Database Info

Buying a new phone

Hi everyone, I am in the market for a new Pocket PC style phone with a QWERTY style keybaord on it. Through my research I have found out that all QWERTY style Pocket PC's are also phones.
So after looking around at a number of models out there the i-Mate JASJAR phone really caught my eye. However, also while looking around I found this site and figured I would ask an active community what my best choice would be. I will buy from anywhere in the world if it will be cheaper in the end.
I have a plan with Fido currently and a sim card in my LG phone working at the moment.
The things I need in a Pocket PC Phone:
Hardware
- Fido Canada Compatability (GSM ~1900) for phone
- WiFi (802.11b) for data
- Bluetooth support
- SD Card Slot for my 1gb card
- USB port to connect to computer
- Decent processor and RAM.
Software
- Windows 2005 (or whatever the latest is)
- General Word / Excel Applications
- MSN Messenger
I'm not used to looking up information about phones and cross compatibility, and being in canada all I am used to is being screwed up the rear with cell phone costs and locked phones. So thats why I am coming here for help.
Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Thank you all in advance.
Antonio the Knight of Ni.

Hello,
If all you you need are those listed, basically you can pick any PPC that is offered today by the cell phone providers today in North America, as it will be cheaper than buying an unlocked one. Mostly the providers today offered one of the Wizard varians, like in the USA, most of the providers (Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint), all of them carry of the Wizard varians, with price around US$350 for 2 years contract. Full price without contract here is around US$500.
I'm an owner of i-mate Jasjar (Universal). Compared to a Wizard, Jasjar/Universal is much more expensive here in North America, because no provider carry it, thus we have to buy full price.
Compared to Wizard, however, Universal has the following:
1. Processor is twice/more faster technically.
2. Screen is VGA, compared to Wizard (QVGA).
3. Heavier, bulkier, etc.
4. Universal is wow when used as a mini laptop, but Wizard is wow when used a mini PPC and phone.
I can tell you, I'm always impressed with my Uni when I read PDF doc, emails, remote connecting to my PC, watching videos.
All of your requirement can be easily fulfilled by a WIzard instead of a Universal.

Well, I am willing to spend up to $800 so I dont have to be in a contract, and my goal is to get it to work on my Canadian provider Fido. So, the phone is going to have to be unlocked in order for me to beable to use it on my provider as they dont sell any pocket pc phones, only their parent company rogers does but I am on a grandfathered contract with fido that gives me unlimited calling, so i would like to maintain that.
So, as far as unlocked phones go, your saying that the Jaspar is probly the best call? Excuse the pun.

In the market
I am in the market for a ppc phone as well and I have come down to a decision between the Universal and the Wizard, but I would like some user feedback about both models. I noticed the Wizard has a 200mhz TI cpu and the Universal has a 520mhz intel cpu. What is the actual performance difference between the two? Does the wizard use its clock cycles more efficiently closing some of the gap or is the universal really 2.6 times faster? What about the resolution difference? I think this might be a big selling factor for me. Does it make a big difference? I know on a computer I can't stand to use anything less than 1600x1200. The bottom line is it looks like it is going to cost me twice as much for the universal as the wizard is the extra money worth it? I am looking at using T-Mobile here in the states. They only offer the MDA(Wizard) and not the MDA Pro(Universal) but I think either way I will probably pick one up off of ebay and try and save some money. Thanks in advance for your help.

Last year, around Oct-Nov, I was in the same place you were today. I had the plan that I did not want to lose. I did not want to sign any new contract.
I want unlocked Pocket PC so that I can use it when I travel to Asia and any where. And I decided I would not mind to pay the full price. My budget was... however, I pushed it all the way to over $1000 in order to buy the best.
I considered that single invesment to fullfill at least many years to come needs, therefore, go with the most advance one, rather than buy a cheaper one, but half way.
That's the whole reason I was finally decided to get a Universal. But if you ask me to share my opinion with you today, after using Universal more than 6 months, I think it was not the best decision I made with the purchase. Do not get me wrong, I learned and experienced many new things since I had my Uni, and its extremely well built and nice device, nothing like it really. The screen especially, may be the best you will ever see in any Pocket PC. But for daily use, for phone, for carry around, for many occasions, I do not use it, simply its not pratical. I usually swiched back to my old one. Then I would blame myself, why did you buy it if you do not want to use it? Sad
Most of the time now I leave my Uni at home to be used with my home wifi. I have seen many ppl are happier with their decision to get a smaller scale one like Wizard or Prophet. Prophet is about the same size with the Wizard, except its thinner as it has no keyboard but better button layout. They do not mind even though the screen is a quarter than the Universal and the processor speed is half of the Universal as well. And indeed, for daily practical use (phone, email, notes) it does serve the purpose. Absolutely, when you want to browse the web, then smaller screen is not as good as VGA like Universal Smile When it comes to size and easy carry, smaller size is better.
Hope I'm not making your more confused. But if I can re-decide I would pick a Prophet instead. Since I have decided with a Uni, I'm happy to live with it as I do not want/cannot afford a new one right now.
KJam and Jamin (Wizard and Prophet) are identical in term of hardware spec (procesor, memory, etc) but has different apperance.
KJam/Wizard is thicker because it has a keyboard, Jamin/Prophet does not have one, but Jamin/Prophet has a better button layout that will allow single handed use of the device.
The last thing which is very important to know as well, KJam/Wizard use Mini SD, Jamin/Prophet use SD (Full size). Many ppl (like myself) will not buy something that use mini SD as I have invested quite a lot in big size SD card and would like to continue using the same card.

keep in mind that canada and a lot of the US uses 1900 and 850 freq for cellular
that being said, the wizard will work in more places than the universal because there are places that are 850 only and the universal doesn't have it
but if you want more pda features, then you'll have to give up some possible reception

Here, check out this link:
http://www.htcamerica.net/products/default.htm
Here you can find all the Wizard variants that are being offered in the US market, by each cell phone provider. Canadian providers are also listed here.

I signed up for service with T-Mobile a week ago and just got a crappy $10 Samsung R225m for the time being. I decided I will get The Universal and if I know I am going somewhere out in the boonies where I will need 850mhz analog I will grab the samsung. Is cloning your sim legal? Like let us say I want to have multiple cards in case something happens or if i want a data telemtry device in my car which would be used rather infrequently to share everything.

Wait a minute.... I was just looking and the Universal doesn't have EDGE does it? Does anyone in the states know how widespread T-Mobile's EDGE coverage is? How much of a difference does it make in speed?

tablets with sim support?

i searched through the internet but there wasnt a solid answer to this question i could find.
the question is, which tablets have sim card support and if so how can i tell if the ones in retailers are different from ones offered from carriers.
like are there 2 models of galaxy tab 2 10.1? one with sim slot and one without? and could someone compile a list of all the current and popular tablets with sim card slots?

A tablet that does phone and uses AT&T or TMobil (assuming you're in the US) has a SIM slot. The SIM is used for the phone portion of the tablet on GSM phones. If the tablet doesn't have a phone, or it has a CDMA (Sprint, Verizon) phone, it has no use for a SIM card.

Well, of course. So the question would be "which tablets include a phone device ?" Nice try for an answer, dude ! BTW, it's not absolutely exact, as I'll explain below.
Ok, then, most SMALL tablets (7" or less) generally include a SIM slot because they allow you to phone without you looking as if you stuck a frying pan over your ear. This includes for instance the HTC Flyer and all Samsung Galaxy Tabs, just to cite the ones I know for sure, but of course there may be many others.
Classic "large" (10" or about) tablets can have a SIM slot too, even if NOT being able to phone. The reason is they allow 3G networking. If we are to cite another example, there is one on some Asus EeePads (not all models, so be careful when choosing).
Now the Eeepad is a bit special, as it has a true PC processor instead of most other models scaled-down 1 GHz ARM phone processors (the same my good old HD2 has already), and when you attach the separate mechanical keyboard to the tablet, you also get classical USB ports, allowing you to add a 3G dongle in case you bought a SIM-less model.
Apart form the Asus that's a bit out of the crowd (though not being more expensive BTW), you'll then have to check for the SIM slot when looking for a tablet.
Your question is of general interest IMHO. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a list of tablets with SIM slots to help people choosing, either here or on a dedicated topic, maybe put elsewhere (though I can't find where right now).
Now if you'd ask me which tablet I would choose if I had to, I'd answer "none" at first thought. The reason is, I do need a mobile device, but it has to do ALL : phoning, taking notes and noting down meetings, firing alarms, email and web browsing, remote access to the company's billing and accounting software, and my Word and Excel documents handy. And all this, of course, has to be with me all the time.
So, of course, the 4.3" format is just perfect. So why would I want a tablet ? The answer is just "I don't want one. Period". Now, why would I would want one anyway ? Well, maybe because it would be more confortable to show documents to other people, or just to get a larger workspace, after all.
So maybe the 7" format would be just fine. This, plus the fact it's able to phone, and the special stylus, always made me think about the HTC Flyer. Because I love my HTC HD and HD2, so I may stay sentimentally linked to HTC, so I probably won't be absolutely neutral here. There's also the Samsung galaxy Note, why not ? But if it's just for a larger phone with a stylus, is it worth the change ? Well, maybe for the stylus. The 7" tablet also still allows to phone whithout looking completely weird, though the limit is reached there IMHO.
Anyway, the point is, I want only ONE device to do ALL, and I want it with me everywhere and every time. That's why my HD2 is always in my belt pouch. I wouldn't want a phone PLUS a tablet to bring along. That's why I'm not really considering buying one, despite I really miss the stylus, as I often have to draw sketches and using the finger is just way too imprecise.
Now there's an interesting outsider, and it's once again from Asus : they threw some weird concept, a tablet containing a detachable Android phone ! All documents automatically synchronize when you stuff the phone into the hatch behind the screen, so you can actually always have the exact same and up-to-date documents on each, allowing you to bring and use any of them (or both !) according to what you're going to do and where you're going to. A concept at least worth a look IMHO.

Z80-Man said:
Well, of course. So the question would be "which tablets include a phone device ?" Nice try for an answer, dude ! BTW, it's not absolutely exact, as I'll explain below.
Ok, then, most SMALL tablets (7" or less) generally include a SIM slot because they allow you to phone without you looking as if you stuck a frying pan over your ear. This includes for instance the HTC Flyer and all Samsung Galaxy Tabs, just to cite the ones I know for sure, but of course there may be many others.
Classic "large" (10" or about) tablets can have a SIM slot too, even if NOT being able to phone. The reason is they allow 3G networking. If we are to cite another example, there is one on some Asus EeePads (not all models, so be careful when choosing).
Now the Eeepad is a bit special, as it has a true PC processor instead of most other models scaled-down 1 GHz ARM phone processors (the same my good old HD2 has already), and when you attach the separate mechanical keyboard to the tablet, you also get classical USB ports, allowing you to add a 3G dongle in case you bought a SIM-less model.
Apart form the Asus that's a bit out of the crowd (though not being more expensive BTW), you'll then have to check for the SIM slot when looking for a tablet.
Your question is of general interest IMHO. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a list of tablets with SIM slots to help people choosing, either here or on a dedicated topic, maybe put elsewhere (though I can't find where right now).
Now if you'd ask me which tablet I would choose if I had to, I'd answer "none" at first thought. The reason is, I do need a mobile device, but it has to do ALL : phoning, taking notes and noting down meetings, firing alarms, email and web browsing, remote access to the company's billing and accounting software, and my Word and Excel documents handy. And all this, of course, has to be with me all the time.
So, of course, the 4.3" format is just perfect. So why would I want a tablet ? The answer is just "I don't want one. Period". Now, why would I would want one anyway ? Well, maybe because it would be more confortable to show documents to other people, or just to get a larger workspace, after all.
So maybe the 7" format would be just fine. This, plus the fact it's able to phone, and the special stylus, always made me think about the HTC Flyer. Because I love my HTC HD and HD2, so I may stay sentimentally linked to HTC, so I probably won't be absolutely neutral here. There's also the Samsung galaxy Note, why not ? But if it's just for a larger phone with a stylus, is it worth the change ? Well, maybe for the stylus. The 7" tablet also still allows to phone whithout looking completely weird, though the limit is reached there IMHO.
Anyway, the point is, I want only ONE device to do ALL, and I want it with me everywhere and every time. That's why my HD2 is always in my belt pouch. I wouldn't want a phone PLUS a tablet to bring along. That's why I'm not really considering buying one, despite I really miss the stylus, as I often have to draw sketches and using the finger is just way too imprecise.
Now there's an interesting outsider, and it's once again from Asus : they threw some weird concept, a tablet containing a detachable Android phone ! All documents automatically synchronize when you stuff the phone into the hatch behind the screen, so you can actually always have the exact same and up-to-date documents on each, allowing you to bring and use any of them (or both !) according to what you're going to do and where you're going to. A concept at least worth a look IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good input. The truth is i'm a sales rep at TigerDirect in Canada. And whenever a customer asks me if the tablet they like has sim support, i'd have to give them a general unsure answer. It's unfortunate because not all tablets have it, and the specs on most sites never really specify either. Furthermore, it's not very realistic to open a sealed box to check if there is. Especially if the customer might not buy. I think it'd be great if everyone on the forums contribute and compile a list of model numbers of tablets that contain a sim card of some sort.

as a user ot the samsung galaxy tab 7.7 i would recomed your customers one of the 7" tablets there are wlan only and wlan/3g devices for each model. with a 3g module it allowes you to send sms or use it as a general mobile phone.
the bigger tablets only use the sim for a mobile 3g internet connection not for sms or phone, like the 10.1.
the wlan only version of the 7.7 is the gt-p6810 and with 3g its gt-p6800.
in canada the tab should be available very easy, but in my country i had little problems to get one of the 7.7 (the old ones 7.0 , 7.0+ , 7.0 2 are easy to get)
because apple sued samsung and said that the 7.7 looks like an ******* ipad.

Oh, maybe we should launch a contribution to offer Apple staff some glasses ?
OK, you did sum up what I thought : 7" tablets either allow phoning or are WLan only, and 10" tablets or bigger are either 3G or WLan only.
Each maker apparently offers both, for the same generic model number, so customers (and sellers) have to be vary careful about small details printed on the box and/or small sub-numbers in the model reference that may help finding more information on the web (preferably on makers' websites rather than half-informed resellers').
It's quite a puzzle, so maybe opening a Wiki here on XDA to list the "good" references could help people sorting things out.

[Q] PHONE SIM banned from TABLET use

Why do mobile companies restrict the use of SIM cards from phones from being used in tablets?
While phones were mostly less powerful than the new tablet devices and the larger screens meant there was a greater data demand by tablet devices, this is certainly no longer the case.
Phones are now more powerful than most tablets and the rest are simply equal. Processors are quad core clocked at similar speeds, if not not higher speeds, the working memory is again the latest 1-2Gb configuration with 16-32GB internal NAND flash memory. With phones having the latest 128GB external SDXC memory support to compliment the superior camera resolutions of 22 Mega pixels. Cloud services are now just beginning to gear thewmselves up to cope with this data interchange whereas tablets still have only modest cameras. Phones do now have front and back facing cameras and the similarities continue to converge.
But crucially the screen resolution has become irrelavent because of technical innovation and it is commonsense the data is sent highly compressed through the Internet where it is decompressed and interpolated to match the local screen resolution by the local graphics processing unit, GPU. This item is again of superior design, as a matched technology to the central processing unit, CPU where the mobile phone market is concerned. Both CPU and GPU are expected to have multiple cores to improve performance and the designs are optimised to consume as little power as possible. A great advantage for a mobile phone. The competition leads to great performance in wider world applications and this is the reason for the extreme competition that has been encouraged in the mobile phone marketplace. But of course we, the public, are paying for this R&D whereas it used to be hideously expensive top secret military R&D budgets. The senate was worried about the cost of a hammer and a handfull of screws at one stage.
There has been a complete change in the definition of mobile phone and tablet where the OS is now exactly the same for each, being Android 4.x.x.
So why are telcos forcing people to purchase a separate SIM for each device? I am disabled. I need specialist communication software to assist me in communicating when I am travelling. For this the tablet is better. But while at home or when meeting friends during the evening the mobile phone is the better option. But the telcos refuse to let me use the same SIM in both devices. I cannot use both devices at the same time so I don't see the logic behind this situation.
The situation continues because the telcos think we cannot see they are continuing to enforce this barrier so that they can make a greater profit from users. Please help get people to recognise the false pretence that prevents us all from exercising a freedon of choice to use either device according to our intended purpose without the need to purchase separate SIMS. Afterall, because I can only use one device at a time why am I forced to pay for two 3G or 4G contracts with separate data components?
I don't see any common sense in this situation and I do think we are all being ripped off by this legacy programmed system restriction.
And I did install the phone SIM in my tablet after being told by the telco staff it was OK, where it worked happily for approx 12 hours. Later when I enquired how I could set up the voicemail and SMS services an arrogant technician then told me I could not install this SIM into a tablet, followed rather weakly by, it will stop working after a time.
Given the conflicting statements and the fact the SIM was working when I was being told it would not work I question the reality of the reason for it not working. It may be recognised by a systematic ID check. But the blocking of the data services after an arbitrary period of time raises the question, "Why shouldn't a SIM now work regardless of whether it is a Phone SIMor a tablet SIM.
The legacy rationale a history of tablets as they were originally a platform for advanced circuitry and software to be released and the resulting extra data demand to their internet connection lasted only as long as the phone market had not become so competitive that their technical facilities raced ahead of tablets. In fact the technological improvements in hardware and saftware have brought both devices to an equal status where users can choose the device according to the context of their intended purpose.. So much so that having more than one device to suit practical applications in varied social settings with no impact on the data portion of their respective uses. Example, you can now watch films or TV series while commuting.. Preferable to use a smartphone here. But you can continue exactly where you left off on a tablet or even a smart TV! The data compression and local pixel mapping to suit the resolution of the device is done locally and absolutely without any impact upon the data demand or stream.
There is no reasonable argument to continue differentiating between Phones and Tablets other than to enforce an obsolete regimen and to unfairly extract money from phone and tablet users who unwittingly pay twice for the same telephone and data services! Copyright(CC) Arclite 13-03-2015

I swap my SIM between my phone and my tablet several times a day. Never had a problem with it...

[GUIDE] Picking Out Your Next Device

I often say to myself, that there must be more makes and models of mobile devices out there than the variety of vehicles these days. If that turns out true, it's no wonder. This industry is the fastest growing market right now. With such a selection, features, brands, and prices, it's hard to choose which device will be the best for you. Hopefully this guide will give you an idea on what to look for in your next device.
FIRST OFF:
GSMArena is your friend. They provide detailed specifications of many devices out there. The ones they don't show, well, a good rule of thumb is that the device is probably not popular enough to warrant your attention, if you want to do some of the things this site is known for (more on that later).
A cool feature of GSMArena is the ability to be able to compare two (or more) devices side-by-side, so once you have a small handful of possibilities, you can compare features easily.
One thing you do need to be careful of, is that GSMArena does not feature every variation a carrier may instill. So the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini you may see at the Bell Aliant store really has 16GB of storage space, but Bell may be the only carrier that uses that variant.
NETWORK:
Those looking for a Wi-Fi only tablet can skip this section...but a must-read for everyone else.
If you have a handful of devices in mind, right off the bat you should rule them in by checking their network status. I cannot tell you which one will work for your network, but your provider will tell you what technology (or technologies) they use (CDMA vs GSM/HSPA/HSPA+/LTE), and at what frequencies. My provider runs HSPA+ and LTE at 1700 and 2100 mHz only (no 2G), so that narrows my options for phones. As an example, last years Moto G LTE would work, but not this year's version due to mismatched frequencies.
Network technology is quite important, especially if you use CDMA. This means you would have no SIM (a tiny device that contains your subscriber information that you get from your provider) card (unless it has world phone capability, and even then, the bands probably won't work for your region) and are stuck with the carrier you buy the phone from. There are some CDMA-based network phone's, like the Motorola Photon Q (released for Sprint), that have their SIM card non-removable (a CDMA/GSM hybrid) where people have modified by soldering in a proper SIM slot. However, the GSM bands used for this device no not work for North America providers.
REFUSALS:
Think of a list of what you don't want. Want to avoid a phablet? Check! No to an Android OS older than Kitkat? Got it! No Samsung devices? You are on fire!
Maybe you can even think of some of the basic internals we take for granted. Usable space is one of them. It's hard to tell, but there is a big disconnect between the ROM size and what you have available to use. Heck, the system data's gotta take up space too! But the big question, what does this leave me? My recent phone, an LG Optimus F3Q, came with a JellyBean ROM, on a 4GB device. I had 1.3GB to play with. Not a lot, in light of the F3Q's predecessor for T-Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G had a 8GB ROM (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 5GB to play with. Why the downgrade, I never understood.
Seems as though a couple years ago, 16GB or more was reserved for high-end phones, 8GB for mid-range, and 4GB for budget phones. I am still seeing phones set up this way, such as the LG G3 S (aka Beat). This is a phone that was released with a 8GB ROM (the smaller cousin to the LG G3, much like the relationship between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 Mini) and KitKat as an OS, upgradeable to Lollipop. This phone is in preparation of space-hungry Lollipop, and it shows when you look at this device's usable stoage space. For a 8GB ROM, you get around 2.4GB available to you. Since Lollipop's new runtime doubles the space of applications (un-compiled version, and compiled version of everything) compared to previous Android versions, the situation is just as bad with this phone as I have previously complained about with the F3Q. Thus, my refusal is no less than 8GB for Jellybean-age devices, or no less than 16GB for Lollipop or newer.
FEATURES:
Okay, so now you know what you don't want. What about what you want? Time to start a second list. Be reasonable, as in don't add features that won't be in phones for the next several years (like 1TB storage). This could be a quad-core processor (which seems to be the bare minimum for decent devices these days, or maybe 2GB of memory/RAM).
GIMMICKS:
In your feature list, did you add dual-SIM support, QWERTY keyboard, or some other gimmick? Be careful with that - a lot of manufacturers don't handle gimmicks too well, and only put them on lower-specced devices (Samsung Duos line comes to mind). These devices are not meant to push a lot of units, so the prices of them usually are quite higher. Keep in mind that dual-sim is not quite a gimmick, but it strays from the norm enough that you would be confused if it wasn't.
TO MicroSD OR NOT MicroSD?:
This is increasingly becoming a gimmick sadly. I like spending less on a device and then supplementing it with cheap memory. But this cannot be the case for many. Some manufacturers are bringing them back, others, are abolishing them from their devices. It's hard to see what the weather will be like there.
It comes down to personal choice, if it's a worthy feature or something you can live without.
BATTERY:
Battery life holds a big importance. Typically you want to look at the number of mAh the battery holds (as a comparison to like devices), but for say, different screen sizes, a smaller battery will work just as well on a smaller screen. So you need to look at screen-on-time metrics to know how long you can use your device, and how long you can go before a recharge. The challenge is that manufacturers usually advertise battery life by idle time, which is a perfect-world scenario (all sensors and radios turned off, no screen-on-time - basically the device is hibernating more aggressively than you will ever let it).
Another consideration is whether the battery should be removable. I used to be a strong supporter of removable batteries, since I would replace a faulty battery from time to time, but these days, I'm ambivalent to that idea. With external battery packs, you should never have to pop the back cover because the battery went dead. With the fact you can turn off a bootlooped phone after pressing power for many seconds, you never need to pull the battery either. Although, the big reason for a removable battery is for longevity of the phone, as the battery is usually the first to fail (after-market batteries are tested to function well for 300 charges). With a user-replaceable battery, you can easily buy and insert a replacement, be it from the OEM or third party (which often provides a little more juice). Once again, it comes down to personal choice.
DEVELOPMENT:
Okay, by now, you must have some decent candidates. But how do they stack up to this site? If the device does not have a forum yet, there is no guarantee it will ever get one. Even if it has a fourm, there is no guarantee it will get any amount of development. This becomes a judgement call whether your phone will be rootable, and have the ability to install custom ROMs (if that's your thing). If you are not concerned about that kind of support, no loss has been made, but if custom ROMs are your thing, don't buy and then "hope and wait" for something that may never come because you got a device noone cares about.
FINALLY:
Sometimes you cannot have everything you are looking for and not looking for. So this becomes time to prioritize and find the best match of features and refusals. It is not necessarily settling, but if we could all have our "Homer", the cost of phones would be astronomical (and some people place certain price points as refusals).
If you still get stuck, there is the device suggestion thread where others suggest the best device out there for your needs.
Hope this helps someone on their next purchase.

What do you think of the Solana Saga?

I was surprised I couldn't find a thread discussing this phone. Is it taboo or something, or is everyone underwhelmed? What do you all think?
Being on Verizon and wanting a decent replacement for my Essential PH-1, I just found it. I can't seem to find anything else decent with an unlockable bootloader and microsd slot. Moto G Stylus 5G thoughts make me groan a bit.

LOLs, I just tried to find a Solana Saga phone forum too, only your post (& an old one of mine re old press release showed up). I'm also surprised there is no forum yet. They are on Discord, but not the same as XDA & phone geeks. Given their prelaunch press etc I'm surprised the actual launch seemed to fly under the radar.
If I was into crypto I'd have bought one already, but I'm not, though I'm sure the built-in chip for secure transactions is the future.
Like you I want a top notch phone without lots of bloatware, an unlockable bootloader, large storage, while having a dual SIM & SD slot is a great bonus. Storage is probably more than i need though with good camera I will likely use it more. I've only just started looking into actually buying a new phone & was expecting to have several choices, but seems not.
A few people have reported not being able to register phone on network (with what appear to be SIMs from 2nd level reseller companies, not actual network provides or in which countries isn't clear) but rebooting after setup AND allowing enough time for network to register new phone appears to fixe and they can join network. But no doubt if there really is an issue, it'll be fixed shortly by software update. You should be fine on major US network.
I also have an Essential phone that has performed flawlessly & is a quality build, so given it's largely the same team behind OSOM who designed & built the hardware for Solana I'm sure the phone will be a top quality design & build, and they still have good links to Google, I assume. So I'm probably going to buy one, even though I feel that as I won't be using crypto I'm paying a couple of hundred extra, but there really doesn't seem to be another phone at that price point (especially for 512gigs) that meets my main criteria ie vanilla Android, flagship, good storage, SD, good camera.