Best New Smartphone

[Guest present]

Been mostly happy with my C500 this year (I'm sure any of you who have used them will be aware of their quirks) and looking into getting an upgrade. Been out of the loop for a bit - what would you recommend as an upgrade? I've heard rumours of wi-fi on these little phones, that would be awesome.

I used the PocketPC version for a while (the i-Mate jam thing) but went back to the C500 in the end just cos it so convenient and easy to use with one hand.

Can you get Skype working in the new smartphones? ;)

Be nice to have a phone without the infamous 'donk' on SMS thing too...!!!

Cheers!

[Guest Jamma14]

Been mostly happy with my C500 this year (I'm sure any of you who have used them will be aware of their quirks) and looking into getting an upgrade.  Been out of the loop for a bit - what would you recommend as an upgrade?  I've heard rumours of wi-fi on these little phones, that would be awesome. 

I used the PocketPC version for a while (the i-Mate jam thing) but went back to the C500 in the end just cos it so convenient and easy to use with one hand.

Can you get Skype working in the new smartphones?  ;)

Be nice to have a phone without the infamous 'donk' on SMS thing too...!!!

Cheers!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a few new phones due to come out quite soon, like the breeze and the star trek. For what I'm thinking of upgrading to, have a look at the sig.

Just not sure whether to make the break to ppc...?

--Star Trek

--i310

or

--Hermes

--Universal

But, if you're sure you want a smartphone, I'd recommend:

(In no particular order)

-Star Trek

-Breeze

-i310 (depending on the battery)

-sp5/sp5m (can't remember codename, tornado maybe?)

Although only the (tornado?) is currently out at the moment, but the others will be out soon, and they look interesting..

Edited March 19, 2006 by Jamma14

[Guest present]

Tornado looks real good. Anyone UK based know if Orange are doing / planning anything decent?... Would prefer to stay with them (devil I know) but fill me in if anyone's doing much better here now ;)

[Guest mini_man]

Be nice to have a phone without the infamous 'donk' on SMS thing too...!!!

Just thought you might like to know that this can be fixed.

http://www.gpcarreon.com/?p=121#more-121

[Guest present]

Thx miniman... I just find all this stuff such a chore - spent ages getting a decent homescreen working when I 1st got this thing... my point is that we shouldn't HAVE to do all this stuff, the OS should be designed with the USER EXPERIENCE in mind!!

Has this sort of thing been sorted in WinMob 2005 version?

[Guest mini_man]

Do you mean "Has putting things onto your phone and customizing it been made easier"

Then no not really, Microsoft dont intend there phones to be customised like we do now. They are designed so that they can be customised but i dont think microsoft intended it.

Its not exactly a chore though, I think your reffereing the fact that you have to get all these plugins to get the homescreen to work properly, but its not really that bigga deal.

1.) The Homescreen designer lists the plugins

2.) You download them

3.) Transfer them to your device

4.) Open them on your device

5.) Load the homescreen.

Its not really difficult.

What would you like to see different so that the OS is designed with User Experience?

[Guest present]

Well - just things like that 'donk' not being there in the 1st place! ... Search function built in ... copy/paste functionality ... task list I can actually EDIT !!!... These seem to me to be such basic things, all present in Symbian systems I've used straight from the box. With winmobile I've had to spend ages fooling around (and BUYING software!!) just to get these basics working. And they're STILL not perfect.

Now don't get me wrong, I LIKE Winmobile and plan to continue using it - it's just a techy faff to get the damn thing doing what any decent OS does by default.

By the way back on topic ;) -

> Tornado looks real good. Anyone UK based know if Orange are doing /

> planning anything decent?... Would prefer to stay with them (devil I

> know) but fill me in if anyone's doing much better here now ;)

[Guest chrisc28]

Well - just things like that 'donk' not being there in the 1st place!  ... Search function built in ... copy/paste functionality ... task list I can actually EDIT !!!... These seem to me to be such basic things, all present in Symbian systems I've used straight from the box.  With winmobile I've had to spend ages fooling around (and BUYING software!!) just to get these basics working.  And they're STILL not perfect. 

Now don't get me wrong, I LIKE Winmobile and plan to continue using it - it's just a techy faff to get the damn thing doing what any decent OS does by default.

By the way back on topic ;) -

> Tornado looks real good. Anyone UK based know if Orange are doing /

> planning anything decent?... Would prefer to stay with them (devil I

> know) but fill me in if anyone's doing much better here now ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The utilities aren't actually part of Symbian, I believe. It's just because Nokia and SE are much better vendors in providing a complete suite of applications pre-loaded onto their smartphones, hence Symbian becoming a better OS. HTC doesn't care about all this, but Samsung and Motorola actually have pretty good apps pre-loaded onto their MS Smartphones. It's a pity they don't release as much mainstream devices as HTC do.

[Guest present]

mmm right ok... are any of the samsung / motorola devices wi-fi? worth getting?..

[Guest Tech]

worth having the imate SP5m ;)

[Guest present]

worth having the imate SP5m ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

MMM Yeah, want it. Any UK providers doing this one?

[Guest spacerace]

MMM Yeah, want it.  Any UK providers doing this one?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Vodafone have it as the v1240, I think T-Mobile will be bringing it out aswell. The Orange C600 is similar, but is lacking the WiFi.

[Guest present]

Damn - I've been using Orange for years but I'd really like the wi-fi...

Anyone got any thoughts on T-Mobile vs Vodaphone?

[Guest spacerace]

Well you could always get the SP5 on contract with any network from an independant supplier like Expansys. If you're gonna switch I'd go for T-Mobile who will be introducing unlimited GPRS for £7.50 / month from 1st April. They also announced a load of new smartphones coming in June.