Help me pick a dumb smartphone

September 23, 2009 4:04 PM

Help me pick out a basic Verizon smartphone for my boss.

I have been tasked with picking out and buying a simple smartphone for my boss to replace his cell phone and PDA. I say simple because it only needs to do a few things:

1. It has to sync with our office's contacts, calendar, and tasks, which we have in a public folder in Outlook. He uses Outlook 2007 on his computer, where the syncing will be happening, if that matters.

2. It has to make phone calls and send and receive text messages.

3. It has to have some basic notepad function where he can record random thoughts that pop into his head.

4. It has to be on Verizon's network.

It would be nice if it:

1. Could also sync email. He does not want always-on accessibility for email like you get in a Blackberry, but would be OK if he could sync the device with this inbox when he chose.

2. Had a large-ish screen and typing area, either touchscreen or a little keyboard, since he's old.

He is not at all interested in web browsing or apps; he basically wants a PDA that can make phone calls and that syncs with Office. $300 is his soft price limit.

I have absolutely no experience with these things, so the reviews on cnet and other sites don't mean much to me. Also, most of the previous AskMe's on this topic are aiming at more demanding users and were not that helpful to me.

I will also be sure to make him go to a Verizon store to hold one in his hand before he buys it.

Phone recommendations and any other tips on the buying process are welcome. Thanks hivemind!

posted by Aizkolari to technology (14 comments total)

HTC Touch Pro 2. It is light years beyond any other device I have used.

1. Syncs effortlessly with Exchange and Outlook.
2. Yes, it does that too. On-screen keypad and full slide-out qwerty keyboard.
3. "Notes" allows for both typing, drawing, and hand-written notes that are translated to copy and paste-able text.
4. The Verizon version is also a world phone, bonus!

1b. It can do either. You can also set it to sync wirelessly on a schedule, or check it wirelessly manually on-demand.

2b. Enormous 3.2" touch screen display.

$199 after an instant rebate if purchased through Verizon's website.
posted by biggity at 4:19 PM on September 23

Had a large-ish screen and typing area, either touchscreen or a little keyboard, since he's old.

Well, you can cross the Samsung Omnia off your list. My husband has one and the touchscreen keyboard makes me want to stab someone. (I'm not old, FWIW)
posted by desjardins at 4:21 PM on September 23

Make that a 3.6" display.

Currently out of stock online.
posted by biggity at 4:21 PM on September 23

Get him a verizon blackberry world edition, I have a iphone now and wish i still had that phone.
posted by OuttaHere at 4:35 PM on September 23

i don't mind the omnia keyboard if i use a stylus and turn it landscape. it certainly has a large screen. runs windows mobile, syncs, has notepad. has the browsing bells and whistles and a camera, but those are easily ignored if they aren't for him.
posted by nadawi at 4:35 PM on September 23

Personally, and with all due respect to biggity, I think that Blackberries are unequalled for business purposes. In my opinion, when you're sending email, you want a physical keyboard, not a touchscreen, which will be harder to get used to, especially for an older person. As for the always-on thing, he can turn off the antenna if he wants, though frankly every smartphone is designed to be always one. The thing to do is to set it to a mode where phone calls will ring through but emails will be silent, so he can just check it when he wants and not have it bothering him with ringing or buzzing - you can set that up for him without much difficulty.

I would get him either the Blackberry Bold or Tour. Both are excellent. Not sure if there's a difference in performance on the Verizon network.
posted by Dasein at 4:47 PM on September 23

Thanks for the advice so far.

Two questions: could he get a smartphone without a data plan to solve the DONOTWANT email issue?

Also, do all of these things sync wired? He does not have bluetooth on his computer, nor do we have wifi in the office.
posted by Aizkolari at 4:56 PM on September 23

Almost any BB model would do exactly what he wants (save the Storm---it's crap). You don't have to hook it up to the office mail. You can synch messages with the desktop client. I've known many a person, though, with exactly your bosses opinion at the start to become completely won over by BBs after having them for a while.

There's a reason BB owns the business PDA/phone space---the software. It's an easy device to just get stuff done, and works great for the get-out-my-way-I-don't-need-that-extra-crap kind of person. The windows BB manager works great with a hard link to the office PC.

Windows mobile devices and the Samsung and Motophones really just don't compare; they're much harder to use, and much more poorly supported. Apple has a different demographic in mind, one more concerned with media players and facebook than email and maintaining multiple calendars which can synch with Outlook. The only real competitor that I can see right now is the new Palm device, but it has really bad battery life. Android will probably be there in a couple of years, maybe less, but it's still not quite baked yet, software or hardware.

Looking at Verizon's prices, I'd pick a Tour. If that's too big a Curve model would work too. I'd avoid the Pearl and Flip phones---the keyboeards make too many compromises.
posted by bonehead at 5:25 PM on September 23

I am an IT executive, and nearly all of my associates have Blackberries. All of their models (we use evertyhing from the Curve to Tour) break alarmingly frequently, lose data connectivity sometimes more than once a day without warning -- which requires a power cycle to resolve. Frankly, I'm impressed only with their Kool-Aid.

Windows Mobile and Blackberry phones are both capable of syncing via mini-USB cable with a desktop or laptop computer. That said, if you don't want data, you probably don't want a Blackberry; data plans are required to activate a Blackberry on the Verizon network, which means you would be throwing away roughly $50 per month. I do not believe they are required for Windows Mobile devices, as I recently activated an older Motorola Q9m without one.
posted by biggity at 5:44 PM on September 23

Be certain that you check with your IT department. I run IT for a small business. Blackberries are great if you've purchased Enterprise Server. If you do not have this piece of software, which is installed and maintained by your IT department at a not-small cost.

Without this software you're stuck with wired syncing. This might be okay in your specific circumstance, but it makes non-blackberries a lot more appealing.
posted by odinsdream at 6:35 PM on September 23

er.. didn't finish my sentence above... "at a not-small cost, it's worth considering the other non-blackberry phones."
posted by odinsdream at 6:36 PM on September 23

Agreed with those above that it sounds like Blackberries and Touchscreens are not a good fit. And if he's already using Windows and Outlook...Go with Windows Mobile phones.

You have to install a little program called ActiveSync on his PC, which is remarkably stable and hassle-free for a Microsoft product. That lets you pick what you want to sync between the phone and the computer - Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Email, Files (like if you want to carry an ebook saved as a Word file to read on the plane), and Media (they play music if you want them to).

Syncing is done by just plugging a USB cable (comes with the phone) into the phone and the PC; everytime you change something in Outlook, it also changes on the phone. By the way, keeping the phone plugged in this way also charges the phone's battery, as an extra bonus. No internet data plan or Bluetooth required.

Most models will take voice notes, and most will also come with either Documents to Go (better) or whatever they're calling Pocket MS Office these days. That will let him take notes by just opening that and creating a new Word, Excel, or Powerpoint file and typing away on the little keyboard.

Caveat: ActiveSync can't sync with Public Folders; If the company's contacts are in a public folder, and his own contacts are in another, Syncing will only Sync his own personal contact folder - it can't "see" the Public folder. Which means anything in the Public folder he wants to sync, he needs to copy into his own Contacts as well.

A quick look at the Verizon page gives me the following names for you to check out:
Moto Q & HTC Ozone = thin flat phones about the size of a 3x5 card, where the front is half screen and half Qwerty keyboard.
SMT5800 & HTC Touch Pro = smaller phones sized & shaped more like a "regular" cellphone, but with full keyboards that slide out sideways (makes these phones thicker).

Point him at those four phones first and have him try out the buttons & keyboards.
Find one he likes dialing and typing on and get it. Then pretend you had to slave away for hours getting the Syncing set up on his PC, when it really only took 30 minutes. Be appreciated. Profit!
posted by bartleby at 7:33 PM on September 23

Note that BBs can do exactly what bartleby describes too. I've synched my personal device to my work Outlook for years this way to do pretty much exactly what you boss wants to do: synch contacts, calendars, notes (memos) and tasks. It takes about five minutes to install the BB desktop manager software.

And yes, the device charges over the sync cable too. This is how I charge it when I travel, via usb from the computer. Saves bringing a separate extra adapter plug in NA and saves bringing an adapter transformer when I travel overseas.
posted by bonehead at 8:32 AM on September 24

How technical will be get with his phone usage? Will he be going into the settings, or downloading apps, and things like that?

Coming from a PalmOS background, I find BBs extremy difficult to use.

Perhaps when you bring him to the store to try them out, you should have a list of tasks that he should try out after a basic tutorial of how to use the platform.

For Windows Mobile, there is a great web browser, skyfire, that effectively gives you a desktop-like web experience; even flash.

However, Windows Mobile, once you get below whatever gloss-UI the handset maker has added is also a mess. I prefer it to BB though.
posted by reddot at 4:09 PM on September 24