vB Easy Archive - Looking for something new.

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Looking for something new.
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Posted by: cokeman73

I change phones like crazy & everything seems the same after a while, I just get bored with the phones. So I've decided I want a phone that meets all my needs now & am not changing phones until needs change.
So heres what I need/want.
Call Quality must be top notch I don't have a house phone so this is my main communication.

Quad-Band I have to have 850mhz (The ability to disable the 900/1800 would be a plus)

3G (HSDPA) Again must work with AT&T.

GPS This is something I will be new to but am really wanting the feature. I don't travel a lot, so not really willing to spend a lot on this. I'm really not sure whats the best route would be (no pun intended).

3rd Party Apps I want to be able to add programs and games to the phone. More programs than games. If the phone can't do what I want when I buy it I want a app that will allow it.

Syncing I must be able to back up all my contacts, tasks, appointments, etc...to my XP PC. I have no certain requirements as to what software I do this with. As long as I can backup everything easily it's fine with me.

Typing I really have no preference here I can use T9, qwerty, touchscreen or not. I'm actually faster with a touchscreen than I am with buttons for some reason. All I need is to type quickly.

Form Factor I despise flips, not to sure about sliders, so I would prefer a bar phone. If it's the right phone I would try a slider but flips are out. I would also prefer something no thicker than 16mm. Something very pocket friendly.

Storage It must have or be able to have 8gb or larger storage. I listen to a lot of music. Store a lot of files.

Those are 100% required. Battery life must last a day as I have no problem charging my phone every night. Longer would be better naturally. My price range I'm looking at around 400.00. I currently have a HTC Touch enhanced that I will be selling. I have plenty of backup phones so this will be my main device for personal use only.

I really have no preference on the OS. I am looking for something completely different. Hoping that I won't get bored with it so quickly.

Last requirement what ever OS you suggest tell me why you recommend it, also give me your dislikes to that OS.

Also please don't go iPhone 3g crazy on me here. I've looked at it & it is to limited right now, I will look at it again when apps are available.

Posted by: EChid

As far as I know here are your best options:

1. HTC TyTN II/Tilt: GPS, WiFi, 3G, full slide out QWERTY, touchscreen, great call quality and reception and tonnes of 3rd party apps and modifications. It would have the same OS as your Touch but with a faster processor (thus faster response time) and a better design (IMO) and camera. Not the most stable of OSs out there, nor the fastest.

2. Nokia N95-3 or -4: These will cost more than $400, but the -4 comes with 8GB of storage whereas the -3 has removable storage. Both have 3G, excellent phoning abilities, good music playback (3.5mm jack), GPS, easy to use keyboard, and nice camera. Not to mention that S60 is one of the most stable OS's out there with tonnes of additional apps. Nokia isn't bad at syncing...but not as good as the other two, unless I just didn't find the right software. Their is an added plus to the GPS, in that Nokia Maps stores the actual maps on the phone meaning no requirement for data or coverage in order to navigate.

3. iPhone 3G: I hate iPhones, but this matches your bill. You can get 16GB of storage with good music playback abilities, you like touchscreen keyboards, and the new version is cheaper but provides 3G, GPS, WiFi, good call quality and a boat load of Apple snobbery. There is also a new app store (although nothing as extensive as the other two). Syncing is made easy by MobileMe.

Posted by: dimsum05

Quote:

Originally Posted by EChid

As far as I know here are your best options:

1. HTC TyTN II/Tilt: GPS, WiFi, 3G, full slide out QWERTY, touchscreen, great call quality and reception and tonnes of 3rd party apps and modifications. It would have the same OS as your Touch but with a faster processor (thus faster response time) and a better design (IMO) and camera. Not the most stable of OSs out there, nor the fastest.

2. Nokia N95-3 or -4: These will cost more than $400, but the -4 comes with 8GB of storage whereas the -3 has removable storage. Both have 3G, excellent phoning abilities, good music playback (3.5mm jack), GPS, easy to use keyboard, and nice camera. Not to mention that S60 is one of the most stable OS's out there with tonnes of additional apps. Nokia isn't bad at syncing...but not as good as the other two, unless I just didn't find the right software. Their is an added plus to the GPS, in that Nokia Maps stores the actual maps on the phone meaning no requirement for data or coverage in order to navigate.

3. iPhone 3G: I hate iPhones, but this matches your bill. You can get 16GB of storage with good music playback abilities, you like touchscreen keyboards, and the new version is cheaper but provides 3G, GPS, WiFi, good call quality and a boat load of Apple snobbery. There is also a new app store (although nothing as extensive as the other two). Syncing is made easy by MobileMe.

I don't know about the iPhone having good call quality, but yeah, those are pretty much the staples right now for their OS. I would probably add the Touch Diamond he you don't want a keyboard as well, but those are the main ones right now.

Posted by: EChid

The Diamond won't be sub $400 for a while me thinks. I don't know about call quality in the iPhone either (the first version was pretty sucky) but 3G generally bumps the voice quality hugely, so I figured it was worth the presumption. Usually Nokia would be superior though, and HTC has great reception.

Posted by: dimsum05

Quote:

Originally Posted by EChid

The Diamond won't be sub $400 for a while me thinks. I don't know about call quality in the iPhone either (the first version was pretty sucky) but 3G generally bumps the voice quality hugely, so I figured it was worth the presumption. Usually Nokia would be superior though, and HTC has great reception.

We shall wait and see, indeed!

Posted by: Spazmogen

Garmin Nuvifone

to be released in Q3 2008.

Media Gallery click to make the pictures larger.

Garmin has a few games out for their newer GPS units. I should imagine they will work with the phone. Being the phone is not yet released, there are no 3rd party apps yet.

Posted by: cokeman73

Thanks for the response. I have looked in to the Tilt, the only problem with it is I know it lacks drivers, so I really don't want to waste my money on it. I was going to get it when I bought my Touch but decided not to just for the driver issue.
The N95 is a feature rich phone & would do everything I needed & then some for sure, just a little thicker than I would like. Also I've looked at buying & very few sites list them as n95-3, -4 etc...so really not sure which phone it is.
I owned the original iPhone & hated it, do to it's limitations. As for the new one coming some of the downsides is no multitasking, can't be used as a removable drive, etc...I never had any problems typing on it, but don't have any problems typing on my Touch either.

I did some searching today, & have come to realize that US 3.5G & GPS enabled phones are few. If I remove either feature it gives over double the amount of phones to choose from. So I don't know what to do. so heres the thing.

3G is not yet available in my area they are going to be starting it with in the next 1-1 1/2 months. So I want to have a 3.5G enabled phone when it's available.

GPS is something I want but not sure if it would be better to buy a stand alone unit or buy one built in to the phone. So could somebody give me the pro's & con's to each. It's something I will not use a lot, but would be nice to have.

I've been looking at a few phones that I like, going by features & looks only as some I have no clue how the OS is.

N78 - (US Version) Everything but cost more than 400, not sure about the keypad
SE W760i - Everything, but have no clue on the OS.
Nokia E66 - Not available yet, & will cost more. Has everything.
Q9 - Not sure but don't look like it would be pocket friendly. Would only buy with contract & don't really want to pay 30.00 a month for data.
XPERIA X1 - Not available yet & have no clue what it will cost, but seems like it should be a power house for a WM phone.

Posted by: dimsum05

Quote:

Originally Posted by cokeman73

Thanks for the response. I have looked in to the Tilt, the only problem with it is I know it lacks drivers, so I really don't want to waste my money on it. I was going to get it when I bought my Touch but decided not to just for the driver issue.
The N95 is a feature rich phone & would do everything I needed & then some for sure, just a little thicker than I would like. Also I've looked at buying & very few sites list them as n95-3, -4 etc...so really not sure which phone it is.
I owned the original iPhone & hated it, do to it's limitations. As for the new one coming some of the downsides is no multitasking, can't be used as a removable drive, etc...I never had any problems typing on it, but don't have any problems typing on my Touch either.

I did some searching today, & have come to realize that US 3.5G & GPS enabled phones are few. If I remove either feature it gives over double the amount of phones to choose from. So I don't know what to do. so heres the thing.

3G is not yet available in my area they are going to be starting it with in the next 1-1 1/2 months. So I want to have a 3.5G enabled phone when it's available.

GPS is something I want but not sure if it would be better to buy a stand alone unit or buy one built in to the phone. So could somebody give me the pro's & con's to each. It's something I will not use a lot, but would be nice to have.

I've been looking at a few phones that I like, going by features & looks only as some I have no clue how the OS is.

N78 - (US Version) Everything but cost more than 400, not sure about the keypad
SE W760i - Everything, but have no clue on the OS.
Nokia E66 - Not available yet, & will cost more. Has everything.
Q9 - Not sure but don't look like it would be pocket friendly. Would only buy with contract & don't really want to pay 30.00 a month for data.
XPERIA X1 - Not available yet & have no clue what it will cost, but seems like it should be a power house for a WM phone.

-N78 is good middle-tier Nseries. All is solid (Not best, but good)
-W760 is a SE dumbphone (good one at that). Don't expect stellar images/videos from it... or 3rd party native apps for that matter.
-E66 or E71 are pretty great as long as you don't need 3.5mm or great image/video capture.
-Q9 is a solid WM phone with a great keyboard let down only by the OS, mediocre images/video, and battery life.
-Xperia X1 looks like the benchmark WM Pro device to beat, but performance looks terrible, as always with WM, but if you can live with WM, this is your device.

Posted by: EChid

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimsum05

-Xperia X1 looks like the benchmark WM Pro device to beat, but performance looks terrible, as always with WM, but if you can live with WM, this is your device.

And pricing will be sky high...I wouldn't be surprised to see it start at a grand online when it comes out.

Posted by: Spazmogen

Quote:

Originally Posted by cokeman73

GPS is something I want but not sure if it would be better to buy a stand alone unit or buy one built in to the phone. So could somebody give me the pro's & con's to each. It's something I will not use a lot, but would be nice to have.

Well, if the Garmin Nuvifone works like any other Garmin GPS, its straight forward and easy to use.

From the Video Clip in the media gallery section, it looks like it does. It even ships with a windshield suction mount. When the phone is removed from the mount, it remembers that location as that is where you parked your vehicle last. A nice feature if you park at a mall around Xmas or go to Disney.

With normal GPS you do not require a data plan. I should hope that is the same with this phone.

With a Blackberry, GPS costs $10/month.

Posted by: Topy

Quote:

Originally Posted by EChid

And pricing will be sky high...I wouldn't be surprised to see it start at a grand online when it comes out.

Not to even talk about the fact that by some bizarre reason for couple of years now every time when SE got winner in their hands that phone gets delayed for half a year. Thought now when there's HTC involved maybe they got that worked out

E66 white is probally sexyest smart phone i have seen imo, but it's lacking 3.5 that might be a issue for you. Nokia's way to separate E series from N series

It will also have some tweaked OS with new features.

X1 should be great if it gets released in time and got okish price tag.

N78 is more media packed with a bit eye candyed feature pack 2 for S60 3th edition and 3.5 jack. It feels a bit cheap an it's a fatter compared to E66 and E71.

Btw i'm going to get E66 or E71.

Posted by: cokeman73

I hadn't even thought about what the X1 would cost. I'm sure it will be way more than I want to pay.
The 3.5 you are talking about I'm assuming your referring to the headphone jack, if so are you saying the one on the E66 is 2.5mm?
I also wanted to ask about n-gage what makes it so great compared to other games? Why is it not available on North American versions?

Seems if I want a phone with these features it will be WM or S60. I Think I'll look around for a cheap S60 device to try & compare the two, in terms of stability, speed, ease of use. I have used S60 before but been a while, now that Nokia adds more memory it should help.

Posted by: naplesbill

The X1 looks like a nice phone. I actually prefer the look of the Touch Pro personally. I wouldn't listen to the hype about the video drivers (or lack of) for the Tilt. Unless you plan on playing 3d games I doubt you'll have any video issues. I play all my iPod mp4 videos on my Tilt with no issues.

Posted by: cokeman73

Quote:

Originally Posted by naplesbill

The X1 looks like a nice phone. I actually prefer the look of the Touch Pro personally. I wouldn't listen to the hype about the video drivers (or lack of) for the Tilt. Unless you plan on playing 3d games I doubt you'll have any video issues. I play all my iPod mp4 videos on my Tilt with no issues.

Now see I was told that the missing drivers affected all video play back, picture quality, & even the screen. It is a little thicker than I would like but I might just make a trip to my local AT&T store & check it out for myself.
Then again AT&T should carry the Touch Pro so it might be better to wait a little while & see what they charge for it. I'm glad HTC added a memory card slot for it.