[General Topics] sablesurfer:
Back story - I have a HTC Fuze (Raphael) and it was my first advanced smart phone. Been on those little grey screen nokias until this phone. So I totally got into the whole fuss and fury of hacking the heck of phone. :rolleyes: But as time has progressed it seem I may have gotten one of the worst HTC phones made. For a bit I even decided to dislike all HTC's on that basis alone. Anyway, I finally settled on just a basic ROM and a few addon's. The most important for this phone (and AT&T service) was the ability from Advanced Config to lock my phone to Edge. (Yep been on Edge now for 1.5yrs as 3G would never hold on this phone. :mad:)

This past weekend I was THIS close to putting this thing into a wall. I have rebooted at least 10 times in last week for lost TOWER (not just signal), non-responsive screen, and complete freezes.

Went window shopping today. Here are the results and hoping to get feedback of all kinds. (I need more than the sales person's comments...:D) Please talk about service and phone if you feel like.

HTC Aria (AT&T) - Small, well tiny actually. Almost as small a screen as my Fuze. It is Android so that is a plus as I think I am burnt on WinMo. Very nice screen and decent functionality [in store]. Heard a rumor about bad speakers on this.

iPhone 4 (AT&T) - I actually tried the 3G but hated it so much I returned it for the Fuze. This was before the OS release that allowed landscape keyboard and MMS. (No need for nekkid pics of GF to be on AT&T site and me not to be able to download.) The 4 looks interesting, but not sure I like the iPhone premise really. I do not want a zillion aps to waste time. I just need about 4...map/weather/....ok two I can think of...;) The screen is freeking incredible though and the sales guy was right, you can read a web page without zooming with the letters basically at a 2 font size...that is good.

HD2 (T-Mobile) - HUGE screen and this is one of my top request for next phone. I want lots of real estate. I am 6'1" 240lbs and a power lifter, I have thick fingers and a big head...:D Small phones are like me on a Vespa. The TMo version of this phone 'sounds' like it is very limited (according to threads here). Also heard stuff about that pink stripe in pics. I like that camera is 5megapixel but really want the pics to look ok. It is still a WinMo phone and that is a bummer, but not a deal killer I guess. (Is it 6.5 or 6.1? The ladies in store were clueless.)

Evo (Sprint) - Again with the giant screen, love it. This is the top of my list for phone choices at moment, but there is one non-phone related issue here. No international coverage for a CDMA phone and I tend to travel once in a while. (Have to find out if worth it to get a second pre-paid or whatever next time I travel.) The Evo is Android and I think it is time for me to try that out. The camera is EIGHT megapixels and I basically use my camera as a back up to my point and shot. Like for real...when on a motorcycle sometimes the camera is out of reach...the phone substitutes when I am not ready to park and dig in saddle bags. 4G is not really a yes/no for me as I probably won't have it in my neighborhood and will most likely go to 3G for most of my use of phone (Dude in store said you can set phone to not use 4G.)

So my wish list is....big screen, good software, great camera, good reception, decent costs. Weighed in that order for me.

Thoughts? Help a confused shopper out.

(ps...I am just guessing this a good forum for this post. Mods let me now if it needs moved.)