[rancho_gordo]

After many bad phones and a recent reconversion to Filofax, I'm looking simply for a phone with good sound quality, a phone book and a reasonable charge. I don't want it to be my organizer, I don't want it to play music or video or anything else. I don't want a camera. It's not a lifestyle item for me.
I don't mind paying top dollar.
Any suggestions?

My current contract with Verizon is up in a few months and I want to seize the moment!

[hollywood]

rancho_gordo, on May 8 2007, 05:09 PM, said:

After many bad phones and a recent reconversion to Filofax, I'm looking simply for a phone with good sound quality, a phone book and a reasonable charge. I don't want it to be my organizer, I don't want it to play music or video or anything else. I don't want a camera. It's not a lifestyle item for me.
I don't mind paying top dollar.
Any suggestions?

My current contract with Verizon is up in a few months and I want to seize the moment!

LG seems to make some good phones for Verizon and others. Pretty much you will get a camera on any phone with the features you want.

[Abbylovi]

I walked into Verizon with just about the same laundry list as you and the salesman nearly lost his lunch. "No camera?" "You just want a tip calculator? What is that?" He thought I was a freak but guess who won? Anyhoo, the good news is that you don't have to pay top dollar and most likely you'll get your phone for free because what you're asking for is very no frills. No frills = cheap.

My phone is a LG.

[Peter Creasey]

rancho_gordo, on May 8 2007, 07:09 PM, said:

After many bad phones and a recent reconversion to Filofax, I'm looking simply for a phone with good sound quality, a phone book and a reasonable charge.

Steve, I was sorry when I recently was forced to give up my old Motorola StarTek because the analog service was no longer available. What a great and powerful phone!

I am very pleased with the replacement...a Motorola Razr. The reliability, reception, sound quality, battery life, etc. all have been fine for my purposes, which, like yours, are very basic. Plus the small size is handy for portability.

[Ron Johnson]

You could probably pick up something like this for a reasonable price:

[lovelynugget]

My LG is a piece of shit. I can't wait to get rid of it.

PS. It has the most annoying ring tones on the market.

[Lex]

Peter Creasey, on May 9 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

I am very pleased with the replacement...a Motorola Razr. The reliability, reception, sound quality, battery life, etc. all have been fine for my purposes, which, like yours, are very basic. Plus the small size is handy for portability.

I've got a Razr too and am very happy.

[rancho_gordo]

It's the Razr i'm want to replace! The first one just plain freaked out and this newer one keeps coming back with "Unable to Charge". I really think the sound quality is bad and you have to use a bluetooth headset which is a whole new can of rotting, festering worms.

All the energy and technology that went into the capabilities of letting them sell me videos and games could have gone into a longer battery life is my feeling but I guess I'm naive.

[GordonCooks]

I've always used Motorola Products and never been disappointed.

[Abbylovi]

When I got my new phone at Verizon, some lady came in, very unhappy with her Razr. It was new and she said that she had to literally charge it after every call. The salesman said this was typical for a Razr.

[Lex]

The trick with the lithium batteries that are used now is to charge them for a full 24 hours before using the device. The drone in the store will tell you a couple of hours is enough. The manual will say the same. Don't listen to them - charge it for 24 hours. Then leave the device on until the charge is exhausted and charge it for a full 12 hours. (I got that advice 3 years ago on Amazon based on people complaining about poor battery life on a Samsung phone. Other people mentioned the 24 hour trick and they were uniformly satisfied.)

I've done that with the last couple of cell phones Deb and I have bought (yes, isn't it cute, we buy matching phones) and it's worked perfectly. Battery life between recharges is measured in days.

Deb and I bought Razrs back in October and the battery life has been outstanding.

Rancho - get a new battery for your Razr and try it.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I got the T-Mobile Blackberry about 18 months ago and now everyone in our company (okay, three of us), have one.

No camera, but I love being able to get e-mail wherever I am. Mine is the older, 7100 version but apparently they have now upgraded it to the 8100 version.

[rancho_gordo]

Lex, on May 9 2007, 08:35 AM, said:

The trick with the lithium batteries that are used now is to charge them for a full 24 hours before using the device. The drone in the store will tell you a couple of hours is enough. The manual will say the same. Don't listen to them - charge it for 24 hours. Then leave the device on until the charge is exhausted and charge it for a full 12 hours. (I got that advice 3 years ago on Amazon based on people complaining about poor battery life on a Samsung phone. Other people mentioned the 24 hour trick and they were uniformly satisfied.)

I've done that with the last couple of cell phones Deb and I have bought (yes, isn't it cute, we buy matching phones) and it's worked perfectly. Battery life between recharges is measured in days.

Deb and I bought Razrs back in October and the battery life has been outstanding.

Rancho - get a new battery for your Razr and try it.

That's good to know and I'll use it with this new one, but the error message I get is "Unable to charge". Of course as soon as I got it back I was able to get it to charge. It's not the battery, it's the phone. The battery lasts three days unused and about a day and a half after heavy use. To tell you the truth, I think the AC adaptor is the problem or the connection on the phone. But I couldn't even get to that point with the walking lobotomies that pass as clerks at Verizon.

But I also think the sound quality is not very good, I hate the bluetooth and the interface is ugly and unintuitive. I could live with all those but the next one, I just want a simple phone. My previous Motorola was fab and I think I should check and see if I can still find it anywhere.

[rancho_gordo]

Carolyn Tillie, on May 9 2007, 08:38 AM, said:

I got the T-Mobile Blackberry about 18 months ago and now everyone in our company (okay, three of us), have one.

No camera, but I love being able to get e-mail wherever I am. Mine is the older, 7100 version but apparently they have now upgraded it to the 8100 version.

Do you and your "fleet" get ok coverage in the bay area? I've heard Cingular/ATT was the best and that T-Mobile was the worst. Have you noticed?

[Lex]

rancho_gordo, on May 9 2007, 11:44 AM, said:

But I also think the sound quality is not very good ...

The design of the ear speaker on the Razr is a little funky - it's hard to keep it centered over your ear canal. The trick I use is to keep my index finger on the top of the flip panel of the Razr and use it as a guide to center the speaker over the ear canal. It sounds a little silly but since I've started doing it I've found the volume to be much louder.