Narrowed my phone choices down to: iPhone, Blackberry Bold, and Samsung Omnia. Which one should I get?

What does that review have to do with the Bold? It's all about the Storm as far as I can tell... huh, you're right. CHRIST IMA MORON. nevermind. for what it's worth 2 close friends I know that both have 3G iPhones say that many of the reported reception and battery-life issues were solved by the latest firmware update. so ymmv. /still watching this thread with great interest as I'm also up on my Verizon contract and a mac owner.

More importantly, the battery life on the iPhone sucks from what I hear. Can anyone attest to this?

Battery life is not great, but not particularly different than most smartphones I've used (Windows Mobile,etc) on the iPhone. I've only ever had problems with calls when my iPhone 3g was jailbroken (hacked to allow 3rd party apps) or unlocked (via sim unlock). When I avoid both of those, it's flawless.

Battery life is not great, but not particularly different than most smartphones I've used (Windows Mobile,etc) on the iPhone. I've only ever had problems with calls when my iPhone 3g was jailbroken (hacked to allow 3rd party apps) or unlocked (via sim unlock). When I avoid both of those, it's flawless. Ah, interesting. I might want to jailbreak mine if I get one though. But I suppose I can cross that bridge when I come to it.

I would agree the major negative of the IPhone is the battery life, especially when using 3g. The keyboard is awesome, I have no problems with it. Call quality is fine, but it really depends on what the AT&T network is like near your house. I have to say that I find that map/modified GPS on the iPhone kind-of annoying. They definitely have some work to do with it. But, other than that I love it.

I'm in a similar situation - I would get an iPhone if I could also get Verizon's superior service in my area (East and North Bay Area in California). Thus, stuck with Verizon my options come down to: 1) BB Storm 2) Samsung Omnia 3) Some non-touch screen phone and wait until there are better offerings. Right now if I had to jump I'd buy the Omnia - too many bad reviews of the storm and I didn't like the lag when I tried it in person. It will likely improve with time, but that's a risk in terms of the time it will take and the degree of improvement. The Omnia has been well reviewed and has access to a similar amount of WM applications (relative to the iphone). The Omnia's camera's nice, but really, that's not why anyone's buying these phones. Omnia's pros: Speedy and relatively stable and functional operating system with features most people will need (other than BB mail functionality). Less laginess, somewhat smaller than the Storm. Also has good (adjustable) vibration response to keyboard inputs. Verizon's excellent network (in my area). Omnia's cons: $50 more expensive than the Storm, slightly less screen real-estate, different apps available relative to the iPhone but similar in the end. Storm pros: Cheaper than the Omnia, some people like the screen "click", BB functions. Verizon's network. Storm cons: Still $200, some people don't like the screen "click", not all the same apps as the iPhone, not as responsive as the Omina or iPhone. General bugginess and bad reviews outline the other reasons to reconsider it. Other options include the LG Dare which gets quite positive reviews, but has relatively more limited functionality. If you're really only into a more touch screen-like phone for internet browsing, the Dare may be the better option for now while waiting for more competition to flesh out improvements among the current crowd (iphone, storm, G1, HTC phones, etc). I think if you're still stuck between carriers, try finding out who has better reception in the larger area you travel in THEN consider which phones you prefer which that carrier offers. Best luck!

I've had some issues with call quality (mostly volume) with my first-gen iPhone, but many of them were resolved by a software update some time ago. The same update also seems to have improved my battery life dramatically. I just asked my husband and he says he never has trouble with battery life or call quality on his 3G, and he uses his phone to call a lot more than I do. He did offer the caveat that he doesn't run 3G most of the time because he has crap 3G reception at both the office (south Austin) and our home (west Austin hills) and no trouble with EDGE. As noted above, 3G makes a dramatic difference to battery life.

Note that with the new iPhone software you can (finally!) turn off the auto correct, which actually makes texting much easier since "u" can type abbreviations "w/o" the phone correcting them!

Do any of you iPhone users have issues with dropped calls or call quality? Do you always sound like you are mumbling on the other end? I'm a first gen iPhone user and I have not experienced the call quality to be any better or any worse then any of the previous GSM phones I had used with AT&T, which is to say that here in Boston I think it's a non-issue. Of course, YMMV depending on where you live and how good of a network AT&T has there. Also, my understanding is there were some real issues with dropped calls when the second generation 3g phones first came out, but those issues have since been fixed by a software update. More importantly, the battery life on the iPhone sucks from what I hear. Actually, I find the battery life to be pretty reasonable given how big the screen is, and how much network traffic it's handling on both the cell network and over wifi over the course of a day (I have it setup with an exchange account, meaning that it constantly has a network connection open to my company's exchange server to enable "push" email and calendar events). Of course it does not last forever and I do recharge it about every two days or so, but given how many different things I use it for (Cell phone, ipod, web surfing, email, games and RSS reading on the subway, etc) this seems pretty darn reasonable to me.