Getting a new phone

February 10 2011, 3:32 PM  by The Head

Hey kids,

Friendly neighborhood Head here. I've had a few incredibly unpopular blogs over the years, dealing mostly with idiotic commentary, crude jokes, and poor photoshops of my head on other people's bodies. Time for a bit of a change. Time to talk about some of the random tech thingies that interest me. This of course was precipitated by the most time consuming and important of decisions...

It's time for me to get a new cell phone.

My iPhone 3G is on its last legs. It doesn't like to receive calls or texts when 3G is switched on, has a battery indicator that delights in not indicating anything about the battery, and a power button that is about as consistent in its pressing as... well... as something that isn't very consistent. Suffice it to say, it's time for a new phone. Now, I am currently on year 2 of a 3 year contract with Rogers. Yes, in Canada we have 3 year contracts in order to get anything remotely resembling a deal on a cell phone. We also have free health care and gay marriage, so it evens out. Regardless, the point is that for the moment, I am stuck with Rogers.

So the question becomes: What to get? Obviously I am talking only about smartphones as I am a geek and require the constant comfort of my mistress, the interwebs. Plus, I am only looking at high end smart phones. Snobby geek that I am. And finally, this time it won't be an iPhone. Not that I dislike my iPhone, or iOS in general, it is simply time for a change. With so many other architectures out there, it's time to whore myself up and play the field a bit. So again, what should I get? Rogers doesn't exactly have an astounding selection of devices, so I have narrowed down my list to the following, divided by OS.

Windows Phone 7 

The current Rogers offering in this department is the Samsung Focus, which is a smart little device with a jaw droppingly nice screen. Specs wise, it is par for the current high end course, with a 1GHz processor and 512mb of RAM. The phone itself looks a little "too plastic" for my liking, but it is by no means a massive issue. The Focus is the only WP7 device that allows the user to add extra storage, which is nice as it comes equipped with only 8GB. There are stories about this extra storage being incredibly finicky, however, as only specific cards work, and there is no official information as to which those are.

The big story for this device is Windows Phone 7 itself. It is a very new OS, and while I really like the look of it and some of the implementation, there is a lot to be desired on this front. No copy and paste, no multitasking, no wifi sharing, small app catalog, very closed approach to the OS. The OS has more going against it than for it at the moment. While it is admittedly a very young OS and has plenty of time ahead of it to grow, there are only vague promises in regards to potential improvement.

Ultimately, this phone is a case of it having nice hardware, but somewhat subpar software. 

Odds of me picking this handset: 3 to 1.

Android

Rogers has several Android handsets available, but most of them are lower tier devices that I simply do not care about. From what is available, there are currently 2 that have some potential.

The first is the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate. In a lot of ways, this is hardware identical to the previously mentioned Samsung Focus, right down to the gorgeous Super AMOLED screen. The only real hardware differences between the two is that the camera on the Focus has a flash while the one on the Captivate does not, and the Captivate comes with 16GB of storage on board, compared to the 8GB of the Focus. Otherwise, the internals are pretty much the same.

The problem I have is that the Captivate comes with Android 2.1. Version 2.2 brings a lot, and I mean a lot of improvements to the OS. Now, it is currently possible to upgrade the Captivate to 2.2, and yes, it is an official update. However, the instructions are the most insane and convoluted series of steps to perform a software upgrade I have ever seen.Like to the point of utter absurdity. Now, I am confident that I can perform the upgrade, but at the same time I have to wonder: why the hell should I? In this day and age, why should a simpl upgrade be so damn difficult? There is no reason that an upgrade should have 12 steps and nearly as many caveats. Because of this, and the fact that there is no word whatsoever of future updates after 2,2, I am hesitant about the Captivate.

The second Android handset that is a possibility is the Dell Streak. This is a monster of a handset, with an enormous 5 inch screen and internals more or less matching up with the Captivate, although it is missing the beauty of the Super AMOLED screen. The hardware advantage is pretty much the sheer size of the device, which can make movie watching enjoyable, as well as a front facing camera to allow for video calling. It does beg the question though: Is this phone too big? For the overwhelming majority of the population, I would say yes. It is just too big to be used as a phone and too big to carry in your pants pocket. However, I am a very big guy, so it may not in fact be too large for me.

It has two downsides. One very odd one, and one almost unforgivable one. The odd downside is that the home screen is locked to landscape mode. There is no portrait home screen. I for the life of me cannot figure out why this would be the case. The almost unforgivable one is the fact that it is still running Android 1.6. Yes. 1.6. There have been constant promises from Rogers that the device would be updated to 2.2, but those promised dates have continued to slip by. The latest one is "Spring". Seeing as how Spring goes up to the end of June, well, that is just a deal breaker for me.

Odds of me picking the Captivate: 4 to 1.

Odds of me picking the Streak: 9 to 1.

Blackberry

Let me preface this by saying that Blackberry OS isn't cool. It isn't hip. It isn't sexy. But it does get the job done. It is very utilitarian, but I have to admit that it is good at what it does. It still has some weak points, but OS 6 has brought about enough improvements to make it a worthwhile OS to look into. Plus, as a Canadian company, I want RIM to succeed. I might not get excited by their devices, but I wish I did.

There are currently two Blackberry handsets worth looking into. The Torch and theBold 9780. The internals for the two devices are pretty much identical. They both have a pretty weak 624MHz processor, 512mb of RAM, and the utterly baffling decision not to have an GPU. The only real reasons I can think of to limit the devices to a weak CPU and poor graphical ability is to keep up the famous Blackberry battery life. But inside, the phones are pretty much identical.

The big difference is in the form factor. The Torch is a slider with 3.2 inch touchscreen, while the 9780 is the more traditional brick with an optical trackpad. The thing I like about them is a physical keyboard. After having used my iPhone 3G for the past two years, I've kind of been thinking about nice a physical keyboard would be. And let's be honest, Blackberry is pretty much the best in class when it comes to the physical keyboard. I love the form factor of the Torch. I think that a slider with a touchscreen offers the best of both worlds. It's a nice looking device, and has promise towards being productive as well. However, for whatever reason, it is priced at an insane point. Every other handset on this list has a $99 price point on a 3 years contract. The Torch has a $179 price for that same 3 year contract. I cannot figure out why. The 9780 has the cheaper price point, but I can't help but wonder if the lack of a touchscreen would drive me crazy?

Ultimately, it's the weaker internals that put me off the most. A lot of people say that they've had no issue at all with the weaker processor and lack of a GPU, and for a lot of tasks I would be inclined to agree. However, while I may not play 3d games or watch videos on my handset all the time, I would like it to be a viable option should the fancy strike me.

Odds of me picking the Torch: 7 to 1.

Odds of me picking the 9780: 5 to 1.

WebOS

And last but certainly not least, is the Palm Pre 2. This is the device I have been leaning towards the strongest as of late. I really like WebOS, and think that it is probably the most interesting and innovative mobile OS on the market today. It covers a lot territory, offers far superior multitasking, can act as a wifi hotspot, has the all important Flash enabled browser, and simply seems to click in my head. From a purely software/OS point of view, I would say that the Pre 2 is an ideal choice.

Part of the issue holding me back though, is the hardware. Don't get me wrong, the internals are good. Nice 1GHz processor, 512mb RAM, best GPU around, 16GB storage (though it isn't expandable), etc... The problem is the form factor. The Pre 2 is a pretty small device. A 3.1 inch screen isn't  very big. And while it has a nice slider form factor, the smaller size means a smaller keyboard. It isn't massively smaller than the one on the Blackberry Torch, but it is just enough to be noticeable. I have pretty big hands, so a smaller handset can be an issue.

The other issue at hand is that HP/Palm just had an event announcing their new devices. One of those devices is the Palm Pre 3. Along with bumped specs, it is a larger device, pretty much fixing my issue with the Pre 2. That being said, the device is supposedly launching in the Summer. I need a phone now. There is also no word as to which carriers will have the device, or what kind of price tag it will have. It isn't a big issue really, but still it rubs me the wrong way to buy a device when you know the next version is around the corner.

On top of that, there is some concern on my part as to how long the Pre 2 will be supported. Owners of the original Pre were in for a rude awakening when HP/Palm dropped the bombshell that their devices wouldn't be update to the latest version of WebOS (2.0), despite being promised that they would be. Now, all information seems to indicate that the Pre 2 is in line for future updates, but it is a little off putting to see the company essentially abandoning a massive chunk of their user base.

Odds of me picking the Pre 2: 2 to 1.

So, this is where I currently stand. I'm going over to Rogers on Monday to see what there is to see, and possibly fight with them if they make my upgrade difficult. The Palm Pre 2 is currently the leader of the pack, but that could very well change before then. I could very well walk out of the Rogers store with a Blackberry, which is a notion I would have laughed at a few months ago. It's also shown me that I'm a little tired of paying attention to "the next big thing". There is always something new just on the horizon. Something better, cooler, faster, sexier. If you keep looking ahead to what's coming, you'll never be able to make a decision today.

Here's hoping I don't panic and end up with another iPhone...