[Elysium]

So I'm looking to upgrade my cell phone. Right now I have AT&T and have been with them for a while. I think they are a decent company and wouldn't mind staying with them. I've also had Verizon and they're not to bad either. I may be willing to switch providers if the deal is worth it.

My dilema? I want a well manufactured phone that is made for texting, has a good calendar, alarm clock, games (I don't play that many), and a camera.

Most phones have this....but, I keep looking at high end phones and keep trying to compare them to the I-Phone. I've had several sales folks try and sell me the I-Phone, and I really like it...except for the fact that you only get one free battery replacement (as long as it's within the first two years), otherwise batteries cost $90.00, and you can only get two years of insurance on it which requires that you send your phone away for repairs before they will replace it. So you are without the phone till they decide they can't fix it.

I would like to have the i-phone, but it would cost me $350 to purchase it with the hands free, case, charger, and screen protector.

Anyone that has phone knowledge, personal experience and opinions please help me decide.

Is the I-phone really the best bang for your buck or is it a bunch of hype? Is there a more well built phone that is less expensive that is comparable to the I-phone?

Any suggestions or info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Naturefreak]

Well I don't know about the US , but I bought one in Canada for $125.
It has a camera , texting , email , games , voice recorder , video recorder , event calendar , it's a Nokia.
The only problem is nobody phones me because I have no friends.
I like to play Pacman and Tetris though.
I know this didn't help you but I was bored and thought I'd reply to your thread. good luck

[bebop]

alot of providers offer free phones that are pretty good with a new contract. contact your provider and see what they have to offer you first. some even give unlimited useage for long time customers.

[Amanda_1981]

My aunt recently bought a 'palm pre'.. I think it's pretty similar to an iphone.. I know she said it had the internet and a camera on it.. not sure if it had music or not though. I've also heard a lot of hype about 'web phones'. Not entirely sure though if they have all the same features as an iphone. Might be worth checking into though

[Indie'sOK]

My contract with Sprint expired the other day, so I upgraded to the Rumor 2. It's not that expensive, has a full keyboard with buttons that aren't too small like a lot of phones have, has a nice calendar, games, etc. I really like it, and I've only heard good reviews about it. The guy at Radio Shack said it was a sturdy phone, too. Whatever you choose, I hope you find a good phone that suits you

[PlanningtoLive]

I have AT&T and Verizon (cell phone fanatic here). Anyway, I have the IPhone and it is the longest time that I have owned a phone, 1 year now. I love it. No problems, download music from ITunes and applications. My son has one too.

I also have the new Droid from Motorola with Verizon. Amazing phone. It also has applications and a 5.0 mega pixel camera. Best Verizon phone I own.

Any questions just ask. I love phones.

Mary Alice

[AAAAA]

I would NOT recommend the palm, my daughter had this phone and there were problems galore. The phone had to be replaced four times in a single year (thank God for insurance) because it was doing a "hot" sync in random places. Two of my kids have the Iphone, and absolutely love it. Daughter even has apps that connect her to her bank and she can keep track of her accounts anytime anywhere. The only problem that we've had so far is that they're so bloody fragile. One little bang and the screen is cracked. Since its completely touch screen, this presents a problem. It's EXPENSIVE to fix. Insurance does not cover this, although our ATT rep suggested adding it to our homeowners policy. But based upon all of the research I did, the if you're going to be spending that amount of money anyway, the Iphone is the way to go.

I don't need all of those bells and whistles, I have an LG that slides open to reveal a full keyboard (no clue which model). I'm pretty happy with it, it's bounced down the stairs a few times and still works great. The camera on it takes better pictures than my digital.

With ATT you have 30 days to change your mind. Son got a samsung he didn't really care for from Best Buy and they took it back no questions asked and refunded our money entirely. From the ATT store though they have a restocking fee of 20% for most phones, the Iphone had a specific amount which was slightly more than the 20%.

[Elysium]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and opinions!!

I researched different phones with different carriers and narrowed it down to a few. I was looking at the Iphone, the Motorola Droid, the MyTouch (through t-Mobile), and the Motorola Cliq. They were all really great phones.

I almost went with the MyTouch, but went back to look at the Iphone one more time. I decided to show the AT&T agent the contract that T-Mobile was working on for me and she said she'd hook me up.....So....I got the Iphone 16 gig 3Gs. I asked for the standard 3G which was $100.00 cheaper than the 3Gs, even though I wanted that one...I wanted to save the money. They got me all set up and spent about 2 hours helping me get to know the phone, and even threw in some screen protectors and a case for free. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the box and the receipt and noticed that they sold me the 3Gs and discounted it (purposefully) to the 3G price.

So....AT&T doesn't always make me happy, but they treated me well and they gave me some nice discounts because they wanted to keep my business. I think both sides won on this deal.

Thanks again all.....

[AAAAA]

I have to say I agree with you AT &T can really make you angry, but the customer service is excellent on these things. My daughter wasn't able to check her email through college and the agent (in the college town) happily entered in the server info so it worked like a charm. Her palm wouldn't sync up to the machine that collects data and transfers it to the new phone (go figure, four phones in a year because the stupid thing would randomly sync to computers she was driving by but when they wanted to do it, they couldn't) so the rep did it manually for her while she was shopping for covers and what not.