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Samsung D500 vs SE k700i vs...

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Posted by: DaninChina

While I'm very pleased with my T610 flashed to T628 phone, I figure an upgrade might be nice in the not too distant future; especially as the phone is starting to behave a little erattically at times (sending texts to people if I forget to turn the keylock on and whatnot)...

Wondering what people's experiences are here and if they have any other impressions /suggestions:

Samsung D500 - beautiful looking phone and seems to have great functionality as well; battery life doesn't seem stellar but shouldn't be much different than what I have now. Since the D600 should be out in October, I expect that there should be a minor price drop on the D500 then.

SE k700i - similar feature set to D500; camera is a bit weaker but I'm not terribly concerned as I rarely use my cell phone camera anyway. Reception is supposed to be excellent; battery life is also not the best but seems tolerable. I really like SE's UI and software; but this phone's looks aren't really up there with the Samsung.

The limited internal memory doesn't bother me for each device; if I really want to listen to music I'll use my ipod...

I'm also considering:

Samsung E730 - similar feature set to D500 but in clamshell form; I like the looks & ergonomics of it better than the E720; wouldn't mind having a clamshell; if it's much cheaper than the D500 I might go for it.

Nokia 6680/1 - Seems like a solid phone that I'd have no trouble liking but is probably out of my price range

Samsung D600 - Also seems like it will be excellent; but I'd imagine it'll cost around $600 USD new...I'm too cheap for that at the moment (sadly).

Motorola E398 - From most accounts this is an excellent phone; and the price is getting very reasonable...I'm just not a huge fan of Moto's UI and the fact that you need Mototools (or whatever their software is called) to use it with your PC.

Anything else that I should be considering?


Posted by: echau

stick with ericsson...get the s710a...or p910a if you want to try a smartphone


Posted by: DaninChina

I just saw that the S700i is starting to approach a price I can afford; which is pretty cool. (Since I'm living in HK and Shenzhen 95% of the time, I think that phone is a better choice for me rather than the S710a).

Unfortunately; the latest pricing I saw in HK this morning (upwards of $350 USD) is still a bit high for me - I will probably need to get 2 phones at the same time (one for me and one for my wife; her phone is acting up too...I guess that's what we get for buying "water goods" last time around) and $250 USD per phone is the best I can do right now.

The K700i would still be affordable; the S700i is not.

Since the price issue is really hitting home at the moment, I guess that has knocked all of the Samsung phones I was considering out.

Are there other solid phones with a modern feature set (ie; some MP3 support), and BT available for under $250 USD?


Posted by: Mark Larson

The D500 won't be worth the minor price-drop it'll get in October - the next generation of phones will be out by then, and do you really want to save $50 to get last year's phone?


Posted by: DaninChina

I hear you - it's always cooler to get the latest and greatest...

but at the moment (this year), I just don't have the spare cash sitting around to drop on two of the latest phones.

(unless you'd like to help a fellow Minnesotan out by sending me the difference in cash...)

Not to mention, (although it's kind of sacriligious on these forums), it's hard (for me, personally) to justify paying the extra markup for the "newest" phones; what today sells for $400 will usually sell for half that in a year's time...I'll suck it up and use a slightly older phone than what is most trendy if it means I can save some extra cash...

The other thing about spending $400 on a phone...(for me or my wife...she's been "forgetful" about her phone before - much to my frustration...)...and phones are pretty frequently pickpocketed or stolen here in Shenzhen; it's happened too often to my friends - I'd be quite upset if that happened to a brand-new phone I got (and with my luck it would...insurance is not an option)...

Anyway; the phones of my spouse and I are crapping out disturbingly quickly (her reception is half of what it was last month, and my keypad has taken a life of its own); at this rate I probably will need to do something within a week or two...

I think the K700 and/or the e398 have the combination of functions / looks / reliablity (?) & price that we need...

Anyone care to vouch for one over the other? I know there was lots of discussion about these two when each of those phones were new; but I'm curious to hear from people now; some people must have had these phones for a year or more and can tell me how they've held up over time...


Posted by: NUMBER1NIGa

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaninChina
I hear you - it's always cooler to get the latest and greatest...

but at the moment (this year), I just don't have the spare cash sitting around to drop on two of the latest phones.

(unless you'd like to help a fellow Minnesotan out by sending me the difference in cash...)

Not to mention, (although it's kind of sacriligious on these forums), it's hard (for me, personally) to justify paying the extra markup for the "newest" phones; what today sells for $400 will usually sell for half that in a year's time...I'll suck it up and use a slightly older phone than what is most trendy if it means I can save some extra cash...

The other thing about spending $400 on a phone...(for me or my wife...she's been "forgetful" about her phone before - much to my frustration...)...and phones are pretty frequently pickpocketed or stolen here in Shenzhen; it's happened too often to my friends - I'd be quite upset if that happened to a brand-new phone I got (and with my luck it would...insurance is not an option)...

Anyway; the phones of my spouse and I are crapping out disturbingly quickly (her reception is half of what it was last month, and my keypad has taken a life of its own); at this rate I probably will need to do something within a week or two...

I think the K700 and/or the e398 have the combination of functions / looks / reliablity (?) & price that we need...

Anyone care to vouch for one over the other? I know there was lots of discussion about these two when each of those phones were new; but I'm curious to hear from people now; some people must have had these phones for a year or more and can tell me how they've held up over time...


true about the price drops like the v3 when it first came out it was like 600 dollars for that peice of ****

I would suggest the v635 considering you can get one 240 shipped on ebay


Posted by: braindead5400

I just bought another E398 (I bought one when it first came out). I'm in love with the phone again, especially now that I can sync it with iTunes


Posted by: Mark Larson

I'm the same way - I bought my current phone used because I didn't want to pay for the depreciation. Of course, sometimes the savings aren't enough to warrant buying what could potentially be someone else's problems. I was lucky to get a good price on it.

Anyway, I believe the E398 can do more, and can be modified pretty heavily firmware-wise as well. The K700i is a nicer phone and more reliable phone though.

How about a Motorola V330 if you're in the US? They're pretty cheap.

Teh D500 is at $340 right now. I don't think its worth that much, especially as the K750i is only a little more and the E720 and E730 are only a little less, both of which are practically the same phone.


Posted by: the_remix

the e398 is actually one of my favorites.......the big thing about it is supposed to be the mp3 player....but i never used the mp3 player because i was too busy making calls (lol)(ipod). i wish it used mini sd and not transflash because most stores carry sd but transflash is harder to find.... .......(weird, REALLY small memory) but the other features work very well such as the bluetooth, and the keypad, ect. (i never really got a chance to test the camera.)
the k700i is supposed to have EXCELENT voice quality and bluetooth but the camera isnt as good as others.

out of the two: the e398 because it is avalible for $200 without a contract, and its large amount of features. plus I like phones that come with lots of stuff in the box......(which is why i hate the cingular v3.... almost NOTHING! just battery,phone, and the charger.....)

cheers,
Jon


Posted by: DaninChina

well, it's taken a while, but I finally went ahead and did the upgrade...as you can see, the e398 ended up being what I decided on.

(it ended up being this way since we got lazy and didn't feel like making a day trip to HK and the mainland China version of the e398 has pinyin support whereas the HK version doesn't...the prices were also nearly the same).

The k700i got knocked out of the running since my wife lost faith in Sony...

the D500 was right up in the running for us until we realized it was still way too expensive...and although the "water goods" version was affordable, we've had too much bad luck with those types of phones (in our experience, they seem to reliably break after 6 months, regardless of what you do...).

The wife and I are pretty pleased with how the e398's are working out so far. Perhaps at some point I will try messing with some of the upgrades (i398); but it's not a priority yet...

Thanks for everyone's advice - this is just a bit of closure (in case anyone was wondering...)


Posted by: Mark Larson

Let us know if you're still using the phone as an mp3 player two months later




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