Potential New User - What will I miss if I don't have 3G....

[Guest Yuccaman]

Ok, different first post this....

I don't yet have a San Francisco. I've been thinking and reading about whether to try an Android phone and the San Fran will be the one.

I currently have a phone for work, but don't get anything bar a basic job (Nokia 6120 atm) and work will NOT allow Internet access via the SIM. I don't want to carry around two phones and I'm currently ruling out buying a SIM sharing device, hence thinking of buying the San Fran and unlocking to put the work SIM in it, meaning I won't get mobile Internet, just WiFi at home / work and any hotspots I find out and about.

What I like some opinions on is what am I likely to miss out on without mobile internet.

Main uses I can think of for the phone will be:

- Sat Nav, albeit via Aura, CoPilot etc where the maps are on the SD Card. That means no traffic updates, but I can live with that.

- Golf GPS - Most of the apps use Google Maps for a view of the hole, so that's out, but I could buy SonoCaddie, which has hole illustrations (though a little pricey) and to be honest, I really only need distances, which I'll still get via GPS on a free / cheap app without needing a Google Map picture :P Not that I can hit the green half the time, but that's a different story !!!!

- Music / Movie / Picture playback (mainly music I would imagine).

- Time Wasting Games - Here is one thing I haven't been able to find much about is whether many games need an Internet connection to work, or will the vast majority work fine without this (I assume most won't need a net connection, but want to be sure).

I'm not a Facebook or Twitter user, and have no need for Email on the phone. I'll probably do some minor web browsing when WiFi'd up and the computer is not on....

So, am I missing anything obvious that I won't be able to do without Mobile Internet ?

And, will the San Fran cope admirably (on the whole) which what I would want to do on it - I reckon it will, after browning here and reading the vast amount of positive vibes about this phone...

Cheers,

Rob

[Guest Azurren]

Well.. The Blade has one issue that would probably completely snooker you

The infamous Wifi issue #1

#2 being the non re-connecting issue

Unlike other Android phones the wifi connection will not stay active while the device is "sleeping" (Screen off) so no email-syncing, weather updates, twitter / facebook etc.

I know you say you don't want to use the above but.. Heh I'll give it a week or two :D

Everything will have to be done manually (Or set to sync on unlock.. Which will trigger wifi issue #2. But there is a simple fix for that one "Blade wifi fix" app from the market)

But if you truly use the device as you have descried this won't effect you whatsoever :P

If you are happy / can live with this then by all means go for it! Its a great device!

Edited February 10, 2011 by Azurren

[Guest vermat17]

First of all, I would definitely recommend getting this phone even with/without internet. Its fantastic, to be short. It was my first android phone, and was easy to use and customise.

Moving on to the internet issue...

I'm not sure about this one, but even with satnav apps that have the maps on the sd card, I think you still need internet to navigate. You will be able to scroll around the maps, but will need internet to get navigation instructions. As I said, I'm not sure.

Internet will have no effect on movie, music or picture playback.

Most games dont need internet in order to play them. They mostly only need it to post highscores or to display adverts, so no internet can actually be good on games.

If you have voice search then you need internet in order to use it, and for google maps, having an internet connection will help it be more accurate in terms of your location.

This is just my finding from using the phone in a similar way to how you've described; i.e. only using wifi when available, and other people probably know more about it than I do.

Hope this helps... :P

[Guest Rotmann]

Offline navigation (Navigon, sygic, navdroyd, co-pilot etc.) does not need Internet, it gets the signal from the satellites and has everything (voices included) on the SD-Card, just like a proprietary navigation system. My wife uses it at the moment without mobile data, it's ok, no problems at all.

[Guest Yuccaman]

Cheers all....

Looks as if I will be joining the ranks soon.....

May wait for a week or so and get one already with 2.2 though assuming it is on the way :P