Which Verizon phones are Mac-friendly?

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OrganLeroy

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I'm planning to switch over to Verizon soon. I really want the ability to sync my new phone with the Address Book app. Anyone here had good luck with Verizon phones that can do this?
 
OrganLeroy said:
I'm planning to switch over to Verizon soon. I really want the ability to sync my new phone with the Address Book app. Anyone here had good luck with Verizon phones that can do this?
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I've used v60, t720. They both work.
 
Ok first off. I'm not from the US, so i may be barking up the wrong tree, but it seems to me, that Verizon is a mobile (cellular) network provider. They don't make phones, do they? They go to motorola and ericsson and nokia etc and they buy the phones cheap, then give them to you for "free", and include the payments for the phone in your monthly bill, by increasing your call-rates slightly above their normal price.

Mobile or Cellular network providers do not make phones. they sell a service, and provide access to phones to use that service. why not go to a sony store and buy a SonyEricsson phone outright. it's yours. you can take it with you. thats the whole point of SIM cards. they are a universal thing.
 
Pengu said:
Ok first off. I'm not from the US, so i may be barking up the wrong tree, but it seems to me, that Verizon is a mobile (cellular) network provider. They don't make phones, do they? They go to motorola and ericsson and nokia etc and they buy the phones cheap, then give them to you for "free", and include the payments for the phone in your monthly bill, by increasing your call-rates slightly above their normal price.

Mobile or Cellular network providers do not make phones. they sell a service, and provide access to phones to use that service. why not go to a sony store and buy a SonyEricsson phone outright. it's yours. you can take it with you. thats the whole point of SIM cards. they are a universal thing.
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I was never under the impression that Verizon (or any other carrier) manufactures cell phones. However, they DO decide which phones they will support on their networks. And since I want to subscribe to Verizon (because they have the best coverage in my area), I need to use one of their supported phones.

If this isn't actually the case, I'd sure like to know about it.
 
That is really quite crap. They choose which phones to support? that sounds so microsoftish. in australia, and i would imagine most countries, you simply choose a phone and a network. not choose a network and then see which phones they have decided you can use.
 
Pengu said:
That is really quite crap. They choose which phones to support? that sounds so microsoftish. in australia, and i would imagine most countries, you simply choose a phone and a network. not choose a network and then see which phones they have decided you can use.
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Most providers, especially those that have gone GSM, are relaxing this a bit. Many providers are now at least allowing "un-supported" phones onto the network, if not providing at least a basic-level support for them. One of the arguments is that providers cannot provide connection and technical support for the vast variety of phones/phone OSes/etc out there. I believe this is true to a somewhat more limited extent of the European providers as well - I thought providers were still strongly trying to control their market, if nothing else for "branding" purposes. I have no idea what the situation is like in Australia.

Even in the GSM space, though, many phones are sold "locked" to a particular provider - that is, I can't necessarily use a Nokia 3650 that I got from T-mobile on AT&T's network, at least without an unlock code. The idea here is that the phones are heavily subsidized by providers, and we shouldn't be allowed to have T-mobile pay for your phone if you're just going to use AT&T. Since we're always locked into a service contract when we get these subsidized phones, the carriers are starting to realize that we think this is pure bollocks, and many providers (like T-mobile) will give you an unlock code for your phone if you just ask.

Going GSM has been good for the US. If we go CDMA or another proprietary standard (Qualcomm is VERY strongly lobbying for this in Europe and almost got away with forcing this upon now US-run Iraq), we'll start to see the return of much of this.

From what I understand, Verizon tends to be one of the more retrictive providers. I don't have any experience with any of the phones they sell + iSync.
 
The discussion about what works in Australia or what works with GSM phones is moot, as Verizon is a CDMA network.

What one apparently has to do is find the intersection of Apple's iSync compatibility list (see http://www.apple.com/isync/devices.html ) and the Verizon list of supported CDMA phones (start at http://www.verizonwireless.com/ ). That intersection currently seems to be just the Motorola T720. Assuming that similar model numbers may also work, you *might* be able to squeeze by with the Motorola T730 and/or V60p.

Does anybody have any confirmed current Verizon+iSync compatible phones outside this narrow set?
 
I know about SIM lock, locking the phone to one particular network, but as for providing "support" for a phone. that sounds weak. i dont know of anyone that has had to ring up a phone company for help on USING their phone. sure. if you have NETWORK problems, ring the provider. if you cant work out your phone, ring the MANUFACTURER.
 
No, Pengu, I don't mean anything as trivial as customer service, I mean which phones will work with the network at all. My understanding (and I just checked this out with Verizon *today*) is that, unlike GSM networks, CDMA networks in the US are strictly proprietary. If you want to access Verizon's network, you use the phones they let you use and no others.

If someone has info to the contrary I'd love to hear it. Meanwhile, let's get back to answering OrganLeroy's original question: what phones will work with Verizon and Mac OS X?
 
I have the Kyocera 7135 with Verizon, and it sync's beautifully.

Of course, that's partly because it runs the Palm OS. Pretend it's an ordinary palm handheld, and you're golden. :D

Also: any bluetooth phone will sync with any bluetooth-equipped mac; the bluetooth standard includes a spec for interchange of information like name/address/phone #.
 
On the subject of cell service in different countries: I have heard it said that if you talk to anyone who regularly travels between Europe and the US, they'll tell you that US cell service is pretty crummy by comparison. Dunno about Australia.
 
I got the v60i and the usb cord and iSync works well. I'm switching to Cingular when my contract is up in March unless Verizon gets a Bluetooth phone. That's where it is all at. Bluetooth...

F*ck the wires. (I'm on a TiBook w/AirPort)
 
riddle said:
What one apparently has to do is find the intersection of Apple's iSync compatibility list (see http://www.apple.com/isync/devices.html ) and the Verizon list of supported CDMA phones (start at http://www.verizonwireless.com/ ). That intersection currently seems to be just the Motorola T720. Assuming that similar model numbers may also work, you *might* be able to squeeze by with the Motorola T730 and/or V60p.
Click to expand...

The Motorola T730 gets good reviews. It still hasn't shown up on Apple's iSync compatibility page.

Have any Verizon customers tried syncing this phone with iSync?
 
The t720 was such a piece a crap that I had the software updated w/ every release. I never got to the point where I felt it was a good phone. Motorola had so many problems with it that they dropped the 720 and built the 730. It is the same handset, with a different cover and new software. It may or may not sync though, as my v60c wouldn't iSync, but the v60i did. That such a selling point for me that I won't by a phone that won't sync.


You can try to use a product called Onsync that picks up where iSync leaves off. It supports many more phones. Check out a Google search for it.
 
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