My 15 year old son had been using a Samsung Rant for the past two years and about a week ago the screen quit working on it. He's due for an upgrade and since he's been doing well we decided to let him get a smart phone. I'm on Sprint, so this would be an extra $10/month. The reason I bring that up is we have 6 phones on our account so our bill is pretty hefty as it is. I let him look online, telling him he can get whatever he wants, but if it isn't one of the free offerings he'll have to save his own money to get it. I even took him up to the Sprint store to try out the ones that they offered for free. He really wanted the iPhone 4 so we decide to wait to upgrade. In the meantime we had a couple of old phones laying around and I gave him a choice between my wife's old Samsung Instinct or my old Tour. Much to my surprise he picked the Tour. I set it up for him and showed him the basic things he needed to know and even helped him with selecting a few apps in App World. He comes home from school today and says "dad, this phone is really easy too learn how to use". I just smiled and agreed with him and asked if he still wanted the iPhone to which he replied "nope, don't need it".
My wife on the other hand is also due for an upgrade and plans on getting the iPhone 4. A bunch of her friends have all got iPhones in the past year and love them. I could care less what kind of phone she uses, it's just going to stink not having her on BBM anymore. So I guess I'll be looking into cross platform messaging apps. :-(
Cool story, glad your son is enjoying your old Tour. The newer OS7 phones are just as easy to learn to use. All the Blackberry OS's have been similar and easy to learn for new users, so I imagine your son would really enjoy a brand new berry.
