Best recommended QWERTYphone for me??

Dixie

Dixie

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OK so I have been thinking about getting a full QWERTY phone due to my HH.

Well all the phones Ive looked at look pretty slick but I still dont know which one is best for me. I know if I go to the store they will screw me over with the most expensive sale they can get out of me for commissions, so I need you guys to help me out decide exactly what I need.

Right now I am leaning towards the Cingular TAP (Text Access Program) for the deaf / HH customers. I can pretty much choose which QWERTY phone I want with that plan pretty much, it just depends how much I am willing to shell out for the phone plus the activation fee.

So heres how I would use the phone......

I would send texts to my moms non-QWERTY phone and leave her a text message when needed. I would also like to receive these texts back from non-QWERTY phones. I would also be able to text other people to contact them.

I would like an IM feature so if I need to quickly beam something to someone that has a IM compatible phone then I can do so.

I would also like to be able to have a 'notepad' type feature so that when I am in a noisy place and I am unable to understand the person talking to me, I can type out what I am trying to get across and show it to them.

Id also like email functions, just for the simple sake of being able to check my email for something.

And for all of this I want a vibrate alert system so that I know that I need to check my messages.

If the phone has internet browsing capabilities great, then hopefully I'll be able to use a WMP feature to view some ASL videos in my spare time.

As far as flipstyle or no flipstyle, it really doesnt matter to me, but I just want the phone to fit snuggly into my pocket. I also want the keyboard to be big enough that I can actually use the durn thing!

I also plan on spending around $100-$200 for the phone with a contract agreement plan and activation fee.
 
Dixie, are you set on Cingular/AT&T, or are you looking into other mobile/wireless providers?

I currently have Cingular/AT&T 8252 but I didn't get on their TAP program.
 
I have Verizon and the EnV phone and it does everything that you want and more.
 
I live in a very rural area. The two best providers for this area are AT&T/Cingular and Alltell.

There is no Verizon coverage for my area sadly.
 
AT&T is offering a big discount on the Refurb phone this week so you might want to check it out on their website.

Cell Phones & Devices | AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless




With your price range and a full qwerty keyboard it will be very limited selection on 3G phone to only a Blackjack.

If you don't need 3G then I would recommand 8125 becasue there are so many application avaiable for a Windows Mobile PPC phones (PPC - Personal Pocket Computer)

Blackjack Refurb is only going for 49.99 and a 8125 Refurn is only going for 79.99.

From what I have learn that Blackjack does have a slight battery drain problem however I heard they have change battery brand it to a different brand now and the drain is much better so be sure to ask the rep if they have switch battery brand on the Blackjacks. BlackJack uses Windows Mobile 5.0SP (SP - Smartphone versions "no touch screen")

8125 is an older model with no 3G but still a nice PPC and a tad slower than a BlackJack and runs Windows Mobile 5.0 with touch screen. I do not know if it will have Windows Mobile 6.0 avaiable for 8125 later.



If you want to spend some more then I would go for 8525 which is an excellent phone .. it have 3G and Windows Mobile 5 but there are good strong rumor that Windows Mobile 6.0 is coming out this summer for 8525 and the Refurb price is 299.99 which is over your price range.

There are other non-3G phone within your price range but lots of them do not have full qwerty keyboard. Also when I got my phone TAP plan does not cover Blackberry as of yet but I would check and see if they change that if you want to think about Blackberry. I looked at Blackberry before but that time none of them have a expansion slot for more memory so I went with Windows Mobile PDA instead.


Now I like Windows Mobile OS very much but I will admit that once a while I have to soft reset my phone when I try a new application or new software and it bugged my pda phone but I never had any serious problem or issue with my phone.

Some of the folks is probably going to tell you "OHHH NO!! AVOID!! Windows Mobile!!! your going to GET VIRUS or BAD CRASH blah blah blah blah" Ignore them and just be aware what you install on your pda/smartphone and you will be just fine with it.


You can download IMs for it and all new phone on market does support SMS txt message. You can even download weather reports etc that it give you a nice weather display on your pda desktop daily or alert you of weather warnings etc.

I use IM+ for my IM and I also own Agile IM too but I like IM+ better becasue it seem to recover or reconnect faster and better when I am out of data tower range then back in range. Agile is a nice looking IM but sometime does not reconnect AIM or MSN fast enough for me so I have to force it to reconnect. Both have for PPC or SP. There is a new IM for SP but I forgot the name of it and haven't look into much.

Blackjack and 8525 and 8125 can be tethered to a laptop. I do that a lot when I travel on the road and need to use my laptop with my 8525.


Hopefully that will get you started on your research on picking a phone for your needs.
 
Dixie said:
I live in a very rural area. The two best providers for this area are AT&T/Cingular and Alltell.

There is no Verizon coverage for my area sadly.
Click to expand...

How about move to Little Rock?
 
TechBill's entry is good so he knows what he is talking about. :)

Dixie, it seems that AllTel has better/solid coverage in Arkansas than of Cingular/AT&T's. AllTel has several QWERTY ones just like AT&T have in stock.

Try asking the rep at AllTel if they have a special program (like the TAP program) for the deaf/hard-of-hearing (or people with disabilities).
 
I can tell from TechBills post he knows what he's talking about. :)

I talked to my brother a while back and he said that if you have an alltell prepaid phone for 6 continous months that you would qualify for a contract phone, which means I dont have to have someone co-sign for me. So I may get me a little crap-old Alltell pre-paid phone, and pay it up every month for six months then in December or January switch to a contract phone plan that will give me the option of a TAP-like plan and a QWERTY phone that will meet my needs. I am leaning towards the 8525 though.
 
actually I just did some researching--

Alltell does have a customizeable pre-paid plan that allows you to pick a QWERTY capable phone. I can pick to have unlimited texting free and have unlimited mobile-to-mobile. I can add the other services such as my circle, and night-and-weekend minutes then pay for the minutes by the month. So this may be the way to start out. I wont have my exact phone but I can upgrade to a contract phone after 6 months of continous activation with Alltell.
 
For me the full qwerty keyboard is worth it..much easier to type when driving because I do not have to look at the keyboard when I'm driving so I feel much safer when driving.... I paid more for a physical keyboard... instead of getting a free phone under the current promotion. Mostly phones are only touch screen...full physical keyboards are rare. Physical keyboard you are a lot faster actually... There should be more of them and I loved the sidekick series, i think I'm spoiled....curious what others think. Sorry to reinstate an old thread but wassnt sure where else this fit.....

Sent from my LG-D520 using AllDeaf App mobile app
 
naturelchick said:
For me the full qwerty keyboard is worth it..much easier to type when driving because I do not have to look at the keyboard when I'm driving so I feel much safer when driving.... I paid more for a physical keyboard... instead of getting a free phone under the current promotion. Mostly phones are only touch screen...full physical keyboards are rare. Physical keyboard you are a lot faster actually... There should be more of them and I loved the sidekick series, i think I'm spoiled....curious what others think. Sorry to reinstate an old thread but wassnt sure where else this fit.....

Sent from my LG-D520 using AllDeaf App mobile app
Click to expand...

Why are you posting in response to a thread who's last activity was in 2007?
 
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
People will question why they're posting in a thread from 1590 (okay 2007)...but if they created a new thread people will then say "But there's ALREADY A THREAD for that right here!!" (*posts link*).

I thought it was interesting as I've been wanting a physical keyboard again. I had it with my SK3. I like my Android phone but it's a pain with the Swype. My hands are smaller but I still have trouble with the virtual keyboard...:P

Would love to see what's out there but have a feeling its very rare or nothing at all now to have a keyboard attached to the phone (not the kind you can attach/detach..).
 
After experiencing owning this new smartphone..

Samsung Galaxy S-5 is the one!!!! I love it, works seamless with VRS, video is so champ, and other stuff on S-5, I couldn't ask for anymore! Oh yes, include far far better battery, fast recharge, slower drainage! no more hugging walls for me!

for camera, its the works included! Can download more features, will always more downloadable.

If you own business as real estate, car salesman, tourist attraction areas, and so on, or even better if you have accident, Samsung S-5 has right tools for you to take in just snap! For instance, I can take picture around my vehicle, then upload, the rest all do is just play, and it will show around the car! no more shuttering several times to get whole car picture. Same with house sale virtual tour, all done with just a click. Incredible!

If you got S-4, it wasn't impressive, but s-5 is a MAJOR leap from S3 to S5 making S-4 a joke!
 
To best of my knowledge- a CELL phone is not a TTY.

aside: I don't have/use a cell phone.

MY Ultra Tech 1140 has a TEXT button which "changes the phone to Text. It works if the other party has TEXT TTY. The tax department has TEXT.
 
drphil said:
To best of my knowledge- a CELL phone is not a TTY.

aside: I don't have/use a cell phone.

MY Ultra Tech 1140 has a TEXT button which "changes the phone to Text. It works if the other party has TEXT TTY. The tax department has TEXT.
Click to expand...

Because of the part of your post that I have added to bold to none of this thread applies to you! It is ALL about cell phones with qwerty keyboards NOT TTY's at all.
 
drphil said:
To best of my knowledge- a CELL phone is not a TTY.

aside: I don't have/use a cell phone.

MY Ultra Tech 1140 has a TEXT button which "changes the phone to Text. It works if the other party has TEXT TTY. The tax department has TEXT.
Click to expand...

"Text" on the ultratec means something completely different. You cannot use a TTY (even the ultratec uniphone) to "text" a cell phone.

The TEXT button on the ultratec is there because that specific phone is both a "hearing phone" and a TTY. The "TEXT" button simply flips the phone from "audio" (hearing/listening/voice) into "text/TTY" - it doesn't make it so you can send SMS to cell/mobile phones, or send email or any of that. (SMS = short message system, aka "cell phone text messages")

I have both - they are entirely different and will not communicate with each other at all (without using Relay). Likewise, the "TTY" mode in a cell phone will NOT turn a cell phone into a TTY. TTY mode on a cell simply means that an external TTY can be plugged into the headphone jack of that cell phone and then use the signal from the phone to make the TTY call (it's basically like digitally placing the handset on the tty so the phone can "listen" to the TTY tones)
 
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