I need to move up to a smartphone for business purposes. I need productivity software (apps) on it, and it especially needs to be able to do all the money-transfer apps such as scanning/swiping credit cards, scanning-entering checks, etc. I have a Chase business account, and my business banker says Chase's electronic banking system will support everything that's out there in the way of apps and accessory equipment.
It needs to be able to handle .PDFs, as well as Word docs, with apps available to write on or modify such documents, then send them to my printer. Spreadsheets, not so much.
I-Phone or Droid, I don't care, but Wi-Fi capability along with 4G is a must, and I would prefer being able to move stuff around on a memory card (which I understand I-phone won't do, and now some of the Droids even lack memory card slots).
Long battery life is a plus, but not a deal-breaker, as long as it will go for 6-8 hours, since I'm religious about having a charged phone and will remember to charge it.
I don't give a rip about music, that's not an entering argument. I do like slide-out keyboards for fast text entry (I have old and less-agile thumbs, so a keyboard is almost a requirement). Camera and video is a plus, but I won't use it much.
Being able to do mobile Skype is a plus, almost a must.
I would prefer NOT to have to do all my business for apps with I-tunes, that's my biggest knock on all things Apple, you have to deal with Apple and Apple alone or you can't get it or use it on their equipment.
Price is not really an object, nor is data bundling. I'll pay the price of being able to do business in a 21st-Century style.
In the Rivrdog household, we have planz on both Verizon and T-Mobile, and T-Mobile has a deal going now so that if I get an Android phone, I can get a second smart-phone, the Nokia 710 Windows 7.5 phone, for fifty bucks. The gudwife wants an entry level smartass phone, and I'm told that the Windows device fills that need nicely. I could use more capability than the Nokia has, so I'm thinking of that Nokia for her and an Android for me, but which Android?
My previous smartphone experience ended with a windows 6.1 phone, and I was fine with it, but those days are past. I've suffered along with a dumb-phone for 2 1/2 years now and still would, if not for the pace of business.
Let the advising begin.
BTW, if Apple is so big a deal, how come no one bundles an I-Phone with an I-Pad for productivity?
******************************************************************************
Decided! I went down to the T-Mobile place and opened a Business Account, and tomorrow, with the advice of Drang, will have the Samsung Galaxy S-2. It's actually a more capable computer than the Windoze 7.0 Desktop I'm posting on....plus, for a $50 migration fee (which I thought they should have waived because I am opening a business account), I'm putting the gudwife into a Nokia 710 Windoze 7.5 phone. Less capable than the uber-machine I'm getting, but she liked it and the price was right (almost a giveaway). I might go for the full meal deal and get a 4G card for the laptop, or maybe even replace that netbook/laptop with a Galaxy Tablet...I guess this means that I will have to stop bashing Google at every opportunity as has been my practice, since I've just selected their OS for running at least my phone, and maybe a computer as well...
And this is why people slam the Android world for being "fragmented"; anywhere else, we revel in the wide choices.
Mrs. Drang and I have original Droids, and like 'em, but 2 years is decades in smart phone years.
Another concern you didn't address is whether you want a battery that is accessible or not. iPhones don't, and some Android phones don't either. (I believe the new Motorola Droid Razr is one such.)
I'd say read reviews of candidate phones at CNET and
Android Forums.
Posted by: Drang | January 16, 2012 at 20:59