"Smartphone" Advice needed

[+T-Hunters3]

Time to upgrade my phone and would like to get something I can use for paperless caching. Currently using an old Palm m500 for that part (+ carrying a cell phone + the GPSr). I have cachemate so something that would work with that would be a plus but not absolutely necessary, I could switch if convinced. I know cachemate will work with the Palms, but what are some other options in terms of hardware? For reference, my provider is AT&T.

 

Thanks in advance!

[+RonFisk]

Time to upgrade my phone and would like to get something I can use for paperless caching. Currently using an old Palm m500 for that part (+ carrying a cell phone + the GPSr). I have cachemate so something that would work with that would be a plus but not absolutely necessary, I could switch if convinced. I know cachemate will work with the Palms, but what are some other options in terms of hardware? For reference, my provider is AT&T.

 

Thanks in advance!

How about the iPhone! Would that work for you? I've never tried it, but maybe someone that has will chime in. It it does, I'm interested too. It's a great phone, a little on the pricey side though. My having a Colorado has pretty well done away with needing CacheMate though...

Edited August 23, 2008 by RonFisk

[+TrailGators]

Time to upgrade my phone and would like to get something I can use for paperless caching. Currently using an old Palm m500 for that part (+ carrying a cell phone + the GPSr). I have cachemate so something that would work with that would be a plus but not absolutely necessary, I could switch if convinced. I know cachemate will work with the Palms, but what are some other options in terms of hardware? For reference, my provider is AT&T.

 

Thanks in advance!

The iPhone makes you subscribe to a monthly service. I have AT&T and just got a Pantech Duo. I don't have to subscribe to anything and it works great with Cachemate. Since it also has Bluetooth, I could someday a Sirf Bluetooth receiver for it as well. This thread has a lot of good info about that.

[+jeffbouldin]

I have the ATT Tilt which is a full blown WM6 PDA manufactured by HTC. It has Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, so if you do not want to buy a data plan you don't have to. Cachemate has a version that runs on WM6 and you can re license your Palm OS Cachemate to the WM version. I've had it about 1 and 1/2 monthes and love it.

[+user13371]

Can someone who has a data-enabled AT&T (or other carrier) phone compare rate plans against the iPhone for me? Just a rough idea of what the total monthly bill would be with voice (don't need lots of minutes) and unlimited data.

 

I've tried, I really have -- but I can't listen to any phone store rep talk about rate plans without my eyes glazing over. There has to be a simple way to explain the plans without sounding like a snake-oil salesman, but the phone store folks haven't found it yet.

[+PFF]

Until three months ago, I used a Palm Treo on Verizon with a limited amount of voice minutes, and with an unlimited, national-access data plan. I'm confident other carriers split the voice/data plans, also.

 

 

I switched to Sprint to pick up unlimited voice/data for $99/month. But if you don't need much in the way of voice service, check with SunCom. It is offering 1,000 minutes for $29.99, and you may be able to stack a data package on top of that.

 

 

However, many carriers do not consider you a "real" customer until you hit or exceed $39.95/month for voice service. For instance, that's when Alltel will give you one "Calling Circle" number. And that's when most companies will allow you to add extra lines of service for $10.

 

 

See store for details.....Opps! That's where you were having the problem. [Grin.]

 

 

-Paul-

[+Tigerz]

Can someone who has a data-enabled AT&T (or other carrier) phone compare rate plans against the iPhone for me? Just a rough idea of what the total monthly bill would be with voice (don't need lots of minutes) and unlimited data.

 

I've tried, I really have -- but I can't listen to any phone store rep talk about rate plans without my eyes glazing over. There has to be a simple way to explain the plans without sounding like a snake-oil salesman, but the phone store folks haven't found it yet.

The two of us have a plan for something like 1500 shared minutes voice and unlimited data from Verizon for our Moto Q's for $69 and $51 per month respectively. Mrs. T probably gets her money's worth out of the data plan as she uses it quite a bit in her book selling hobby. I use mine mainly for traveling and reading the news while waiting someplace. For caching, I use a GSAK macro I personalized ... when we need the extra cache intel, it's 10 times faster than calling it up on the net and also includes my user notes.

 

Hope that helps!