Time To Renew The Phone Contract

[buggor34]

I thought i would ask my like minded buddies on SAU what your favourite phones

are on the market at the moment, from experience or otherwise. Hopefully you might

be able to help me choose a new one.

[R31Nismoid]

HTC Touch Diamond - i love mine. Although you MUST get the updated ROM's, otherwise its pretty slow (like most windows phones)... but once updated, it flies and is a charm to use.

[rtune]

iphone

the appstore makes it head and shoulders above the rest.

they just added skype as an app. So now you can call international from a wifi point for pennies,

the browser I think is unmatched by any other phone browser.. the games, at least, the time-wasting

ones, are as good as the DS. You can't argue with in-built itunes and ipod, amazon has the kindle reader for it,

the bloomberg app is amazing for financial news.

get an optus contract and it is basically free.. if you can put up with optus not being so good in the country..

version 3 firmware addresses the last couple of key complaints (copy paste)..

honestly I think only a perverse anti-apple attitude can rule it out.

[JAS-25T]

the interface wow's too many.

The real interface, i.e. the "must use apple everything" is bullshit.

[rtune]

yeah the interface wows but it also continues to be useful after the wow factor wears off..

and the way all the apps use the same paradigm isn't bullshit, it makes them all really easy

to pickup and figure out, from the first moment. But I see plenty of games that are just games..

no apple interface elements in sight. So it isn't a rule or anything, I think apps use

the touch interface gadgets because it is the best way to deal with lots of info.

my kid has been using kiddie apps on it since he was 2. He can unlock the phone, select

the app he wants, use it, quit it, and go start another one.. all without me helping.

[JAS-25T]

Yeah that's great, but I still have my 28yr old and a 30yr old who come to me asking me to load itunes on my pc (after I delete it everytime) so I can put music on it and update etc. because they wouldn't have a clue on how to do anything more than your son does. Just like most users it's intended for.

Still looking into the blackberry storm..............haven't made a decision on that or a HTC yet.

[rtune]

Yeah that's great, but I still have my 28yr old and a 30yr old who come to me asking me to load itunes on my pc (after I delete it everytime) so I can put music on it and update etc. because they wouldn't have a clue on how to do anything more than your son does. Just like most users it's intended for.

Still looking into the blackberry storm..............haven't made a decision on that or a HTC yet.

well that's your/their trouble, trying to mix itunes and windows..

if someone can effectively use a windows mobile based device, or a blackberry based device, they

can use more of what an iphone offers, and if they have a mac then itunes is well integrated, and

so is the iphone.

your 28yo or 30yo perhaps shouldn't have any smartphone, just like my parents. Give them a nokia

with big buttons and an easy to read display, and be satisfied if they learn to read and respond to an SMS

after a year of explanations.

[JAS-25T]

well that's your/their trouble, trying to mix itunes and windows..

if someone can effectively use a windows mobile based device, or a blackberry based device, they

can use more of what an iphone offers, and if they have a mac then itunes is well integrated, and

so is the iphone.

your 28yo or 30yo perhaps shouldn't have any smartphone, just like my parents. Give them a nokia

with big buttons and an easy to read display, and be satisfied if they learn to read and respond to an SMS

after a year of explanations.

Sure, I understand that the choices those people (and in turn me, by helping them) make in OS and effective use of the product can alter the experience dramatically, but this phone is marketed at those exact people. The ones who don't make the best decisions.

It's simple and easy to use touch screen novelty, along with ripe marketing tell you that your parents are the people it's intended for. Until of course all other markets are flooded.

[Black Widow]

Samsung Omnia is meant to be good

[Beer Baron]

omnia is crap. i've used one for a few days. hated it. iphone is much better. very easy to use and fast browsing. easy to use and fast email. good sms. good phone.

HTC touch HD is tha shit. HTC touch diamond is old. there are better phones from HTC now. even the HTC touch pro i think is better as it has a nice keyboard.

blackberry are rubbish. 90% of people who have one only have it cause that's what their office uses and gives them for free. sort of like a dog collar...

ihpone is a great phone. don't discount it just cause you hate apple (i hate them too, have never owned an ipod, or any apple pc except at work). i think ihpone 3g is the wiener.

[BigDirtyJase]

I thought i would ask my like minded buddies on SAU what your favourite phones

are on the market at the moment, from experience or otherwise. Hopefully you might

be able to help me choose a new one.

You know you will get a million and one different answers. The main question is what are you looking for in a phone and what network you are currently with?

The reason I ask for network (other than pricing wise) some networks have exculsive deals on handets (for example - Optus is the exlusive dealer for the HTC Dream while telstra for now has the excusive rights to Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and HTC's Touch Diamond and Touch HD)

For me i'm waiting for the Xperia to come to Optus (hopefully next week) it's a nice phone and the community has go alot of mods for this phone. Currently I have an old Sony Ericsson W850i and hasn't failed me yet but it's time for an upgrade.

The iPhone and very stylish phone but it lacks some features that are common on most phones (some of which is going to be resolved when the 3.0 software updates comes out - cut-copy-paste i'm looking at you)

As I said at the end of the day, what do you want on a mobile phone and what is it going to be used for (for example if your a tradie than an iPhone is not recommended)

[JAS-25T]

HTC touch HD is tha shit.

Tell me more about "tha shit"

and much like BDJ say's it's a shame its only on telstra because thier plans/caps are not competitive.

[BigDirtyJase]

Tell me more about "tha shit"

and much like BDJ say's it's a shame its only on telstra because thier plans/caps are not competitive.

look at this link GSMArena - HTC Touch HD Specs

yeah tell me about it - I want the Xperia but not willing to go on a $150 phone plan for it. and I think the Touch HD is only on ther MRO plans (handset repayment of $41.62 per month) which sucks the balls

[R31Nismoid]

The reason I ask for network (other than pricing wise) some networks have exculsive deals on handets (for example - Optus is the exlusive dealer for the HTC Dream while telstra for now has the excusive rights to Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and HTC's Touch Diamond and Touch HD)

You can buy the HTC's from www.expansys.com.au ... AND they are about $100-$150 cheaper than what Telstra want outright for the exact same thing.

So its not exclusive at all, only exclusive in that they offer them as a bundle with a plan

[JAS-25T]

brb, visiting www.expansys.com.au

[BigDirtyJase]

Nismoid - that's very true if you got the money to buy it outright then yeah I would but a Touch HD or Xperia X1i (the Telstra one is the X1a) but I don't have the money to buy outright...

I don't know how mobile companies can get away with exculsive mobile phone deals

[Black Widow]

omnia is crap. i've used one for a few days. hated it. iphone is much better. very easy to use and fast browsing. easy to use and fast email. good sms. good phone.

HTC touch HD is tha shit. HTC touch diamond is old. there are better phones from HTC now. even the HTC touch pro i think is better as it has a nice keyboard.

blackberry are rubbish. 90% of people who have one only have it cause that's what their office uses and gives them for free. sort of like a dog collar...

ihpone is a great phone. don't discount it just cause you hate apple (i hate them too, have never owned an ipod, or any apple pc except at work). i think ihpone 3g is the wiener.

O RLY?

I'm just goin off what i heard

[Munkyb0y]

oooh good thread

my gf is currently looking for a phone that she can run trading software on. only for closing out trades etc. not for full on trading via the phone.

now she is tossing up between the iphone, and the blackberry bold.

gimme your opinions and keep in mind what she needs it for. it needs to be reliable/stable, and fairly quick.

also, i heard something about email account set up on the blackberry requires something something lol. ie. not just punching in your email settings.

[Beer Baron]

sony experia X1 is pretty good too. i've used one for a day and liked it.

HTC touch HD is money. like I said forget diamond unless you just want a cheap-ish one. they are superseded now.

apple 3g is so easy to use and means you actually get the most out of web browsing, you tube, email etc. it's a gret phone. and there is an ap for everything. i was installing a washing machine the other day in my place and wanted to make sure it was level, downloaded the spirit level ap and away I went! phone turns into a spirit level. nice.

omnia really is a rubbish phone. the touch interface is crap. typical samsung junk. I had high hopes for it but after two days was ready to introduce it to kindly doctor foot to put it out of it's misery.

[NZMO]

yeah i use the Apple iphone, get a lot of use out of it for all different types of apps, im curious though to have a play with a Blackberry, like someone commented though i have seen many people using Blackberry because their company pays for it,like the old 02 pda phones that many companies would supply their I.T staff with in the past.

It really depends greatly on your use at a user end of things.