Thread: New Smartphone

I shall be upgrading my SE C902 in the next few weeks. I want a phone 'like' the N97 with a slide out keypad, I don't mind a touch sensitive screen, but not for the only way of inputting text.

Off the top of my head I would consider the HTC Touch Pro 2, N97, SE Xperia X2, and maybe the iPhone if it reaches vodafone in time. It will need to be Vodafone as its the only one with signal at my house.

What I am totally unsure of is the OS - there seems to be:

• Android Google
• Windows Mobile
• Symbian (S60?)

Obviously OS defines phone choice to a certain extent, any thoughts from anyone more knowledgable?

No one got any advice?

I'm going to look tomorrow, shortlist is:

• N97
• HTC Touch Pro2
• BlackBerry Storm2
• BlackBerry Bold 9700
• SE Satio
• HTC Magic

Or do I wait a bit for one of these to come available:

• iPhone (Jan/Feb on Vodafone)
• SE Xperia 2
• Nokia E72

iPhone all the way...

Android is still not mature enough IMHO, but version 2 coming soon seems interesting, as they have now included turn by turn GPS.

The latest Windows Mobile OS is a lot slicker, but I feel the iPhone still has the edge, despite a few limitations.

Cheers,

I've had HTC Touch and I got rid of it after 2 months, it drove me up the wall. Since I've had a Blackberry and when I come to upgrade I'll be sticking with the berry. Top bit of kit!!!

I've not had a chance to try a Touch Pro 2 out yet, but it looks promising.

What BlackBerry have you got? I tried a Bold 9000 today and was very impressed, but the new Bold 9700 isn't available on Voda till the New Year.

Stay well clear of HTC mate, they run like a dog with to much bloat & this is from using a fair number of them, they're quite literally crap, I've had a samsung tocco for over a year now & its actually bloody good phone overall, not smartphone but its very good.

I usually change my phone every 6 months for new tech, but this has been great which is why I havnt swapped to something new, given I'm a tech head I had windows mobile & I just didnt use all the features, I can get all my email on my phone if neccessary, its been great, all I want now is wifi on my next one, previous ones with wifi were to big, bloated etc & ran like dogs.

Think if you really need every twin cam turbo charged features, because in reality we hardly use everything at all, I might venture to an iphone 3gs just cause orange is selling them soon & I wont use anyother network, rest are crap, but not sure if its to big tbh.

Everythings becoming touch screen & its gonna be down to software features soon tbh, cause you cant reinvent the wheel, what else can they stick on the phone, an a4 printer, lol

Originally Posted by quattrojames

I've not had a chance to try a Touch Pro 2 out yet, but it looks promising.

What BlackBerry have you got? I tried a Bold 9000 today and was very impressed, but the new Bold 9700 isn't available on Voda till the New Year.

I've got a bb 8820. When finally lost my rag with the HTC I went and bought this berry secondhand, I'd be lost without it!! My sister works for Vodafone and she has a bold 9000 and she loves it, my OH has a pearl 8110 so you'll find they are contagious. On good note though the HTC can stand up to a lot of physical abuse, believe me I mean a lot!!!!!

Originally Posted by NHN

Stay well clear of HTC mate, they run like a dog with to much bloat

I've never had any problems with HTC kit, and the new HTC HD2 has a 1Ghz processor! It has Windows Mobile 6.5 which, by all accounts, is a step in the right direction, and HTCs software does a pretty good job of insulating you as much as possible from it.

Problem is mate, they've only really upped the cpu because they were so bloody slow at doing anything in the 1st place, I had untold htc touch handsets, the Tytn2 or whatever it was called, the diamond etc etc, all were just so painful to use & I'm an avid one to swap for new tech very often, but these were a big mistake & proved as Orange were so obliging in taking them all back even after months of use & several changes to different ones, so they must of been very aware of how truly crap they were (then possibly) but if you say its been improved dramatically then hey why not give them a try, but get on a 7 day or so return replace option as if they're anything like the ones I've used you'll be back as soon as you've stuck battery in & turned it on & thats no joke either.

strange, I have a HTC hero on orange and there is nothing it cannot do, and i have no issues with the software

I find the wifi feature a real benefit as i have it data streaming shares most of the day,couldnt do with out it to be fair.... best phone i have used and controvertially i prefer it to the iphone

there is nothing more handy than having the ability to have several screens/web browsers open at same time, my laptop has become faily redundant since having this phone !

as for android it is spot on, market is huge and there are features for almost every thing -

maybe i dont know bad from good, but having spend years working for orange and getting to play with most new kit that comes on offer, i really find it hard to believe there are phones on the market that are vastly better than the hero

No need for the swearing mate.

Different platform mate, so possibly faster, I do find HTC & windows havnt bonded well before, the touch screen on the Touch was unbelievably rubbish, press a number 10 times, be lucky to get it once.

Maybe its improved of late huh.

Originally Posted by NHN

the touch screen on the Touch was unbelievably rubbish, press a number 10 times, be lucky to get it once.

That is a failing of basically ALL touch screen phones, although adnittedly some are better than others, because they have a resistive touch screen as opposed to capacitive ones (like the iPhone and now the HTC HD2) but that is starting to change. HTC have come on leaps and bounds recently (they're now starting to pack their phones with decent MP camera's and flashes amongst other things) and I think they only major gripe about HTC stuff recently was their decision to use a chip the has 3D graphics acceleration but not enable it. The HTC HD2 is definitely worth a look at least though.

MAC OS is the way to go, iPhone rocks

Some good thoughts here guys, thanks!

Keep them coming

I keep wondering about the new BlackBerry Bold, dare I say it's current favourite ....

Originally Posted by The Slug

MAC OS is the way to go, iPhone rocks

Oh please, the iPhone does anything but rock. As smartphones go its the Wii/DS of the phone world. Apples update policy is absolutely shocking; deliberately missing out even the most basic features, that most phones have had for years, just so they can flog you an also feature-missing update at a later date. Its like buying an R8 with no interior, which Audi want to sell you bit by bit and then do their absolute utmost to ensure no-one else can make the missing bits either.

Originally Posted by Shades

That is a failing of basically ALL touch screen phones, although adnittedly some are better than others, because they have a resistive touch screen as opposed to capacitive ones (like the iPhone and now the HTC HD2) but that is starting to change

I disagree tbh, my Tocco has not failed at all on this feature, the touch screen was a blessing in disguise & I've had it for a fair while now interms of lifetime of the handsets in the market, also other touch screen phones around at the same time worked a hell of alot better, I had an M600i for ages from SE, the touch screen on that worked shockingly well & far better than the HTC & that was around alot longer before HTC touch phones, one of the original touch phones aswell, it was so good I bought a new one & held it in reserve for any issues on my main one, only sold it recently as the Tocco has proved to be very reliable.

The only issues with the Tocco which seems to be also related to iPhone was the losing all signal/poor signal/3g crap, all the same issues the iPhone had at one stage, possible they shared a chipset, I hassled Samsung UK who admitted there were problems with all networks, gave me a free camera & another handset the Omnia that tbh was absolutely shyte as phones go, res was useless, they had a mouse built into the touchpad thing, thats all I can call it tbh as was useless, so sold it, camera was useless so sold that & stuck with Tocco & got firmware updates which resolved the issues 100%, since then has been a dream phone as such, interms it just works.

Found a site that has number of firmware updates & all have been very good, officlal ones aswell.

But Samsung UK are useless overall, took them 3-5 months to fix the very well known Tocco network issues, but as I said now I would advise anyone to use it, cant fault it anymore.

Also I'm no Mac fan, but you cant deny whatsoever the iPhone does work well aswell, the touch screen is very good, even the iTouch I had for tunes ages ago it just worked perfectly, the app store is sheer brilliance interms of an idea, so many apps could be of use to so many people & revenue for a small developer, well to a point when apple cough up the revenue earned as this has been an issue, but overall I give Jobs kudos as it has done very well, pity they as you say charge for things that are already built in & not turned on, like the 802.11N chips built into macs that they charged a fee to enable, absolutely shocking way to conduct themselves, should of been free ffs given the cost of macs.

Avoid the N97 for sure..really buggy phone..I have 2 of them !! Really disappointed as upgraded from the N95 which was far more reliable than this...

To be fair I did say some touch screens are better than others, for instance, as you say the Tocco screen isn't too bad but the LG Viewty is absolutely shocking! Personally, I've never had any problems with HTC screens, I guess its each to their own or perhaps I've just got used to it.

Your observation about the iPhone chipset is correct, the iPhone uses Apple branded Samsung Chips.

My point about the iPhone is that its not really a smartphone in the truest sense, its more of a lifestyle choice/status symbol or for the terminally helpless "look at me and iPhone... and my Mac... and my Airport... and my Time Capsule... and my AppleTV" etc, etc. Its got some very good plus points but its also got some major minus points, not least Apples vice like grip over something YOU own (despite Apples efforts to make you believe the opposite... Hey Apple, our consumer laws trump your stupid EULA!), their arbitrary "because we say so" censorship, their lack respect for their app developers and, as we have both said, their tendency to disable built-in features (or just completely miss out features not requiring special hardware) just to make you cough up for them later!

Just my 2p.

I wouldn't touch Windows phones. Everyone Ive had, no matter the speed of the processor, runs slow - and just doesnt do it for me as a phone.

I have the Blackberry 9800 Curve which I absolutly love. I used to have the Blackberry 9000 Bold until I dropped it down the toilet but I much prefer the Curve simply due to the size of it compared to the Bold. The Blackberry software is brilliant as well.. never runs slow and has great features that are unique to Blackberry.

I used to have the G1 mobile phone that runs the Android OS and although the phone itself didn't cut it for me, again it was too big, the funtionality and the apps available were brilliant.

The only reason I'm still with my Blackberry is because of its ease of use. Having emails on the go, a decent non-touch screen qwerty keyboard.

My Dad just got the HTC Hero (G2) also running Android and I honestly can't fault it one bit; brilliant phone on a brilliant OS.

I think with all phones, you'd be better drawing up a list of what you want from it. With the Windows mobiles the possibilities for software are endless. The make full use of the phones capabilities. Unlike the iphone that locks down every possible useful piece of hardware it in.

HTC Phones are not crap - it's the operators ROM's which are bloated. This can be proved by flashing the ROM with one of the many millions available which will strip all the branded rubbish and leave it running a light weight and zippy os.

I have had nothing but HTC phones for around 5 years. Each time the first thing I do is remove the operators operating system. Installing a slicker more optimised version. I use W/Mobile phones as I am an applications developer. And if I cant find an app for it I can make it.. So it may not suit everyone..

The iphone is perfect if you want the limitations and the 'Noddy' interface.

If you take a look at xda-developers.com forum you will see just how many potential smart phones there are, and also peoples reviews and problems they have had with them. This is also an excellent source for ROM's.

Also with a smart phone you can upgrade the radio stack software. So if you get a rubbish signal, find a new radio rom from XDA and try that..

Obviously as with everything if you don't follow the instructions to the letter you stand a good chance of bricking your device. But once you have done it once and witnessed the improvements you will never stop doing it!

Originally Posted by MikeSel^

I think with all phones, you'd be better drawing up a list of what you want from it. With the Windows mobiles the possibilities for software are endless. The make full use of the phones capabilities. Unlike the iphone that locks down every possible useful piece of hardware it in.

HTC Phones are not crap - it's the operators ROM's which are bloated. This can be proved by flashing the ROM with one of the many millions available which will strip all the branded rubbish and leave it running a light weight and zippy os.

I disagree, I dont think its solely down to the operators rom as I also used to use different roms also, bluerom for that matter, was still slow, crap touch & just a real pita to use, this rom was very good imho.

But will agree, swapping roms can very easily brick your phone so be aware.

hmm.

Well if you look at benchmark test results most often show the improvements the ROM's make.

I have been on orange throughout the life of my smartphones and I have always found massive improvements from non stock rooms. Perhaps this differs per operator.

I don't think this is helping him pick a phone though.. As if you like the Touch Pro 2 which is massively improved spec compared to previous ones, then get it.. As they have sold millions of them and the company isn't exactly struggling so I guess its just down to personal preference.

I've also been on orange since there inception mate, hate other networks, useless.

But I take onboard peoples comments that maybe newer handsets are more reliable.

Also, of course it helps him choose, as it gives different experiences of different handsets, which is the point of a forum overall, so he knows to beware of some or at least test them fully before making the final purchase.

Good thing is 7 day distance selling is cool for choosing a new handset, as can return with no issues then choose a different one.

I will add that just cause a company sells millions that doesnt mean its so reliable, eg. iphone network problems, took ages as with the Tocco to be resolved with firmware updates, its all sometimes a fashion statement even if the damn product is a paperweight, certainly no way does selling alot of a product, mean its very good, they just speculate to accumulate, oh we know its got a problem but we need the market running so we'll fix later, they make it very hard to return a product these days for faults, no we will have a fix for it next week, so we are not accepting returns blah blah blah, these companies just want to out do eachother, so they release products with issues & hope it doenst blow up in there face, thats a fact, its the way of the technology world.

Thanks for the continuing feedback, dont worry if it drifts OT (a bit!) as it's all relevant.

I'm with vodafone as it is the only network that works reliably in this area, and the only one that works at all at my house, and it's a pita having lots of free texts and minutes you can't use!

I haven't looked into this any further due to work, next week I hope to try a Touch Pro2 in a shop, and also find out when the Bold 9700 and SE Experia X2 are released.

I'm not knowledgable enough to start swapping OS systems on the phone, the risk of 'bricking it' are too high for me! I will keep a phone as manufacturer intended give or take adding a few chosen apps.

Ok - well have fun with hunting, and post back your findings and what phone you go with. I am looking at getting the touch pro 2, I'm just waiting for my contract to come up for renewal.

It's a business class phone, and unlike the blackberries you don't need fingers like a 5 year old to push the buttons.

Its a tough choice for sure!

I will look up the xda-developers forum too when I get five mins, if I can make head or tail of it!

You will need more then 5 minutes for that site. It's got quite a lot of posts. Theres also a lot of very technically minded people on the site which should be able to answer any question you may have about any of the phones you are looking at..

Cheers

That forums a bit too 'deep' for me - pushed my knowledge!

I looked at an N97 mini today and was quite impressed.

Anyone got any experience of Nokia Maps versus Vodafone Find an Go?

I know its old but my Bro was thinking about this (with newer OS)
Anybody had any experience with it? He is a PAYG, prob only using £5 a month LOL

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Orange-SPV-M31...item56367038e3

Yeah I have one in my draw upstairs.. Served me well for 18 months.

Must admit the Android OS on the new HTC Dream is a quicker alternative and a phone of a similar size and weight. Should be around the same price also.

Quick note, before paying for provider unlocks contact me as I may well be able to do it for free on most windows mobile devices.

Cheers

iPhone is out for me now. Rightly or wrongly I want keys for text inputting.

Vodafone are going to send me a Bold 9700 on Friday when they are released for a 7 day trial

I've got a HTC Touch Pro 2 and its excellent.

Its definately not slow, and if the touch screen is a problem for text input, theres a slide out qwerty keyboard for you to use. Theres also a stylus which I find very useful!

I would definately recommend one.

Nokia 6230 all the way LOL it makes and receives calls and it never goes wrong. However i do have a Touch pro 2 and yes on occations does run slow, but its the full qwerty keyboard that does it for me.

The Mobile phone has become something very personal, no one person will ever have the same opinion as somebody else.

well if an opinion counts, avoid the N85! Mine has been crap LOL. Will take onboard comments from this thread come Feb when my contract expires!

Originally Posted by dickys3

I've got a HTC Touch Pro 2 and its excellent.

Its definately not slow, and if the touch screen is a problem for text input, theres a slide out qwerty keyboard for you to use. Theres also a stylus which I find very useful!

I would definately recommend one.

Thats very helpful thankyou.

One concern is the quality of the camera, bot my current SE C902 and previous Nokia N73 had very good cameras. How do you rate the HTC one?

I think its down to Bold 9700 or N97 (mini or full?) or Touch Pro2.

Originally Posted by Khufu

well if an opinion counts, avoid the N85! Mine has been crap LOL. Will take onboard comments from this thread come Feb when my contract expires!

Another one to avoid is the SE Xperia X1. Mine needs frequent restarts as it is prone to lock-ups - just like my old P990i. I wish I'd learnt my lesson and avoided SE!

I think my next smartphone will be the HTC HD2.

Dave

I like my Palm Pre fwiw.

Im also looking for a smartphone, interesting to know what you go for.

I'm still using a 4 year old O2 XDA mini s also know as the HTC Wizard.

I quite like HTC phones to be honest and quite like the look of the new
HTC TOUCH HD2...just not sure i want to loose the keyboard funtion.

Originally Posted by Elmo

just not sure i want to loose the keyboard funtion.

I agree. Its for this reason I have ruled out the iPhone, Storm etc as there is no other option than touchscreen for text inputting.

Originally Posted by quattrojames

I agree. Its for this reason I have ruled out the iPhone, Storm etc as there is no other option than touchscreen for text inputting.

Have you watched any videos of the HTC HD2 on youtube? Honestly it does look amazing. the new 1ghz processor looks mighty impressive, everything works so fast compared to the old diamond, and touch models that have been mentioned above.

I could be tempted to give up the keyboard for that

and a 4.3 inch screen would be amazing not only for watching films but for satnav as I use tomtom.

However the S3 I'm looking at has inbuilt satnav so might not need that. haha.

Hopefully its a decent car when i go to visit then hopefully I'll get it and stick around on here a bit more

Has anyone bought the HD2 and got it syncd to an Audi factory fit car kit. I am keen to know if the phone uses rSAP or not?

I've had a Bold 9700 for a few days now, it's actually on a weeks trial, but I really like it!

Its a nice size, neither big or small and just feels right to hold. Typing is very easy even though the keys are small they are well placed. I like the BlackBerry OS and setting it up to my existing email address took seconds. The browser is quick, and the signal strength good.

It has GPS and works very well with Google Maps giving your location to within 3 metres which is pretty impressive! I have downloaded Appworld, and there are plenty of Apps available, both free and chargeable.

I'm impressed, does anyone else have one?

I've just ordered the BB 9700 with T-mob but it's out of stock so it's on back order promised for early next week.

Did you keep yours and if so are you still happy with it?

Once I recieve mine I have a week to decide if I want to keep it. The only other option was the HTC HD2........................decisions, decisions!!

You'll be happy with the BlackBerry my 9800 Curve is the shizz.

Originally Posted by WilkoS3

I've just ordered the BB 9700 with T-mob but it's out of stock so it's on back order promised for early next week.

Did you keep yours and if so are you still happy with it?

Yes I did, I've had it about three weeks and I'm really impressed with it. It does everything I need it to, and as it's my first BB I'm enjoying the ease of access to emails etc - the push email is flawless. Battery life is outstanding too, lasts about three days of fairly heavy use, calls, internet, emails, bluetooth hands free etc.

I'm sure you would be pleased with it.

Thanks, the phone arrived today. Well happy so far.......nice piece of kit

Glad you're pleased with it. I've had mine almost three weeks now, and can't recommend it enough. The BB OS takes a couple of days to get the hang of it, but its very intuitive when you do.

Cant stand the BB's, simple fact I used to set these up for users in an enterprise enviroment/it etc & so annoying just to use them, service books etc, also dealing with the BES, much prefer a touch screen these days with decent os & short step setups, but not even my tocco is short to setup an email account, but works bloody well when its done considering its not exactly a smartphone as such.

But, I'm on the prow for a new handset, so watch this space, wont be BB thats for sure & that new HD2 is huge tbh, bigger than the iphone 3gs so that might be a no no even if its got a 1ghz proc, always found the HTC's way to bloated which I guess is why they upped the proc so much huh so you could at least use it at a sensible pace.

Ok got an SE Satio arriving tuesday that should have the new fixed firmware on as all were recalled, so update when used.

BLACKBERRY ALL THE WAY FOR ME