Dean,

The Motorola RAZR is tri-band, which will allow you to carry it worldwide. Different countries have different Mzh protocols--U.S. has two--but tri-band covers everything you'll need.

I just bought a RAZR as a Christmas present for my business partner in Taiwan--you may be used to the crank phones, but the RAZR will make you look like a "first-adopter".

Tri-band ain't that important overseas, unless you absolutely need to be contacted. Otherwise, I usually use the T9 "predictive text" messaging feature. This is where you use the keypad to "type" a message to your friend/colleagues phone or computer. It works great, and is quite cheap.

As for Bluetooth, I bought a Bluetooth earpiece in order to be a safer driver, and never used it. I use the SuperTooth II almost exclusively in the car now.

 

Thanks again. I verified that Verizon phones are not GSM capable, but Cingular phones are so I'm thinking of changing over to Cingular. How has phone service been for you with them? And if you don't mind telling me, what parts of the world do you travel to and use your phone?

 

Ok, I'm confused again. I was told that I have to have tri band and GSM in the phone. Cingular offers the Razr as one of its international cell phones, but Verizon doesn't.
Text messaging and that sort of thing wouldn't work for either one of us. We have to be able to carry on actual conversations. Especially my wife, since she's a broker and constantly wheeling and dealing on the phone.
I really hate dealing with all this techno crap. I could build a perfectly functional chicken from scratch in the time its taken me to sort this stuff out.

 

Razr made by Motorola basically comes in two flavors: CDMA (Verizon, Alltel) and GSM (Cingular). The GSM versions came out first, about a year ago. The CDMA versions went on sale only a week ago. GSM is also used in Europe. I believe CDMA is confined to the US.

The CDMA versions are different from the earlier GSM versions. For example, the CDMA Razrs have a 1.3 MP camera, while the GSM Razrs have only a VGA camera (1/4 MP).
The Cingular Razrs have a different user interface and Bluetooth profile than the Verizon Razr.

The main attraction of both GSM and CDMA Razrs is the very thin form factor. The RF sensitivity is also excellent. Samsung is bringing out their own thin version to compete with it.

I got the Verizon CDMA Razr phone because I feel that Verizon has the best network in the US. I've had a lot of fun importing songs into my Razr to use as ring tones. If I get more ambitious, I'll try the Motorola software which will enable users to transfer pictures via Bluetooth or USB 2 cable to their Razr phones. The Razr has more capabilities than I'll ever need or use.

More info on this can be found in Consumer Reports and at www.howardforums.com

 

Dean,

Cingular is GSM. GSM operates worldwide using at least three different MHz bandwidth ratings--maybe even four (I'm not 100% sure). The RAZR phone has tri-bandwidth capability. GSM works in all major countries in Europe and Asia.

Now making things more complicated, I use an Audiovox SMT5600 "Smartphone", which uses a simplified form of MS windows. I actually sync my phone up with my Outlook, so I have all contacts, recent emails, and calendar. It also holds files, my photos, AND is an MP3 player. If I really wanted to, I could play movies on my phone. It's available through Cingular too.

Believe it or not, there are phones that are WI-FI capable, which means that you could find a "hot spot" and check into S2KI with no phone charges. WI-FI phones are also coming pre-packaged with "SKYPE", which offers internet phone service worldwide for only .02.

Pretty wild stuff...

 

Thanks cordy and goblueS2K, that clarifies things. This sure has been a lot of trouble considering that according to my cell bill I spend about thirty minutes total on the phone per month. We're going to stick with the Verizon Razr and rent international phones when we have to travel.

I just want a phone to make and receive phone calls. I don't need a phone that makes toast, walks my dogs, cleans my pool, and wakes me up every morning wearing a French maid's outfit. Just a nice simple phone that I can use to abuse students and hurl epithets at bureaucrats and telemarketers.

 

...French maid's outfit? I'm sorry, where do you get that phone?

 

Did someone say French Maid outfit...?

 

Jabra BT250 (uncomfortable and hard to get to stay in my ear, sound quality ok up to about 50 MPH) (on a + note the BT worked great with my Treo 650)

MOT HS850 (most comfortable earpiece I have tried, sound quality is great up to about 60 MPH, battery life is superb, I charge it once a week) the BT profile is not prefect with the Treo but I believe it is a Cingular issue for me and their new firmware is supposedly better.

As I noted in the BT/electronics forum...if you add a mic boom/windsock to ANY microphone it will greatly cut down on the wind noise.

 

Yeah, like I'm going to tell you. Go find your own.