Cellular Phones
Selecting a cellular telephone
Do you want a simple cell phone or a Smart phone?
- Simple cell phone will be smaller and have longer battery life.
- Smart phone integrates cell phone, calendar, calculator (sometimes camera, internet access and music) into one device.
- Exchange can be configured to synchronize with Blackberry (additional Exchange BES account required) or iPhone.
| iPhone |
Blackberry | |
| WiFi (Internet, without data plan) |
Yes |
Some models |
| User removable/replaceable battery |
No |
Most models |
| Third party applications |
Many |
Few |
| Pictures |
Well implemented |
Some models (is slow) |
| E-mail |
Yes (Exchange, without BES account) |
Yes (Exchange users, see below ) |
| Ease of use |
Tie |
Tie |
| Calendar |
Yes |
Yes (some prefer the layout) |
| Contacts |
Tie |
Tie |
| Web browsing |
Yes (better browser) |
Yes (note: most BB models don't have WiFi, so incur larger data charges) |
| Performance/freezing |
Best |
May need occasional rebooting |
Blackberry smartphones must have a carrier (phone company) account that is "BES" capable and in addition you must pay a one time UBC BES $100 licensing fee.
Sources
Most cell phone vendors offer UBC special pricing. They don't care if you or UBC will be paying the bill.UBC Bookstore is a Bell vendor.
- Pricing is at: http://www.bookstore.ubc.ca/cpu/PDF/Bell_Plan.pdf
Rogers/Fido.
- Primary source for Apple iPhone.
Telus
- http://telus.com
Canadian carrier coverage maps can be found at http://www.comparecellular.com/coverage-maps/
