Update on my Great Phone Challenge

I’m still on the quest to replace my v1.0 iPhone with something that is not from AT&T. Finding a new mobile phone is really a pain.

So far, I’ve test driven several phones for Verizon:

• Blackberry Tour: Thumbs up. It’s a great phone, but missing wi-fi. Full review coming within the week.
• HTC Ozone: Thumbs up, but I had some minor issues. Full review coming early next week.
• LG EnV Touch: Thumbs down. This phone was unable to sync with the contacts and calendar on my Mac or even with my Google Contacts / Calendar. While it does offer a sync for PC / Outlook users, for me the phone was rendered useless.
• HTC Touch Diamond: Thumbs down. As a Windows Mobile device, it wouldn’t sync with my Mac, but it would sync with Google. However, I found this phone incredibly non-intuitive. I let my techie husband play with it for a few days. When even he found it non-intuitive, I gave up.
• Samsung Omnia: Thumbs down. Another Windows Mobile device, it synced easily with my Google information. Once I turned off what I found to be an annoying home screen overlay and returned to just a basic Windows Today screen, this was a fairly easy to use phone. However, the battery life was exceedingly poor, dying within 5 hours of light to normal use (including occasional email checking and 2 short phone calls).

As for T-Mobile, I’m unable to get their PR rep to respond to me. It does irritate me when I receive press releases about a product – in this case the MyTouch – yet am unable to get my hands on the device. Note to PR folks everywhere: if I can’t get my hands on the application or gadget you’re promoting to me, I can’t review it for the blog.

Like T-Mobile, Sprint hasn’t acknowledged my attempts at contact. That’s a shame, because the Pre is still my number 1 choice for a phone  – if I had to buy one right this minute. I visited a local Sprint store on Sunday and spoke with a sales rep who obviously loved his Pre. He had no problem, once he realized I had a clue, talking to me about various hacks and homebrew applications, as well as what features I could add/turn on/turn off on the phone. He didn’t once try to outright sell me – he just showed me how he used his Pre – and that was effective in itself.

However, I’m very aware that the Motorola Sholes / Android 2.0 phone will be coming to Verizon at the end of October (according to the Internets). It may be the phone that keeps me away from the Pre. In the meantime, I also hope to get my hands on test devices of the Samsung Rogue and Intensity (Verizon), to let you know how those phones stack up to other smartphones and enhanced multimedia devices on the market.

After all, why should I buy a phone right now when the holiday-release phones are just around the corner?

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Cheers!

Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.