Anyone up to date with current mobile phones??
Anyone up to date with current mobile phones??
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Discussion

after_shock

Original Poster:

8,751 posts

250 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
Ive been holding off for ages hoping a retro revolution would occour and buttons would make a welcome return to mobile phones, however it looks highly unlikely and as my current phone is now totally knackered I need a new one!!

Have been looking for a while and certain phones are out, i-phone is just too big, blackberry's I dont like using and have tried both the mentioned phones a bit.

Out of the current crop I seem to have narrowed it down to the Nokia X6 or the Sony Vivaz which seem to be the smaller of the current generation ones.

Anyone got any experience with either or could offer any hands on advice as to which may be the better phone?

Cheers

V88Dicky

7,373 posts

213 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
Ive got to admit, I find the operating system and general layout of Sony Ericssons much simpler than most other phones..including Nokias. HTH

drew ss

2,683 posts

214 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
i have a nokia 5530 touch only had it 6 months and cant fault it i was like ur self but found it easy as great camera good apps for it and battery life 4 days no problems ...id defo recommend there is another like it which is bigger 5580 i think and decided for the smaller one of the two check them out

stevieturbo

18,098 posts

277 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
More importantly, what do you need the phone for ?


If its to show off and amuse yourself with totally pointless "apps", then get an annoying touchscreen phone.

If its to use as a phone....get buttons !

Ive an HTC Hero, and whilst there isnt anything actually wrong with it overall....IMO touchcreens are just ste.
But it is handy for google maps and email. As a phone, I think its crap.

I had another ancient Nokia 6131 for work, and just replaced it recently with another Nokia, 3710 flip phone this time.

Flip hides the buttons and screen from damage, and the buttons are nice and big to use. I just use it for phone calls and texting, altho I think it can do emails and internet

SimonV8ster

13,020 posts

258 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
"Pointless apps" ??

You do realise that you can get dice that you can 'shake' on the phone don't you ?

We were nearly stumped down the pub the other night as we couldn't decide who should deal first at cards, then the "pointless app" saved the day and we continued our merriment into the night.

S800VXR

5,877 posts

230 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
Got an N97mini recently and cant fault it. Great pictures and video (the missis will confirm smile) and it surfs the WWW easily, picks up my E. Mails and sends them. Touch screen needs to be touched and not stroked but all in all impressed.

Moanro5.7

7,337 posts

209 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
V88Dicky said:
Ive got to admit, I find the operating system and general layout of Sony Ericssons much simpler than most other phones..including Nokias. HTH


I have a Sony and it uses Nokia operating system and iam not keen but the 12.1M carmera makes up for it

EVOeng

966 posts

200 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
Get yourself a HTC, they have a great operating system and is a very competent phone.
The design is unique, compact and tends to be very durable. Some apps like Tomtom mobile are particularly great.

TerryS

1,382 posts

278 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
I too have a HTC Hero and love it. Stevie is right, it is not the best outright telephone in the world, but for my purposes inc. mobile email etc it is superb, and it does make call Ok too....

stevieturbo

18,098 posts

277 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
I bloody hate mine !!!

gsd2000

11,515 posts

213 months

Tuesday 16th March 2010
quotequote all
iphone and love it, the camera and video on the iphone is crap but as an overall phone i love, ive had mine 18 months now. Also you can "unlock" the phone and install loads more 3rd party applications. The only major problem with the iphone is that it doesnt have flash so some website wont work properly.

I mainly use mine for browsing the internet and has come in handy at work aswell due to the stupid it policy at work websites which you may require for the job in hand are blocked, so i browse them on my phone. Good speed camera apps, and sound meter

after_shock

Original Poster:

8,751 posts

250 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
The things I need a phone for in order of importance:

Texting
Camera use
Calls

My current Nokia is quite good for the above but its totally knackered now, however the opportunity to move into the modern age with the net etc is slightly appealing.

Ability to check mail possibly browse the odd site and maps would be good but im really not chewed about all these 'apps' that you can get.

Quite like the Sony Vivaz I must admit as that wins hands down on the camera side of things and its also smaller than the Nokia X6. Only trouble is the vivaz pro is coming out with a full slide out keyboard but I cant wait much longer!!

y2blade

56,321 posts

245 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
after_shock said:
The things I need a phone for in order of importance:

Texting
Camera use
Calls

My current Nokia is quite good for the above but its totally knackered now, however the opportunity to move into the modern age with the net etc is slightly appealing.

Ability to check mail possibly browse the odd site and maps would be good but im really not chewed about all these 'apps' that you can get.

Quite like the Sony Vivaz I must admit as that wins hands down on the camera side of things and its also smaller than the Nokia X6. Only trouble is the vivaz pro is coming out with a full slide out keyboard but I cant wait much longer!!
I was torn between the Vivaz and the X6



I went for the X6 (mainly due to the dubious reliability of Sony phones, the previous model was withdrawn from the shelves just before christmas)...it arrived yesterday, very impressed so far (I'm on here on it as we speak) the menus and controls work very well and it all flows intuitively

good clear speakers and earpiece (also came with proper bluetooth in ear headphones) it has a very good reception where my Samsung was without signal (my house), very clear screen which has a proximity sensor to disable it as you put it to your ear...nice quick shortcut to the wifi connection menu smile


any questions about this handset just ask smile

some more info here with regards to my selection process
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by y2blade on Wednesday 17th March 07:49

S WO2TEC

2,841 posts

227 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
i have the N97 and thinks its a good phone got every thing on it that you could need from a phone and its a nokia so easy to use
regards
sam

ringram

14,702 posts

278 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
Windows Mobiles let you use the phone as a 3G modem with a laptop. This is one of my main requirements. Its how I enter dyno results from SRR.
Also how I access the internet quite often from any location.

Secondary is the fact it plays scrabble, good for long train trips and tournaments with unsuspecting associates.

As a phone its not so good, short battery life and crap phone reception. But most have been HTC stuff. Next phone will also be a windows mobile HTC.

stevieturbo

18,098 posts

277 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
HTC Hero...in my opinion.

Size, not too big, not too small. Battery life is just ok. it can also be used as a moden if required, although I havent done it myself.

I wanted email and google maps for work. This it does OK....BUT

I wasnt actualy able to sync it up with my yahoo account for work. So I ended up creating a Googlemail account and POP forwarding to it instead. This isnt instant though.
No idea why I cant get it to sync with Yahoo.

Most of my emails for work with yahoo are blank emails with a pdf file contained within. Even on the internet, I cannot view these pdf files. WHen the email is pulled by googlemail, I can.

So clearly there are issues there.

Google maps, pretty much as the full internet version.

As a phone ? TBH I hate the touchscreen, but using as a phone is ok.

Texting. I pretty much have to use two hands on a full qwerty with the phone sideways.
I havent been able to manage successful one handed texting easily.

Internet browsing is just ok. Oddly, there is no refresh button on their browser which is annoying when I want to check for latest flight updates. I have to fully reload the page or else go back/forward etc.

The screen itself...and this is maybe part of the problem. Viewing resolution is fantastic. But oddly, I MUST use a finger on the screen. I cannot use a stylus or other implement which might help with accuracy.

Camera is not too bad at all. In daylight its pretty good. At night, I think all camera phones are crap unless they have a full and proper flash.

the Nokia 3710 flip I just bought.

Nice screen, nice buttons, compact phone. As a phone....fantastic !!

it can do internet too, but I havent tried yet as dont have any data on that contract.


For emails though, many people swear by Blackberries.

A friend also got the HTC HD2 which should be fantastic. But what put me off when looking, and I was right. Its by no means small. Thin yes, but not small. Talking widescreen sat nav size albeit much thinner

Edited by stevieturbo on Wednesday 17th March 10:24

TerryS

1,382 posts

278 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
HTC Hero:

Stevie on the email I have mine set up with a company address using pop3 settings. It works exactly as it should and attachments are no issue. (I can give you a email address on our company account if that would help you).

I find the web browsing excellent compared to my previous Nokia phones. The lack of refresh is however annoying.

It took me a little while to get used to the touch screen but I can now text one handed and I actually now find the keyboard easier than my old phones.

It does so many other things as well I really can't fault it too much. The lack of falsh on the camera is my only real annoyance.

BTW a friend works for Nokia writing software for the new phones. He loves i-phone which speaks volumes...

stevieturbo

18,098 posts

277 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
I tried their pop settins and still couldnt get it to work. But its probably the same issue that wont allow me to use Yahoo email via the browser either.

It doesnt seem to like the "no header" email with no text within. Just a pdf file.
Even when I download the pdf file...it still isnt viewable.

but with googlemail, it works perfect.


ive also recently downloaded Opera Mini as a browser. It'll prob take a few weeks to figure it out lol

ringram

14,702 posts

278 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
HD2 sucks. I had one from work and gave it to my colleague instead. Basically its not touch sensitive, but heat sensitive. Which is rubbish. Nice big screen etc. But pointless and worthless touch mechanism. (No good for selecting individual scrabble board cells wink

TerryS

1,382 posts

278 months

Wednesday 17th March 2010
quotequote all
stevieturbo said:
I tried their pop settins and still couldnt get it to work. But its probably the same issue that wont allow me to use Yahoo email via the browser either.

It doesnt seem to like the "no header" email with no text within. Just a pdf file.
Even when I download the pdf file...it still isnt viewable.

but with googlemail, it works perfect.


ive also recently downloaded Opera Mini as a browser. It'll prob take a few weeks to figure it out lol
Stevie on the PDF's (or any attachment) I always have to download the attachment (bottom of email click on get remaining xxx kb) then it asks if I want to save to phone or memory card. I always save to memory card and then I can view whatever the attachment is by clicking on the link in the email header.