Finally joining the 21st century. Advice needed.
So, I think it's finally time for me to give in, toss the antique old cellphone that thinks that "alarm clock" is a fancy app, and get a real smartphone. I've crossed the wishing-I-had-the-internet-in-my-pocket-twice-a-week-for-a-month threshold, and it's not as though I don't spend that much per month on coffee.
So the obvious next question is: what to get. I have been paying ~zero attention to recent developments in the area. I probably want either an android phone or an iphone, based on what little I know. My general philosophy of the world probably matches up better with the android, but let's face it, walled gardens are pretty pleasant places to live, and I'm getting the phone to *use* it.
I am not exactly a power user. (See, "getting by on voice and one text a month".) I want phone-based navigation. I want web access, but they'll all give me that. I want ssh access. I'd like to be able to write my own programs for the phone, less because I want anything in particular and more just because. Good casual games, ease of finding and booking nearby restaurants, good recipes in my pocket, an e-reader, the usual. If it's got good enough text entry that I can take notes on it, or better yet check out a subversion repository and actually write character sheets or code? Massive bonus points, but I suspect I'm dreaming, and I get headaches trying to work on our netbook for very long anyway.
Networkwise, I am currently a perfectly content t-mobile customer. Their coverage is pretty dubious on campus, but I'm not living there anymore, and in general my phone sucks inside large buildings, but don't they all? I don't particularly mind switching, but I do want something with affordable minimal phone plans. (The spouse doesn't want a smartphone yet, we neither need nor want unlimited calls and texting, and we don't want to pay for them.) Currently we're grandfathered in under something cheap. ($60 for both of us.)
So. What would you recommend, phonewise? Even better, what criteria should I be considering when judging phones that I, who as never actually used a smartphone for any length of time, would not think of? I'd rather not buy an iPhone *just* because it's the one all of my friends have...
So the obvious next question is: what to get. I have been paying ~zero attention to recent developments in the area. I probably want either an android phone or an iphone, based on what little I know. My general philosophy of the world probably matches up better with the android, but let's face it, walled gardens are pretty pleasant places to live, and I'm getting the phone to *use* it.
I am not exactly a power user. (See, "getting by on voice and one text a month".) I want phone-based navigation. I want web access, but they'll all give me that. I want ssh access. I'd like to be able to write my own programs for the phone, less because I want anything in particular and more just because. Good casual games, ease of finding and booking nearby restaurants, good recipes in my pocket, an e-reader, the usual. If it's got good enough text entry that I can take notes on it, or better yet check out a subversion repository and actually write character sheets or code? Massive bonus points, but I suspect I'm dreaming, and I get headaches trying to work on our netbook for very long anyway.
Networkwise, I am currently a perfectly content t-mobile customer. Their coverage is pretty dubious on campus, but I'm not living there anymore, and in general my phone sucks inside large buildings, but don't they all? I don't particularly mind switching, but I do want something with affordable minimal phone plans. (The spouse doesn't want a smartphone yet, we neither need nor want unlimited calls and texting, and we don't want to pay for them.) Currently we're grandfathered in under something cheap. ($60 for both of us.)
So. What would you recommend, phonewise? Even better, what criteria should I be considering when judging phones that I, who as never actually used a smartphone for any length of time, would not think of? I'd rather not buy an iPhone *just* because it's the one all of my friends have...