Which mobile phone should I buy?

[PhilH]

Right. My contract's up and I need a new phone. This is what it has to do:

1. work as a phone (can't help but think that this bit's been forgotten...)
2. have decent video and music playback as I spend an hour on the tube everyday and catch up on tv then

ideally it will also have:
3. email
4. some sort of app by which I can control media centre on my pc (either just media centre or a more generic pc control)
5. internet broswer

I don't care about:
6. facebook or any of that guff
7. satellite navigation

I've currently got an N95. I've also got a blackberry bold (which I don't pay for and can handle any internet and sat nav needs), and so I could not get a new phone but instead keep the N95 and haggle the price of a sim only contract down and then get a dedicated music/video player (eg archos tablet).

Any thoughts?
Phil

[elootos]

I think mobiles are really exciting at the moment, the iPhone has dominated for the past 3 years, but finally this year the competition has caught up (mostly thanks to Android). I am getting an HTC Desire when it's out in April and am looking forward to finally getting something that does as it promises - (full) internet browsing, email (namely gmail), music and video. I've always had bleeding edge phones but have avoided an iPhone for a number of reasons (not Apple related ones ).

Have you looked at an Android phone? Or do you prefer a non-touch model?

[elootos]

Sorry (you may guess I'm an Android fan!), but there's some great things happening in the Smartphone market. Over-hyped articles like this and this may sway you to the light side

[PhilH]

I will read those. The two things that put me off the iphone are:
1. itunes destroyed my music library and I still haven't got it back together again properly (40gig is a lot of music to untangle);
2. it is a closed shop and that can only lead to lots of encoding and decoding to transfer files backwards and forwards between phone and pc.
Perhaps the desire is the way to go when it comes out.

[elootos]

(03-03-2010 01:53 PM)PhilH Wrote:  Perhaps the desire is the way to go when it comes out.

Anything Android is worth looking at. The fact that Apple are now suing the main Android manufacturer HTC says that they see them as prime competition and the lawsuit is their way of slowing down the Android hype which says a lot. Apple have two options, improve the iPhone and make it unbeatable, or bitch about it and start claiming they invented the wheel. All technology companies move at a defined pace, releasing hardware that is always just that bit better to eek as much money out of the consumer as possible and Apple jumped the gun 3 years ago with the iPhone to steal a lead on the mobile market. Now however everyone else is almost at the same point of hardware/software potential and truth be told, too many handsets are coming out this year that will wipe the floor with the iPhone, so any publicity (including suing other people!) is good for them at the moment.

Models such as the Samsung Wave are another example of how good the competition has become. Amazing screen, 720p video recording, lightening fast interface etc:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkb75gjVD0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeOYTUJLXyQ

However the Wave runs on Samsung's new as-yet-untested OS, so who knows how buggy it'll be. So Android is the one to have; the updates are coming thick 'n fast, some apps are developed by Google (such as Google Goggles ), manufacturers are releasing great models such as the Sony Ericsson X10 range and others are throwing the design rulebook out the window for the devices (such as Motorola's Backflip - odd!) and above all else, it's open source so the sky's the limit for hacking, modding, development...

[northan]

Iv'e had a htc touch and a second gen iphone.
I see that every one is catching up and exceeding iphone technology, but I would still choose iphone.
I'm not a fan of apple so when I picked out iphone it was for one reason. Why?
Software is the main reason.
There are so many choices when it comes to third party apps on the iphone market, so if there is any particular program I need I can be almost sure that there is a development on the iphone, where android still seems to be in the shade with a lot of apps development.
Bigger companys are always first to try iphone apps too, because so many people have iphones.
I know thats not always the case, apple has been known to stop certain developments for their own reasons of interest.
My nags of iphone are.
Camera
Video formats
No in built radio
Not always windows friendly
But most of that can be forgiven for what it does give me.
When Im away with work it always gives me a link to the outside world and apps always keep me amused.
Its never bothered me how many megapixels my camera has, its never has or never will be a replacement for a real camera, same with video recording.
Its never bothered me how a phone flips, swivels, twist or turns inside out, all I want is a comfortable phone in my hand and lets me keep my trouser line too
Sat nav is cool on my phone and occasionally its got me out of a bind, but still I would always use a seperate satnav for my car.
Sometimes I like using the ipod function on the phone, but really I dont like using multimedia stuff too often in case I run the risk of no battery left when I need to email or phone.
So for me its always been about the apps and as long as there are people out there designing great apps I will stick with Iphone.
BTW it's not bad at making phone calls too.

[mookydudz]

I have always had the 'latest' phones & i have suffered at their lack of development. A manufacturer will push a certain model for 12-18 months and only update its firmware once in this period, then after will leave it to rot on the PAYG page!

I now have an Iphone 3gs and where has it been all my life!!! I've had Nokia, Sammy & Sony's so called flagship models with the latest OS's on them. All of them have tried and failed IMHO to be an all in one mobile multimedia device with shite software bundled struggling to integrate with Windows.

I was a bit wary about iTunes messing with my music collection but there is a check box to enable/disable iTunes to sort out your collection; my settings are disabled. I now love it. Syncing Windows contacts both ways is easy, photos & music is simple too. I don't use it for video but assume there is some software out there that will convert it quick sharp into a format recognised by the iPhone or even an app that will play it.

I see iPhone development all around & see it continuing at the same rate. Get an iPhone & you will get what you are after. SWMBO has one also, mainly using hers for email & streaming music from our NAS to the ipod speaker dock. I love mine & recommend it HIGHLY.

[elootos]

Nothing like a bit of banter about an iPhone is there!

I do think the iPhone is the best all-round mobile device, but it's not the best device for everyone. The Apps make it adaptable, but not flexible; if I were to get an iPhone now I'd be bored stiff within about an hour as I've been there, done that playing around with too many other peoples iphones so the Android platform has finally unleashed the usability of the iPhone but with the variation of all the other hardware manufacturers. Will the majority be buggy unsupported devices? Most likely, but a few will stand out as viable alternatives. (hmmm, microUSB ports to charge from, music syncing without Itunes and from any PC, fully customisable homescreens, replaceable batteries and upgradable memory cards, true multitasking, 8Meg cameras and HD video recording... Mobile devices I could only dream of a couple of years ago - geek nirvana!)

I think we should all be embracing the Android platform as an open-source alternative because of the exciting variation in powerful handheld devices it will bring. Plus it makes Steve Jobs sharpen his game And after all, how boring would life be if all there was to choose from was an iPhone?!

P.S. Symbian would get my vote but where the hell did the development go all those years back? No wonder Nokia use it on all their cheap phones.

[mookydudz]

It's a propper school playground argument now.

I hope the android makes Steve Jobs sit up & pump more into R & D.

I agree with you regarding replaceable batteries, mem cards & multi tasking; it's a tad annoying when it shuts one app to show you something else. As far as customising goes you can via a custom firmware & an app called Cydia. Granted it's not as simple as it should be, but given what you guys like to do with WMC, it wouldn't be that difficult.

The thing i don't like but i'm now used to is battery life. My N96 used to last 3 or 4 days with regular use before needing a charge. If i don't charge the iphone every night it would be struggling after 3pm the next day & thats without doing anything with it.

But check what's coming....... here Who needs 2.39:1 uber doober cinema projector set-up with 15.3 surround sound!!!

[northan]

now that is nice. A portable pico projector that looks good.
Couple that with a next gen iphone soon to come out (removable battery rumored)

Just curious elootos, what sort of things can an android do, software wise that a iphone cant do. Only reason I ask, is that I just can't find anything yet app wise that can't be done on the iphone. In fact I just found a great WHS mobile app that will let me file transfer and fiddle to my hearts content all my server settings if need be. It pushes warnings to me if there is a problem on the server too. (and by gods I need that with my server)
I'm never closed to the option of other systems, just need solid convincing.