Help me choose a new phone! :)

[Guest NikLP]

Ello!

I've got a SPV E200 at the moment. Frankly I think they're a bit pants, but that's just me. I am about ready for a new one, but I don't know what I should get.

Here's your opportunity to help!

I'm thinking I'd like an M2000 - but I'm not sure if I can afford it, or if it has sufficient features. I want to stay with the MS system, I've found using outlook (NOT for email) to be very helpful (now running my own business). The rest of the apps are fairly pointless... I would like to have 3G and WiFi enabled, and possibly Tri/Quad band (I'm off to the States in October for a bit). I'm not really bothered about weight but the wifi thing would be useful now (as a web developer in a city).

I'm a little bit concerned that if I go for a C500 a) I won't get my Wifi, and ;) a new phone will come out a week later (as usual).

Go for it!

[Guest NikLP]

Should have mentioned that I'll most likely be remaining on Orange unless someone can advise of a decent deal elsewhere...

[Guest Disco Stu]

Moved to Help & Advice

[Guest NikLP]

Ok no-one wants to help me choose a new toy??

This has to be a first...

Is there anything between a C500 and an M2000 that will fit the bill here or what?

Come on chaps! ;)

[Guest Jamma14]

Well I'm more of a smartphone guy so I'd say a c500 as you'll be able to get it for free, or you might want to wait for the 550 - but it will be a while and could cost quite a bit with not that many more features. You could go for a dopod 585, sp3i or mpx220 if you really wanted but these are more expensive and very similar to the c500 and you would have to buy them sim free probably as they are not available on Orange. Also, most people here (I would guess) have a c500 so you'll be able to get lots of advice if you need it.

Also, it won some award for best smartphone or something. So my advice is:

Go for the c500.

[Guest chucky.egg]

If you need WiFi you're not going to get that any time soon in a Smartphone, your best bet would be an M2000 or similar.

If you just need contacts, calendar and can live without WiFi you could try a C500 or an iMate JAM (to which you could add a WiFi card if it became a problem).

What features are you looking for that aren't in the M2000, and what features are of no use to you?

What apps will you be using a lot, and what are the "nice to have" things?

[Guest Confucious]

C500 SmartPhone no wifi, M2000 PPC phone with wifi.

Both tri band which could be a problem in the states as some areas are 850.

It depends what you want from a phone, for me the M2000 is far to big but it might suit yo, if you want something smaller the jam could be an option (but I believe you'd have to add wifi which will bump the price up even more.

Horses for courses - your choice.

Good luck.

PS - if you don't use any of the other apps, do you really need a SmartPhone/PPC ? What do you use outlook for?

Edited May 23, 2005 by Confucious

[Guest Alex_le_brit]

Sounds like an M2000 then is you want WiFi.

Oh and can I have your E200 ? ;)

[Guest NikLP]

Well I don't *have* to have WiFi, it would just be quite useful as I move about a lot and my laptop is not as light as they made out it would be! ;) I would like it but I don't need it, per se. I would definitely buy an M2000 if they weren't so bloody expensive.

I definitely need pocket outlook, I use the calendar and contacts sync features constantly (I would be doomed without them). I run a small business (web dev) which means I need to keep a tight hold on what's going on.

Other than that, stuff I do/don't use: well the camera, but not frequently as the quality is horrific - haven't checked the res on the C500, is it still 640x480? Video is also pretty much useless, far too slow. pIE I don't use much as the net access is still relatively expensive through orange. I use a webmail client but they don't have a PDA version (yet) so I don't use the net thru the phone much (this is something that I wanted to overcome with the WiFi)

Don't really know what else to say - I got so annoyed with the E200 for various reasons (mostly the unbelievably cack joystick) that I don't really want another year with one of these if it's going to be that bad. Plus bluetooth is completely A.R.S.E on these things. What's the point of having bluetooth on my pc's if the phone doesn't even talk to them without being rebooted and cajoled every five seconds?

I was mostly wondering if there was something out there that was likely to make me happier than the C500 and cost less than the M2000 between now and christmas... or sooner...

[Guest Confucious]

C550?

[Guest chucky.egg]

Yeha, C550 might be out soon (somebody said end of June, but that's not official) and might be very nice.

With past experience I'm in no rush to go out and buy it though, there may well be subtle "issues" with it that only a months worth of use will show up.

If you're mainly interested in Calendar and Contacts, with a little bit of web and the odd photo you could look further afield - Sony Ericsson P900/P910 (Symbian UIQ) is half way between M2000 size and C500 size, and has a screen to the same scale.

Don't believe what some people say - syncing with Outlook does not mean you have to use ActiveStink. The Symbian sync software does a fine job, albeit a tiny bit slower, and is more flexible.

Can't speak for the Treo's - the only time I've used one I couldn't adapt to it in the first day and just gave up.

[EDIT]

If you want PDA access to your emails you could try this:

http://mail2web.com/pda/

http://mail2web.com/pda/cgi-bin/login.asp?lid=0&il=0

[/EDIT]

Edited May 24, 2005 by chucky.egg

[Guest Confucious]

I agree with what Chucky has said but don't know enough about the "competition".

The only UIQ phones I've used have been Motorola's (A920 and A1000) where the Synching is awful! But I believe it is a lot better with the SE phones.

My only thought is, if that's all you need are there any non-smartphones that would meet your needs (and possibly be a lot cheaper). Dare I suggest a N*kia? I have no idea what the Synching with outlook is like but both the SmartPhones and smartphones are probably overkill for what you are actually using.

HTH