To HTC Touch or Not ?

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Hi, I need some help on deciding if I should get a HTC Touch or not. I have a Nextel/Sprint Hybrid ic902 currently but I played with my friend's iPhone and I like it. I wanted to get a PDA/Smartphone and the closest thing would be the Touch. I played with it at the Sprint store and it seems pretty nice. I don't really use my Nextel Direct Connect that much so I might want to switch over. I use over 500 texts a month and I check my Gmail periodically. I might want to use AIM if its capable on the HTC Touch. So if you guys can help me out with deciding to get the phone or should I wait and see what else Sprint comes out with. Tell me what you guys think. Thanks in advance for anybody who helps.

I had to make the exact same decision, and I decided to go with the touch, for several reasons.

First, I use the phone as a PDA as much (or even moreso) as a phone. You can't beat the syncing of the Touch. I use Sherweb for a hosted Exchange 2007 server (about $8 a month). I enter something in Outlook or on the web interface, and it shows up on my phone. Or, I enter a new contact in my phone, it shows up on my desktop. I *never* have to plug in my phone to sync it. Also, the Touch is much more customizable and has 3rd party apps. The iPHone has no apps without hacking right now, and I'm sure it's going to be a pain and expensive when they do finally come out. Also, EVDO >> EDGE for streaming (you can use vTap for Youtube, and Sprint TV comes on there).

However, the iPhone is a much better media player.

So, if you want a phone to play MP3s and videos, go iPhone. If you want it more as a business tool, go Touch.

What put it over for me was the price. I got the Touch for $250 after rebate, and a $30 SERO plan (500 minutes, unlimited text, data). The iPhone is gonna cost you $400 and run you $60 a month with only 200 text - you'll have to upgrade to get to 500.

So, now, you can do what I did. I got the Touch on SERO, and justified spending some of the $870 I'll save over 2 years and bought the $300 iPod Touch :P

I have a great media player, and the better phone., and still saved $600.

Originally Posted by daveeckert

I had to make the exact same decision, and I decided to go with the touch, for several reasons.

First, I use the phone as a PDA as much (or even moreso) as a phone. You can't beat the syncing of the Touch. I use Sherweb for a hosted Exchange 2007 server (about $8 a month). I enter something in Outlook or on the web interface, and it shows up on my phone. Or, I enter a new contact in my phone, it shows up on my desktop. I *never* have to plug in my phone to sync it. Also, the Touch is much more customizable and has 3rd party apps. The iPHone has no apps without hacking right now, and I'm sure it's going to be a pain and expensive when they do finally come out. Also, EVDO >> EDGE for streaming (you can use vTap for Youtube, and Sprint TV comes on there).

However, the iPhone is a much better media player.

So, if you want a phone to play MP3s and videos, go iPhone. If you want it more as a business tool, go Touch.

What put it over for me was the price. I got the Touch for $250 after rebate, and a $30 SERO plan (500 minutes, unlimited text, data). The iPhone is gonna cost you $400 and run you $60 a month with only 200 text - you'll have to upgrade to get to 500.

So, now, you can do what I did. I got the Touch on SERO, and justified spending some of the $870 I'll save over 2 years and bought the $300 iPod Touch :P

I have a great media player, and the better phone., and still saved $600.

Well I will have to buy the Touch from like eBay and pay like $300...And I get 25% discount from UPS off my bill...I was wondering how would get my contacts off of my SIM card to the HTC Touch..?..And I would be using Gmail for my email..Is it hard to get Gmail on the phone..?

Ah, forgot to mention the iPhone has the better browser. I mostly only browse news sites, which format well on the HTC Touch. If I have Wi-Fi available, I use my iPod Touch. Otherwise, I just make do with NetFront. Hopefully, Opera Mobile 9.5 will put the Sprint Touch more inline with the iPhone.

Getting the contacts off the SIM depends on what kind of phone you have. Can you sync it do a computer? If so, you can import them into Outlook. If not, you might be stuck. There are some USB SIM readers, I think, but I don't know how much they cost. Since you can just type the contacts into a computer (instead of keying them on the phone), if you don't have 100s of contacts, you might just be best off typing them in manually.

Getting Gmail on the Touch is easy. You can use IMAP or POP3, whichever you prefer. Obviously, IMAP is the best. Don't know what it does to your battery life, but I have mine on push mail, and I still have about 70% of the battery left when I go to bed (maybe down to 50 if I did a lot of surfing). IMAP should be comparable. (In contrast, my Moto Q was on push mail - I took it off the charger at 7am and it was completely dead by 10pm). Anyway, mail is easy on either phone.

Go to a sprint store they will do it for free.

Originally Posted by daveeckert

I had to make the exact same decision, and I decided to go with the touch, for several reasons.

First, I use the phone as a PDA as much (or even moreso) as a phone. You can't beat the syncing of the Touch. I use Sherweb for a hosted Exchange 2007 server (about $8 a month). I enter something in Outlook or on the web interface, and it shows up on my phone. Or, I enter a new contact in my phone, it shows up on my desktop. I *never* have to plug in my phone to sync it. Also, the Touch is much more customizable and has 3rd party apps. The iPHone has no apps without hacking right now, and I'm sure it's going to be a pain and expensive when they do finally come out. Also, EVDO >> EDGE for streaming (you can use vTap for Youtube, and Sprint TV comes on there).

However, the iPhone is a much better media player.

So, if you want a phone to play MP3s and videos, go iPhone. If you want it more as a business tool, go Touch.

What put it over for me was the price. I got the Touch for $250 after rebate, and a $30 SERO plan (500 minutes, unlimited text, data). The iPhone is gonna cost you $400 and run you $60 a month with only 200 text - you'll have to upgrade to get to 500.

So, now, you can do what I did. I got the Touch on SERO, and justified spending some of the $870 I'll save over 2 years and bought the $300 iPod Touch :P

I have a great media player, and the better phone., and still saved $600.

Cool. I have to try the ShareWeb to see what it's Like. That sounds awesome.
My two cents on the issue:
-iPhone doesn't have Bluetooth. (I use blutooth like crazy. I use the Motorola S9 stereo Bluetooth headset with the touch and also I got a Stereo Bluetooth receiver from Sony that I've installed in the car. So the touch is my media player at the Gym and in the Car. Its awesome.) You should install the HTC Adio Manager. It's not anything close to the iPhone's Media Player, but gets the job done.
-iPhone's Internet speed is really bad (unless you use the WiFi). GPRS vs EVDO and Soon RevA. It's no Brainer.
-The memory Card:with iPhone you can't increase the memoy size. You are stuck with 8GB max. With the Touch for now the largest is 8GB microSD, but you can have multiple of those. Maybe soon they will come out with larger cards than that.

I also heard people having problems when the phone goes in standby mode that they don't receive calls and stuff...Is this true..?

i get calls in standby an the new opera browser and the picsel browsers are awesome. I have no iphone envy. I dont even feel the need to copy its theme haha. The way I look at it, if you want a media player grab the iphone, if you want a handheld computer grab the touch. (I use it to freehand draw all the time)

Originally Posted by Diplomat2387

I also heard people having problems when the phone goes in standby mode that they don't receive calls and stuff...Is this true..?

My girlfriend is on her third phone because of it.