[Aylmer]

When I walked into the Telus store in the Rideau Center one fine Tuesday morning, I said to myself: "My! My phone contract will end soon!". So I decided to take a peek inside to find a phone that ranked high on the cool factor.
But confronted, I was when I first set my eyes on the hundreds of phones, with hundreds of choices. So I asked the lady at the desk; "Do you recommend any phone?". The reply was out of my current financial reach: "The Blackberry Storm is my pick. I will get one whenever I can!". "Ah." Said I, and promptly scanned the room for more options. "How about another Blackberry?" I said slowly. Once again, the answer was too costly: "Well with all included, it comes up to 51.95$ or 623.40$ not counting the price of the phone". "Oh" I said disappointed. So I decided that I should get through this one phone at a time with three things in mind:

- A cool phone (hopefully a touch phone)
- A good price
- An easy-to-use phone

I then lay my eyes on the LG Dare. It was a pocketable smarphone, that wasn't a smartphone according to Telus, with a beautiful touch screen and came with all the basics, bells and whistles.
"My! I said to myself, What a find!". "Would you care to try it?" said the lady at the counter. "Why yes!" I replied.
And I loved it, for the 30 seconds I had it for I didn't want to pester the employee any longer.
And what a price! The phone and the cheapest package came up to (all things taken into consideration) 400 dollars and 6 cents per year.

But since I am willing to sign on to a 3 year contract, I want to make sure it is with the right people with the right phone.




So what I want to ask is:

What phones would you recommend to someone (anyone)?

:)

[hackunion]

Hmmm I bought my first cellphone (LG Chocolatespin) from the new Telus store on Bank & Slater in May. Since then, I am on my fifth or sixth phone (can't remember) because... well, because it's a piece of crap, I dunno... So, I don't have good things to say about LG, or Telus for that matter (charging incoming text messages). But I signed a 2 year contract so I am stuck for now. Sorry :)

[jeremy_haak]

I recommend going with a GSM network so that you can replace your phone without going through you're provider.

[harls]

My contract with Bell is up in May 2009, and I'll never sign onto a contract again. I've got a POS LG phone with outdated technology (even in 2006 when I got it it was old school), and I don't need to surf the f'n internet at all on my stupid phone (especially when I'm in St-Jean-de-crisse-calisse-fin-du-monde Quebec).. so I'm itching for that new competition coming out next summer, hopefully a good deal will finally come around for us consumers.

[Aylmer]

My contract with Bell is up in May 2009, and I'll never sign onto a contract again. I've got a POS LG phone with outdated technology (even in 2006 when I got it it was old school), and I don't need to surf the f'n internet at all on my stupid phone (especially when I'm in St-Jean-de-crisse-calisse-fin-du-monde Quebec).. so I'm itching for that new competition coming out next summer, hopefully a good deal will finally come around for us consumers.

Well, I got the LG Dare (because I evesdropped on a call conserning a gift, my gift, which happened to be a cell phone, my cellphone, and my parents, descovering my intrusion, decided to take me to get it because I had done a fair bit of research on different phones and prices so I will be able to play with it tomorrow.../Long story)
for a pretty good plan:

Cool Phone: 50$
Plan: unlimited stuff with 5 people, 150 free local minutes, unlimited minutes from 21h-7h, and all that jazz...

31,95/month; 383.40$/year (Wo Phone) 400,06$/year (with phone over 3y)

It's a good plan.

http://www.cellphonenews.com/wp-content/uploads/lg_dare.jpg

[drizzo_613]

I got the LG Dare this past Sunday and I'm loving it!
I use it as my GPS when I'm driving, and the high speed browser is actually fast lol. I think it has one of the best cameras out there especially with all the options is gives you to customize photos.
Currently on a $35 student plan with a $15 add-on bundle which includes:
*200 anytime minutes
*Free Telus to Telus Calls
*Unlimited Text, Picture, and Video Messaging
*Unlimited Web Browsing
*My Faves 10: Unlimited calling and messaging

Got it free on a 2 year contract :)
Highly recommend this phone!

[drizzo_613]

Oh, and FREE after 6 PM!

[Rathgrith]

I recommend a muzzle

:)

[Ciemny]

Free calls after 21:00? Rogers has the same thing...which sucks...why don't they make it from 12am...would make just as much sense to them.

I managed to get 200 mins/month
After 18:00 all local calls free/unlimited weekends
Bill comes to 38$ and change with taxes. That is IF I dont go over the limit.Im with Rogers, got this plan before they went anal on plans.

[mmmatt]

I used to work for a cell phone insurance agency (call center) and the phones I heard the most complaints about were the LG phones.

Motorolla and Samsung are the clear leaders in the industry, LG just makes cheap phones with cool features to try to beat them. (In my biased opinion :P)

But that was a year ago and we all know how fast stuff changes in the wireless world.

Oh yeah and the other leader I cant forget to mention....

RIM

[kitchener-lrt]

I just got my first phone. My new phone is the "low-end" LG 285 from none other than........TELUS! Although reviews claim that the phone is shitty, I really like it. No contract, no frills.

[Greco Roman]

Be very weary of Telus; they tend charge you for features you don't have, and their PR people are extremely rude and ignorant, not to mention borderline mentally retarded.

[Kitchissippi]

You can get an app for the iPhone that tells you when the next OC transpo bus is coming (which is currently useless):

http://idelux.ca/The%20Applications_files/ocset.png

It works on my iPod Touch but only when there is a WiFi connection available.

[jeremy_haak]

Out of curiousity, does it use GPS to locate the bus stop?

[Kitchissippi]

:previous: No, but it would be nice if it could do that, or have some sort of mapping capability. You have to find out the stop number on your own and type it in. I think it just uses OC Transpo's on-line database for the schedules.

With a price equivalent to a regular cash fare ($2.99) the app is handy to have but it could use some improvements in the future.

The free Google Map app that comes with the iPhone/iPod shows the location of all the bus stops in Ottawa, but they've stopped short of numbering them. All the pieces are there, but they don't have this convergence thing quite right just yet. It would be neat if you could just touch the stop on the map and it would give you the schedule of the routes there.

For Toronto, the Red Rocket (http://iphone.mb-box.ro/iphone-apps/newly-updated-apps/red-rocket-2/) is supposedly really good and uses GPS.

[highdensitysprawl]

- A cool phone (hopefully a touch phone)
- A good price
- An easy-to-use phone

What phones would you recommend to someone (anyone)?

:)


I'm with Harls in that I could care less about surfin t'internet with a cell..ditto for taking pictures. I use it as my work # and have for about a year now...with most companies, sign up for a basic plan for about 6 months and then try and renew on a 2 or 3 year plans through their 'retentions' or 'loyalty departments'. For $40 a month (plus SAF and GST) I get 1000 d/t minutes, evenings/weekends starting at 18h, 1000 CDN LD/month, caller ID, voice mail etc. That is with Rogers. I also get a 15% discount/month as I have other Rogers products.

Threatening to quit or quoting the competitors trendy plans also helps.

[Ottawade]

I've heard pretty bad things from most people I know about the Storm. It's good, but has some really annoying bugs and the "clicky" nature of the screen seems to annoy people.

I'm loving my iPhone. There seems to be something new and useful about it every month because of all the appstore. The recent update to the maps thing was super useful back when Ottawa had buses. My only complaint about the iPhone is the terrible quality of the camera not that I expect a lot out of a phone camera.

[Aylmer]

I've heard pretty bad things from most people I know about the Storm. It's good, but has some really annoying bugs and the "clicky" nature of the screen seems to annoy people.

I'm loving my iPhone. There seems to be something new and useful about it every month because of all the appstore. The recent update to the maps thing was super useful back when Ottawa had buses. My only complaint about the iPhone is the terrible quality of the camera not that I expect a lot out of a phone camera.

If your looking for a camera, go with the Dare; It's filled with features like face detection and artificial brilliance.

As for the Storm, it's a love or hate thing. I, personally loved it, though it was slow and froze on me when opening the camera.
Overall a nice phone

[Davis137]

I'm rocking the LG Shine (which I nicknamed the LG Scratch after dropping it like 3 times in the first week). It's been reliable, has the type of features I wanted/need, and the casing being made of metal makes it a lot stronger. My first Cell was a Qualcomm, and my 2nd was a Audiovox, both of which were 1 peice phones (which I still think are superior to flip/clam phones).

Stuck with Bell for now...