I Need a New Mobile

Remove all ads!

I decided against putting this in the cell phone random babbling thread because it's...not random babbling, it's a very serious matter.

So, I plan on buying a new phone at the end of the summer...maybe mid-autumn and I could use your advice (yes, I know, it's still some time, but I'm curious already). What I'm looking for is a pretty no nonsense phone...I like a sleek and unobtrusive design (metallic, black etc.), I need it to work all over the world (which would be tri-band I guess), I'm NOT a fan of cameras and MP3 functions in phones...I basically only need it for texting and calling, I do however appreciate well-developed agenda functions and long battery life. And I need a clock and an alarm, but that's probably standard.

I guess this kind of boils down to a good quality "work phone". I'm willing to pay...well, no more than 200 euros let's say.

To give you an idea, my current phone is the Nokia 6030...boring, but solid (literally, I've dropped it countless times). Love the long battery life. I'm open to all brands, though.

Any suggestions?

 

You could try something like this.

 

Do not, I repeat do not buy a bloody Samsung! It's &!%=/(!!!!

 

Yeah, I know, it's a good phone, but it's pretty useless when you leave Europe.

 

Hey, do you see a cord on that baby? All she needs is a big enough carrying case, and she's good to go!

But seriously (believe it or not), I have a Samsung (about 3 years old). It's OK, but not great. Crappy ringtones too. As for newer phones, I'm afraid I can't be much help.

 

GSM Samsungs are big pieces of stinking manure. CDMA Samsungs, OTOH, apart from everyone and their dogs having one, are solid phones.

Charl, which provider are you with? That way I can take a look at the lineup and make any recommendations.

Rule of thumb: Avoid the GSM RAZRs (CDMA RAZRs whip some serious a**, but you weird Europeans have a GSM fetish), avoid Phoney Ericsson LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!! I CAN'T STRESS THAT ENOUGH!, avoid Samsungs, and don't get Siemens unless uncertainty is your thing.

I have a long history with Nokia, but Motorola make some good GSM. While it's been a long time since I played around with one, LG also makes solid GSM.

But let's call a square a square here... basic voice and text only phones are becoming increasingly hard to find.

 

My provider is Proximus, but I'm not limited to their selection. Here are the phones they have on offer, though: http://catalogue.proximus.be/PUB/gsmc_customer/GSM_Catalog.jsp?language=en I put it in English, but you can change it to French if you like.

Yeah, I know, I'll probably have to accept some music/camera functions anyway...that's ok, so long as they don't dramatically up the price of the phone.

What do you think of this one? http://catalogue.proximus.be/PUB/gs...&contentpath=00df7d283fe7496000000115c018c6bf

Or this one: http://catalogue.proximus.be/PUB/gs...&contentpath=11cb92bc67f811dbec766838f3800100

 

A Symbian Nokia VS a regular LG... this is gonna be sweet!

The E50 has stellar reception and solid battery life, plus being a Symbian phone, there are litteraly tons of applications you can download.

The E50 is packed with an 1.3MP cam, a microSD slot and the dreaded music player. You also have Bluetooth, though I find Bluetooth rathet stupid - remember the researchers saying "Use a heatset to minimize the number of radiation your brain absorbs, people!"? Use a Bluetooth headset, and you've just crammed a source of radiation straight into your ear. Good call, idiots.

The LG phone offers pretty much what the E50 does, minus EDGE and Symbian.

Bottom line, I'm voting for the E50.

 

Hehe, it's actually the version without camera. Yeah, I heart the Nokia one more as well...I've only ever had good experiences with Nokia and this one looks very solid. I read a review and the guy or girl summarised it as calling, texting, e-mail and diary and that's exactly what I need. Do you think it'll drop in price if I wait till November to buy it?

 

Yup. That's how the market is -- when a phone has recently been released, it's uber-expensive, and will take a price drop every couple of months until it's pulled from the shelves and replaced with another model who's even more blinged out.

Play the waiting game, but regularely check the E50's pulse - a phone model has roughly a year life span, and if the model is widely popular (like those horrible RAZRs), it could be longer - just look at how many years this horror has been up for grabs.

 

I have an ATT Samsung Sync and it works pretty well, DotW. I have had it for about a year, with no problems, and it still makes good calls. I really don't care for the music player in it (I liked my LG Fusic better for music), but the camera is OK. Of course, I like my wife's Apple I Phone WAY better. But Splunge's phone looks like the real deal: And it's only $149.00....I like the color as well.

 

Good for ya if you somehow managed to get a good Samsung -- hold on to it. I've worked for a GSM carrier and I've seen my fair share of problematic Samsungs, so for me they're a big no-no. It's also no big secret I have a long positive history with Nokia so I'll admit I'm biaised - biaised thanks to Nokia's rock solid, stellar performing phones.

And before Kitrax manifests himself and brings his Samsung love to this thread and the fact his wife worked for Sprint and the vast majority of broken phones were Nokia (because I know he will) -- this is GSM we're talking about here, not CDMA, and my own experiences are in direct opposition -- GSM Noks were the manufacturer with the less broken phones.

I've also never heard any of my customers complain in the long term when I sold them a Nok.

 

It's also widely known that the Sprint Nokia's were bottom-of-the-line, and that Sprint had none of their high-end models. ATT has a much better selection of Nokias, some of which are better than many Sprint phones, regardless of manufacture.

 

Two great minds think alike, Chandos.

One of the explainations why CDMA Nokias aren't that great is the fact some of their models are manufactured by other companies -- like Pantech -- and get a Nokia logo slapped on them. Verizon carried one such model -- you can immediately tell it's not a Nokia simply by looking at the styling.

That being said, some CDMA Noks are respectable high-end phones too - the 6275i, for example. Sure, it has it's quirks, but it's a well-rounded top of the line phone -- one that Sprint did not picked up, which is too bad, because I can tell you from personal experience the 6275i is a very solid CDMA offering.

To sum it up, GSM has long been Nok's speciality, and in this field, they reign supreme -- they ARE the #1 manufacturer in sheer volume of phones sold, and this is well-earned.

For the defense of CDMA Nokias, they do not use Qualcomm chipsets, the same chipset that powers 90% of the CDMA phones out there. CDMA Nokias have been hit and miss, and Nokia had even pulled out of CDMA completly, but they've launched a few new non-rebranded CDMA models and seem intent on establishing themselves in the CDMA market. There is a HUGE market for CDMA, and Nokia would be a bunch of fools to can this branch.

If the 6275i is some indication of the new CDMA models to come, I feel safe to say Nokia will reign with an iron fist on the phone market for a looooooooong time.

Motorola sure had a rush of popularity with the RAZR, but they repeated the very same mistake they did with the StarTAC - beat the model to death by dishing 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 versions of it - RAZR, KRZR, ROKR, SLVR, RIZR... give me a break, Moto, seriously.

LG? Those guys have been rising stars in the phone market, and with good reason -- slick, and most importantly, good phones.

Bah, look at me, I'm heading for another painfully long lecture, so I'll leave it at that.

 

/me stops taking notes then...thanks for the explanation, professor

 

You GSM Samsung haters are weird. Between the wife and I, we've had 4 Samsung phones, all GSM. They all work perfectly too...we only got new ones because they had more/better features.

I currently have the T629, and the wife has the Katalyst...the 'Hot Spot at Home' feature on her phone is awesome. Both phones work great and are holding up against intense physical abuse from the wife.

 

I've got an N95 8gb. I'm not all that fussed about it. I want to sell it buy a new one, but I've no idea what I want...

The iPhone looks ok, I might look into getting one of them.

 

Oh my, here we go. I knew it was a matter of time before Kit brought his Samsung love to this thread... if you like 'em, good for ya, keep using them. As for me, you'll never see me anywhere near a GSM Samsung again.

And Barms? I wasn't impressed with the iPhone. It's just overrated, overpriced, overhyped Apple garbage.

 

Whatever!

Barms - Try one out. My wife really likes hers: Great looking screen and software; super music player, because it's an ipod also. But, unless, of course, if it's not Nokia, it may be something else to hate....