[pda luvr]

I'd appreciate feedback from whomever made the switch from Tmo's 8900 to 9700. I need feedback mainly from Tmobile 3G users.

1. Is the 3G speed difference noticeable (I'm in Miami/S. FL)?
Is it as fast as ATT 3G cards when tethered to a laptop?
If so, will it receive calls and allow my laptop to keep surfing?

2. Can I be on a call and still browse the net? The key feature I need is to be able to use Google Maps for traffic updates while on a phone call. Currently my 8900 will do this only on UMA.

3. Keyboard. Was it a big learning curve as you got used to the different keyboard layout? Was this a factor for you?

TIA for your feedback

[duane534]

1a. Yes. Along with the fact you're not kicked off of IM when you take a call.
1b. Probably not. AT&T has a lot more 3G coverage than T-Mobile, especially the farther East you go.
1c. Yes. You can do that with 3G, cannot with 2G. Re-read the 1b answer.

2. Yes, but only in 3G coverage.

3. I've owned both. There is a learning curve, but the trackpad / trackball comes into play more.

[pda luvr]

Cool, I'm gonna order it.
Its 129 w/ 2 yr contract and its 200 to break the contract=329.
But its 450 w/ no contract... am I missing something here?

[pda luvr]

A follow up: after my phone was exchanged over 5 times for various issues, the tmo cust retentions rep admitted there were known issues on the 9700 and she sold me a galaxy s for 150. From what I can tell, the 5.0.0.714 software tmo has on their website is a dud and I usually update it using the links on this forum every 3 months.

3G issues and the 9700 not being able to make calls at times really sucks, especially when its downloading an email or voicemail...feels like the voice/phone traffic needs to be given higher priority. It is a phone 1st and foremost.
Although its not as comfortable as a bb keyboard, the touch screen swype interface on the galaxy s is way cool and you type by dragging your finger on the screen and its pretty quick to swype text input especially long words. I carried a g1 for a few months when it came out and the galaxy is really nice, a nice evolution for android. It did drop signal and prevented me from dialing out twice in the last week though.

[akosnitzky]

I live in South Florida as you do. I see a lot of 9700s and I am sorry you had so much difficulty