Paging Sprint phone experts for a quick recommendation

[St. Bernard]

My s-i-l has just landed a job that lets her give amazing deals on Sprint phones...well, not so much the phones, but definitely the plans ($15/mo. for 500 anytime mins).

I've decided that I want a smartphone of some type. I think the most important features to me are, in descending order:
--high quality phone calls
--a good web-browsing experience
--Bluetooth/OS X synching
--multimedia

What I'd *really* like is WiFi...but I just can't afford the jump to the HTC Touch at $249.

Here are the smartphone offerings at <$149 or less:

MOTO Q -- $29
MOTO Q 9c -- $149
Palm Centro -- $99
LG Rumor -- $49
BB Pearl 8130 -- $99
BB 8703e -- $149

I've got a BB for work, with full QWERTY keyboard which I like well enough (maybe enough to make me shy away from the Pearl; predictive text is annoying to count on).

What say the ever-knowledgable folks of the forum? What phone presents the best value for the money v. the features I'm looking for?

TiA as always.

[M A V I C]

I've had the Moto Q and Palm Centro. I looked at the BB8703e, Pearl, Rumor and 9c before I bought the Centro.

Q is lame and The Missing Sync's support and customer service is horrible. The 9c is a little better phone, but the OS is a major hack job from the regular Windows Mobile OS that needs a touchscreen to survive.

The BB Pearl is in a different class. No QWERTY, tiny screen... The 8703e is pretty much discontinued and many of its features were never adopted (eg, no pretty much useless.)

I've had the Centro for a few months (had the Q for a year) and I do like it more. Finding a case for it has been a pain. There are many, but I'm picky. Had a great case for the Q.

The OS seems a little more childish, but thought out and polished than the Q. By "childish" I mean it has a cartoon feel and OS 7 era look/feel. But it works much better than Winblows Mobile neutered for non-touchscreen edition. The Palm OS has this odd feel that's not quite like Mac or Windows. There's concept of currently open applications... you basically just switch between apps. No going back to the previous app, or quitting it and going to the main screen.

It's not without its quirks. It's supposed to lock after five minutes of inactivity but sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it locks while I'm using it. Rare, but it happens. I don't find either of the email apps on it to be stellar. Threaded messaging is nice. Screen has more pixels than the Q, but is smaller.

I like that the Q uses USB for charging and all that, but not so with the Centro.

Setting up iSync to work with the Palm is a bit tedious: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302227 It's also PPC only so it runs under Rosetta on Intel Macs. But that's far, FAR better than the Missing Sync for was. Once it gets setup, it works well.

My wife looked at the Rumor but I didn't think it would suit my needs. She ended up with a Centro as well and really likes it.

Google Maps works much better on the Centro than on the Q.

[gabester]

I really need a Sprint phone as well - my wife just lost hers. I'm leaning towards the Centro as a known evil (as opposed to the iPhone which, if it's anything like the iPod Touch I already have, would be my choice of phone except for the AT&T tie-in and/or risks of jailbreak/bricking and keeping up with all that...)

But I really don't want either a new 2 year plan or to pay $400...
Any place to pick up used Sprints quick?
g=

[St. Bernard]

Great feedback, VP Franx--thanks. What have you thought of the web browsing experience on the Centro? Do phone calls sound good?

[bobinmurphy]

[quote M A V I C]

I like that the Q uses USB for charging and all that, but not so with the Centro.
There are USB cables for the Centro that sync and charge. I found one online for about $10 that I use on my work PC which syncs with Palm Desktop. At home on the Mac I use Missing Sync and a non-charging USB cable. Missing Sync has some problems with dates/events synching to iCal though which Mark/Space claims are OS X problems. Never had them before with Missing Sync and my older Palm PDAs though.

I also found a belt holder (online) with belt loops and a magnetic flap that is almost perfect size for the Centro, so no lost phone.

And don't forget the Sprint SERO plan. Yes you have to sign up for 2 years, but you get 500 minutes, no roaming, unlimited text, e-mail, etc for $30/mo.

[St. Bernard]

bobinmurphy, thanks for the additional info. I really had put the Centro at the bottom of my list, but....

That's the interesting thing about this...this is a (new/special/limited time???) SERO plan, but it's only costing half of the cost you quoted with no commitment....

[vision63]

M A V I C,

You should consider the Body Glove for your Centro. They're great cases. I have one for my Katana, Sony PSP and iPod. They're cheap too.

[M A V I C]

[quote bobinmurphy][quote M A V I C]

I like that the Q uses USB for charging and all that, but not so with the Centro.
There are USB cables for the Centro that sync and charge. I found one online for about $10 that I use on my work PC which syncs with Palm Desktop. At home on the Mac I use Missing Sync and a non-charging USB cable.
That's not the same as what I was thinking. The Centro doesn't have a USB port, so it can't use a USB cable. I can use a special cable with proprietary ends on one end and a USB plug on the other, but not a USB cable. Considering I already haul around a travel kit that has a USB to mini-USB cable, it makes emergency charging that much easier.

[quote vision63]M A V I C,

You should consider the Body Glove for your Centro. They're great cases. I have one for my Katana, Sony PSP and iPod. They're cheap too.
I'll take a look. I want a leather top-case with a slim clip. This is what I had for the Q: http://store.EverythingQ.com/covertec-ve...5A1608.htm worked great. Most cases I find for the Centro are for full-size Palm devices and too big.

[M A V I C]

The body glove one doesn't work for a few reasons. It doesn't cover the corners very well. That's the part of phones that's most likely to get damaged. It has a screen cover which means I have to take it out of the case when I want to use the screen. (I might as well just get a case designed to work that way, which is my plan.) And it has a massive clip on the back.

[vision63]

[quote M A V I C]The body glove one doesn't work for a few reasons. It doesn't cover the corners very well. That's the part of phones that's most likely to get damaged. It has a screen cover which means I have to take it out of the case when I want to use the screen. (I might as well just get a case designed to work that way, which is my plan.) And it has a massive clip on the back.
I gotcha. I usually cut those plastic screens off.