Phones

[George Cumby]

Hate to sound like and Apple fanboy but given the i5 a chance. I believe AT&T and Verizon give folks 14 or 30 days to return the phone if they don't like it right?

You and me both. Loves me the iPhone.

[MJZiggy]

The other option I have is that I have insurance on my Thunderbolt. I could always just get a refurb insurance phone for free until I feel like doing the upgrade...That way I can wait until prices on some of the phones I want come down and I have more time to mess with them before making a decision. With the iPhone, don't you become a slave to proprietary software like iTunes? I was talking today with someone at a conference who said that she HAD to get the iPhone because all of her music was from iTunes so if she didn't get the iPhone, she couldn't play music from her phone in her car. I can play whatever I want in my car through Bluetooth, including Pandora and Slacker.

[George Cumby]

The other option I have is that I have insurance on my Thunderbolt. I could always just get a refurb insurance phone for free until I feel like doing the upgrade...That way I can wait until prices on some of the phones I want come down and I have more time to mess with them before making a decision. With the iPhone, don't you become a slave to proprietary software like iTunes? I was talking today with someone at a conference who said that she HAD to get the iPhone because all of her music was from iTunes so if she didn't get the iPhone, she couldn't play music from her phone in her car. I can play whatever I want in my car through Bluetooth, including Pandora and Slacker.

I don't get the problem with music in the car, multiple Apple devices, multiple vehicles, male-male jack and Muzak. I haven't done it, but if you need to get out of the walled garden, jail-breaking your phone looks pretty easy.

That being said, like any gear, IME it's what YOU like, not what someone else likes.

[Zool]

The other option I have is that I have insurance on my Thunderbolt. I could always just get a refurb insurance phone for free until I feel like doing the upgrade...That way I can wait until prices on some of the phones I want come down and I have more time to mess with them before making a decision. With the iPhone, don't you become a slave to proprietary software like iTunes? I was talking today with someone at a conference who said that she HAD to get the iPhone because all of her music was from iTunes so if she didn't get the iPhone, she couldn't play music from her phone in her car. I can play whatever I want in my car through Bluetooth, including Pandora and Slacker.

This whole thing about iTunes is a scare tactic.
iTunes is the software interface to your phone yes. If you purchase music other places and have it stored on your computer, you use iTunes to put that music on your phone. If you purchase music through iTunes then you do the same. I use Spotify and Pandora on my phone. Haven't used slacker but there is an iPhone app. If you purchase your music through iTunes then yes you generally will always use iTunes to access that music.

**You can burn your iTunes music to a CD then use another app to rip that CD essentially removing the DRM**

Who the hell buys music anymore? Spotify has an offline mode that pulls songs directly to your device so you can listen even offline. 1 Spotify account lets you use the app on every device you have. The Android fear tactics aside, I never use iTunes. Like I had an iPhone4 and now a 5. I use it to back up now and then, but your contacts automatically go to the free 5G cloud storage. I save my pictures in the cloud too. What else do you store locally on your device?

[3irty1]

Yeah that music stuff is pretty much nonsense I think. If anything, you'll get more functionality with a popular phone in your car. My mom just got a new Camry that has all kinds of spaceship shit it can do through your phone but she's got an obscure Samsung US Cellular Android and the only thing that works is the regular hands free stuff that every phone with bluetooth can do.

I still care about size, battery-life, and contract cost above all things which is why I pay $16/month for my non-smart phone that needs to be charged once a week. I aggressively negotiated my contract over the years and switching to data now would cost me all my hard-fought winnings. If I were to switch right now though that google nexus is a no brainer. From my time spent with my girlfriends various iphones and androids, the software on the phone matters 3 or 4 times more than the hardware IMO. iOS is really good, but android can be just as good and the best version of android will always come right from google with updates right from google. Then there is the fact that the iphone costs more than double a nexus. In December I wanted to get my gf off her money sucking $90/mo plan and put her on straight talk so I needed to get her a new unlocked phone. I pitched the nexus to her, but as a girl with friends who all have iphones she predictably rang up $700 for an iphone. Its a beautiful piece of hardware and I think it was smaller than the nexus, except not because a $700 phone needs a case. To do the things her last phone can do it also needed to be jail broken which I'll never get around to doing. I'd rather buy a nexus, haul it around with no case until I drop it in a toilet or something then buy the next nexus when that comes out and still come out ahead.

[MadtownPacker]

I cant believe there are whiteys so damn cheap!! You MFers make plenty so quit penny pinching and get what you want cuz you only live once!

[Cleft Crusty]

cuz you only live once!

and sometimes, not even once

[MadtownPacker]

Ain't that about a bitch!! How you manage that?

[Zool]

Yeah that music stuff is pretty much nonsense I think. If anything, you'll get more functionality with a popular phone in your car. My mom just got a new Camry that has all kinds of spaceship shit it can do through your phone but she's got an obscure Samsung US Cellular Android and the only thing that works is the regular hands free stuff that every phone with bluetooth can do.

I still care about size, battery-life, and contract cost above all things which is why I pay $16/month for my non-smart phone that needs to be charged once a week. I aggressively negotiated my contract over the years and switching to data now would cost me all my hard-fought winnings. If I were to switch right now though that google nexus is a no brainer. From my time spent with my girlfriends various iphones and androids, the software on the phone matters 3 or 4 times more than the hardware IMO. iOS is really good, but android can be just as good and the best version of android will always come right from google with updates right from google. Then there is the fact that the iphone costs more than double a nexus. In December I wanted to get my gf off her money sucking $90/mo plan and put her on straight talk so I needed to get her a new unlocked phone. I pitched the nexus to her, but as a girl with friends who all have iphones she predictably rang up $700 for an iphone. Its a beautiful piece of hardware and I think it was smaller than the nexus, except not because a $700 phone needs a case. To do the things her last phone can do it also needed to be jail broken which I'll never get around to doing. I'd rather buy a nexus, haul it around with no case until I drop it in a toilet or something then buy the next nexus when that comes out and still come out ahead.

Jail breaking a phone is a 5 minute process. Plug the phone in, launch the software, mash 1 button. Wait. The end.

[3irty1]

How many minutes will I have to spend googleing, reading, and downloading the aforementioned software with the aforementioned button to mash? Is it reversible? because I'm also not down with voiding the warranty on a $700 phone.

[3irty1]

I cant believe there are whiteys so damn cheap!! You MFers make plenty so quit penny pinching and get what you want cuz you only live once!

That's how whiteys get rich.

[George Cumby]

How many minutes will I have to spend googleing, reading, and downloading the aforementioned software with the aforementioned button to mash? Is it reversible? because I'm also not down with voiding the warranty on a $700 phone.

My understanding is you just reset factory settings and you are unjailbroken. I don't think it voids the warranty, but I could be wrong on both counts.

[Tony Oday]

Love my HTC One had the Evo before that.

[MJZiggy]

Love my HTC One had the Evo before that.

That's one of the ones I'm looking at. I have a Thunderbolt, but can't see the screen at all in the sunlight. How is the One in sunlight?

[Tony Oday]

Perfect inside and out. Great speakers. Incredibly fast and decent camera.