Thin Cell Phones

M

Michael J. McCasland

New member
I hate cell phones, but they are a necessity in this modern world. I've got a Samsung flip phone with more features than I will ever or have ever used. Internet, camera, call waiting, a bunch of other useless stuff, but the thing is a couple years old and it's time for a change.

Being someone that barely pays attention to cell phones I know nothing about them. So, I'm comming to you folks. I really want only a few things. I want decent sound, if I can get a cell phone that has better performance than the one II have would be great. I want somehting small, but not short, I want a decent thin phone. Thats about it, good performance and something thin as not to make a big bulge in my pocket.

What are is your experiences, I'd like to hear the good and bad experiences you've had with your phones, model names and numbers would be appreciated.

Thanks
MJM
 
Who do you have your service with?
Ihave a new LG VX8300 its 3/4' thick and 3' long flip phone.
It also has a lot of stuff on it that I will never use as well. It takes pictures and movies, also plays music and full lenth movies, it all depends on what you are looking for. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
My provider is "Sprint". I am trying to avoid getting a phone that has poor sound and over-all quality. The phone I have right now is Okay but talking from cell phone to cell phone is difficult at best. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be able to hear better, but years of shooting has taken it's toll on me.
 
Many phones are available only to a certain carrier. So you need to start by seeing what your carrier offers if their service is satisfactory. I have had great success with Nokia candy bar style phones. Great reception with good sound. Verizon is a great provider here but didn't have a Nokia when we renewed. I tried a Motorola flip phone which has good reception even in fringe areas. The sound is just good. Good Luck
 
I have a Motorola Razr and US Cellular
very thin, lots of bells and whistles that don't get used.

reason I got it is call quality, even using the built in speaker phone sound quality is very good.
 
MJM, I'll first say I don't know much about cell phones and my hearing is terrible. That being said, I'll suggest one like my wife got me and *makes* me carry.lol. Our service provider is also Sprint so I guess she got it through Sprint. It also says Sanyo on it so I suppose it is manufactured by Sanyo? On the back it says *QUALCOMM 3G CDMA* which I guess is the model number?
This is a fold type phone or flip phone I guess they call them. It has a volume control and I CAN ACTUALLY HEAR a person talking to me with this phone when it's turned up. lol. Also has a speaker built into it that can be very loud too. It might be worth looking into buddy.
Hope that helps.
Edited to add :::eek:ooops, I just reread your post. Sounds like maybe you don't want a flip phone this go round. If that's the case you're probably not interested in this one.
 
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Sanyo is the maker, it has a 3g compatible chipset made by and with qualcomm technology.

Michael, you may want to look at ALL of the phones at the store. Treat this as you would a new car purchase. Most stores have demo phones, that they can let you place a call with. Most good associates have phones from their company, and they should let you place a call with.

Remember, unless you are under contract, you can now port your number to any other carrier, should you want to. This means different phones, different technology, and of course different service. If you are happy with Sprint, you should stay with them.

Here are a list of companies that make really good products: LG, Samsung, Sanyo, Motorola, Nokia, and Audiovox. I would at this point stay away from Kyocera as they have had several major recalls on product lately (battery issues).

Remember, I didn't always do this police thing. If you need any info, or don't think that the people are being on the level, shoot me a PM.
 
I probably didn't word my post very well. I like flip phones very much and probably couldn't live with a plain flat phone again. I want something I can stick in my pocket and not look like I have a cancerous growth on my leg. I'd really like one that fits nicely in a shirt pocket.

I've actually been considering a qualcomm phone, but didn't want to slap down the cash until I heard something good about them.

By the way, the phone I have right now works well enough and I can hear what there is "available" of the conversation. It's the starts and stops that bugg me. It's worse when two cell phones are in the conversation. Then there is the crap sound you get when the caller is in a noisey environment. Is there a phone that does not have this problem? Is it the phone or the service that does this. All in all I'm fairly satisfied with the over-all coverage offered by the local "Sprint" carrier. We tried several others over the years and were not at all happy with the service we got. But I realize that times change, especially in the cell phone industry, coverages are getting better and better all the time.
 
I'd go with the Razr or maybe an LG 8300. The Razr has good sound and gets as good of reception as any other phone. For carrying wise it is plenty thin and the perfect length but for me it's kind of wide (carry in jeans pocket).

I have an LG 8100 (predecesor to 8300) it's an ok phone. It has good size, good battery life, alot of features, decent reception. The sound is the biggest complaint right now if you don't get the earpiece in just the right spot you can't hear well.
 
I just coughed up the $$ for my son and his mother to get new phones.....they got Razrs. I also have a LG8100 ...the Razr is a better sounding phone but is very very sensitive to any moisture. Don't ask me how I know....lets just say I got to buy these more than once.
Inside a Razr is a green sticker, if that sticker turns pink ...no service center will repair it. They will know that it got wet.....don't ask how I know this either. Buy the protection plan if you get a Razr.
 
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I also have a Razr, and I really like it. I like the fact that it doesn't have an external antenna, not even a stubby one. That makes it really nice to put in your pocket. My old LG had a stubby antenna that would make it uncomfortable when I would put in my pants pocket, or sport coat pocket. Reception is much better than my old LG. A lake that my buddy and I walleye fish at is out in the sticks, and my old LG would be searching for signal the whole time, and then my battery would be dead by the time we would leave. My Razr still and two bars of signal strength, and didn't search for signal the whole night. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

kevlars
 
My wife got me a RAZR and it's been working very well for me, it does have a bunch of features I'll probably never use but has good reception and I have yet to have a "dropped" call. It is also very compact, I often carry mine in my "watch pocket".
 
Here is a local "Rez" secret. Go get a commodity cellphone. They have any kind of phone you can get and only costs you around $10 a month for the razor and $5 a month for the nonfancy ones. That is with everything on them.

If you only want caller ID and nothing else than I believe its pretty cheap. I think my friend pays $3 a month for his stock cellphone.

I am getting a phone for my birthday this year and a Commod Phone is the way to go.

You dont even need to be poor to get commod phone. We are not poor by any standard or rich either but just go in and say you want one. You just have to confirm your over 18.
 
the problem I have with alot of the phones is pretty simple.

My hands are fairly big, and when I flip them open its too small a phone for me to dial comfortably with one hand. Not saying its a huge problem but going down the road, fishing, or something I dont want to use two hands. I cant reach all the numbers comfortably with my thumb.

I know dumb thing to worry about, but somthing that gets on my nerves.
 
I don't know if you want to bother with it but... many phones now have voice dial. You just hit a button and say the name of the person you want to call and it dials them up.
 
After taking all the comments in and cursing the internet, I ended up getting a Sanyo Katana phone. It is interesting that "Sprint" has some sort of feud going with Motorola and does not offer the Razr phone. I was drawn to this phone for exactly the reason some folks talk it down. The phone is far more than a basic phone, but it doesn't have every little toy that is popular today on it. What it does have is:
- A very thin design, closed it is just over 1/2" thick.
- The sound is clear and clean.
- It has a very strong/powerful signal catching thingy.

Unexpected plusses:
- The buttons are generally big and easy to use.
- I'm always watching my gas mileage, this thing has a useable calculator.
- It's got a stopwatch, I use a stopwatch on stand and this could be useful if I loose my watch, It's happened before ... actually the watch broke...
- It's got a voice dial feature and a nice loud exterior speaker. I can voice dial with the thing closed. I don't know if this feature will be truly useful, but I can see where it could be a good thing.
- The camera isn't the best one out there, but who cares, it's a cell phone for gods sake, occasionally it is nice to be able to take a picture though.

At this point I really like the phone, time will tell if it is actually as good as I'm hoping it will be. Tanks for all your replies, they were useful in my decision.
 
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You may be having a bit of fun at my expense, but if you are attempting to embarrass me, even more than I embarrass myself, you’ve succeeded. I don’t spell well, I know it, it’s not laziness, my ability to spell is not my strong suite. Thanks a lot I always appreciate it.

In my embarrassment I can hardly hold back from a nasty post that reads something like the following:
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Now lets’ run as fast as we can down yet another series of posts talking about how awful we are for not spelling well while on the internet, then we can run a whole other series of posts on how spelling “just doesn’t matter”
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But at this time I will probably hold back from writing something like that.
 
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