Looking for my first touchscreen phone-Overwhelmed

Required:
Must be T Mobile or legally and unlocked(no Iphone, etc)
Touch Screen
Camera of some type and quality
Internet/Browser capable
Must be under 200$
Mp3 capable would be cool, but not required.


Here's where I'm at. I know it's a long read, so if you really want to you can scroll down a bit, but I'd prefer it if you read everything to understand me.

Well, I am about to graduate and or the first time in my life I have the opportunity to get a REAL, GOOD phone. Every phone I have ever had has always been the cheap and basic t mobile phones, like the old nokias and samsungs. The best phone I have ever had is a Samsung beat, a cheap mp3 phone that now has no front display screen. My mom is going to buy me a phone(under 200) as well as add a package or whatever that has internet.

As a general cell phone user who has never had access to nice or spendy phones, I don't know all that much about good quality phones. It's all a bit overwhelming looking at all these nice touch screen phones and all the features and not knowing exactly what is best for me, and I'm hoping
I can get help here. I've looked at reviews on multiple phones and have narrowed it down, but am still getting many many mixed messages and can't pick out what problems others have had would really be a problem for me. Like I said, I'm going from like a cheap 50$ phone with VERY limited capabilities to a decent touch screen phone. I'm not all that picky, as the least of the touch screen phones would still look great to me. Obviously, though, I want a good phone that I will really enjoy.

I have narrowed my search down to a few phones, and narrowed down a few features that I would like. And obviously, I am sure there are other phones that I don't know about that might also work, so recommend away. I want a phone that is capable of accessing the internet. Maybe just simple things like checking email, movie times, things like that. But it would also be nice to have a full web browser that I can check myspace, facebook, youtube, surf the internet, things like that. That's one of the reasons I want a touchscreen. Large enough screen, not some mini screen on a flipphone. And I'm sure touchscreen is generally a great feature to have too. Even if it's not an amazing camera, I'd like to have one so that I can take pictures when I'm out and dont have a camera(and it's still probably better than the Samsung Beat camera).

I've narrowed my search to the G1, the Samsung Behold, and Samsung memoir. Now obviously if I could have it the iPhone would probably great. But it's not on T Mobile, and it's not worth the hassle of unlocking to me. Plus, I've never had one so I don't have the problems like other people do, for example people saying "But this phone doesn't have ___, like the iPhone has". I don't know what I'm missing and am not picky, so a normal T-Mobile phone is fine.

The pros/cons to me of each phone.

G1-
Pros: I personally think I like this one the best. From what i see in reviews and from friends, it has the highest customization of most phones due to the Android OS. I like personalization, and OpenSource is always a plus, being able to download a variety of different programs. It is also WiFi capable, which most other phones I see arent. I'm not completely sure, but I think it would be best to have a wifi capable phone in case I have no t mobile signal, which is always a plus. I don't really need or care about the keyboard, but I suppose it doesn't hurt. To be honest I really like the sound of the iPhone, but I want second opinion(s) due to some of it's flaws.

Cons-Well, it's not the sleekest looking compared to some other phones out there, but personally I don't really care. I'm hearing some other bad things about this phone though. For example a relative used to work for a phone company and said they had many complaints about the phone breaking alot, like with the flip out keyboard, etc. From what I saw on reviews the GPS isn't that great, although a friend told me that the new update helped that. Plus, I'd be using it more for driving direction from a start to end point anyways. Cannot enter text when holding the phone in portrait mode.

Does having wifi even matter? Would it do anything for me personally? I'm not even sure. Although hotspot at home sounds interesting, which the G1 lacks.

Samsung Behold-
Pros: This was the phone the relative above mentioned as an alternative to the G1. She says she really likes it. It seams okay, but I'm not really sure. It doesn't seam that special to me, just okay. Although I'm no expert. Your input?
Cons: No wifi. As i said i dont know if i need this or not, but I'm sure it would nor hurt to be capable. I read the web browser isn't that great either. It also seemed that the behold has VERY limited customization, and you can't download new apps, etc, at least like you can with the iPhone/G1.

Samsung Memoir- seems like an upgraded behold. Same or similar op system/widget system, but a very nice and good quality camera. basically the camera phone of touchscreens. But i am not a camera extremest and don't think i'd need it. Maybe though. Basically the same pros/cons as before.




So could someone give me some pointers, recommendations, point me in the right direction, reviews, other ideas on phones.



Also, if anyone has t mobile, i don't really know a lot about T mobile's internet, how g3 or wifi with them work, or the packages. I heard something about needing some data plan or something which was the internet service. IF you know anything about any of this, that would be helpful.



Thank you so much,

Max

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› See More: Looking for my first touchscreen phone-Overwhelmed

Hey Max
Sounds like you have got a lot of choice and a great deal of criteria. I don't think you require all of the things you mentioned, such as WiFi which I haven't found to be essential at all. A good feature, but not essential, and that's what you might like to consider. I think you've made good initial selections, the G1 has been massively popular and for good reason. I would personally go with the either of the Samsungs however. If you want any more information about particular models or just some more general info regarding touchscreen phones please check out Touchscreen Fones (see url in sig)
The site is still undergoing development but is gaining a following and was designed to help out people who, as you say, are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice out there!
Hope this was usefull to you!

I will throw in my .02 here, since your asking for it. I own a G1 and have liked it since I got it. I say like, because its a great phone but its not my favorite that I have ever had. For me, the Pro's of the G1 are the touch screen and full QWERTY Keyboard, the 3G, and the App's you can download. I can speak from expierence as well, the GPS works very well in most areas I have been through, even when you don't have service to keep the Map updated (happened to me in the middle of a forest, lol!)

The Con's are the battery life, the way the phone book is set up, al though i guess there is an app for that, and just the clunkiness of the phone.

From my P.O.V., the 2 Samsung phones are nice, but don't offer the Apps, and the Memior from what I remember is a 7MP camera, which is crazy, but what else can u put on a Camera/Phone with that powerful of an inside?

Also, you do have to have a Dataplan for the G1 Sepcifically called "G1 Data" but the cheapest one I believe is 24.95/month and it includes 400 text messages and "Unlimited" (10 Gig cap) internet. Not sure how it works for the other 2.

Hope this helped!