Need a new phone opinions please

[Gunbuster]

Went to Carphone Warehouse, to try out some phones. My local (Kirkcaldy) was out of the 6610i as they had sold them all. It at least shows they are popular. Another that was out of stock, was the Siemens CX65 was recalled because of a bad batch. The good news is that Siemens did it on their own initiative to stop customers receiving below standard phones. They both look to be contenders so I'll try one of the Edinburgh branches.

The two that I did try were the Siemens SL55 and the SE T360 both in black. The SL55 was very nice, looks alot more masculine than the old red and silver style, nice keypad. The screen was no worse than my T68i and the OS seemed a little older, but intuitive. A genuinely nice little phone and the cheapest of the sliding type phones I've seen. Having tried a T610 I thought the T630 would be more of the same I wasn't quite prepared for how much nicer it is. Firstly the screen is insanely good, I would have no worries using it in direct sunshine and the sharpness is significantly better. Also the Black simfree T630 is different from the T-mobile one, the keypad is black like the sides and the speaker part at the top is a dark metal effect. It is a phenomenally classy looking phone. So the T630 is winning, but I want to give the Nokia and the Siemens a fair crack.

[Tom]

Well, you'll be glad to know that the C500 is a complete disaster. The Java JVM is broken on it and 99% of Java games will not run on it.

It's also very ugly, you have to take the battery out to swap memory cards and apparently the battery life is shoddy too.

I'd probably go with one of the Nokia 6xxx phones you mentioned. They're not the most exciting phones in the world but they've got some well-implimented features and great battery life. The Nokia 6610i can be had for £149 from the Carphone Warehouse.

The only negative is that the Nokia sync software can be a little tempremental.

whoa whoa whoa hold back...c500 is the best phone out atm....java doesnt work no, but no one really cares considering the game designed for windows mobile completely are FAR better. The biggest surprise i have heard is that you said the battery life is shoddy!? The battery is great! I accidently left it streaming music OVER BLUETOOTH so constant bluetooth use and audio decoding for 10 hours and it went from 84% to 27%.....

ugly? in pictures yes....i agree. really un-photogenic, but its is very nice in the flesh. it is unbeleivably better than any nokia offering out and ive tried what are supposdely the best(6600/6230)

The screen is the best quality I have seen on ANY phone. The only problem with the c500.

The only real problem with the c500 is the GAPI problems for games but that has almost been completely fixed already, and how many buttons can be pressed at once during games, but most games work very very well with it.

DivX / XviD / OGG / OGM / MP3 / WMA / WMV playback is flawless and bloody good quality, just get yourself some decent headphones and a 60p adaptor from maplins and you got a very nice quality mp3 / video player (films are very watchable surprisingly).

you mentioned the miniSD card being under the battery as being a problem but then recommend nokias? are you high or just stupid? nokias have their cards under the battery too. I prefer this as i have had phones with the SD card on the external body where they are hot swappable and the amount of cards that i have lost through them coming it is stupid.

as for software faults found on MPX200...what do you expect? it uses 2002, afaik the very first windows mobile. There has been 2 revisions since then and it is fantastically better (2003 SE now).

really please do some homework before you start slagging off a product you dont know.

[Aaron]

Mmmm.... a nice flame directed at me.

whoa whoa whoa hold back...c500 is the best phone out atm....java doesnt work no, but no one really cares considering the game designed for windows mobile completely are FAR better. The biggest surprise i have heard is that you said the battery life is shoddy!? The battery is great! I accidently left it streaming music OVER BLUETOOTH so constant bluetooth use and audio decoding for 10 hours and it went from 84% to 27%.....

From the Microsoft Mobile websites I read on a regular basis, a lot of users have been complaining of battery problems with the C500. I wouldn't know personally, I've only used the C500 for about an hour.

ugly? in pictures yes....i agree. really un-photogenic, but its is very nice in the flesh. it is unbeleivably better than any nokia offering out and ive tried what are supposdely the best(6600/6230)

I've held it. It looks very cheap, especially the buttons. I guess this point is subjective though. It's no-where near as nice looking as a 6230, IMO, though I've never been a big fan of the 6600's form. The C500 looks like it was made by a generic tawainese PC maker, IMO.

The screen is the best quality I have seen on ANY phone. The only problem with the c500.

Again, I'd disagree with the screen comment. It's not the worst I've ever seen by a large margain (certainly much better than the Motorola MPx220), but compared to something like the Nokia 7610, especially in direct sunlight, it looks very average.

The only real problem with the c500 is the GAPI problems for games but that has almost been completely fixed already, and how many buttons can be pressed at once during games, but most games work very very well with it.

The lack of a a directional keypad and the not being able to press two buttons at once makes action games virtually impossible to play. As a hardware problem, it's unlikey to get fixed too. Puzzle games still work fine though.

you mentioned the miniSD card being under the battery as being a problem but then recommend nokias? are you high or just stupid? nokias have their cards under the battery too. I prefer this as i have had phones with the SD card on the external body where they are hot swappable and the amount of cards that i have lost through them coming it is stupid.

The 6110i I recommended even have an expandable memory slot so I don't know what you're going on about.

The Nokia N-Gage QD has hot-swappable MMC slot, though most Nokia's do not. I prefer the hot-swappable approach, especially when I want to transfer pictures since BT can be very slow.

as for software faults found on MPX200...what do you expect? it uses 2002, afaik the very first windows mobile. There has been 2 revisions since then and it is fantastically better (2003 SE now).

Fantastically better? How comes it has problems with Java games then? Again, I regularly read a number of MS mobile websites and they're filled with people reporting software glitches. Apparently the most common problem is with the phone freezing. The fix? Taking the battery out.

really please do some homework before you start slagging off a product you dont know.

c500 is the best phone out atm

I always find owners of mobile devices to be the most rabid in defence of what they own. The iPod vs. the rest debates are always very heated. PDA debates also seem very heated. However, mobile phone debates are usually the worst.

I've played with the C500, I really don't seeing it being a big seller, despite Orange giving them away.

What phone is the best is very subjective. It depends what you want to do with it and what your budget is. You could say that the SonyEriccson P910 is "best", you could say that the Motorola V3 Razor is "best", you could say that the Nokia 6230 is "best". My personal preference? The Nokia 7610.

[Gunbuster]

Calm down dears its only a forum thread.

I always find owners of mobile devices to be the most rabid in defence of what they own.

Semi-agreed, but the amount of hassle people get for suggesting a browser other than Firefox or an MP3 player other than an iPod can get equally scary.

I would say a mobile phone like most things is about finding the right answer for yourself not some sort of absolute truth. However giving advice based or personal knowledge or average experience from reviews and forum threads can be helpful.

For me I don't need a smartphone, although what I like to call a cleverphone (normal phone with smartphone-esc facilities) does sound nice. I finally tried the 6610i which I thought was very nice, the screen wasn't on a par with the T630 (more T610 quality), but Nokia's clean UI compensates for that. As I usually find with PCs and other electronics once you threaten to replace them they stop acting up, so I am going to keep my T68i for the moment even if the case is looking abit scabby. I at least know now what I can replace it with once it kicks the bucket.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Tom]

I forgot to mention that the JAVA is NOT for games anyway, it is for applications, just turns out a few games do work. Java games are almost all platform specific, like you cant expect a Sony Ericsson game to work on a nokia, so why expect it to work on an SPV? Go try and play the smartphone edition of hexacto links on your nokia....

you say it 'still' doesnt work with java games too....if you hadnt noticed the JAVA midlet manager is new to the c500?

You also say it lacks a directional keypad......did you REALLY hold it? did you not notice that the up/down rocker *gasp* goes sideways too?

Screen quality is very good, havnt seen the 7650 though. How can you say it is average? Also how can you say its better than the mpx220? unless you're someone special you won't have seen one in the flesh yet and even if you did it would be a pre-production model. Average screen would be what most phones have. it is tons better than any phone i have used. inc k700i and 6230. 6230 is a really poor phone next the c500 (i have both, so i think its fair for me to judge that)

Build quality is very good imo, body feels very good quality. buttons dont feel fantastic no, but i like them, very nice to use, reasurring click when pressed etc. The rocker is very nice, something that looks like it is going to be poor but feels great the instant you use it. Looks wise, I have yet to show this to a person who hasnt thought it was nice, so fraid its only you there.

i frequent MS mobile sites and forums too, infact i work for one of the largest MS mobile newsites (you've probably read some of my posts ).....and I haven't heard a single complaint about the battery, thats the one point everyone, except you seems, agrees is great. I meant the GAPI fix is almost ready, not the multi key press as this is unfortunately a hardware problem....but that will probably be rectified in the T-mobile SDA.

I'm not saying its flawless....I'm saying its the best phone on the market ATM that I have used. I will have a try of the 7650

[Aaron]

You also say it lacks a directional keypad......did you REALLY hold it? did you not notice that the up/down rocker *gasp* goes sideways too?

Sorry, my bad. I should have said that it lacks a conventional directional keypad. I found it very tricky to use for games (less so for menus, etc).

unless you're someone special you won't have seen one in the flesh yet and even if you did it would be a pre-production model.

I work for a company (who shall remain nameless ) making smartphone software. I see a lot of smartphones.

i frequent MS mobile sites and forums too, infact i work for one of the largest MS mobile newsites (you've probably read some of my posts )

Sounds you're a little biased then. Don't worry, I am too.

I hope you don't work for MS Mobiles. The guy who runs it is one crazy mofo.

I'm not saying its flawless....I'm saying its the best phone on the market ATM that I have used.

I'd say the best phone right now is the Fujitsu 900iT. Smartphone, fully 3G, two cameras (one optimised for video, the other for still pictures), touchscreen and fingerprint recognition - all in a regular sized clamshell. Sadly it's only for the Japanese market.

I will have a try of the 7650

I hope you mean the 7610. The 7650 is about 3 years old and very dated.

You might also be interested in trying the Nokia 6260, Sendo X and SonyEricsson P910.

[Gunbuster]

Argh, I never wanted this thread to become a 'heated discussion'.

Tom: I heard independently about the C500 problems, but I agree the rocker seemed very nice when I tried the display model and it does look a lot nicer in the flesh.

Aaron: If the c500 has a strange directional pad the keypad on the 7610 is equally odd. I've never bought into Nokia 'fashion' keypad designs, otherwise it looks nice.

Either way you both have phones you love and fit your needs, be happy. Many people have crappy, crashy phones on networks that barely give any service and charge a fortune.

[DeludedGuy]

Update:

My mother has had the Sony Ericson T630 for a month now, its a good phone for the price, but the picture quality, screen quality and features are nowhere near as good as the Nokia 6230.

[Tom]

yes indeed i meant 7610 sorry My mate is getting a 7610 due to its ability to play ngage games (he has an ngage right now and a nice stockpile of games, so wants to be able to use em)

I work for www.msmobilenews.com which is nothing to do with MSmobiles (need to say that as people often get em mixed up lol). I'm doing a bluetooth headset roundup soon if the manufacturers manage to get all the headsets to me before the other manufacturers ask for the ones ive already got back lol....so watch out for it

[Aaron]

I work for www.msmobilenews.com which is nothing to do with MSmobiles (need to say that as people often get em mixed up lol). I'm doing a bluetooth headset roundup soon if the manufacturers manage to get all the headsets to me before the other manufacturers ask for the ones ive already got back lol....so watch out for it

Cool. I'll keep an eye-out for the article.