neuroncollision

Back Story:
Prior to August ‘08, my wife and I had cell phones using the extra
lines pf a friend’s Cingular/AT&T service. He worked at Best Buy when
we got them, so it was ultra-cheap at $10 per line per month. We lived
in Colorado at the time, and were moving to Dallas that week. Long
story short, the AT&T service fell through and we were left without
phones. We didn’t have much time to look at our options as we were
trying to pack to move. Our internet connection was already gone and
most of our resources for finding information (Consumerist/Gizmodo)
were out of reach. We didn’t have the money to drop on deposits, and
so Sprint became our only option.
As I’m an IT Professional, I was looking at getting a Blackberry at
the time, but the Sprint rep showed me this new shiny phone they had
just received. The Samsung Instinct. According to the Sprint rep, it
had EVERY amenity I required: Exchange Server synchronizing, Native
AIM support, and a fast and feature rich web browser. It even had
features that I hadn’t asked for but sounded neat: GPS Navigation,
live TV, MP3 capabilities. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a demo
model as “They are the fastest selling new phone, but we just got some
in so you’re in luck.” My wife got an LG Rumor, as it was free, and
all she wanted was a phone with a keyboard. It was, however, required
that I get the TOP TIER EVERYTHING PLAN… 1500 minutes, unlimited
data, etc etc.

We dropped the money and made the move.

It wasn’t but two weeks later that I called Sprint up and said:
“You’re rep was full of it, this phone has none of the features I
wanted. And the extra features are abysmal. The navigation thinks i’m
5 miles away, or heading a different direction than I am. The MP3
player is almost unusable. And the web browser is the worst thing I’ve
ever used. The UI is clunky. There is no native AIM support, nor can
it synch with Exchange… you sold me a piece of garbage. I’d like to
trade it for a Blackberry.” The Sprint rep was calm and responsive.
“Sir,” she said, “the Samsung Instinct developers are working on an
update as well as there is rumour of an ‘App Store’ for it.” She gave
me some information and I did some research. Samsung was holding a
developer contest that would allow them to see the kind of response
they would get. I found out over the Christmas break that the turn out
it was abysmal, and all ‘App Store’ rumours were quelled.

Thus lead me to try to trade in my phone, but i was past the standard
“30 day trade-in” rule. So, looking at Consumerist, I found a way to
cancel my line, and leave my wife’s active, for a neat $0, using the
Administrative Fee as a complaint. It went smoothly. We down-graded
the phone line service to 450 minutes, which costs exactly half of the
1500 minutes. My bill is smaller and neater.

Coming up this Sunday, my line will go dead, and I will be attempting
the whole thing over. I need to stick with Sprint, and I’d like a
smart phone. However, this past week was CES and I’m greatly
interested in the Palm Pre. I’m a web developer and developing for
that platform would be sweet, indeed. Problem is, it’s not out for a
while. I know if I get a Blackberry now, I’ll have to pay full price
for the Pre. What are my options?

Assuming that I need a phone now, which Sprint smart-phone has the
best web browser? Which one has the most active 3rd party developers?

Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated,