Coming back into the Android Scene!!

[RDKamikaze]

Howdy everyone, long time no see!! I have been busy with my life and until lately, I haven't even touched my Droid Solo (Droid 1 without a plan for those who do not remember the cool name I dubbed my beast). Work and being married has swallowed up practically all my freetime but now I'm ready to make a comeback into society!

Anyway, as we all know Verizon is going to up the data plan to a tier setup coming July 7th. My dad, wanting to be grandfathered into everything, rushed and bought an iphone 4 (which I'm happy for him, because it's just advanced enough for him, but not me) and then said I too, need to get a smartphone ASAP! So hey, I won't argue with that!

Here's the conflict: I'm checking out the phones and only a few are sticking to me and I'm not sure which I want to get. This is still my first day of research so please bear with me, but as those of you who know me (check my sig) I want something I can root.




Here are the options I'm considering and their ups and downs so far:* Droid X2 - It's the new X, which was my favorite for a long time, but it's only 3G. I'm not sureon the battery life, but it shouldn't be too bad only being 3G. An SDK was released lately, a HUGE plus for me!

* Droid Incredible 2 - It's the new Incredible, which was another favorite for me, but again, only 3G. The battery life doesn't seem terrible, but you can't perma-root it...yet.

*HTC Thunderbolt - It's 4G, but the battery life apparently sucks. I've heard good things about rooting it though, but is that with or without 4G disabled? And it's been rooted for months, which lets me know it's pretty stable.

*LG Revolution - I know nothing about it because lately I've grown a huge bitterness toward LG as a result of their unreliable "feature phones," so unless someone says to look into it I don't think I will.

*Casio Gz'One Commando - I'm now an 11-yr old scout master, so I'll be going on campouts with adventurous boys and don't want to break my smartphone. Of course I could not take it, but a digital compass and emergency phone would be pretty impressive. Plus I'm prone to dropping things or swimming with them, and did I mention it looks like you can root it (although there's not much support it looks like for ROMs)?

Anyway, I would love if the Android community could help shed some light on these phones. Please don't hate on each other, their phones, or my dad because he chose the iphone lol! We're all friends here, please remember that

This is the first step I'm making into the smartphone world (as an actual phone) so I want to make it a good one. The Droid Solo was awesome and pure excitement, but not being able to use it as a phone 24/7 was kind of annoying because I would periodically mis-place it

 

[frodoz737]

I'm new here and to the whole Android Smart Phone thing, but here is my feedback on 2 items you listed.

Wife is an Office Manager and has the LG Revolution which she really likes. She came from AT&T's BB then the Apple 3GS. It has all the latest stuff with the larger 16G HD and 16G microSD CL 4. She liked the screen better than the Charge. I am an Airline Mechanic and need a phone that bleeds with me. I came from the Casio GzOne Type S that still works after almost 5 years, and is now my ready standby. Now I have the Casio Commando, being the only rugged smart phone with coverage. Having a 1G HD with 8G microSD CL4, I upped it with a Lexar 32G CL10. The LG averaged 2082 and Casio averaged 1227 on Quadrant.

If you want all the buzzers and whistle with more internal memory, the LG Rev works as advertised, and the Wife recommends. If you want a rugged smart phone the Commando works great and I recommend. The screen is thicker and not nearly as responsive to touch, but very tough (that's why I bought it). Both run Froyo 2.2, I have 3G, she has 4G, we all have the unlimited data locked in, and made sure we liked them before the 14 day grace period was over. Also got the Commando for my 17 year old Son, who just made Eagle Scout, is in marching band and races mountain bikes.

I'm not a "techie", and nothing is perfect, but those are my opinions. Hope that helps.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Welcome back! I used to have a Droid X and I loved it, the battery life was great and moto has great hardware build quality so I would say the X2 would be a great choice. I also have a few co workers with the thunderbolt and they love them, as long as you don't have to go an entire day without a charger or spare battery. I personally do not like HTC phones though.

As far as a rugged phone, moto phones are very rugged to begin with and a plastic sandwich bag waterproofs it, lol. Not the best looking solution, but I don't really know what type of rugged cases are available for those phones.

 

[RDKamikaze]

Thank you both for your replies, I definitely appreciate them! I actually like how you both have experience with the phones I'm asking about which really helps a LOT when it comes to questions like mine above.

I stopped by Costco yesterday and picked up the Thunderbolt (well, it's being delivered technically) and I will receive it tomorrow, so fingers are crossed! The great thing is the rep there said I have 14 days to try it from when I receive it (Costco policy) and also that I can exchange it for any other smart phone any amount of times in the 14 days for free (I asked about the $30 fee and he said no fee, another Costco policy). I'm going to be testing it a LOT between now and then, that's for sure!

Thanks again for your answers so far, I hope others keep replying on their experience and opinions as I have 14 days to sway