[truedat]

Thought id drop a technical breakdown on a great phone for worldwide use.

First let me say that I have done a shit-ton of research on this since I am getting close to doing some long term globe trotting and need a reliable/cheap/versatile long term phone solution. I have looked at a number of phones pros/cons and this is the best I have found after a long look at the iPhone4. Hopefully this help anyone looking to get a world cell in the next 6 or so months, but this goes way beyond choosing a cell.

Here is the best:

Droid 2 Global

+ Fastest processor in any phone available today (1.2 Ghz)
+ Quadband GSM (works in over 200 countries and has SIM slot 850/900/1800/1900MHz - CDMA EVDO rev A)
+ Slide–Out QWERTY Keyboard
+ 5.0MP camera
+ DVD Video capture
+ 8GB pre–installed microSD card (expandable to 32GB) & 8GB Internal memory
+ BLUETOOTH v2.
+ Android 2.2 OS (freedom to install any app and not be Apples byach)
+ WiFi 802.11 b/g/n capable
+ 3G Mobile Hotspot with support for up to 5 Devices
+ Weighs 6.1 oz



Here is where it gets interesting.



This is a Ooma Telo VOIP phone.
http://www.ooma.com/
http://tinyurl.com/4gs2jt6

Basically for a one time fee of $250 (+tax each month $3.14) I get 5000 minutes of free calls within or to the USA each month. This hub hooks into any router and connects to Ooma's servers in the USA (using any regular cordless phone), so it doesent matter what country you are calling from, Ooma considers you to be in the USA when placing the call. But lets say you dont have a long term location locked down and dont want to haul this in your luggage along with a standard cordeless phone (I have AT&T Dect 6.0 BTW that I plug into this at the house)

Here is the icing on the cake:



This is the Ooma mobile app. It works for iPhone or Android. What is does is allow you to make VOIP calls on your cell phone over a wireless connection. So basically anywhere I can connect to wireless I have phone access through this app.

If you have a premeire plan with Ooma ($10 a month I think that gives you a bunch of other features) they give you 250 free minutes of mobile and for $5 more each month you get an additional 750 minutes. Since I have the premiere account already, this is basically 1000 minutes of calling to any phone in the USA for $5. This app also has HD voice technology so the calls sound pretty good.

Sprinkles on top of the icing:



Ooma allows you to port your phone number to them from your current carrier and also give you another number for a free additional line if someone else is using the phone and you need to make a call, but what about hooking up your cash cow location independent business number? For this I am using Google Voice: http://www.voice.google.com

Along with GV integration for Ooma, I can separate my personal phone from my business phone numbers. To do this just setup a voice account and add your corporate greeting. Here you can also allow it to forward calls to your Ooma, or allow it to ring a few and go to VM without interruption while you dig out that Filipino.

Droid 2 + Ooma + Mobile App + Google Voice = cheap ass calls

**Side note. You cannot use this as a cell phone in the USA unless you use Verizon. Even if you dont plan on using this in the USA you need to get Verizon to unlock the GSM so you can toss SIMS in there. I got my Droid 2 on Ebay unlocked, new, global ready for $450.

Kick me a reputation point if you like this research!