What cell phones brands are best for Mac users?

I have a Motorola V3 Razr that I like very much. It's the one from Cingular. It worked with both my desktop and laptop Macs right out of the box via Bluetooth.

I hear that the same model with Verizon does have some connect problems via Bluetooth because of their VCast setup.

Jeff Weinberg

As a Verizon subscriber, your options are severely limited.

If you want to use your mobile handset or smartphone as a CDMA modem to connect your computer to the internet, then you cannot select any of the many V CAST devices offered by Verizon, as the technology is incompatible with the Bluetooth DUN profile at the center of dial up networking.

You generally must select either a Palm device or compatible mobile handset from the list below if you want to synchronize your data using iSync:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/devices.html

Some caveats:

• the Palm Treo 700w is not a Palm OS device, but rather, a Windows Mobile 5 device and you will need third-party software like the Missing Sync for Windows Mobile to synchronize it. An alpha release of this software is available for registered users of the current release to test with their devices.

• the Motorola RAZR V3c provided by Verizon does not support calendar synchronization.

• Wireless Sync devices like the Treo 650 and 700w need to be configured to support use of synchronization applications other than Wireless Sync [like iSync or the Missing Sync for Palm OS or Windows Mobile.]

That's a tough one, because the major and second tier providers offer fews options, and there are so many trade offs.

Take T-Mobile, for example. Great customer service, widespread coverage but generally lower signal levels. That's clearly an issue for some users in some places. They use GSM technology and allow you to insert your SIM [subscriber information module] into virtually any unlocked mobile handset or smartphone compatible with their network. Great idea! But, realistically, unlocked handsets are typically not carrier subsidized, and therefore can be very, very expensive compared to those $ 49.00 full featured units offered by most carriers. That's offset to some degree by very low cost data plans, generous plans and bundling deals for HotSpot accounts.

Or, Verizon. Widespread network, strong signals in most locations, and innovative technology, including high-speed 3G data service. Coupled, unfortunately, with ridiculous policies, high data link prices and features like DUN-incompatible V CAST. They offer innovative smartphones like the Treo 700w, but few [and maybe soon, no] iSync compatible mobile handsets. Instruments are carrier-locked, and generally are missing the Bluetooth OBEX profile, in order to protect the revenue they derive from the cash generator they call Get It Now! Nice touch. Reason alone to abandon them, from my point of view. But, then there's that strong signal, the high-speed network, innovative options…

Cingular [soon to once again adopt the moniker ATT Wireless] is somewhere in between, but like Verizon and Sprint, uses primarily carrier-locked mobile handsets. They will likely debut the new Palm OS-based Treo 700p replacement for the Treo 650 next month. Of the four major providers, they probably offer the greatest number of iSync compatible handsets at the moment, but they too are far from perfect.

I love T-Mobile for the freedom and service they offer, but I chose them years ago as a carrier primarily for their early policies like Friends & Family and innovative plans they offered long before others did. I enjoy their very low cost data service, but it doesn't begin to match the high speed offerings from Cingular, Sprint and Verizon.

So, it's all a set of trade offs and compromises. And it's likely to remain so, until US carriers change their business models significantly and remake themselves in the image of the major providers in Europe and Asia.

I just got a motorola v3 razor phone with cingular. I could not pair it with my powerbook G4. My phone was set to discoverable mode, and my power book could not find the phone using the bluetooth device set up utility on the power book. What am I missing? please help.

Zhou, I recently bought the same model phone that you have from Cingular and had no problems pairing it up with my G5 using an external Bluetooth adapter. Just turn Bluetooth in the phone on (and make sure it is in pairing mode) and use the Bluetooth discovery wizard on your Mac. Let the Mac find the phone rather than the other way around. About all you will have to do is enter in the passcode into the phone that the Mac gives you and you should be all set to go.

Jeff Weinberg

I did exactly what you said, but my power book never find my phone (the search never finishes). I have Power Book G4 with OSX 10.3.9, I wonder if I need to upgrade to 10.4 for this.

My Verizon account is up after 2 years and I am looking for a good phone that I can from a simple stand point- load phone numbers via bluetooth on to it - problem free. On the non simple side - Id consider a blackberry / mac option with the cheapest carrier of data plan (t- mobile??) I tred the treo 650 via verizon; did not love the phone and the $45 minimum data plan was outrageous. So is anyone using t-mobile and a blackberry phone with their mac? OR what is the best VERIZON / MAC solution b/c it would be easier to stay with my current carrier...which is Verizon and I could just use the Razr phone ..
so Im kinda in the middle of what to do...

feedback welcome

See if you can 'try before you buy' as you will absolutely hate the minimalist contact application on a Motorola mobile handset. Each telephone number counts as a single 'contact' record, and you are limited to 500 such contacts, I believe.

And, the calendar isn't much better. Did I mention that calendaring and task synchronization is not available out of the box on the Verizon-supplied Motorola V3c? And, that the V3m is not yet supported by iSync at all?

And, as I recall, RIM supports only the Bluetooth profiles required to manage hands free operation: no object exchange, serial or dial-up networking profiles are present. That means that you are limited to USB synchronization. In fact, PocketMac for Blackberry—licensed by RIM and free from Information Appliance Associates—supports only USB synchronization.

I'm no fan of Windows Mobile devices, but they and the twin Palm OS offerings from Verizon—the Treo 650 and the Treo 700p—are much more suitable for your purposes than a mobile handset masquerading as a smartphone.

The razr is probably the way Ill go and stay with verizon- I just want to be able to download phone numbers directly to the phone- BLuetooth would be ideal but if it has to be usb - well so be it-

Are you saying that one contact name can't have multiple phone numbers? like home and cell? And where am I downloading phone numbers from? Apple's Address book?

It's sort of hard to explain this: you really need to 'experience' using a Motorola contact application to appreciate how limited, and therefore frustrating or disappointing, it might be for you. Each telephone number represents a contact record in the Motorola contact application, and there is a cap of some 500 'records' as I recall. You can rearrange them on your mobile handset so that all of the numbers associated with an individual are displayed together, but one person with three numbers actually represents three 'records'.

This becomes a problem, clearly, because it severely limits the total number of individuals you can maintain contact records for. If the cap is 500 records and the typical individual has at least two, and possibly three associated telephone numbers—business, work and mobile, for example—you've got a limit of something between roughly 160 and 250 individuals you can maintain such records for.

The source of these telephone numbers, names, addresses and other data you will store on your handset if you use iSync is the Address Book. With many handsets, you can send individual contact records as vCards from your computer to your mobile handset, but some carriers—notably Verizon—cripple or defeat the Bluetooth OBEX profile used to accomplish such transfers, forcing you to pay for data transfers over their network. Some mobile handsets employ SD or similar memory expansion cards, which you can use along with a USB card reader to work around such limitations.

You should browse or search the iSync discussion area for posts by people who actually have extensive experience with Motorola, Nokia and SONY Ericsson handsets to understand the limitations imposed by handset manufacturers and wireless carriers. You can find that discussion area here:

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=731

i just left verizon for t-mobile, got a RAZR. it syncs up perfectly with address book! you can have multiple entries for one person.

i am happy with the decision to ditch verizon... t-mobile is great so far.

Welcome to T-Mobile! I love it too, and have been a subscriber since it was Voicestream Wireless more than a decade ago. But, I think we're in the minority.

Great company, really good customer service, very reasonable rate plans including low-cost flat-rate data plans, the ability to use virtually any unlocked GSM mobile handset or smartphone, and customer installed and transferable SIM technology, but…

• a slower network [or maybe more correctly, far fewer high speed network segments]
• a smaller subscriber base than the other 3 major US wireless carriers, and
• what many consider spotty reception or weak signals, in some areas

I like the look of their rates. BUT spotty service is acommon comment so Ill probably suck it up with verizon and go get a razr At leat ill be able to transfer phone numbers which is my main concern- The thought of having to enter number manually into the phone itself is scary-

How does one transfer the phone numbers to the razr from the mac? Does it use isynch?

ANd how do you transfer just the numbers you want?