[tab:Intro][flagallery gid=5 name="CrunchGear Gift Guide 2009"]
Buying someone else a phone is risky business. Preferences vary, you’ve gotta get their carrier right… it’s a tough game. But if you’re down to make a gamble, we’re here to help. I’ve spent more time playing with new phones in the last year than anyone should ever spend with any phone ever, and have broken down my favorite offerings from each carrier by “Best Bet”, “Best Bet For Under $100″ (though it’s usually worth it to splurge), and “Best Bet for Business” for you Enterprisey folks. Tap on those little arrows down below to begin, and enjoy!
[tab:AT&T]AT&T
Best Bet — Apple iPhone 3GS: Starting at $199.99
While the Android-vs-iPhone war might not be showing any sign of slowing, AT&T has managed to stay out of things by… not offering an Android phone. As a result, the iPhone is unarguably the safest bet here; it’s drop dead easy to use, gorgeous, and jam-packed with features.
Features:
- Screen: 3.5 inches at 480×320 resolution
- Storage: 16GB, not expandable
- Battery: 5 hours talk time
- Keyboard: Virtual
- Camera: 3-megapixel
- Dimensions: 4.5” x 2.4” x 0.48” and 4.8 ounces
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
Best Under $100 — Apple iPhone 3G: $99.99
With the launch of the iPhone 3GS, Apple and AT&T decided to keep the one-year old iPhone 3G on the shelves at just $99 bucks. In comparison to the 3GS, you’ll be shaving 1 megapixel off the camera, video recording, voice control, and the compass. You’ll still have access to (most of) the App Store’s 100,000+ applications, though.
Product Page | CrunchGear Review
Best For Business – BlackBerry Bold: $199.99
The iPhone may be good for a lot of things, but typing emails isn’t one of them. If you’re blasting out more emails in a day than most people send in an entire month, then you’ll absolutely want the physical keyboard of the BlackBerry Bold.
Product Page | CrunchGear Review
[tab:Sprint]Sprint
Best Bet – HTC Hero: $179.99
When it comes to Android phones without physical keyboards, the HTC Hero shows how it’s done. The hardware is stunning, and HTC really knocked it out of the park with their custom “Sense” user interface. The Sprint Hero is a bit more expensive up front than its nearly identical cousin, the Verizon Droid Eris ($179.99 vs $99.99, respectively), but Sprint’s monthly plans are almost always easier on the wallet.
Features:
- Screen: 3.2 inches at 480×320 resolution
- Storage: 256MB, expandable via microSD
- Battery: 5 hours talk time
- Keyboard: Virtual
- Camera: 5-megapixel
- Dimensions: 4.5” x 2.2” x 0.5” and 4.5 ounces
Product Page | CrunchGear Review
Best Under $100 – Palm Pixi (Sort of): $99.99
This one was a tough pick – we really like the Pixi’s hardware, but we had a lot off issues with laggy software during our review, and the lack of WiFi sucks. That said, the price might make up for it: while it’s $99 bucks through Sprint, you can get it for as cheap as $25 bucks through third party retailers. If you’re willing to splurge and drop $50-60 more and still want to stay below $99 (again through third party resellers – see Amazon), however, you’d probably be better off with the Pre.
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
Best For Business – HTC Touch Pro2: $349.99
If you haven’t touched the keyboard on this thing, you just don’t understand. This is how keyboards on mobile handsets should be done. Windows Mobile certainly isn’t our favorite OS (and to make things worse, it’s 6.1 rather than the newer 6.5), but a lot of IT departments still prefer and/or require it.
[tab:T-Mobile]T-Mobile
Best Bet – myTouch 3G: $149.99
To be honest, this one just sort of wins by default as T-Mobile doesn’t have the biggest variety of smartphones. Their best offerings are the myTouch 3G and the Motorola Cliq. The Cliq’s battery is bordering on terrible, while the myTouch battery is considerably better. It lacks the Cliq’s phyical keyboard, but we’d take the myTouch anyday.
Features:
- Screen: 3.2 inches at 480×320 resolution
- Storage: 256MB, expandable via microSD
- Battery: 7 hours talk time
- Keyboard: Virtual
- Camera: 3.2-megapixel
- Dimensions: 4.5” x 2.2” x 0.6” and 4.1 ounces
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
Best Under $100 – Dash 3G: $99.99
Again, T-Mobile’s limited selection makes a category tough. If you’re absolutely limited at $99 bucks, the only reasonable options you’ve got are the Dash 3G and the BlackBerry 8820. Of those two, the Dash 3G wins hands down, if only because the 8820 feels damned near ancient at this point. If you’ve got the extra change to spare, however, I would absolutely recommend splurging for a G1 or a myTouch – either option really would be a massive upgrade.
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
Best For Business – BlackBerry Curve 8900: $149.99
The Curve 8900 is one of my favorite BlackBerrys of all time. The keyboard is great, the handset is beautiful, and it packs all the Enterprise features you’d expect of a BlackBerry handset. The downside? No 3G. T-Mobile’s 3G network is still fairly stunted, though, so that’s not a huge loss – but if you often find yourself out of WiFi range, know what you’re getting into.
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
[tab:Verizon]Verizon
Best Bet – DROID by Motorola: $199.99
As of right this second, the Droid is the king of smartphones on Verizon. Hell, it’s one of our favorite phones on any carrier, and most certainly my top Android phone. Sure, it’s not without its quirks, but it’s one of the best implementations of Android to date. The hardware, paired with the (currently exclusive) Android 2.0, makes this an absolutely stellar buy.
Features:
- Screen: 3.7 inches at 854×480 resolution
- Storage: 512MB, expandable via microSD (16GB card included)
- Battery: 6.5 hours talk time
- Keyboard: Slide-out QWERTY
- Camera: 5-megapixel
- Dimensions: 4.56” x 2.36” x 0.54” and 5.96 ounces
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
Best Under $100 – DROID ERIS: $99.99
Take the Moto Droid – shave off the keyboard, drop the screen resolution, add in HTC’s signature Sense UI (albeit running on Android 1.5 rather than the oh-so-glorious 2.0) and bump the price of the Droid down by $100 bucks, and you’ve got the Droid Eris. It’s ridiculously slim, and the only thing more gorgeous than the hardware is the software running on it. HTC has already openly admitted that they’re working on getting Sense to work with Android 2.0, so it’s probably safe to assume the Droid Eris will get the upgrade treatment sooner or later. Either way, it’s still a damn good buy at a cent shy of a hundred.
BlackBerry Tour: $149.99
If you’re looking for a solid mix of an amazing keyboard and corporate friendliness on Verizon, look no further than the Tour. In fact, if you’re looking for any BlackBerry, look no further than the Tour. This is the BlackBerry I turn to when I’m in need of one. It lacks WiFi – which sucks, a lot – but everything else about this handset is absolutely top notch. The keyboard is an example for others to follow, and the build quality is simply superb.
Product Page | MobileCrunch Review
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Spot-with the Pixi here. Not bad for a sub-$100 smartphone, but doesn’t seem to measure up to the Pre.
I agree. I want to love the Pixi, but not enough power. And the Pre still lacks video recording, so again I cannot get that. The Droid (Milestone) isn’t in Canada untill early 2010, and I don’t want an iPhone. Hero it is :)
Reminds me of the first cell-phone-as-a-gift that we bought for for my mom in the 90s. I’m sure everyone remembers this one: http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa194/sapipa177/My%20Phones/MotorolaStarTAC900.jpg
Droid sucks compared to Eris. What good is a keyboard (on droid) if it sucks like suckage?
What good is the English language if you only know how to use one word in it?
It sux that you can’t understand that he’s trying to say the droids keyboard is a worthless piece of shit.
I would ignore the keyboard and concentrate on it being about twice as fast with a vastly superior screen and Android 2.0.
I don’t understand what you’re saying? I think things suck suckily sucking so suck it up.
I respect the picks and I like the diversification, but what makes the Pro 2 on Sprint stand out over the Tour on Sprint?? and vise versa for Verizon. The Pro 2 on T-mobile isnt in here either. I mean its hard to rate the same product across carriers but if one phone beat out another on one carrier. Its hard to believe that that phone couldn’t beat it again on a different carrier.
I was thinking the same exact thing. I think that they would have been better off with a “runner up” for each category so the wouldn’t need to have this “best-of” list be artificially picked just so they can get every good phone on the list somewhere.
I guess Techcrunch hasn’t covered Nokia’s N900 on their website after its initial announcement.
It is still not available directly from Tmobile via contracts, but is now available unlocked and has Tmobile specific 3G bands. Its the hottest phone right now, if you are with Tmobile and want to go with EvenMorePlus plans.
How can you in good conscience recommend any smartphone when TC has been reporting the rumors about the HTC Dragon/Passion and the Google Phone?
The Google Phone has no carrier and we have no evidence that a device has even been seen, where exactly would that recommendation go?
I agree on the Dragon/Passion though, we know that is coming and Greg kind’ve hinted as much in the Droid recommendation by leading with “As of right this second.” Maybe at least make that line link to an article on the Dragon/Passion.
Oops, that was supposed to be a reply to jon.
I just got back from Verizon store in midtown Manhattan. The salesman I’ve spoke with told me that they will be getting new Dragon phone in early 2010. I addition he mentioned that he was told that Verizon already signed contract to get an iPhone and just finilizing the timing on when to release it….
Now I am not sure which phone to get… want iPhone but Dragon sounds even better now…. Decisions… Decisions….
I was about to pull the trigger on a Droid Eris but don’t know now because of these rumors of potentially awesome phones coming out in the next 1-2 months
I’m gearing up as well to take advantage of these new phones too. I haven’t made my decision yet on which one but I’m still comparing them.
This Droid is a big come-back of Motorola.
As far as T-Mobile goes, I’m almost upset that the myTouch is the best option out there. Yeah, it’s the better of the android options, but that’s still not saying much. The camera lacks big time and it loves lagging. They really need to get on the ball and step it up.
The “best for business” should be updated with the release of the Bold 9700. It’s got a couple more pixels than the Curve 8900 and a slightly faster processor, but the two tie breakers are 3G and BB OS 5.0. This is T-Mo’s only 3G BB and, having used the 8900 for the past few months, it makes all the difference. If you’re planning on having a phone for business for the next two years, I’d go with the 9700 (assuming your area already has/will soon have T-Mo’s 3G – they’re slowly bringing it to your cities).
@boe,
If you understand the benefits of an unlocked phone, then there is Nokia N900 which is compatible with tmobile’s 3G bands. It has arguably the best browsing experience in the market according to Nokia and engadget(doesn’t often happen engadget saying good about Nokia, so this time, i take it seriously, when they said something +ve)
mark.thistlewaite@gmail.com
@ $50 for a refurbished iP3G with 2yr contract extension is it really the best bet for an ATT user until a iP4G or Android phone is available?