I realized I never got back to this topic, and time is of the essence as My Droid Pro is on its last legs, and the rep at Verizon really did not care whether or not he made any money that day (worst service I've ever had at the store, and Gretel and I were the only customers there on a weekday afternoon when we visited during her Spring Break). So here is what I am seeing:
Verizon gets rid of my unlimited data plan (which is fine because I only use about 100mb a month for web browsing, downloads, and mobile GPS) so now instead of paying 109.99 a month for Gretel and my phone for 700 minutes and 500 texts per phone, we move to a 2GB plan, unlimited minutes, and unlimited text for about 20.00 more a month and now we both get smartphones. However, I was told that our data usage will go up using a 4g phone over 3g? Fact or Fiction?
As for the phones themselves, I am down to 3: The Galaxy S3, the Stratosphere 2, or the Droid DNA. I liked the keyboard response of the Stratosphere 2 as I made few corrections when browsing or composing emails. However, the negative responses from Verizon customers on their own feedback site on this phone concerns me greatly. I could probably get used to the S3 but the Droid DNA also seems to be just as good...Not sure that the S4 is for me though...
Here are the priorities for our phones:
1) Good connection with calls: Sometimes when we talk to people on our phones in our apartment we get this irritating tinning sound, almost like a metronome. We've refreshed our tower connection, but it does not seem to do help
2) Good voice connection with FORD Microsoft SYNC system. Gretel does a lot of calling from our car hands-free and often people do not seem to hear her so well. I have yet to find a good consumer reports for the best phone to use with this system.
3) Good connection overall: If we are getting a 4G phone, then I better have 4G browsing, not waiting up to a minute to access the boards webpage or weather.com for example. Most of the time we are in the DC area, which I see is supposed to be 4G quality.
4) A durable case: my otterbox makes my Droid Pro nearly indestructible without imparing my usage, I need the same for my next phone.
5) A good keyboard that leads to minimal corrections
And this one will be for Gretel
6) Her first smartphone. She wants the flexibility that I have (GPS, Browser on the fly, etc) but she doesn't want to be bogged down in the interface.
Also, no IPhones. I didn't list it for a reason
. That being said my fellow geeks, show me what you got. The good, the bad, and the ugly!