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HELP WITH WHAT PHONE


space_man

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Well its that time when i need to sign a new contract for my wireless.. Till now i had the basic phone not even texting. I wonder if i get a phone with net and email can i sign in on geocahing to read hints and logs??? I use the 60cx but my palm wont work with my new 64bit laptop. Till now i had to go to my parents to use there PC and down load the caches on my palm. I might be going with sprint and would like to know if there is a particular phone i should be looking at?? I realy dont know much about all the fancy phones out there. But more then willing to learn, just want to make a good choice on the phone.. If anyone can give me more info i would highly appricate it.

 

Alex

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Many phone users don't realize their simple phone plans may support Mobile Web, even if they don't sign up for it. You don't need to buy an expensive data plan, but your phone needs to support a mobile web browser. The Groundspeak url is http://wap.geocaching.com/ . You can't look at hints, but you get the full cache description, sans pics, and can view the last five log entries. You can even log your find with the cell phone.

 

My work Sprint phone offers it as does my family plan with Verizon.

 

Your 60Cx supports custom POIs. It's one step down from a full paperless unit. Using GSAK's 60CSxPOI marco, you can essentially load up full cache pages onto your GPS, along with hints and past logs. Again, you can't download pics, but in over a year of using the macro, I haven't found that I need pics that bad. During the same time period, I haven't had to use my PDA. It's not a perfect system, but it works.

 

Oh, the macro works on all Garmin heldheld units with data cards- I use it on my Vista HCx and my backup, a Venture Cx.

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I had the Windows Mobile phone and now the Blackberry. The Blackberry renders web pages better than the WM phone. The WM phone had a software for it that cannot be mentioned here that was great. Blackberry has Cacheberry that I really like. It also has Trimble Navigator (have not used it) that pulls data straight from GC.com. I have not tried an Android based phone so I can't help you there.

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I have an HTC Touch that I have done all my geocaching with. There are a tone of sweet cooked ROMs available if you like messing around with that sort of thing. The GPS is accurate, but suffers somewhat from "static navigation". I use a bluetooth GPSr when I get frusterated, but usualy use the internal one. The cool thing about windows mobile is that there is a tonn of free Apps available for it. Virtualy all of the pay Apps on other platforms have equivolent Apps for free on Windows Mobile. The notable exeption is Googles latest map software that is only available for their OS (Android). It works like a fully featured automobile GPSr + it utilizes the google street view.

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Well back in Jan I picked up a HTC Hero on sprint.

 

it is way more phone than I really need BUT I can use it to tether my Netbook and laptop wired or wireless ( you need to root the phone for some of that stuff )

 

I got the 450 Data plan 450 anytime minutes, UL Data, UL text, UL Mobil to Mobil ( any ) and nights and weekend UL after 7pm So basically my minutes are only used when I call a land line or I am roaming.

 

I just started using the phone for caching as a lark on days and so far it has done a decent job. There are some hoops to jump through right now but the Apps are maturing and GC.Com will be releasing an android app at some point.

 

Best Buy just had the Hero for $99 with a New 2 year or renew 2 year so there some deals out there on the phones.

 

-Robert

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I have use GeoBeagle and GCdroid

 

I am going to be honest I have not been super thrilled with the GPS accuracy so far, It gets me to the right area but +/- 4-6 Meters is worse than the GPS V I use to use <_<

 

But both those programs work well, they both have quirks I will say the ability of GeoBeagle to use Google Satalite images is neat.

 

If you are not super hard up for the phone right now, you may want to wait a little bit ( 2-3 months ) there should be a few more choices. The CDMA variant of the Nexus One from Google as an example.

 

-R

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my contract ends next month so i got to pick up a phone before then. I use the phone for work as well. How much those applications for the phone cost???Do you get the describtion and the hints with the last logs??? My palm E was awsome and wish i could still use it.

 

Alex

 

Hummm I was "off" contract for several years, you don't have to get a new plan just because you have completed your last 2 year deal.

 

-R

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phones are a hobby of mine....who's your carrier and what state are you in? Does it have to be sprint? What kinda of voice/data/text usage do you do. Are you interested in sharing the phones data connection with a laptop (aka tethering)?

 

PS hi Rob, bornl33t on Ao <_<

 

PSS Rob what Phone is that? My droid is accurate to 4 feet? I would feel confortable placing a cache with the coords it gives me?

Edited by Crude
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Well to give you an idea at least with sprint.

 

You have the contract you are currently using, at the end of that contract if you do nothing, that plan stays with you at the same rate etc etc.

 

Now if you want a new phone and you are out of contract then you can sign a new deal and get the upgrade phone package ( Like I did with the hero for $99 with a renewal 2 year ).

 

Now as an example I had a 500 Any Time Family plan with UL text Ul Data UL PCS to PCS Night and weekend @ 7pm etc that plan with 2 phones was $100 a month. I had that plan for I want to say over 6 years, of that 3 of that was out of contract.

 

Now I wanted to get the Hero and not pay $500 for it, I started looking at the Smart Phones and plans and sprints deal was better for me than any of the others out there.

 

450 Data as mentioned in the other post, $70 a month and I dropping my other line ( 1 Phone now )

 

Now in 2 years if I want a new phone I reup or switch. If I don't need a new phone Ill keep my contract as it is unless I can drop my cost on a new plan.

 

Even if you are under contract after your upgrade they are not cheap until you get a year in.

 

-Robert

 

I know its off topic now but dont you end up paying more for the phone and service with out the contract... Yep im way behind on phones and wireless.

 

Alex

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my contract ends next month so i got to pick up a phone before then. I use the phone for work as well. How much those applications for the phone cost???Do you get the describtion and the hints with the last logs??? My palm E was awsome and wish i could still use it.

 

Alex

 

Using a Palm for paperless is "so old school". All the new OSs (windows mobile, android, etc) have cool paperless and cableless apps. You don't need a seperate device. Paperless apps require you to import your GPX files, while cableless apps interface with the GC website and realy promote caching on the fly (maybe against the TOU, use at your own risk). Live.geocaching.com is a cool cableless caching app that is available for multiple OSs, and is perfectly ligitimate! It have a few buggy things, but works fine.

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Hey Crude I been thinking of staying with sprint. It seems that most people on here like the HTC Hero. I started to look on line at the phone. Im realy way out of the loop on phone everyone is laughing at me that all i use the phone for is to talk lol. But this time i want to catch up with the times and get a fancy phone. I just want to make sure the one i get would also work for geocaching. Or im getting a basic phone again.

 

Alex

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If you want to stay with Sprint then I would agree the Hero is their best phone. I know that all carriers have announced or leaked new android phone by this summer. You'll have to decide if you want it now or if you want to see what the price/functionality difference between the two is. Price wise sprint is one of the cheapest carriers and that's worth some thing on it's own.

 

Some times I wish I had never gone to a smart phone. My cell phone bill went from $50 a month to $100 a month just to accommodate all the other features smart phones are capable of. So it's not a bad thing that you use your phone for talking. If you want to geocache with the Hero it's certainly capable. As Rob pointed out it will get you into the GZ without problems.

 

The hero is expected to get updated to android 2.1 later this year. So it will run the same programs the other android phones run as long as the hardware can support it.

I think you'll like the hero. It's a very fun phone!

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Thanks Crude. Im going to hit the sprint store sometimes next week i think. One of the reason im thinking of going to a fancy phone is that i use lots of mins for work and have to go up to 1500+ min a month. The text and the everything else is already included if i use it or not. So might as well use it lol.. Thanks everyone for your help. After i get the phone i would be back on here asking for help to get the programs working... lol.. One thing at a time for now... Technolgy if you dont keep up with it you get left behind in no time.

 

Alex

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Thanks Crude. Im going to hit the sprint store sometimes next week i think. One of the reason im thinking of going to a fancy phone is that i use lots of mins for work and have to go up to 1500+ min a month. The text and the everything else is already included if i use it or not. So might as well use it lol.. Thanks everyone for your help. After i get the phone i would be back on here asking for help to get the programs working... lol.. One thing at a time for now... Technolgy if you dont keep up with it you get left behind in no time.

 

Alex

 

If you can, you might want to wait till near the end of March. There is a "wireless phone convention/show" in mid to late March (Can't thin of the name) and folks are speculating that Sprint will be making an announcement on some of their future Android phones. I've been "out of contract" since 11/08 and figure it's worth the 3-4 week wait to see if the HTC Hero's "big brother" is right around the corner.

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HTC Supersonic I think is the phone you are thinking of.

 

-R

 

Thanks Crude. Im going to hit the sprint store sometimes next week i think. One of the reason im thinking of going to a fancy phone is that i use lots of mins for work and have to go up to 1500+ min a month. The text and the everything else is already included if i use it or not. So might as well use it lol.. Thanks everyone for your help. After i get the phone i would be back on here asking for help to get the programs working... lol.. One thing at a time for now... Technolgy if you dont keep up with it you get left behind in no time.

 

Alex

 

If you can, you might want to wait till near the end of March. There is a "wireless phone convention/show" in mid to late March (Can't thin of the name) and folks are speculating that Sprint will be making an announcement on some of their future Android phones. I've been "out of contract" since 11/08 and figure it's worth the 3-4 week wait to see if the HTC Hero's "big brother" is right around the corner.

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