Major Clanger Phone Home

[major_clanger]

It's time to update my mobile phone any my PDA. I say 'my', but both come with my job, and both will go back soon when I move on to my new posting, so it really is time I bought my own. I can wait a month or two to decide what to do about a PDA - do I go for another pocket model, or a sub-notebook, or what? - but I'd like to change my mobile now. The rules have changed from 'identify personal calls on the bill and pay for them' to 'non-emergency personal calls are forbidden!' which is no good at all. Furthermore, it's a Motorola running Vodaphone, and I find the former's user interface to be unfriendly and the latter's reception to be awful.

So, I want a new mobile. Whatever sort of portable computing widget I get, I'd like the phone to be able to communicate through it without wires or fiddly alignment of IR ports, so in other words I want GPRS and Bluetooth. And I don't want a built-in camera, as most of the places my work takes me I'm not allowed to bring any sort of camera into. (This is actually becoming quite a problem, with camera phones set to be banned from many public and private sites). Oh, and tri-band would be nice so I can take it to the USA if necessary.

That actually narrows the choice down rather a lot, indeed pretty much to the following:

• Sony-Ericsson T68i


• Siemens S55


• Nokia 6310i


• Nokia 8910i

The Sony-Ericsson, Siemens and Nokia 6310 are all much of a muchness and would all probably do perfectly well as the sort of phone I want. The Nokia 8910i is very nice-looking, extremely expensive and probably only deigns to work properly if you're wearing cool shades and a black leather trenchcoat. But it's so pretty...

So, any comments or suggestions on these phones, or any mobiles, or networks, or tariffs, or Bluetooth?

MC

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

If you can get an Orange SIM, I have a spare T38i.

Bluetooth and GPRS, but none of the flasy web stuff - so best for use with a Bluetooth PDA or a PC.

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

It also still includes the Orange SPV which has GPRS and detachable camera.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I didn't think the SPV does Bluetooth though?

MC

[daveon.livejournal.com]

No it doesn't. But the Voyager due out later this year does.

However, I suspect that it will have a camera.

[lproven.livejournal.com]

The 6310i is the current discerning geekphone of choice. Say no more.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

I have the T68i and in general I'm very happy with it (in particular this particular one has a dodgy connection and I haven't gotten around to getting it fixed yet, but it's nothing that I haven't learned to live with, but I know other users and I'm the only one with this problem!)

I have the Vodaphone 25 quid a month (200 minutes anytime to anyone (well, in the UK!)) and GPRS at about 2.50/megabyte. For some reason I also seem to get a fair number of SMS msgs free as well.

It can take a detachable camera (so you can have a camera if you want but not take it to sensitive sites), has all the usual features (IR, Bluetooth etc.) plus a fairly good set of pseudo-PDA features (calendar/diary/notepad etc.) Not overly impressed by the games that come with it and it does not have polyphonic ringtones or Java games. You can get a cheap MP3 player for it (which doubles as the handfree kit), and a small keyboard (a "chatboard") both of which I've got and neither of which I actually use (due to that dodgy contact I mentioned!)

It works fine for me, though there are a number of places I go (e.g. down to Westbury) where there are areas of insufficient signal between the T68i and Vodaphone. But then those tend to be the same areas that my "spare" 3510i and T-mobile don't work either.

[soupdragon123.livejournal.com]

I had a 6310i since they first came out about a year ago and have had no problems with it other than I caused myself. It connects without fuss to the bluetooth laptop and PDA (Palm Tungsten T) and goes mobile internet just fine. I've not used any of the other phones you list but the T68i has been superceded by the T610 which has similar specs and is worth a look.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the T610 has a built-in camera, which means that I'd have to leave it at reception at a lot of the places I go (and would sooner or later forget to pick it up!).

MC

[soupdragon123.livejournal.com]

This might present a problem for the future, with the cost of this technology being so low and the components sizer shrinking ever more it'll likely to be soon be difficult to get a phone without a camera - you know what manufacturers are like in their features war!

[daveon.livejournal.com]

General thoughts from the industry, so to speak...

T68i - I had one for a year, its not bad - good form factor, good MMI but the voice reproduction isn't the best. The 68i is better than the standard 68, however, it doesn't necessarilly work as an organiser.

You're always on safe ground with a Nokia, albeit they are now a tad dull.

I've had one Siemens, it was the worst phone I've ever used.

I'm currently using a Microsoft Smartphone, the Tanger aka the SPV-X, which should hit the stores from Orange soon. Much better than the SPV, seperate camera, good feature set but no bluetooth. And it is tri-band.

Bluetooth is handy if you get a PDA with Bluetooth.

If you don't like Orange, and many people don't. The T68i is probably your best bet. I've used it all over America without any problems at all, unlike the current MS phones.

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

Technically, the S40 might have been badged as a Siemens phone, but it was actually a Bosch phone, or to be accurate a Dancall phone (Bosch took over Dancall who where then taken over by Siemens). The SL55 is considered to be very much the phone du jour and has all the bells and whistles including triband. The S55 is quite snazzy too.

Waiting for the DB23 though!