I'm going to be traveling again in a few weeks, and had to return a loaner smartphone that I used last time (Dell Streak 5... no keyboard, but otherwise really nice.)
What I need is: world voice GSM (850/900/1800/1900) + (reliable) EDGE/GPRS. Don't care about 3G (not readily available a lot of the places I travel, and US phone will tend to be the wrong bands where it is.)
A decent screen size and resolution (3.5" or larger, ideally, and more importantly at least VGA/640x480 -- I know I can't live with QVGA; I don't know for sure about 480x320, but I'd rather not try), at least Android 2.2 on a stock ROM (I'm sick of dealing with hacked ROMs)... beyond that, a slide-out keyboard and good battery life are more important than camera, CPU speed, or anything else.
Ideally, I'd want something the GSM version of my present phone (Spring Epic aka Galaxy S + keyboard) or something newer; I don't think that's happening at my price point (under $200, under $150 would be better) even used.
A used Streak 5 might be in the cards, but at my price range that would a pretty rough one (and probably still locked, although on the last it was an overnight weight on an email to Dell). I'd love to see a new/surplus phone instead.
The best I've found is the
Experia U/ (
more specs) although it's at the high end of my price range, and I don't have much sense of Android on Sony/Ericsson.
Does anyone have experience with these, or related phones? Besides Amazon/Ebay, any other places to look and/or phone suggestions?