Smartphones and the perpetual gravitation toward being state-of-the-art.

We have made the jump. It's a leap that seems natural to most of you, because our world depends so highly on technology. Yet it is something that we have resisted for quite a long time. I speak of that first foray into the realm of the smartphone. I mentioned this on my Facebook the other night. After the initial ribbing I got from someone that most likely waited in line for every iPhone that has ever been made, the other comments were all inquiries as to which phone I chose. That is the fun part of this story (which is a little long-winded, I'll admit.)

This upgrade to our lives began with my wife. While she is not one to get sucked into the hype surrounding the release of the latest tech, she could not deny that having such tech was tempting. She works online from home, and is rarely away from a computer or the internet in general. However, once a year she is sent to an event by her company where she could actually use the expanded capability of a smartphone. As of this posting, she has a basic quick messaging phone, and an iPod Touch. Because she already has many apps, music, and games on her iPod, she decided that she coveted the iPhone especially because it would consolidate two devices into one.

iPhone 4

Why not? It is one of (if not THE) leading devices out there, and she could easily sync the existing iPod stuff onto the iPhone. With our Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend coming in October, it seemed like a good time to look at upgrading. Being a fair person, she knew that it was only right that I also get an upgrade.

So, I began looking at possible upgrades as well. The difference between us is that I had little to no interest in the iPhone. Before anyone starts guffawing at me, let me explain. I am not denying that Apple has a viable device. However, I have many reasons to shop around more:

1. I hate iTunes.
2. I hate Safari more.
3. Everyone and their brother went out and camped out for the iPhone, and I have an aversion (possibly irrational) toward following the herd. 
4. I never buy on a whim.
5. I don't like that Apple devices are not flash or java friendly.
6. The antenna debacle...
7. The price (see below...)

I started by looking up comparisons between the various operating systems. I wanted to know the buzz on iOS4 vs. Android vs. Windows Mobile. Once I got varying opinions on that, I began looking at devices available to me. In Alaska, we have two companies that service just Alaska and parts of the northwest, and AT&T. No Verizon, T-Mobile, or Sprint here. So, with limited carriers I had to look hard at plans and devices. It really limited the devices available to me. That is bad, in that I like to have a large selection. However, it was good in that I had less research to do on devices!

I narrowed the choices down to eight devices at first, then again to the iPhone4, Blackberry Storm, HTC Aria, or Samsung Captivate. Once I had it down to those four, I was able to do better side-by-side comparisons. This also began my combing for tech company and user reviews. It was the 40+ reviews for one device that really swayed me at this point. (But I am going to keep you in suspense for a moment longer. I will only say that it is not the iPhone and quite a few reviewers traded their iPhone for this device.)

At this point, I notified my wife that I had a viable candidate for my next phone. She had a couple questions, so I navigated to our carrier's website with her for some show-and-tell. This is when she got a shock. She had thought that we were eligible for the upgrade special pricing this year, but there in front of us was the bad news that we would have to pay full price for the phones unless we waited till September of 2011.

You could feel her disappointment all the way across town. We can hardly afford this upgrade as it is, but really can't if we have to pay $800 for the phones! It appeared that our dreams of having current tech would have to wait. However, I decided to try my skills of charm and persuasion with our carrier. After that conversation, I learned that they would work with me on my phone choice, but could not override the pricing with her iPhone. This caused further headache, because now her device would cost us $399 where mine would now be $199.

This is the fun part.

My wife does a comparison between my first choice and her coveted iPhone. She still REALLY wants that iPhone, but can't deny that my choice has nice features. After a bit of debate, we decide to go to the store and lay hands on all these devices. Low and behold! We walked out of that store with my wife wanting the same phone as me, and I wanted it even more. The choice might surprise you.

Samsung Captivate

This badboy is big in height and width due to it's larger touchscreen, but is nice and thin. It weighs half as much as the iPhone4, but appears to be well constructed. Talk time on the battery isn't as good, but standby time is significantly better. It's an Android phone, so it has all the functionality I want without the fluff. No Safari, and no iTunes!

I mentioned how we played with it earlier in this post. Well, we noticed that it was easier to navigate, had very brilliant color, had a more responsive touchpad, and was noticeably faster between menus. Testing a few websites showed us that we could go places on this phone that we could not on the iPhone. I particularly liked how all my favorite sites looked so much better on the Captivate.

So, our new phones are on order! I will come back and give a deeper review of the Captivate once I have had it a month or so. From the first impression, I can see why quite a few folks liked this over the iPhone. For more specs, follow this link to Samsung's website!

I can't wait to post from my new phone!

THIS JUST IN! (LOL!)  Samsung is handing out free phones like this one to frustrated iPhone4 owners! Read about it HERE!