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Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

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Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#1

Post by gfr »

I am currently on an AT&T family plan in the US. I currently do not have a smartphone, and it is annoying because as a tech person, I feel like I am falling behind the curve. However, I have been hearing all kinds of disappointments with new phones lately, so I ask: if you were to buy a phone today, which would you buy? Or would it be worth waiting for a little while to see how other phones pan out?

Extra info:

-I run linux, not sure if this is a problem for iphone

-I want to become familiar with the technologies that will help me understand the capabilities and limitations of smart phone apps today. Not sure if iphone is significantly more important in this regard than android right now

-I would like to stay on AT&T but can leave if necessary

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#2

Post by nextparadigms »

Samsung Captivate. It has similar quality display with iphone's display and has the best mobile graphics at right now. It doesn't have a front camera, though.

I would wait until November/December until some Android 3.0 phones come out with better UI, next generation dual core CPU's, better graphics, higher resolution, 1 GB RAM, etc

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#3

Post by yanw »

You should take a look at the Samsung Captivate which is a Galaxy S Android phone for AT&T, if you want to move to Verizon the Droid 2 should be released later this month (I'm planning on getting the European version of that, Milestone 2 I assume they'll call it)

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#7

Post by matwood »

I just got an iPhone4 so obviously that would be my recommendation. I don't think you could go wrong with it or one of the new Android phones.

Since you're already on AT&T and don't mind staying I wonder if you could buy one phone and try it out for a couple weeks and then take it back and try another. That's the only way to really find out about each (Android vs. iOS) since most discussion on the internet about them has reached emacs vs. vi level.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#9

Post by rpledge »

matwood wrote: post #7

I just got an iPhone4 so obviously that would be my recommendation. I don't think you could go wrong with it or one of the new Android phones. Since you're already on AT&T and don't mind staying I wonder if you could buy one phone and try it out for a couple weeks and then take it back and try another. That's the only way to really find out about each (Android vs. iOS) since most discussion on the internet about them…

If he's running Linux I'd be hesitant to recommend an iPhone 4, but I've never tried. I suspect lack of iTunes would be annoying. Is there a good iTunes substitute on Linux now?
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