My turn for a new smartphone

[SecondsCount]

The company I work for is issuing new phones. Choices are: iPhone 4S, Motorola Droid 3 or RAZR, Blackberry Bold.

We have been using Blackberries for the last four years and they have been decent phones. They do all the typical business stuff well but the browser is lacking. I'm not sure if the Bold would be any better.

Not a big fan of Apple or the iPhone and the 4S is 3G.

This leaves the Droid 3 and the RAZR. I am leaning toward the RAZR which has 4G and a nice big display but I like the keyboard on the Droid 3. Any thoughts? Apps would be limited to business oriented so keep that in mind.

[fuse]

would definitely go with the razr. Absolute state of the art hardware. you will most likely get used to the virtual keyboard just fine, though there will be a learning curve.

also verizon LTE is insane, if its available where you live.

[TCinVA]

I bought an iPhone 4S. Should be here in a week or so.

My brother has one and he's been very pleased with it. I've liked my original Motorolla Droid pretty well...although I probably only ever used about 40% of its capability. When I looked at the new Android phones I just didn't see anything compelling in any of them so I figured I'd give the default option a try.

[ToddG]

I had two Droid 3's and both of them had hardware issues. YVK has one, though, and said he was really happy with it when we discussed phones back in Salt Lake.

My Samsung Charge has been giving me no end of trouble lately (its latest game is that it shuts down completely and needs to have the battery removed to reboot every single time I try to take a picture) and assuming reviews remain positive with no widespread "issues" being reported by Christmas it will get replaced with a RAZR.

[fuse]

Only thing I don't like about the razr is the essentially non-user replaceable battery. Doesn't sit right with me, but it's one of the reasons why it's so thin.

[JodyH]

I like my Motorola Atrix 4G Android.
Fast, big screen, good phone, tough (Trident case helps).

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[TCinVA]

Only thing I don't like about the razr is the essentially non-user replaceable battery. Doesn't sit right with me, but it's one of the reasons why it's so thin.

I was worried about that too...one of the reasons I avoided the iPhone for so long. For the last couple of years, though, I've managed to keep my original Droid battery running beautifully by simply avoiding placing cycles on the battery whenever feasible. At work the phone is resting on the dock when I'm in the office. If I drive more than 10 minutes it's plugged into the car charger. For me it turns out to be a largely theoretical concern. If I had to run the phone hard every day without having it hooked to a charger or dock, lack of a user replaceable battery would be a huge concern.

[Shellback]

I bought an iPhone 4S. Should be here in a week or so.

FYI - Apple just released an update this week to the new iOS 5 which helps increase battery life. ;)

[will_1400]

I'm rocking a slightly older smartphone, a Droid X2 w/ heavy-duty case. So far, no real complaints aside from it kicking me off of Yahoo Messenger at random intervals.

[theblacknight]

Why would anyone buy a blackberry for personal use?


The new razr has a gurrilla glass screen and kevlar back. Win

[JMS]

Because they're morons!

<<<Ask me how I know...

Honestly, it was initially bought for work usage. However, once it became clear that boss-man wasn't gonna pay for enterprise connectivity/data package, he got told, QED, the ablity to email me must not be nearly as paramount as he insisted. NO, I'm not gonna fund your ability to attempt micromanagement, and NO, I don't not need to put MY phone number on your recall roster. I could hear his teeth grinding when he realized his Brig Lawyer hat wasn't as wide-brimmed as mine....but I was still stuck with the damned thing.

No, the Bold is NOT better, though our Argentinian IT dude will swear on a stack of bibles that it is. In fairness, I've never gotten how easily folks get wrapped around the axle over speeds that humans are incapable of noting without the help of instrumentation.

I'm tough on phones, so I'd lean toward the RAZR on that angle alone; it looks to be made of tough enough materials that a case is more insurance than an outright need. I don't use enough of the hippy-dippy networking capabilities of any of these things to see much advantage of any one over the other other than battery life, durability, and whether or not the network its on is worth a crap or not.

[JMorse]

I've been an Android guy for a couple of years now. My last droid was a Samsung S2 Galaxy which was really nice. I'd been wanting to go back to a Blackberry for a while now, but until the Bold came out I had no reason to try. I bought a Bold out of contract, but aside from that beautiful keyboard I just didn't like the experience at all. About a month ago I took it back and bought an iPhone 4s. I don't have enough good things to say about it. I really like everything about it so far. Of your choices, I wouldn't even consider the Bold. I'd give the iphone more of a look, but the Razr looks solid too.

[SecondsCount]

Thanks guys for all the input. The RAZR won but I won't have it for a while as the IT guy has to order one and configure for the network.

I will let you know how I like it.

[Slavex]

I am seriously looking at the Galaxy S II. Anyone got more opinions on them?

[vcdgrips]

Just got a BB Torch from the G. A great improvement over the BB Storm 2.

I suspect I would eith go with a high end Samsung or the Apple 4S if I ws on my own and had a choice.

[JMorse]

Slavex,

Used one for a month. By far the best Android phone I've owned, and I've had everything Sprint offered from an Evo 3d back to the Hero. If you're an Android guy, you'll love it.

[Slavex]

not an android guy yet. I'm still using my original Storm Blackberry. No Wifi. Was waiting on BB to offer something good and they offered the Torch. Its nice, and the wife loves hers but the S2 Galaxy seems to be a whole other universe. Plus KAC Bullet Flight is on Android now too.

[SecondsCount]

I was issued my new RAZR last Thursday and so far am lovin' it.

It really isn't fair to compare the latest offering against two year old Blackberry technology but I have to say that it completely blows the old BB away in nearly every department. Screaming fast, awesome screen, and tons of cool little features that I am still learning. The slim, ultra-lightweight design is impressive but I think I would rather have more battery. My wife said that they are going to be introducing the RAZR Max to address this.

The items I use the most- email, text, phone, tasks, GPS (turn by turn voice navigation is way cool), and web browsing all work great. There is one application that is not working 100%, the calendar, which has known bug in it. When syncing with the corporate calendar it shows blanks in the appointments on certain days. Appointments that I have entered display fine. Hopefully this will be fixed in the near future.

4G is unbelievably fast. It rivals my high speed cable at home.

[Savage Hands]

I am seriously looking at the Galaxy S II. Anyone got more opinions on them?


I have Sprint's 4.5" version and it is fantastic! A bit faster than my old EVO 3D which I gave to my wife and the battery life is better as well.

[Slavex]

Two weeks in with the Galaxy S2. Great phone but battery life sucks. And appears to be random in nature too. As one day it will last forever and the next it will barely do six hours. Sometimes I take it off the charger and it drops to 98% within seconds.
Blackberry certainly has touch keyboards sorted out better than any of the android ones I've found. Their spell checker is better too. All tag said I'm sure this phone will have more improvements that will make it even better than it already is. That appears to be the key thing with Android phones, someone somewhere will make a better app for it.