[mdlug-discuss] Cell Handset Recommendations

[Peter Bart]

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:36:35 -0400
Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 1:03 PM, Peter Bart <petertheplumber at att.net>
> wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >         It looks like I'll finally be switching from Symbian to
> >         Android, and I need a new handset posthaste. I have no love
> > for Nokia anymore and I can't wait for Jolla or the new Geeksphone
> >         to materialize. I would very much like to get a Motorola
> > Droid Global for it's keyboard, but I don't see an easy way to get
> > it to work on AT&T's network. Barring that I'm thinking a Motorola
> >         Atrix 4G because I can get it's extended life battery. I
> > can't really wait to see what Google does with Motorola Mobility
> >         either, so I must pick from the current crop of handsets
> > that will work, or can be made to work on AT&T's or T-Mobiles GSM
> >         networks. I'm not averse to Cyanogenmod firmware, and will
> > most likely root my handset and flash it if it's available.
> >
> >         Anyone have any thoughts?
> 
> They're not high-end, but my wife have both had a lot of success with
> LG-509s (also known as 'Optimus'). You can get them from eBay for
> ~$100. I've had my hands on four. I botched one (though that might
> have been a hardware failure), but the other three are in good shape.
> One is mine, one is my wife's, one is my father-in-law's, and we're
> going to get one for my mother-in-law, too.

	Interesting, I've had no such good fortune with LG's handsets.
	Throw in all by bad experiences with LG's other products and my
	opinion of the company can't really get any lower.
> 
> They're pretty straightforward to root. Put on Titanium Backup, yank a
> bunch of crufty apps from the ROM, reduce the screen brightness to
> about 1/3 max, and suddenly your battery life is great with a decently
> bright screen.
> 
> I find that mine remains charged while tethering my work laptop, and I
> manage to get work done while on the bus.
> 
> Note: I haven't dealt directly with newer phones (though I do have a
> Xoom running Jelly Bean). My only concern about newer phones would be
> whether or not the apps and services I'd want to run on them consume
> too much energy on them to allow me to use them while charging on USB.

	That's why I'm looking at getting one with an available
	extended life battery. Cell handset batteries are still the
	same 1300-1500mah ones we used ten years ago. In the meantime
	processors, screens, apps all gobble more juice. The Nokia E7
	I have now doesn't even last all day anymore, but then that's
	one of the many reasons it's going back. 
> 
> Second Note: The LG-509 comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo). Gingerbreak
> works on them. There is not (and will not be; their CPU and memory is
> a little on the low end for it) a firmware for bringing Honeycomb, ICS
> or Jelly Bean-derived firmware for them. But they're otherwise great
> workhorses; I've wardriven half of West Michigan on one, and have
> around two dozen apps installed on mine with the assistance of
> Titanium Backup and memory card.
> 

Thanks for the insight!

-- 
Best Regards,

Peter The Plumber
<petertheplumber at att.net>