I Need a New Cell Phone

I Need a New Cell Phone

I work in a cell phone store. My contract with Nextel expires next month, and I'm looking to get new service. As your cell phone expert blogger, I can officially make a statement: nextel sucks. They charge way too much money, and customer service people aren't even all that nice. As far as customer service goes, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile are the best -- not only are they nice, but they're also extremely chipper, like they just had the most potent 'uppers' (are they still called uppers these days? I've never been a druggie, so I'm not familiar with the hip terms of these things -- once a geek, always a geek). I bet their supervisors are pointing guns to their heads and yelling out, "sound cheerful, dammit!" It may very well be possible that at T-Mobile, the supervisors are cracking whips, because they always greet you with, "It's a great day here at T-Mobile! How can I provide you with excellent customer service!"

So I'm probably going to go with either company -- Verizon or T-Mobile. I'm not too extatic about Verizon's service though -- sure they have great reception, but their CDMA service drains batteries like crazy. Also, they push 2 year contracts. I'll die before I get a two year contract. Did you know that most batteries have a life span of 1 year? Sure, you say. I'll just get a new battery after a year. Sure, you say. Until you find out that a battery can cost up to $50. Of course, aftermarket versions on eBay average $10, so you take your pick. Not all aftermarket products are bad, but your safest bet goes with the original.

Also, the plan concerns me. I would need nationwide long distance. The 39.99 price plan with Verizon's America's Choice™ plan gives 400 peak time, while the competition, T-Mobile, gives 600 for the same price. The upside is that Verizon gives unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling (aka "IN" network calling), which is great, because most of my pals are on Verizon.

I'm also not too keen on the phone models at Verizon. They're nice and all, but ... eh. I like the models at T-Mobile better. Also, I like the 600 minutes thing. I'm still debating, because it basically comes down to this: a phone model that is aesthetically pleasing to my eye, or being able to have unlimited calling to my friends and brother.

I still have a month to decide, thankfully. But I get anal about these things. It took me a year to buy a digital camera. It took me half a year to buy a discman!

What I really really really really want in a phone is this: a high resolution camera (1+ mega pixels), a sliding phone -- if not sliding, a clamshell phone with an outer LCD screen, also plays MP3's, and can store at least 256 MB of music files, also has the FM radio, along with other basic capabilities, such as easy to access txt/pix msg, polyphonic ring tones that are LOUD, easy to download new ringtones and graphics, comes in a nice color other than the navy blue (like my current Motorola i90c), preferably silver, ability to change the faceplate would also be nice. Am I expecting too much? I may have to start paying for my own service(my boss paid for it the last two years), and I just want things the way I want it, especially if I'm paying for it. (Sigh) To my knowledge, my ideal phone, just like my ideal man (there was a post written back in the day about my ideal man) either does not exist, or never has and never will exist. Life is full of compromises -- and they're not always such a good thing.