If you’ve been following AnywhereMan, you know that I’ve debated this smartphone thing for quite some time. I’ve considered ditching trusty Verizon for AT&T and their lovely iPhone. When Verizon released their Android phones, I considered renewing my contract and going with one of those.
But each time I thought about making a change I just couldn’t justify why I would actually need the extra features that a smartphone offers. I also couldn’t justify the cost. I’m currently on an old Unicel plan that got grandfathered onto Verizon when Verizon purchased Unicel in our region. My wife and I spend a grand total of $60 for two lines, 600 nationwide minutes, unlimited incoming texts, and unlimited incoming calls. If you are familiar with Google Voice, you know that free incoming minutes means you can essentially have unlimited calling.
Well, in the past few weeks a few situations have come up that really helped me make my mind up to go with a Palm Pre Plus on Verizon (it helped that I was able to keep my current voice plan thanks to ordering the phone through Verizon’s website instead of in a store). I discuss the specific features I’ve been looking for in today’s video.
I still like the iPhone. I like the Verizon network but was a bit surprised by some of their misinformed salespeople and their general bias towards Android devices. I still like the Android platform in general. But at the end of the day the Pre Plus had the features, reliability, price, and ease of use that I needed.
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Makes sense on the mobile hotspot, but I haven't heard anyone else “loving” their Pre after awhile. Did you chat with @sjhalestorm about his experience at all?
I didn't but I want to hear it.
The mobile hotspot feature is great. It'll come in handy if I win an iPad. lol!
I should also mention that switching to iPhone/AT&T wasn't really an option. Because I live and work in a non-metro area, 3G coverage for AT&T is non-existent, while Verizon has excellent 3G coverage up here. Call quality and dropped calls were a consideration as well since I use my phone as my business line. Again, Verizon easily beats AT&T in that regard for my region. So really it was a decision between Palm and Android. I think AT&T is the reason Android devices are currently outselling iPhone. But again, the big draw was the mobile hotspot feature of the Pre Plus.
My wife has the Pre and I am very impressed by WebOS. I was less than impressed by the app market. I like the Android market and all the free apps. The WebOS is more polished than Android IMO but I think that Android is powerful and growing rapidly.
Adding the hotspot feature would be an awesome feature. That was a great addition. I do wonder what HP will do with the Palm stuff going forward. Best of luck with your new phone!
Thanks Jeremy! And I completely agree that the app markets for Android and iPhone blow Palm's out of the water. (I wish I had the 4-track app for my pre that I've got on my iPod Touch) It looks like HP is putting out a webOS tablet later this year so it will be interesting to see if that affects growth in the webOS app catalog. Since the webOS development process is pretty simple (HTML/Javascript), I might even try my hand at it.
I did see that the next version of Android might include a hotspot feature, but I'm guessing usage of it will depend on carrier/plan. If that happens, maybe my next device will be Android. I was already 6 months into my “New Every Two” plan so I'll be eligible for another new device in 18 months.
Have you “cracked” your Android device at all to enable tethering?
My phone is rooted. I couldn't wait any longer to try Android 2.1. But, I haven't tried the tethering add-ins. I have PDANet on it for tethering but haven't even tried that yet.