questions from first smartphone purchase

[angusgreer]

I have been with AT&T for 12 years so guess I am staying there but finally ready for a smart phone.
I prefer Motorola (I have had a Startac, V90 and Razor) and all three were good. Not so good luck with Erikkson and Nokia.

Anyway, AT&T currently has the Atrix 4G or the Flipside as my only Motorola choices. One cent for the flipside and 99 bucks for the Atrix. Also looked at the HTC Inspire 4G and Samsung Captivate. I really like the Motorola DEFY as it is water resistant and shock proof and I am a farmer so it would be good.

Here are my questions:

1. First I would prefer a smaller phone, I am a guy not a gal and don't have a purse. What kind of carrying cases are available for these type of phones? Do they make leather cases that attach to your belt or am i stuck carrying it in my pocket?

2. If I buy a DEFY from CellHut will this phone operate at 3g speeds on AT&T? I read somewhere that they would only operate at 2g if you put a T-mobile DEFY on AT&T.

defy - Cellhut Search Result

3. How does the warranty work on a phone if I buy it from somebody other than AT&T? Do I send it back to Motorola or Cellhut?

4. If I buy the DEFY can I get the updated android 2.2 for it without being a T-Mobile customer?

5. My uses for a smartphone would be: checking email occasionally, checking weather radar occasionally. Using gps occassionally. Posting to facebook occassionally and general web surfing occasionally. Also want to get pdanet and connect smartphone to my laptop as a back up when my ISP goes down. I figure that 200MB per month would be plenty. However my worry is that , at least from what I have read that Motoblur will be constantly checking my email and facebook. I don't want any of that automatic stuff like "always on social networking". If I want to check my email I want to manually do it and do everything else manually too. Can I turn all of the automatic stuff off? And what is this about having to have to login to Motoblur? does that mean everytime i use the phone I have to log in?

6. Would i be better off getting the Samsung or HTC as it doesn't have a Motoblur type interface or is it also stuffed with unwanted apps?

7. i read that the flipside has android 2.2 coming soon which should help with it's memory issues. Anything else to worry about it.

8. Really doesn't matter to me whether I get the flipside or atrix except that the flipside is smaller. See any reason for me to go with the Atrix based on my intended uses? Atrix is 4G but unless AT&T comes out with an unlimited or cheaper data plan I doubt I would ever use it a lot. as far as speed goes if 2G speed is faster than 1 Mbps I would be happy is that is the speed I have at home.

9. Which of these would be best in your opinion: flipside, atrix 4g, defy, samsung captivate, htc inspire

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

I have been with AT&T for 12 years so guess I am staying there but finally ready for a smart phone.
I prefer Motorola (I have had a Startac, V90 and Razor) and all three were good. Not so good luck with Erikkson and Nokia.

Anyway, AT&T currently has the Atrix 4G or the Flipside as my only Motorola choices. One cent for the flipside and 99 bucks for the Atrix. Also looked at the HTC Inspire 4G and Samsung Captivate. I really like the Motorola DEFY as it is water resistant and shock proof and I am a farmer so it would be good.

Here are my questions:

1. First I would prefer a smaller phone, I am a guy not a gal and don't have a purse. What kind of carrying cases are available for these type of phones? Do they make leather cases that attach to your belt or am i stuck carrying it in my pocket?

2. If I buy a DEFY from CellHut will this phone operate at 3g speeds on AT&T? I read somewhere that they would only operate at 2g if you put a T-mobile DEFY on AT&T.

defy - Cellhut Search Result

3. How does the warranty work on a phone if I buy it from somebody other than AT&T? Do I send it back to Motorola or Cellhut?

4. If I buy the DEFY can I get the updated android 2.2 for it without being a T-Mobile customer?

5. My uses for a smartphone would be: checking email occasionally, checking weather radar occasionally. Using gps occassionally. Posting to facebook occassionally and general web surfing occasionally. Also want to get pdanet and connect smartphone to my laptop as a back up when my ISP goes down. I figure that 200MB per month would be plenty. However my worry is that , at least from what I have read that Motoblur will be constantly checking my email and facebook. I don't want any of that automatic stuff like "always on social networking". If I want to check my email I want to manually do it and do everything else manually too. Can I turn all of the automatic stuff off? And what is this about having to have to login to Motoblur? does that mean everytime i use the phone I have to log in?

6. Would i be better off getting the Samsung or HTC as it doesn't have a Motoblur type interface or is it also stuffed with unwanted apps?

7. i read that the flipside has android 2.2 coming soon which should help with it's memory issues. Anything else to worry about it.

8. Really doesn't matter to me whether I get the flipside or atrix except that the flipside is smaller. See any reason for me to go with the Atrix based on my intended uses? Atrix is 4G but unless AT&T comes out with an unlimited or cheaper data plan I doubt I would ever use it a lot. as far as speed goes if 2G speed is faster than 1 Mbps I would be happy is that is the speed I have at home.

9. Which of these would be best in your opinion: flipside, atrix 4g, defy, samsung captivate, htc inspire

A good friend has an HTC Inspire and loves it. Check it out. I suggest you go to your local ATT store and check out all their availables. HTC build quality is the best...in my opinion.

 

[Moscow Desire]

I'll try to shed some light on some of your questions.

You can get leather cases for most phones. It would depend if you want a flip cover, or a belt case. In fact, you can even get one that hangs on your neck!! Of course the issue with large smartphones, is they are rather large on you belt!

Personally, I use a flip cover, and carry it in my satchel (popular in Europe, you guys would call them a "man purse").

AT&T should answer your connection issues with a Defy. Of course it would work, but as you heard, you may not get the higher connection speeds. Also, the Defy would have to be an "unlocked" phone to allow it to be used with another carrier's sim card. Usually, you can get the unlock codes from the internet, if the retailer won't do it for you.

Your warranty would be from whomever you bought the phone from, although I would assume Cellhut would send you to an authorized repair place.

Most auto-updates comes from the carrier, so if you use a ph on another carrier's network that doesn't carry it (that specific model), you will not get updates. Most carrier updates are skinned for their own phones. It's possible however, to download these updates yourself from the phone's original carrier and install them manually.

All Androids (carrier branded) come with bloatware pre-installed. And.... they have all their auto-updates and notifications turned on. You will have to check each specific app, and either turn them to Manual, or increase the frequency of checking/synching/etc. Peice of cake.

Personally, I would go with the HTC, and get a good case. If you get the Defy, then I would switch to t-mobile for sake of updates and network speed.