More phone stuff!
My cellphone contract is up, so I get to save $150 on a new phone. I naturally go for the best Samsung flip phone for under $50, but since my dad suggested the fancy LG music phone before I said anything, I'm now looking at all the fancy phones and being all tormented over the choice.
My carrier is Sprint, so there aren't that many really amazing cellphones available at the moment, but Sprint is set to pick up the new Motorola RAZR derivatives this fall... so I can potentially save a bunch on a really shiny and new phone.
The following are all the phones I'm considering. (All of them have cameras, so I don't usually mention it. I paid too much for my Finepix F30 to care much about a cellphone camera, anyway.)
1. Samsung MM-A900 (Samsung's RAZR)
GOOD: This was the first phone I thought of, since I had been lusting after it for a while. It's slick, has a rotating camera, plays music, and has a REALLY FANTASTIC SCREEN (or so I hear...). It also has all these features that I will never use (like the Power Vision stuff, because I'm cheap).
BAD: It only has 50mb of internal memory and no flash expansion! That is really lame for a music phone. I would normally not care, but since I no longer have an iPod or (probably) money to replace my iPod, 1gb of possible memory for the phone is almost a requisite. There's also no place for all the fancy phone straps I bought in Japan. Booo!
2. LG LX-550 (renamed "Fusic" by Sprint)
GOOD: Sprint's latest flagship music phone (I guess)... it has iPod-esque music controls and looks like it was made by Fisher-Price, BUT accepts microSD cards up to 1gb (halleleujah!) and has a FM receiver/transmitter (the transmitter part sucks, though). It also has gotten very positive reviews, as far as I've seen. So far, this is JUST BARELY my first choice.
BAD: It's pretty heavy... and none of LG's phones have phone strap holes. I also don't really like LG phones... after seeing my mom's crappy LG phone and with it being a Chinese manufacturer and all.
3. Motorola KRZR K1m
GOOD: One of the newest phones from Motorola, it's more user-friendly than the RAZR (from what I hear, it's texture is totally... well, 気持ち) and supports up to 2gb microSD cards. And VERY importantly, being a Japanese company, Motorola manages to put phone strap holes on nearly every phone they make... even the sliders! Now why can't Samsung and LG learn from this...? At the moment, this is in VERY CLOSE second after the LG phone.
BAD: I have to wait until "third quarter 2006" when this phone is expected to arrive... I think that's late fall, but it will be pushing the end of the $150 off promotion Sprint has had these past few years (ends 11/25, but it might get extended another year, just like it has been this past year). Also, the display is only 16-bit... which is really not THAT big of a problem, but it's not as pretty as the Samsung or LG phone screens.
4. Samsung SPH-A640 (THE CHEAP BACKUP PLAN)
GOOD: This would be FREE, which means I would theoretically be able to save money that can go towards affording a new iPod instead... except this is my parents' money and I don't expect them to buy me an iPod (although I AM an only-child so maybe Christmas... HMMmm...).
BAD: This phone would require that I carry around my really CRAPPY and EMBARRASSING Chinese iPod Nano rip-off for the time being... and the fakePod probably has crappier features and sound quality than the music phones I'm looking at.
Lastly, here's a comparison chart of all of the aforementioned phones. My current phone is the last phone on the chart (pretty basic, you see). If anyone has any thoughts, they'd be greatly appreciated (I am pretty indecisive myself).
My carrier is Sprint, so there aren't that many really amazing cellphones available at the moment, but Sprint is set to pick up the new Motorola RAZR derivatives this fall... so I can potentially save a bunch on a really shiny and new phone.
The following are all the phones I'm considering. (All of them have cameras, so I don't usually mention it. I paid too much for my Finepix F30 to care much about a cellphone camera, anyway.)
1. Samsung MM-A900 (Samsung's RAZR)
GOOD: This was the first phone I thought of, since I had been lusting after it for a while. It's slick, has a rotating camera, plays music, and has a REALLY FANTASTIC SCREEN (or so I hear...). It also has all these features that I will never use (like the Power Vision stuff, because I'm cheap).
BAD: It only has 50mb of internal memory and no flash expansion! That is really lame for a music phone. I would normally not care, but since I no longer have an iPod or (probably) money to replace my iPod, 1gb of possible memory for the phone is almost a requisite. There's also no place for all the fancy phone straps I bought in Japan. Booo!
2. LG LX-550 (renamed "Fusic" by Sprint)
GOOD: Sprint's latest flagship music phone (I guess)... it has iPod-esque music controls and looks like it was made by Fisher-Price, BUT accepts microSD cards up to 1gb (halleleujah!) and has a FM receiver/transmitter (the transmitter part sucks, though). It also has gotten very positive reviews, as far as I've seen. So far, this is JUST BARELY my first choice.
BAD: It's pretty heavy... and none of LG's phones have phone strap holes. I also don't really like LG phones... after seeing my mom's crappy LG phone and with it being a Chinese manufacturer and all.
3. Motorola KRZR K1m
GOOD: One of the newest phones from Motorola, it's more user-friendly than the RAZR (from what I hear, it's texture is totally... well, 気持ち) and supports up to 2gb microSD cards. And VERY importantly, being a Japanese company, Motorola manages to put phone strap holes on nearly every phone they make... even the sliders! Now why can't Samsung and LG learn from this...? At the moment, this is in VERY CLOSE second after the LG phone.
BAD: I have to wait until "third quarter 2006" when this phone is expected to arrive... I think that's late fall, but it will be pushing the end of the $150 off promotion Sprint has had these past few years (ends 11/25, but it might get extended another year, just like it has been this past year). Also, the display is only 16-bit... which is really not THAT big of a problem, but it's not as pretty as the Samsung or LG phone screens.
4. Samsung SPH-A640 (THE CHEAP BACKUP PLAN)
GOOD: This would be FREE, which means I would theoretically be able to save money that can go towards affording a new iPod instead... except this is my parents' money and I don't expect them to buy me an iPod (although I AM an only-child so maybe Christmas... HMMmm...).
BAD: This phone would require that I carry around my really CRAPPY and EMBARRASSING Chinese iPod Nano rip-off for the time being... and the fakePod probably has crappier features and sound quality than the music phones I'm looking at.
Lastly, here's a comparison chart of all of the aforementioned phones. My current phone is the last phone on the chart (pretty basic, you see). If anyone has any thoughts, they'd be greatly appreciated (I am pretty indecisive myself).