Since I didn't know the answer to this question, I decided to try both at the same time. Being the compulsive buyer that I am, I began the search. Let me get this straight though, I AM PARTIAL TO NOKIA! There I said it! Why? Because they make reliable phones, built like Tonkas and they perform well for the use I give the handsets but the thing is, they are way behind. MeeGo was supposed to change all that but that ASS of a CEO Stephen Elop messed it up for everybody because EVERY ONE IN THE INDUSTRY know that he is just an MS whore... so now Nokia is going with Windows OS too.
Anyway, my experience with the green robot has been limited to my time with a cheap Archos 70 tablet which I already sold.
It performed well enough, and did most of what I wanted it too so my guess is that the phone should perform AT LEAST as good as my ex-tablet. The search for a phone was a particular one. Why? Because:
1) It needed to be an "unlocked" handset
2) It needed to have "Ok" Specifications (Android OS likes power...)
3) It needed to provide hardware QWERTY
That last option narrowed down the selection at least but still it was difficult choosing! Should I go with an Unlocked Motorola Droid? A Milestone? A Droid Pro? Should I try HTC with their Desire Z? Should I go Samsung Epic? But then I started seeing their prices... ufff... mighty expensive for most of them! Since I know I wanted 2 phones, I didn't want to exceed myself... you see, I'm a compulsive buyer with a conscience... or maybe I'm just not that dumb! ;-)
So first I tried: Samsung Sidekick 4G
Let me tell you, the QWERTY keyboard was AWESOME.
Buttons felt great and the unit was quite responsive and felt "zippy". Specifications were not that hot (i.e. middle of the pack) but for $200 unlocked I wasn't complaining... when I did started to complain was when I was seeing the icon for "EDGE" instead of 3G and then it hit me... THIS IS A PHONE BUILT FOR T-MOBILE!!! What does that mean? That my current cellphone provider (Claro Puerto Rico) operates on a different 3G band than T-Mobile! (Claro is similar to AT&T and uses 850/1900/2100 whereas T-Mobile uses 1700/2100).
A big FAIL for me.
So I decided to resell the phone on eBay (let's see how it goes! But it should sell easy!! ;-)) and started looking for more options.
I had in mind a Motorola Droid Pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro (the new version, not the X10 one) and a few others. Weighing things out I eliminated most of them and was ready to select the Xperia Mini Pro due to the form factor, Android 2.3, and good reviews.
Beautiful looking, good construction and from the reviews, good performance and great all-rounder. Price was right too (about $250 maybe even less unlocked on eBay). Then I kept reading and found this:
http://talk.sonyericsson.com/thread/22121
Remember when I said I'm not an "eyes-closed" compulsive buyer? Yep. When I decide to get something I start to look everywhere for issues, problems, praises, etc. I thought this was a big issue for me so... back to square one. Since I didn't want to go through the whole ordeal of looking for phones, I remembered I had read about this phone's big brother, the Xperia Pro!
Up I went then to amazon, eBay, different distributors looking for the cheapest way to get one and eBay was the one that in the end had it for the better price... I still ended up paying upwards to $300 (in which I could have probably gotten a Milestone from Moto, or the HTC Desire Z, etc.) but I decided to go different because less face it, most people have the same type of phone... you know, the rectangular black one, nothing different, etc. I went against the current and got this beauty:
Plastic, but... oh well...
Looking in GSMArena for the specifications I found that this phone, apart from being good-looking, had Ok specs (i.e. no dual core CPU here), and a great camera. So killed two birds with one stone. The QWERTY looked more spaced out than on the Mini Pro and I liked the form-factor. The couple of reviews I looked at gave it good remarks so I guess I'll know once I receive it. The bad thing is that since this phone was just released on October, there are no cases or accessories. :-(
Still, I want to see how it performs and I will probably review it in the coming weeks!!! This will satisfy my phone needs for now but...
WHAT ABOUT WINDOWS?!?!
Well, fully knowing that Nokia will indeed focus on this OS, I decided to try it and see what Nokia might have seen... the potential.
Looking for a Windows phone is easier as really, there aren't many and a WinPhone with QWERTY is an easier assignment. So after little search I decided to get: LG Optimus C900
Since selection was not that great (the only one on my radar was the Dell Venue Pro but like with the Xperia Mini Pro, it seems to have A LOT of bugs and hardware related issues so out of the picture it went...) I got this generic black/gray-colored looking thing! ;-) It's not the sexiest looking thing ever but it will do I guess.
This one also has run-of-the-mill specifications but I guess it's typical in the Winphone realm. The best thing about this one is that I bought an unlocked "Open Box" one for like $130 or less! w00t!!!!
Now, for both of them I bought some screen protectors and for the LG I bought a case to see if at least I can give it some fucking color (mostly all of my phones haven't been generic-looking... I hate that shit!).
I'll see if one or both of them come this week and start testing changing between phones whenever their batteries run out and see what is my experience with both!
Will Android have random applications Force Closing?
Will Windows crash all the time?
Will both offer great communication features and I'll be happy?
Still don't know the answer to this question and a couple more but I do have to say that I'll be saying Good-Bye to Nokia this week...
ok ok ok... It's probably going to be more of a "see you soon" instead of a goodbye but Nokia, I do have to say that you will always be my friend. GET YOUR SHIT STRAIGHT!!!!
In the meantime I'll be enjoying some Windows/Android cooking and see what all the fuzz is about. And to fully say goodbye to Nokia, I will definitely sell for cheap my Nokia E71!!! Someone has to keep on enjoying it as I did! Great little phone!
Bye.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. I'm not the owner of these pictures... taken from the web :-p. I guess I'll put mine up sometime this week.
2 comments:
You really are a high maintenance whore, you should've gotten an unlocked Nokia N9, the potential Meego+Nokia craftsmanship shows on that phone, what could've been, fuck you Ellop !!! Glad to know your blog ain't dead, I'm waiting on those reviews once you get your new toys.
Yeah.. but $700+ dollars is too much for me (Just think that I got 2 phones for less than $430...) Also, I wanted a QWERTY offering... the N9 with QWERTY uffff... I would have spent the $700 without flinching!!!
Oh well... maybe Nokia sees the good reaction of the press and users with their MeeGo and reconsider!
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