Need help selecting smart phone (IOS, Android, WM7 : HTC, Samsung, Apple)

M

muchluv4pets

New member
OK this post is similar to others but I have a few specific needs/desires that I hope you guys can help me sort through. I'm upgrading from a HTC Tilt/WM6 so almost any selection will be a big jump in technology. My wife has the Iphone 3G so I am familar with the IOS as well. I've never owned a droid.

I'm a fan of HTC but have never owned a Samsung. I would like something along the lines of the HTC HD7 or the Desire HD but I'm stuck on the AT&T network (switching is not an option).

I'm not afraid to reload a phone so out of the box vs reloaded capabilities are not a real big issue.

All Touch
I do not want a slide out keyboard, speakers or anything else.

Email
I need to be able to sync with a Microsoft Exchange email server. I would also like the option to push email rather than a periodic check. I've been told that droid has a problem here. Can anyone confirm?

Contacts
I would like to be able to have two different contact list, one personal and one professional that syncs with the exchange account. If possible I would also like to be able to sync the personal contacts with my home PC.

Browser
I want a browser that is well developed and renders most pages well.

Camera Quality
If a camera doesn't capture goods pics then why have it?

GPS
I would prefer to have an internal GPS antenna

Apps
I like apps and gadgets. This is the big turn off for me for WM7.

On the AT&T network, from my research, this really pushes me to a Samsung Captivate, Samsung Focus, or an IPhone 4. Are there any other reasonable options I am missing (device unlocked from other carrier)?

Thanks!
 
Sounds like you might have already picked out the iPhone 4 based on your criteria. About the only thing that it doesn't do is split the contact list, but right now I don't see that happening often on any platform. You can definitely identify a contact as belonging to a company, however, and you can set different work and home contact info for these people.

As for the Nexus S, right now it's only on T-Mobile (you can get it unlocked, but AT&T is the only alternate option there). Rumor has it that the Nexus S will be an option for Verizon by February, but then so will the iPhone, from the way the evidence is mounting up...
 
I see where iOS4 now allows connection to multiple exchange servers.

Was the ability added to keep a personal contact list (sync'd through iTunes) and an exchange server contact list together on one phone but not have the personal list merge onto the actual exchange server?

Surely there has to be a way around this.
 
iOS would like be your best bet for what you've described, although the contact's would be best handled through MobileMe.
 
For Android, you can get push email from GMail directly. You can also setup Microsoft Exchange accounts, and remember this is how you do it. Go to Email app, go to More > New Account > Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. Or you can go Settings > Accounts & Sync > Add Account > Exchange Active Sync.

You can set up a GMail account (needed for the Android) and put your personal contacts there. You don't need any sync program for it, just go to your PC desktop browser, access your GMail via web browser, and you can see and edit your GMail contacts there. If you edit on the Web, any changes will sync to your phone wirelessly.

On Android, the Contacts or People app, will have different tabs. You can have one tab for phone contacts, one tab for Facebook contacts, one tab for Twitter contacts, one tab for Exchange contacts, one tab for GMail contacts, or a tab each for WhateverSocialNetworkingAppYouInstalled (whether its Plurk, Yahoo, MySpace, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and so on).

If you're with iPhone, you can have push email two ways. Through Exchange and through GMail ala Google Sync, and both are not mutually exclusive. With GMail, you can use Boxcar or setup Google Sync with these instructions.

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740&topic=14252

If you're using Yahoo, you can do push email with the Yahoo Mail app available for both iOS and Android.
 
Thanks Drillbit.

That is the details I have been looking for. It sounds like the best thing is to put my personal contacts in GMail because I can keep them seperate through the use of exchange. If I understand correctly, this approach should work with either OS.

Thanks again!
 
Correct. My Gmail contacts can sync on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and WP7 just as easily (and do when I swap around phones).
 
I was just doing some testing and have encountered another issue. I also want to keep the contacts in sync with my personal PC. I had assumed that I would be able to treat Gmail as an exchange server but it appears this is not the case.

Do you keep you Gmail contacts in sync with your PC and phone?
 
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