silkyeggsalad
New member
Hello Phone experts,
My name is Jay and I live in Manitoba(Canada). I spend a lot of time working outside the major cities, in rural areas. I depend on my phone. CDMA is the only service available with ANY reliability in rural Manitoba (GSM phones get NO service out here, I've not heard of iden service here) so I'm rather stuck with a CDMA carrier. I am currently with MTS. MTS has a poor selection of phones, so I'll be looking to buy one online and put it in place of my HTC touch.
My current phone, an HTC touch, was purchased because it was on sale and it was the "candybar" profile, so I imagined that it would last me a long time. I will never ever purchase another "windows" phone. It freezes up all the time and takes wayy to long to get in touch with people. It is 6 months old, has a cracked screen, and is on it's last legs.
My favorite phone I ever owned was my Motorola RAZR V3c. It took a beating, and lasted almost 3 years. When I finally replaced it, it's battery life was less than one day (on it's 2nd battery) and the hinge made grinding sounds when I opened it.
Since my RAZR's demise was due to it's hinge and small battery, I feel that a "Candybar" (brick) style phone might be better than a flip phone for me. Some friends of mine have expressed interest in so-called "Tough Phones" which I understand are wrapped in rubber and take more abuse than normal phones. These sound perfect to me. One problem: I can't find a good one for CDMA networks.
My priorities:
- Must work on CDMA network
- Must work fast, I can't afford to wait for my phone at work.
- Must be able to text
- I need something hard to break. It will be used outside.
- Would be nice if I could transfer my 300 contacts onto it with my computer (my Razr and my HTC touch could do this) rather than by hand.
- Long battery life would be a bonus
I have looked into:
- Sonim's line of rugged phones - all are only GSM compatible.
- Sanyo Pro 700 - looked nice, I'm told they freeze up often. I need reliability. Do any of you know a different story on these phones?
- Motorola's tough phones - all I've found where only compatible with iden networks, or could only be used on Verizon wiresless - which is rather useless to a Canadian. Do you folks know if it's possible to "unlock" a Verizon phone?
- Samsung phones - I have had nothing but TERRIBLE experiences with samsung electronics. Everything I've owned from them was total garbage. If they are VASTLY different now, I might consider them... but I'm not a fan of that company.
- Casio's Tough phones - all I've found were only for Verizon (like the Motorola's) or they had quite poor reviews on reliability. Once again, you are the experts, if you know better - teach me.
- Motorola's "candybar" phones (ex: VE240) - My RAZR outlived every other phone I've owned. My STARTAC was ten years ahead of it's time. If I can't find a tough phone, I'll go back to Motorola. They've always been good to me.
I hope the above gives you a good idea of what I'm after. Any help in choosing a cell phone that will work good and last long would be GREATLY appreciated. Please teach me smart people! because I have been all over the internet for weeks, and am still doing this ->
Thank you for reading, - Jay
My name is Jay and I live in Manitoba(Canada). I spend a lot of time working outside the major cities, in rural areas. I depend on my phone. CDMA is the only service available with ANY reliability in rural Manitoba (GSM phones get NO service out here, I've not heard of iden service here) so I'm rather stuck with a CDMA carrier. I am currently with MTS. MTS has a poor selection of phones, so I'll be looking to buy one online and put it in place of my HTC touch.
My current phone, an HTC touch, was purchased because it was on sale and it was the "candybar" profile, so I imagined that it would last me a long time. I will never ever purchase another "windows" phone. It freezes up all the time and takes wayy to long to get in touch with people. It is 6 months old, has a cracked screen, and is on it's last legs.
My favorite phone I ever owned was my Motorola RAZR V3c. It took a beating, and lasted almost 3 years. When I finally replaced it, it's battery life was less than one day (on it's 2nd battery) and the hinge made grinding sounds when I opened it.
Since my RAZR's demise was due to it's hinge and small battery, I feel that a "Candybar" (brick) style phone might be better than a flip phone for me. Some friends of mine have expressed interest in so-called "Tough Phones" which I understand are wrapped in rubber and take more abuse than normal phones. These sound perfect to me. One problem: I can't find a good one for CDMA networks.
My priorities:
- Must work on CDMA network
- Must work fast, I can't afford to wait for my phone at work.
- Must be able to text
- I need something hard to break. It will be used outside.
- Would be nice if I could transfer my 300 contacts onto it with my computer (my Razr and my HTC touch could do this) rather than by hand.
- Long battery life would be a bonus
I have looked into:
- Sonim's line of rugged phones - all are only GSM compatible.
- Sanyo Pro 700 - looked nice, I'm told they freeze up often. I need reliability. Do any of you know a different story on these phones?
- Motorola's tough phones - all I've found where only compatible with iden networks, or could only be used on Verizon wiresless - which is rather useless to a Canadian. Do you folks know if it's possible to "unlock" a Verizon phone?
- Samsung phones - I have had nothing but TERRIBLE experiences with samsung electronics. Everything I've owned from them was total garbage. If they are VASTLY different now, I might consider them... but I'm not a fan of that company.
- Casio's Tough phones - all I've found were only for Verizon (like the Motorola's) or they had quite poor reviews on reliability. Once again, you are the experts, if you know better - teach me.
- Motorola's "candybar" phones (ex: VE240) - My RAZR outlived every other phone I've owned. My STARTAC was ten years ahead of it's time. If I can't find a tough phone, I'll go back to Motorola. They've always been good to me.
I hope the above gives you a good idea of what I'm after. Any help in choosing a cell phone that will work good and last long would be GREATLY appreciated. Please teach me smart people! because I have been all over the internet for weeks, and am still doing this ->
Thank you for reading, - Jay