobile and its 3G coverage is great.

said by Vchat20 :

Actually that is the primary one I am staring at but right now the glaring lack of an FM tuner (The GSM models have it! And the CDMA models have it in hardware, but apparently locked out in software) is holding me back. That and partly the price (It's gonna be the TP2 or the TP. If I cannot get the TP2 out of contract for a decent price I'll do with the TP). The TP apparently cannot do FM at all but the TP2 can if the good people of the PPC hacking community can make it happen. So I am stalling a bit to see how the status on that goes while I save up enough money for it.

But the thought in the back of my mind is all the newer HTC models will be coming out that lack a keyboard at all, interest falters on current models as people migrate and then it all goes to sh*t with crappy devices.

said by Alcohol :

Who is your carrier? I heard people are getting the pro2 for free with letstalk and att. And there is an app you can download for FM tuner.

I don't know about verizon though, they usually lock their phones so you can't download any apps.

said by Alcohol :

Who is your carrier? I heard people are getting the pro2 for free with letstalk and att. And there is an app you can download for FM tuner.

I don't know about verizon though, they usually lock their phones so you can't download any apps.

said by Vchat20 :

Right now nothing (with a prepaid carrier for now. Will switch to whichever is the most cost effective and carries the TP/TP2).

Unfortunately streaming radio apps do not help me for some of the more obscure stations. And if you are talking about the REAL fm tuner application I have already looked and it only really works with the GSM models. CDMA the TP is SOL and the TP2 is 'possible' but needs the PPC hacking community to get it operating.

said by Alcohol :

Why would you get a CDMA phone then? Go with ATT and Tilt 2. You can get it for around 99 with a new contract.

said by Stojko :

I don't mind a touchscreen, as long as there's a slide out physical keyboard (or similar) as well, like on the Motorola Droid. I have an iPod Touch and typing on it is so difficult, even in landscape mode.

I guess on a positive note, if I owned an iPhone I would spend less time texting.

said by Vchat20 :

Mostly all dependent on plan costs and involved contracts. Sprint has their full unlimited contract for like $69/mo?. With a little bit of fenagling and an out of contract phone purchase I can get full unlimited on Boost Mobile's CDMA side (essentially Sprint) month to month for ~$50/mo. I'm not readily aware of any similar plans with ATT. Although I don't use hardly a whole lot of minutes or text messages, but the data I do which is always the most expensive section so the unlimited plans often come out cheaper in the end.

I'm also partial to Verizon since I have more friends and family with them than any other network. But I haven't seen anything on any decent plans with them let alone any planned 'flat rate unlimited' plans like other carriers.