Cell phone

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

I most likely am going to sign up with ATT with a family member in the next couple of weeks. My main needs are a descent camera (3 meg+) and email capabilities, although the latter is not a need. I do not always want to take my good camera out with me, but miss a good pictures. I have been looking at the Iphone 3, but am open to suggestions.

Mike

[Barry]

No, not AT&T! If you're interested in the iPhone, I'd go with Verizon now that they are providing service for it. My wife has the iPhone through AT&T as her work phone and it stinks. Lots of dropped calls. iPhone takes good pictures.

[honeyman46408]

I vote Verizon service.

[Honey-4-All]

Not sure if you have Sprint widely available in your area. I have had a cell phone since the "bag" days in the mid to late 80's. Have had about all the carriers since.

The biggest thing is "coverage" in your area. Second consideration is plan pricing and what capabilities will you need and use. Last summer I purchased a new phone after having the old one close to 8 years.

It is a sprint Evo smart phone made by HTC. Like an I-phone although the purest would disagree with me. The features that work great for me that I did not have in the past but now have include.

1. Free cell phone to cell phone minutes.
2. 8 meg camera
3. Voicemail downloaded to phone. If you get many calls and cant take them all while working bees it puts them at your fingertips instead of having to call for the messages.
4. Internet service with 4 browser tabs available.
5. Plenty of storage for video and voice recordings. 8GB
6. Led light on the back for backup if the flashlights tank in the field.
7. Great apps available. I keep up to date on the weather on different yard locations. When we are shipping packages in a 2 months I will be using it to make sure things are "safe" en-route for the shipments. Can listen to radio stations out of anywhere in the world via internet while in the filed.
8. to many other things to list ................


Had a broker looking for bees on frame count around the turn of the year. We had shot some video working bees so I had my son upload the "frame count" to Youtube right from the phone. Gave the guy a cursory look at what we had.

Will be heading there tomorrow for one last peak before they head to the almonds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue3FhU2l7CI

They are not Keiths bees but it worked to get the message across to the guy.

A smart phone will come in handy no doubt.

[Dave E]

I vote ATT. I drop calls fairly rarely. Verison will not let you use data and voice at the same time. They cant. Their system wont do it.

[Ravenseye]

It all depends where you live or where you'll be using the phone. Both my kids would have loved the iPhone (just because....just because) but absolutely zero service at our house from AT&T. No problem with Verizon though. A number of years ago a few of us were bear hunting in Maine and one of the hunters had no service while the rest of us did. Again, a carrier issue. It's just the location. The kids have android based phones now and just love them so it's very unlikely that they'll switch anytime soon. Here at work, either service works fine so again, it all depends. If you don't think that service will be an issue (again, it certainly can be), I say get the phone that has the most bang for the buck and don't even think about what the name is on it. For you, choose a good phone with a good camera.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Trust me I am not a fan of ATT. I can get service relatively cheap with my grandpa with ATT. So that is my choice. OR continue with the prepaid I have

[Josh Carmack]

I have had Verizon, ATT, Sprint, DIGI PCS, Alltell, and some other. I have had a phone since they were the size of a brick, and will stay with ATT for now. As far as phones, I'd go with a windows or Android based phone VS an Iphone, sure they are cool, but there are a ton more apps and etc for the windows mobile platform as it has been around before the smart phone came to be. I have a HTC tilt 2, AK touch pro 2 depending on your provider. It takes both good video and pictures, and accepts an 8GB micro SD card. My only complaint is I cannot find an app that lets me record both side of a conversation. And when you fall down in your boat seat while in the river and your phone is under the hinge of the seat it tends to break everything on it. 400 bucks KER--CHING

[Josh Carmack]

PS the HTC tilt2 is free with a contract for the refurbished ones, and it has email,( i can check my website mail and my personal mail as well as my webmail accounts with it. It has outlook built into it. A GPS and several other neat features that I never use as well as built in facebook, youtube, and other apps, two web browsers, and a decent video/still camera considering it isn't a camera. 3.2MP i think, with 2X optical zoom too

[Barry Digman]

AT&T has acquired Alltel in our service area and it's not going well. We were supposed to pick out new phones in September or October and have not received anything other than a letter from AT&T telling us how much more the same service is going to cost. My first impression of AT&T is not good.

[MAXANT]

I have been with Verizon for 9 years, and they are EXPENSIVE! I have been on the fence about switching to someone else.

[giant pumpkin peep]

round here att stinks. Verizin rarley fails me. Funny thing is in the hills of west virgina att works just fine.

[cg3]

Which carrier to use is a local issue. Here in SE Ohio att is much better but I hear the opposite from people in other areas. Talk to your friends before choosing. My cell phone camera quickly became worthless after carrying it in my pocket and getting the lens all scratched up.

[dcross]

Been with US Cellular for a few years now, just upgraded to a Samsung Mesmerize, am in love with it! They were buy one for 150, get a second free at the time. Supposed to be similar to an iphone, I've only turned on the desktop twice since I got it.

Also, 5% discount for auto withdrawal from your checking.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Well I went with att about a month ago and am happy with it. I got a HTC inspire...beats the iphone.
MIke

[Hambone]

My wife has the HTC Inspire. It's an awesome phone. Beats the iphone hands down.

Those that have Verizon, I heard they are going to be dropping their unlimited plan if they haven't already.