N1 or Milestone on i wireless

[weffy]

Hi all! I'm new to android and actually new to carrier contracts. Currently using a basic, old Nokia on tracfone, and I don't make a lot of calls. I've been looking to upgrade to get the following features: mobile web browsing, camera, mp3 player. I-wireless (the Iowa version) offers some pretty decent phones its seems. I'm listing their contract price.

Nexus One - 299
Milestone - 99
HTC Hero - 99
Samsung Behold II - don't know, temporarily out of stock

I like the first two the best, and think the nexus 1 is the best phone, but is it worth $200 more than the milestone? Any input appreciated.

Another factor to consider is that it appears that i-wireless allows the phone to be used as a wireless modem. Details are kind of sketchy on their website i wireless - Plans so I need to talk to a rep, but this could be a deciding factor in which phone to use. This could be a big deal for me as my current ISP, which is fixed wireless, is kind of flaky.

Any other comments about i-wireless also appreciated.

 

[lunatic59]

I am biased toward the Nexus One, so anything I say will have to take that into consideration.

Of that selection the Nexus is really the only one I'd consider, even for $200 more. Even though it is 6 months old it is still holding its own spec-wise with most brand new phones. The exceptions would of course be the EVO, Droid X and that iThing. With the Nexus you get Vanilla Android including FroYo 2.2 right now with updates to at least Gingerbread (3.0) in the not so distant future. The upgrades to later versions of Android on the other handsets are at the discretion of the hardware manufacturers, and they have been a little slow, according to many phone owners. You could always root and install a custom ROM, but you do that at your own risk.

I can't speak for i-Wireless, but with the Nexus on AT&T and FroYo, I get tethering and WiFi hotspot functionality with my data plan. You just have to watch your usage if you don't have an unlimited plan.

Remember, however, that the Nexus One has been dropped from Google's store and the only way you can get it now is either through a supporting carrier or through a private sale (ie. eBay or Craigslist)

The Milestone is the GSM version of the original Droid which has also been out for a while. Personally I don't like sliders or hardware keyboards and I think motoblur is not the best skin for Android. The Hero will give you HTC's Sense and the Samsung gives you Touchwiz. All of these skins can be replaced with alternatives, bust some people prefer not to muck around with it that much. You *can* get WiFi hotspot and tethering with

 

[weffy]

Thanks for the response. Good point about the upgrades. One thing I don't really have a feel for is how valuable are the OS updates? How big of a difference do they make in performance and general usability of the device? If they make a big difference, then $200 more for the Nexus 1 might be good value as far as having a phone that won't need to be replaced as soon as the others.