Alright, opening this up to a larger audience. Opinions on these cel phones

[DrewKaree]

I will be signing up for cel service with AT&T, and have done a fistful of research the past few days.  The phone I am/was originally going to go with for the wife and I is the Nokia 6555.  I have found battery life to be a common complaint about this phone.  Here's what I'm looking to do:

NO texting whatsoever.
NO 'net access whatsoever
VERY good reception
As little money as possible (isn't that a given?)
mp3 playback so I can eliminate that gizmo from my pocket
MUST do bluetooth (for mp3 use as well, but stereo isn't a "must")
Decent battery life (the Nokia 6555 under bluetooth usage is evidently running in the 2-HOUR range according to real-world reports )
Currently offered by AT&T (insurance purposes)

The wife is going to be getting a free Razr (due to price matching Best Buy's free offer this week in my area).  The other music-friendly phones I took a look at in the store were the Nokia N75 (supposedly just a step above the 6555 for battery life, but still craptastic) and the Sony Ericsson W580i, which is now what I'm leaning towards after seeing the real-world claims of battery life being more in line with what I need.

I'm really just hoping I can get some comments from some folks who aren't fanatical about phones and speak plain English when referring to "dem celly's yo"

[shardian]

Well I have the RAZR V3xx, and so far I have not been happy with the sound quality at all. Also, bluetooth appears to eat batteries regardless of brand.

And lastly, the v3xx is an mp3 player, but the multimedia interface system just isn't very user friendly IMO. I have used it as an mp3 player once or twice, but you tend to have to completely reorganize the songs because the phone throws them out of order. Same with videos.

The only reason I would recommend this phone is because of the high resolution, large screen. I keep entire seasons of South Park on the phone for idle entertainment. Not iPhone quality, but for free, I can't complain.

Either phone you go with, DO NOT BUY IN STORE, or the 'net. Call AT&T to place your order. I got a TON of stuff for free and or cheap that is not offered in store or online. They CS reps will pretty much do anything you ask them to.

I got:
2 RAZR V3xx (fresh on the market) Free after $50 rebate
2 Motorolla H700 earpieces Free after $40 in rebates
2 car chargers that I returned...but had to initially buy to get the deal on the headsets.

The lady was awesome and even told me to just return the chargers as soon as I got them.
In order to get the phones free, I had to sign up for a media package. She told me to just cancel it as soon as I activated the phones.

[XyloSesame]

Either phone you go with, DO NOT BUY IN STORE, or the 'net. Call AT&T to place your order.

I can second the suggestion to call. Every time I have placed a major order with AT&T, I have called them and received offers and incentives not advertised or offered either in-store or online.

[shardian]

In-store doesn't even offer deals. The reasoning is because the stores make their money off of accessories. If you call AT&T direct, they make their money off of contracts.

[XyloSesame]

In-store doesn't even offer deals. The reasoning is because the stores make their money off of accessories. If you call AT&T direct, they make their money off of contracts.

Exactly. My area's corp stores won't even match their online prices.

[shmokes]

Check online, check wirefly.com, call AT&T, pit sales reps from one store against reps from another store.  You can get any phone you want, with the probable exception of the iPhone, for free.  With that said, check out the KRZR.  It's a much nicer form factor than the RAZR, and the battery life is unbelievable.  It works well enough as a media phone.  Sound quality is excellent.  My wife has one and she loves it.  And, seriously, she only charges it maybe once a week.  I swear, she could make a single 8-hour call and it wouldn't drain a full battery on that phone.  The original RAZR v3 had terrible battery life.  It's amazing how they managed to significantly shrink the phone, yet still give it phenomenal battery life.

For my part, I have a Blackberry Pearl, which I also got for free with my AT&T contract.  I absolutely love the phone.  It's a lovely combination between a full-on PDA and a phone.  It doesn't have a touch-screen, but it's also not gigantic -- it slips into my pocket completely unnoticed.  I have minor complaints about it -- the build-quality is definitely not as high as the KRZR, which is built like a tank.  But overall, I'm very pleased with it.  If you get the data plan so you can use push email and stuff, the BlackBerry Pearl is maybe the best phone on the planet, but even without the data plan you get excellent calendar functionality in a nice, small package.  Oh yeah, it has serviceable multimedia functionality as well.  Nothing great, but it would probably meet your needs.

[DrewKaree]

I messed up a bit and can see I wasn't as clear as I should have been with my initial post.

The phone for the wife is of no concern to me or her.  Honestly, she's good with the Razr, and in reality, her phone is secondary.  She only wants a phone that will replace her current Moto i510, but get better reception, which is darn near any phone.  She's getting an increase in minutes (double), which is all she cared about.  The real need is my phone. 

I work for Pepsi now, and I'll be getting a discount for that.  We're set up so that I DO have to go into a store, but it's only to pick up whatever I order.  I don't have to pay for any phone except crazy-new phones and/or newer smart phones, and even then, it'll only be $50 or less. 

Battery life is turning out to be THE most important feature for me, since I'm now really set on eliminating my mp3 player from my pocket, and the bluetooth headset we get thrown in on our deals obviously eats up battery life far quicker.  I'm also good with the non-stereo earpiece thingamabob, since the majority of what I listen to is spoken-word (books and podcasts).

Shmokes, does your wife use a bluetooth headset with her phone, or is the battery life you're speaking about with the handset alone?  I like that the KRZR is a clamshell too.  Your Pearl would run me $50, but I'm thinking it might be overkill for me.  I also have to stick it in my pocket all the time (wearing it on my belt would just get it beat to hell and back, and quickly require replacement).  Does the keypad have to be locked all the time when used like that, and would you consider the process to lock/unlock the thing at least a dozen+ times a day to become tedious?

The package we're offered includes a car charger for free for every phone, some little throw-in bluetooth headset, every phone seems to be either free, $20, $35, or $50 unless we find it anywhere else for less (including online offers, and I'm believing I can find darn near any phone for free online), a few crappy cases (generic all-in-one slip-in cases I'll never EVER accept) as throw-ins, 50% off memory cards (if a phone can use one), and a discount on the primary phone of whatever plan I choose (I'll be getting a family plan, so I'll get a discount off the total plan price).

Thanks for all the responses so far.

[tommy]

No one wants to talk to you Drew, so don't even bother with a phone. 

That's your best bet anyway. 

[DrewKaree]

No one wants to talk to you Drew, so don't even bother with a phone. 

That's your best bet anyway. 

Since my phone still ain't ringin', I'll assume it still ain't you

Notice, I'm talking about the music capabilities of the phone.  I'm really looking for an mp3 player that also happens to be a phone.  That way if you ever DO call, when I don't answer I can always say I was listening to music at the time and couldn't be bothered

[MikeQ]

Drew, don't you love your wife?   The Razr is 110% more likely to be involved in a rollover accident.   Get something more responsible.  The Razr does have an AMD Imageon Chip in though so you'll be helping me out.   Atually, pick any of these and you can think of me everytime you look at the display:

http://ati.amd.com/products/handheld/onboard.html


BTW, Bluetooth is awful for battery life. 

[knave]

I also use AT&T and just got myself a RAZR V3xx and the wife a Nokia 6126 (I think).

We like our phones...Neither of us are hard core but my inner Geek wanted the Blackberry Pearl.  Alas they were sold out so I chose the RAZR.  After the fact I like it.  Calls are clear and the phone is easy enough to use.  Not as easy as my prievious Nokia candy bar phone though.  Battery life is ok on the Razr I charge it a bit more than once a week with moderate daily use. If I charge it twice I never have to worry about it at all.

I've only played around with the media fetures a bit but it's cool that it can play MP3's and video's.  The camera works surprisingly well as long as there is enough light.  I don't use the net on it at all.

I was on the fence about getting a flip phone but it's worked out fine.  I did get a snap on case and a leather belt holder for it.  The snap on case is great.  It was super cheap but protects the thin phone from all the abuse I will put it through. I havn't used the bluetooth yet but have heard it works well with a quality earpiece. 

One nice feature is the ability to use a standard mini USB cable to charge the phone or grab my photo's off of it.  Also nice to DL ringtones on my PC and put them on the phone for free. I'd like to know more about putting video on it but I really just use it to place calls so for that it does a fine job.  I'm glad I got it.

The Nokia I know less avout but it hasn't gotten any complaints.  It seems to work well and have good reception.  Interface is typicaly easy.  Wife seems happy with it so I am as well. 

After all this I suppose the Pearl would have been overkill for me.

[shardian]

One nice feature is the ability to use a standard mini USB cable to charge the phone or grab my photo's off of it.  Also nice to DL ringtones on my PC and put them on the phone for free. I'd like to know more about putting video on it but I really just use it to place calls so for that it does a fine job.  I'm glad I got it.

You have to convert video to 3gp format. It also tends to get considerable image artifacts in that format. That is why I stick with Southpark- less movement, less detail = better overall picture.

The motorola software pack will do the conversion, but it creates an overly bulky file size. I use  a prog called ImToo 3gp video converter. It works great, is quick, and file sizes are much smaller with no loss in quality.

[Crax]

My wife has a KRZR.  Battery life is good and sound quality isn't bad.  It was easy to setup on the computer and it's pretty easy to sync mp3's to it through WMP11 and my wife can do it herself.  We bought a 2gb mini sd card for like 25 with shipping awhile ago so expanding the memory for more music is easy too.  She doesn't use bluetooth so I'm not sure on that.

[shmokes]

I'm not sure on the bluetooth, but keep in mind that the vast majority of phones cannot do MP3s over the bluetooth headset.  They have to support A2DP IIRC, and most don't.  I've had two phones so far that had bluetooth, but if I wanted to listen to music I had to use wired headphones.  Amazingly, I think even the iPhone is this way.  It's retarded.  I have a set of bluetooth headphones compatible only with an iPod.  It's not like the Bluetooth spec is incapable of carrying high-quality stereo sound, but most phones just cripple the functionality. 

I do have to lock/unlock my phone before and after calls.  It just becomes second nature, though, almost like opening and closing a clamshell.  After you hang up, you just hold down the asterisk button for like three seconds and it locks it.  Tapping the asterisk then the call button unlocks.  You don't think about it.  Muscle memory takes care of everything.  With that said, though, I kind of hesitate to say that you'd like the Pearl more than the KRZR.  I definitely do, but my wife actually prefers the KRZR cos she doesn't use the calendar and she likes the clamshell formfactor more.  With a data plan, the KRZR couldn't do the BB Pearl's laundry.  But without that, the KRZR might edge out the Pearl strictly as a phone with basic multimedia functionality.  Certainly KRZR wins in battery life.  My phone has fine battery life.  I sometimes talk for many hours in a single day and I've never had it die on me partway through the day.  But realistically, I need to plug it in every night, while my wife's my wife's KRZR would probably do standby for two weeks, so long as you only made fifteen or twenty minutes worth of calls every day.

Check out the Sony Ericson phones too.  Their walkman phones are pretty sweet.  Next to the iPhone, they're probably tops for media.

[shardian]

The Best Buy guy told me the V3xx would not allow me to listen to MP3's on the earbud bluetooth thing. I figured "Why not? I can hear the beeps of the phone while navigating?"
Sure enough, I can listen to MP3's or movies thru the bluetooth earbud.

[knave]

The Best Buy guy told me the V3xx would not allow me to listen to MP3's on the earbud bluetooth thing. I figured "Why not? I can hear the beeps of the phone while navigating?"
Sure enough, I can listen to MP3's or movies thru the bluetooth earbud.

Motorola also has a stereo bluetooth headset, so you can listen to your songs in style.

It's one of my items of interest for my phone.

[DrewKaree]

I'm not sure on the bluetooth, but keep in mind that the vast majority of phones cannot do MP3s over the bluetooth headset.  They have to support A2DP IIRC, and most don't.

I dunno why, but since that issue NEVER came up in all my research thus far, I guess I had just assumed it would then work   Thanks for bringing that up

Check out the Sony Ericson phones too.  Their walkman phones are pretty sweet.  Next to the iPhone, they're probably tops for media.

That W580i that I mentioned above is exactly that.  I swore I'd never buy another Sony product again, and I R-E-A-L-L-Y want to stick to that, but I just flat out can't rule that phone out.

I hate Sony

This is the phone I was looking at (mebbe they won't do mp3 over Bluetooth ) - the one available to me only comes in black:

[shmokes]

My sister has that phone, or one quite similar.  She really likes it.  She's not a gadget fiend at all.  Just your average Jane.