What would you have instead of an iPhone?

[Mnia786]

id say anything, i hate all apple stuff as they are money grabbing theifs

True that. I think one of the main factors that put me off the iPhone is the fact you cannot even change the battery. The love to maintain their monopoly but often show blatant disregard to consumers ;/

80 quid for a replacement battery? Think not lads....

[starbuck]

Problem I have with apple(apart from the fact that it took them years to have a phone with 3G and multimedia messaging is not yet available(not until V3 anyway) is that if you "jailbreak" the phone so you can use it on any network, they threaten to brick your phone the next time the software is upgraded(as per threads a few months ago).

I know a lot of it has to do with their exclusivity deal with O2(in the UK at least) and it's worth a lot of money. But to have the possibility of killing your phone seems a bit ridiculous(I think they normally just re-lock your phone but there was the possibility of it getting bricked).

[burrellhead]

sony erricson c905

[rox0r]

N97 is coming in the next 2-3 months and I'm looking to pick one up. Symbian OS is stable, powerful and more than anything, a mature platform with a massive community. An array of apps and S60 v5 built on top make it my choice. Great specs too, 5mp cam, 32gb internal mem and all the usual S60 stuff makes it a top device.

As an N95 8Gb owner I was all geared up and eager for the N97. Unfortunately, the more I learn of the spec the more I'm disappointed and feel it's nothing more than an updated 5800. For starters they have left out a graphics processor (again, the 5800 is crippled without one yet Nokia say they are 'pleased with the performance'), the processor is also no more powerful than the N95 8Gb or the 5800 and is reported in some cases to be marginally slower than the already quite sluggish 5800.

I have to be honest, I'm hanging on to see what the next Iphone will be like, the N97 just isn't that much of an immense upgrade from the N95 8Gb for the immense pricetag it will come with.

[charger]

Sony ericsson w995, coming out soon, looks quite awesome spec wise. Got rave reviews to.

[XA04]

I can also recommend a Touch HD. I'm yet to upgrade the ROM on it but I'm looking into it. As stock (with orange) it's still a really great little phone. It's probably not as easy to use as an iPhone but once you've got the hang of it you really do have a lot of flexibility and room for a lot of fun.

Only downside I would say is the camera... it has a 5mp one without a flash... my N95 had a 5mp camera with a flash and the quality was much better (without the flash anyhow).

Lovely huge screen.. great for watching movies and other videos. Works great with my uni email (exchange), gmail, etc.

Obviously since it runs windows mobile you have a huge variety of applications for it too! and a huge developer network.

[timtim86]

Wow, there's a lot of suggestions there, thanks for the input everyone. Looks like I have a lot of phones to consider!

Just one quick question (for the people who actually like iPhones!)- would you buy an 8GB iPhone 2G if it was £115 without a contract, and then use a simplicity sim? I have a friend that wants to get rid of one and I'm his first port of call. He'd get more than that on ebay...

[XA04]

Depends what you actually want your phone for at the end of the day. Personally I wouldn't buy an iPhone at all, nevermind an old one - but that's just personal preference.

What phone do you have now? Don't want to be taking a step back for some pretty icons!

[Bunjiweb]

I would say that without the 3G internet capabilities the iPhone is fairly crippled...

[timtim86]

Depends what you actually want your phone for at the end of the day. Personally I wouldn't buy an iPhone at all, nevermind an old one - but that's just personal preference.

What phone do you have now? Don't want to be taking a step back for some pretty icons!

Nokia 6300 at the minute - great phone, if all you want is a phone.

I'd probably take that iPhone straight away if it had 3G - how big is the different between EDGE and 3G?

[Funkstar]

how big is the different between EDGE and 3G?

I can't really say for sure, but what I do know is: there is a huge difference between regular 3G and HSDPA on my TyTN II.

I'm using T-Mobiles network for internet access at the moment, and sitting at my dining table I get three 3G bars. Sitting on my sofa nearer the window I can get one or two bars on HSDPA. And the difference in response times and throughput is huge. I don't have numbers, but browsing the forums is a lot better when I sit on the sofa

You also notice a big difference when streaming map data from Google while driving about when you are switching between the two networks.

So I would say there would be a marked difference between Edge and 3G. Personally I wouldn't want to use Edge if I could possibly help it.

[kwo]

Nokia 6300 at the minute - great phone, if all you want is a phone.

Loved that phone when it came out and still quite popular. Gets the job done.

Consider the HTC Magic?

HTC Magic (Google Phone 2) Android - Unboxing by Bazzlad

[finlay666]

X1 like I have or an HTC windows mobile device

HUGE amounts of customisation over the iphone and better build quality and looks than the G1

And then there are the wealth of free apps available on the internet (and the XDA forums)

SPB mobile shell 3.0 I would say is better than the iPhone interface and far easier to customise