Really. You know what I mean. Maybe we can help each other?
If you’re in Sun UK and you suddenly need a new phone, then add a comment to this posting!
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13 responses to “If you’re in Sun UK and you suddenly need a new phone, then add a comment to this posting!”
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What if I’m in UK but not in Sun? 🙂
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I am actually quite serious. After 3+ years of an E61 I am quite murderous, and with the new freedom afforded me to take my phone number elsewhere, and the new iPhone coming out, the GooglePhone, and a shedload of options for contracts and payments, it would be good for folk who are similarly recovering to share their experiences and thoughts.
More, later.
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While I don’t “suddenly” need a new phone I don’t have a work supplied phone (and don’t actually want one anyway!).
I have a free (under 18 month contract) from 3 Sony Erricson Z705i, I’ve also had a K800i as well (very similar features different form factor). It does everything I need for contacts, calendar and is okay as an internet browser. It can be used as a 3G modem over USB or Bluetooth.
Until the iPhone 3Gs there were to many things that I expect from a phone that were still missing from the iPhone – the last of those was voice dialing and that seems to be resolved now.
Personally I think the iPhone is very expensive but a nice machine, the main remaining reason I wouldn’t go with one is the thought of spending so much money on something that legally (well apparently anyway) is locked to a single providers network – and that provider isn’t the one I’ve choosen to use.
As for my network provider, 3, they have some good and very cheap montly price plans and include Skype usage for free (even on non topped up pay as you go now it seems). I only pay 15 pounds a month and that provides me with sufficient voice and text – but you would likely want an internet addon as well which might bring it up to about 20 quid a month (at which point other providers might be a better deal for you).
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>but you would likely want an internet addon as well which might bring it up to about 20 quid a month
That’s approximately my thinking; the whole add-ons, boltons and whatnot drives me crazy, but the bulletpoints i have got so far is:
– the minimum spec phone i could live with is the nokia 6300i or thereabouts; I want 3G, data, bluetooth, option to tether (more below) and long battery life. I don’t care about music on a phone (but I do care about having an iPod) and I don’t care much about carrying a third camera *in* the phone.
– the 6300 costs £109 which makes out as £9 per month over 2 years
– add to that a £12.50 contract (ie: between 10 and 15) SIM-only contract, and you are looking at £21.50 per month for a baseline buy-it-yourself phone, with dubious amounts of internet access.
– why look at that? because it gives you a yardstick to judge everything else. I don’t know what the iPhone 3Gs will come in at, but I can now measure the cost of it against buy-it-yourself-phone + a contract + an iTouch, since I won’t have an iTouch in a few weeks.
– checking my SMS-sent log suggests I send 100..150 texts a month, and probably spend about 3h on the phone. I expect the latter to rise, maybe to 5..6h / 300 minutes.
– How about the laptop route? Get a cheap phone, get a mobile-broadband dongle, and do all my data on the MacBookAir. The cheapest phone might be 15 quid, the broadband dongle another 15 quid, and you’re looking at £30/month again, without the convenience of IMAP on your phone.
– All this suggests to me that I am gonna get stung between 20 and 30 quid per month, regardless of solution; if you factor in a 16Gb iTouch (amortise £9 over 24 months) you will be looking at the 30 to 40 range which is where the iPhone lives, if one can live without a real keyboard. I would like to try the new landscape keyboard option to see if it works for me.
– Then there’s the gPhone – Android works, will be supported, the G1 just dropped (can’t think why) to £30/month for 18 months with an Internet package attached; so it might provide a good alternative although it still leaves you iTouch-free… but it’s a very attractive deal.
– Plus, there are new Android handsets due out RSN.
For me, I suspect the answer will come down to “Does the iPhone landscape kbd, work?” – if so, get iPhone, else get gPhone and iTouch.
How about you?
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Take a look at the HTC Touch HD as well, if you are interested in the iPhone : better screen quality, better camera ( yeah I know you not so interested ), more apps than an i-Phone, long batterylife, faster, etc etc etc etc
Currently available on vodaphone, o2, orange…… my total package is £35 per month, but you can get it for £25 for sure, and possibly less, and that includes the extra internet package.
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Why get an iTouch if your phone does everything but play music? A cheaper iPod for music (nano, e.g.) might be another option.
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Note that some of the new Android phones don’t have a physical keyboard.
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Oh, so we are talking about phones then.
I have been using an E71 for the last six weeks. It has a very poor voice signal quality, although that may be vodafone and where I live but my previous SE K610i worked well enough, or better anyway. Others have repeated this criticism.
The rest of my family buy an £80-£100 phone and buy a SIM, except the youngest who buys a £10 one because he looses it so often. Actually the elder boy has a five year old phone, but it was
At the moment I use JoikuSPOT to connect my ipodtouch to the net using the phone. I want to back up the phone to a PC, although I have been playing with ZYB.com. I quite like the GPS, but with joikuSPOT I can use the ipodtouch.
I suppose I’d like to see a discussion on which NSP to use, but Bordon is a poor reception area for both Vodafone & T-Systems.
I suppose I was thinking of a Nokia E55, which doesn’t have a qwerty keyboard and the new touch screen one looks good.
Maybe I should research which phones can host Joikuspot, see http://www.joiku.com/ to see if the Samsung’s can do what I want
So big screen, no querty keyboard, host joikuspot, so wifi chip, 3G obviously.
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30 quid per month, 800 minutes, unlimited textx and internet, 18 months.
i think i am sold …
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@Dave:
>Oh, so we are talking about phones then.
well, in a metaphorical sense. 🙂
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Alec, if you want to run Emacs and real *nix tools, wait just a tad longer and check out the upcoming Nokia N900 Internet Tablet – the first NIT to feature a 3G chip in it.
Maemo 5 (http://maemo.org)
256MB RAM
32 GB Internal Storage
MicroSD for additional storage
WVGA 3.5″ Touchscreen
Slide out physical keyboard
10/2 HSDPA
WiFi
Bluetooth (A2DP support)
5 MP Camera & Carl Zeiss Lens & built in FlashPersonally, I have the iPhone 3G, a Google G1 and an engineering sample of the N900.
Considering your love for riding your trike etc, I think you should take a close look at TrailGuru for the iPhone. I bike a lot & have a quick release handlebar mount for my iPhone so as to facilitate using the iPhone w/ TrailGuru, Google Maps, & listening to my iPod music (or even SomaFM via Internet Radio streaming) while riding. I jailbroke my iPhone for the specific task of using the Backgrounder App that makes all this possible.
Take away the iPhone option, and I wouldn’t even consider the G1 – it’s too immature a user interface and not enough apps compared to the library of applications available for the Nokia Internet Tablets. Plus, the new Maemo 5 UI is much more usable than Android’s UI, I find, and a world of improvement over Maemo 4.
PS – since a single bike trek for me can last anywhere from 3-5 hours for me, the combined use of 3G (radio streaming), GPS & external Bluetooth speakers absolutely mandates external lithium ion battery pack with any of the 3 phones I mention above. But there’s plenty of lightweight & almost sexy solutions for even that now.
Good luck!
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@alecm What about International roaming? What’s T-Mobile like for that?
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@dave: no idea, but you’re aware of course that Vodafone is flirting with abolition of roaming in Europe this summer?
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