<p>I need a new phone for college. I was wondering if current Penn students could give me advice... I want a phone that can download apps, because Penn has a few useful ones...</p>
<p>I called the Penn computing people and they told me that Android doesn't work on the Penn Wifi. I don't have AT&T or Verizon, so my carrier doesn't have the iPhone.</p>
<p>To Penn students with Android: does the internet still work on your phone, since you get 3G/4G? Or would you recommend getting an iPhone from the Apple store or something and jailbreaking it? (the iPhone 3G is apparently slower than my provider's 3G, so it would be running on 2G/dial-up, which is lame.)</p>
<p>Do you actually need a smartphone/internet/apps/ all that fancy stuff? Or not really, if you have a laptop? What do you guys mostly use your phone for in college?</p>
<p>Android Devices
Android devices such as the Motorola Droid and Google’s Nexus One can:
sync email, calendar and contacts with your Wharton account.
connect to Penn’s wireless network, AirPennNet, for Internet connectivity (Android OS 2.1.x and later)</p>
Biggest BS I heard. Besides, we can hack it to work too. </p>
<p>Ok, speaking as someone who does IT support at Penn… I can tell you right now (for us anyway) iPhones are a pain. Pain, pain, pain. Put it this way, a good chunk of apple products just refuse to connect properly to AirPennNet and have to be reconnected OVER AND OVER again. I’ve had to use a hack to get some iPhones to connect.</p>
<p>geekorathlete - S is going to Penn…buying a pc laptop. He has a toshiba laptop picked out and I’m looking at the ones at the bookstore because of the onsite support. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Ooops…didn’t mean to hijack thread. You can pm me.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine how an OS would prohibit you from getting online. If anything, it will take longer to do so… but connection to a wireless network has more to do with hardware than software. </p>
<p>
I can’t think of many situations where it’s absolutely imperative that you have smartphone apps and 3g connection on your phone, but it sure as hell is convenient, useful and addictive (simply because there’s so much you can do with it).</p>
<p>I just use my ipod touch in lieu of a data plan for a phone. Works well almost everywhere on campus, and if I have to use my crumby phone it’s no big deal.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for all your help! @capenn15 I’m not in Wharton, will it still work? @Chriszeoli My carrier doens’t have iPhone, so I’d have to buy it somewhere else full-price, whereas I can get an Android for like 50 bucks with a 2-yr contract… do you think it’s worth the iPhone? @geekorathletic, from the penn computing website
“Android is not yet supported for various security reasons and a general lack of full first-party ActiveSync integration, particularly security policies. When these problems are resolved, Android will be supported on devices that natively support that revision level (likely 2.x and beyond)”
Is this info outdated? @TevashSzat Great! Do you use AirpennNet or 3g/4g to get your internet? Also, which phone do you have?
Thanks again to everyone!</p>
<p>Regarding info you posted for geekorathletic - where did you get that info? Maybe you should post link as when I googled the info I found that said that was 2010.</p>
<p>I said I WORK IT at Penn (i.e. I fix computers & phones and whatnot). Isn’t that enough “source” for information? And you guys need to stop believing everything word for word, because in the world of IT there’s almost always a way around everything.</p>
<p>
My advice is to pick the brand that is known for reliability. Toshiba isn’t one of them.</p>
Op doesn’t actually know you and 2 sources is always better than one. Unless you are his floormate or dormmate, he might not know how to get around this. And not all “IT people” are created equal…you know that.</p>
<p>
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Althought it’s nice to know that you believe Toshiba is not reliable (I beg to differ, have one with no probs), would be nice if you stated what is reliable and a possible link? People come on here to get advice or to share.</p>
By some miracle some HPs and Dells come out fine too. Toshiba is notorious for having a poor build quality. (By the way, I’m talking about consumer line here, not business line) I saw this all the time last year. Dells and HPs were the ones with the frequent “big” problems, but Toshiba is one of those that come with frequently nagging small problems. I just suggest that people get business line laptops.</p>
<p>@geekorathletic Ok since the website doesn’t have anything about Android, what do you think I should get 2.1, 2.2, 2.3… I just want to know in case I settle for an older, cheaper model. Also, just wanted to say thank you, you’ve been super helpful! I’m really new at this technology stuff, I have the same phone since 7th grade…</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go with an older model, but that’s just me. </p>
<p>What I suggest is that you contact the ITAs (specifically the managers) at your dorm. They will be the ones providing service to your dorm students, so it’s a good thing to know them well.</p>