My wife needed a new cell phone and I have the chance to buy a Blackberry 8320 new in box for a reasonable price. I know it is outdated but I (she) don't need the latest and greatest. But calender sync was one of the main reasons to get her a smartphone to get her a bit more organized.

The Blackberry would not recognize my WiFi at home. Only the the neighbour's AP across the street. My WiFi is ancient as well, one of the first generation access points, using a Avaya/Orinoco PCMCIA card at 11 mbps, WEP only. As it seems more and more devices seem to have a problem with this kind of access point.

So just to be able to connect with the Blackberry I put in another AP, WPA 54 mbits blahblahblah. The Blackberry connected fine.

To my surpise, it is impossible to synchronize with Google Calendar without a data plan. Blackberry cannot synchronize with Google over WiFi!

After browsing several forums, it seems that this limitation is on purpose to force users to buy a data plan. The limitation is not technical of course.

I think this is an incredible scam. Can't I expect in 2012 that a WiFi capable device just synchronizes over WiFi? I don't have a data plan, and I don't want to buy one either.

So I bought a now access point for no reason, spent a few hours configuring the Blackberry, just to discover this. Very nice. I won't come near to a Blackberry for the rest of my life.

Any recommendations as to buy a device which:
- can make phone calls
- can sync contacts with Google contacts
- contains a calendar and can sync Google Calendar
- SSH connectivity is a pre
- should not run a Microsoft platform as OS.

Other applications not important. I know this looks a lot like my iPhone 3. I just don't feel paying for the iPhone hype again.

jlinkels

not sure what the point of the question is.... you don't want an iPhone or a win7 phone and not a blackberry... so that's an android handset. end of story.

Any Android phone. And on the plus side, if you root it and install a custom ROM, you deal with less carrier and manufacturer bloat.

Agreed. Personally I'm not a fan of Android, I think the UI still has a long way to go, but you have literally eliminated every other option...it's the only one left.

Thanks for the heads-up. I've considered buying a Blackberry for a while and until I read this I didn't realise you actually need a Blackberry internet plan to use them! Not just that you need a data plan, that I have, but you need to spend extra on a Blackberry specific plan -- at least that seems to be the case after a quick google.
A real shame because I like the devices and really don't want to get involved with Google and have to sign over all my data to them just to use a smart phone.

Until this morning I was a perfect noob regarding phones, so thanks for the answers!

Indeed, it seems Android is the way to go, although even there you have be cautious.

Like the Motorola where you are obliged to create and use a Motoblur account before you can use your phone (which retarded PR bureau ever came up with such a name??). And it is not even clear if you need a data plan before you are able to connect to Motorola and start using you phone. Those things scare me.

I think I will settle for a Samsung Android phone. It has very nice specs, and as it seems it is about as open as a phone can get in 2012. And yes, I plan to use Google apps for contacts and calender.

I can understand doubts about storing data at Google. But for the time being I prefer to store data at Google (and even have them peeking into it) as opposed to restrictions and obligations on other platforms.

jlinkels

Like I mentioned in my previous post, if the first thing you do with the phone is unlock the bootloader and flash a custom ROM, you don't have to worry about any carrier/manufacturer BS.

That being said, Samsung makes some nice phones. I'm currently using the Nexus S with an aftermarket ROM and it works great!

EDIT: I also know that with select phones, there is a way to re-lock them and fully reset them so that you can get it in for warranty work if needed. Research would definitely be helpful.

From the phones that I have seen, I have liked HTC sensation, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Sony Xperia Arc and X10. Samsung really does not have much of a design but works great. Sony makes really very good looking products. Best of them for me. But I use BlackBerry Curve 9300 and not using any data plan. Only BB messenger.

Samsung Galaxy S3 being launched in 5 hours

Just hope and wish Galaxy S3 looks better than S2. S2 really is very boxy.

Well either Samsung have no design, OR they're currently being sued by Apply for their devices looking like iThings... S2 looked pretty nice to me.

S2 is a nice phone but compared to HTCs and Sonys, its got a bit boring design. Just plain simple rectangular design.

I think most people would think that "boring" is actually subtle understated style...

I never really understand why people care what their phone looks like. Personally I want a hardware qwerty keyboard and a decent battery life -- couldn't care less what it looks like.

What if it looked like something 8 inches long and weighing half a kilo? Things looking good is usually very closely related to subtle design features which make a phone a joy to use comapred to annoying and frustrating. So many "nice" things are there for a reason.

I think you're going to have to give up on the hardware keyboard, I can't imagine anyone making a phone with a hardware keyboard soon, especially once RIM go under in the near future.