vB Easy Archive - Nokia N95-3 or HTC Kaiser or What?

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Nokia N95-3 or HTC Kaiser or What?
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Posted by: catechumen

Hey everyone. Like most Hofo'ers I suffer from a desire to switch phones far too frequently. I have the usual over the years and most recently have had an iPhone and Motorola Q9h. All have lacked something in my books.

Here's what I need:

1) HSDPA
2) Excellent sound quality and reception (I use about 1500 minutes per month - many on the road)
3) A decent browser (as close to the iPhone's as possible)
4) Good e-mail capabilities (I like my Blackberry - but no HSDPA)
5) Decent form factor (not too big and heavy)
6) All the other goodies - cameras, mp3...

Overall I like the iPhone but lack of 3G is a dealbreaker for me. I like the Moto Q9h but it was too wide and the screen too small (great keyboard though). What should I get while I wait for the iPhone 2 or Blackberry 9000?

I know what JP is going to recommend. I'm not against getting just a very good phone (like a Razr2 or something) either. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Evan

Well, I have had both phones.

1) both Nokia and HTC have this
2) the Nokia might have a slightly better advantage over this
3) both Nokia and the HTC have decent browser out of the box. However, I have a believe that the Nokia's browser is slightly better. ALTHOUGH, if you snoop around, or if you are willing to wait for Microsoft to finish up their new IE (codename: Deepfish), you'd find yourself using a browser that's very similar to the Safari on iPhone.
4) Nokia DOES NOT have Blackberry Connect, like the HTC does. With Blackberry Connect, you can basically have a Blackberry Email Push technology in your WM devices. Note: BBConnect software DOES NOT include the other application you see in BB (like BBmaps, or BBMessenger) Only Email (but that's all I ever need anyway)
5) Nokia's good a good size, I like the Nokia form factor. But I prefer the HTC. Full keyboard baby ;P.
6) Nokia kills the HTC in this bit.

Between Nokia and the HTC, it's a personal preference. I like the HTC a lot, so that's the phone I kept.

Posted by: Tangocore

wait at least next week to find out if the n95-3 is subject to the 5$internet (the htc is 99% not)

Posted by: MleXxus

i just got a N95-3 and i've owned/used most of the latest windows devices and i cant stand windows. Very sluggish and feels like a cheap OS. I dont like the menu's nor can stand touchscreen anymore. To me i find a device that can be used with one hand is best.

So far the n95 has been the ultimate device for me. The only reason i would even go near another windows device is for the email capability, the n95-3 isn't an email phone per say, it will allow email accounts but not as friendly as the windows platform.

For everything else i would say the n95 one handidly beats the current windows devices.

But since you need good email capabilities i would say you have no choice but to go with a windows device or the next blackberry

oh and battery life is a big nono on windows devices.

Posted by: catechumen

I should have mentioned that I have the 1GB $65 data plan. I may need to tether on occasion but it wouldn't be that frequently. A GPS is also useful but I've got a Garmin Nuvi 760 so it's not the be all and end all.

This is helpful. Don't stop!

Posted by: Evan

Quote:

Originally Posted by MleXxus

i just got a N95-3 and i've owned/used most of the latest windows devices and i cant stand windows. Very sluggish and feels like a cheap OS. I dont like the menu's nor can stand touchscreen anymore. To me i find a device that can be used with one hand is best.

So far the n95 has been the ultimate device for me. The only reason i would even go near another windows device is for the email capability, the n95-3 isn't an email phone per say, it will allow email accounts but not as friendly as the windows platform.

For everything else i would say the n95 one handidly beats the current windows devices.

But since you need good email capabilities i would say you have no choice but to go with a windows device or the next blackberry

oh and battery life is a big nono on windows devices.

WORD! He speaks the truth. WM devices are usually sluggish. It depends who builds it though, Samsung WM Devices are usually very stable and fast. My Kaiser is somewhat sluggish, I do have to make you aware of the current problem most HTC device users are facing, lack of proper driver support. http://www.htcclassaction.org/

Battery life on the Kaiser suck. But you can buy a battery that's got a larger capacity. I have a 1600MAH batt.

Posted by: MleXxus

Like Evan said, some windows devices might have less of that sluggish feel but down the line its running the same OS. You can buy a larger battery but then you would litteraly be holding a brick. Its up to you, you have to know what you want, small sleek featurefull device or big bulky email device.

Posted by: catechumen

Quote:

Originally Posted by MleXxus

Like Evan said, some windows devices might have less of that sluggish feel but down the line its running the same OS. You can buy a larger battery but then you would litteraly be holding a brick. Its up to you, you have to know what you want, small sleek featurefull device or big bulky email device.

Come to think of it, e-mail is not as important. In other words I read a lot of e-mails but I don't write a lot on my PDA. If I had to carry a brick to get better e-mailing I'd probably go with something smaller. Maybe I'll check out the Nokia N95-3.

Posted by: Evan

Why don't you just keep the iPhone? Wait until iPhone 2 comes out. Meteor (9000) is due in May . But that'll get pushed I bet. Just wait for 9000. But heh, don't expect too much out of Meteor. I've heard it's very plasticy.

It seems that you're used to the whole full keyboard thing...
Series60 isn't that great either to be honest (they really need to sort out some memory usage issues). If I had to pick a S60 phone, or iPhone/Blackberry, I'd pick BB/iPhone in a heartbeat.

Posted by: hitdog042

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evan

Why don't you just keep the iPhone? Wait until iPhone 2 comes out. Meteor (9000) is due in May . But that'll get pushed I bet. Just wait for 9000. But heh, don't expect too much out of Meteor. I've heard it's very plasticy.

It seems that you're used to the whole full keyboard thing...
Series60 isn't that great either to be honest (they really need to sort out some memory usage issues). If I had to pick a S60 phone, or iPhone/Blackberry, I'd pick BB/iPhone in a heartbeat.

Ive had the Curve, IPhone, Pearl, and now the N95-3.

N95-3 is the clear winner.

BBs are great, I did not care for the internet browsing, and the wifi I thought was weak on the Curve.

iPhone has great browser, everything else is just for looks. Email is decent, dig camera same as the Curve with no flash.

N95 has everything the iPhone has minus the touch, and unlike the iPhone, it has a 5mp camera and a true camcorder device. Email is the same, it also allows for imap4 (great for Gmail), and multiple accounts. Music is going to sound better on the iPhone, but quite frankly, I never used it for that anyway.

I went from the iPhone to the N95 and I could not be happier with my decision.

Oh yeah.. the N95 you can SMS multiple people and MMS out of the box. The iPhone did not without s/w 3rd party add ons via jailbreak. They may have fixed that, but to me that was very lame out of the box.

I expected much more out of that iPhone.

Posted by: Blaxx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evan

Do you want to elaborate on what memory issues you're talking about? Demand paging and Handy Taskman certainly take care of any RAM issues you could encounter on your N95 (not that I've encountered anything). I would go with a Symbian S60 device over anything else just for the flexibility.

Posted by: MleXxus

the first n95-1 that came out was the euro version had half the ram that the n95-3 has now. The new n95-3 has no ram issues whatsoever

Posted by: catechumen

I had/have mixed feelings about the iPhone. In some ways it was the best phone I've ever had. But, when I think about it I didn't use the iPod functions that much, hated surfing on EDGE and really missed the voice command functionality with a Bluetooth headset. I guess some of the major problems will be addressed in the iPhone 2. It seems to me that if the network is there (HSDPA) let's play on it. Also, I found the reception and voice quality to be less than I was hoping. I traded phones with my wife today (she got the iPhone and I got the Pearl back). I called her landline from the Pearl and immediately she said "You sound a lot clearer on the Pearl than you did on the iPhone".

Anyway, it's tough to put a value on reception and voice quality. Both the Kaiser and the N95-3 look pretty good but I think I'll just have to see them up close and personal before I make my decision. Thanks for all your help.

Posted by: angel_wing0

i would say n95-3 without a doubt. Yes i know i am heavily biased...

Posted by: Evan

Quote:

Originally Posted by catechumen

I had/have mixed feelings about the iPhone. In some ways it was the best phone I've ever had. But, when I think about it I didn't use the iPod functions that much, hated surfing on EDGE and really missed the voice command functionality with a Bluetooth headset. I guess some of the major problems will be addressed in the iPhone 2. It seems to me that if the network is there (HSDPA) let's play on it. Also, I found the reception and voice quality to be less than I was hoping. I traded phones with my wife today (she got the iPhone and I got the Pearl back). I called her landline from the Pearl and immediately she said "You sound a lot clearer on the Pearl than you did on the iPhone".

Anyway, it's tough to put a value on reception and voice quality. Both the Kaiser and the N95-3 look pretty good but I think I'll just have to see them up close and personal before I make my decision. Thanks for all your help.

Well, it really comes down to personal preference. if you don't mind not having a slide out keyboard that's a full keyboard, and you prefer a plasticy feel to your phone (I can't remember the N95-3 too well.. heh... not a very memorable phone), N95-3 is your phone.

But, having said that, WM platform is just.. ugh, sluggish. UI implementation is piss poor. A lot of redundancy and inconsistency (I'm a UI/UX developer, so I know when something is retarded). But at least the memory paging system is a tad bit more refined than your average older S60 devices (I'm not taking about N95-3, N95-3 is one of the newer devices, where Nokia fanboys swore it's not problematic like the older S60 devices are).

Get this though, as I mentioned before, there is a browser with the code name: DeepFish in development stage. It's going to be a browser that's decent enough to compete with the iPhone's.

http://labs.live.com/deepfish/

As a matter of fact, I think it's using the same engine.

Posted by: Evan

Quote:

Originally Posted by angel_wing0

i would say n95-3 without a doubt. Yes i know i am heavily biased...

Oh your God... I think everyone knows you're a Nokia fanboy. But be a little bit more constructive when expressing a suggestion.

That'd really really help the original poster, as he's a bit torn between the HTC/Nokia. And it seems like you are the right person to do that job?

Posted by: angel_wing0

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evan

yip haha sadly. It really depends on what the person needs. Both phones are great in terms of their strengths, and both have their weaknesses. For me I dont like touchscreen and i want my phone to have as many functions (camera, a2dp and the multimedia stuff) as possible. If u look at it like that the n95 wins handsdown.

Just one correction thou, nokia does have bb connect capable phones in the e61 and i think e62.

Posted by: jontymisra

If you need BB connect, get the HTC/ or look into E-series from Nokia. All E-series support BB connect, plus I was using BB connect on my E90 and it worked flawlessly.

The only thing missing from E90 in comparison to N95-3/TyTN II is HSDPA. It's got the best browser, best screen, QWERTY, and overall a solid device.

If it's to big for you, look into E51/E61i.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

i think the n95 is a phone with a smartphone attached to it, and the windows is a smartphone with a phone attached. well, not really. but i vote for the n95-3 all the way. no bias here

Posted by: EPVQ30

i'd say keep the iphone till your original choice comes out in 6 months maybe?

Posted by: JwY

Shouldn't this be in phone battle?

Media -> N95.
PDA -> Kaiser.

Posted by: Evan

Quote:

Originally Posted by angel_wing0

you gotta pick up the Kaiser, mate.

I believe you can play xVid/DivX and whatever conceivable codec out there with the WM, too. I'm not sure about A2DP on the Kaiser, but I think it's there.

The Kaiser has a physical keyboard, but it does NOT make very much sense to dial on the Kaiser using its slide out keyboard.

I completely forgotten about the e series! damn, not very memorable. lol. all mobile phone browsers are crap. Pure crap. I much prefer Safari of iPhone. I'm a web developer (and developing a product that's mobile browsing based, I didn't ask for it, was assigned to do it), and I can ***** 1000000000001 about mobile browsing. Safari is the only browser that's not as painful to use. Second to that would be Opera for Mobile/Mini. Then come to a very close third is IE/Nokia browser. Ugh.. I hate mobile browsing. I wouldn't say they're horrible... but they're just so painful to use in comparison to a real web browser ;P.

Can't be bias, being bias does not make you a good gadgeteer!