Argh - please help me choose a phone

LMac

I am going in circles with comparing phones and trying to find a site where I can compare most aspects of the phones capibility (rather than comparing contracts...yet)

Anyone know of any?

I would like a decent camera, 3g, word/excel or similar, iplayer, flash (eg for watching youtube etc) Anything else I should look for? Im rather out of touch with the new technology!

randomtask_2

I believe you're essentially describing a smartphone with a good camera and multimedia support. The Sony Ericsson Satio is the first phone that comes to mind (though there have been issues widely reported with it)

Try GSM Arena's Phone Finder search: http://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3

(not a perfect buyers guide or anything, but decent enough starting point for side by side spec comparisons)

LMac

Exactly what Im looking for. Thank you! I will narrow down choices and check out possibles on youtube.

CasparBone

For me (a big Apple fan) iPhone whoops everything and due to the Applications available, is far beyond anything out there. I know others will disagree but I will never go back to the main big phone companies (Nokia/Samsung etc) until they get anywhere close. You can watch almost live TV on it at iphone.tvcatchup.com (28 different channels) in any 3g or wifi zone. (Ipod Touch can get this in Wifi zone too). Flash not required to watch You Tube - there's a built in application to take you straight there. You can view word/excel/pdf etc. no I don't have shares with Apple. The camera's not great but I've got the 3G model, not the latest 3Gs. I hear that Tesco are about to sell the iPhone before Xmas on their network (or whoever they 'piggy-back') so likely to be a bit of competition at last on pricing.

randomtask_2

I'd be inclined to say that an iPhone would be the most obvious device but the OP does state a 'decent camera' as the first feature they are after, which suggests it is (currently at least) the most influential factor and why I mentioned the Satio first.

LMac

Caspar, I was looking at the iphone (prob the 3g, 8gb) I had read a bit about flash on iphone, and that put me off, so glad to hear theres a workaround/fix.

I think tesco piggyback O2. I had thought about using them and last night I signed up to be notified for release. However, not sure about competition in price as apple are apparently fixing prices.

When you say you can view word excel etc, is it exactly that, or can you edit too? I had a play around with one this morning but it was my friends hubbys phone so didnt want to invade his privacy, so didnt do much more than play around with front screens and music bit.

randomtask_2

word and excel viewing is via the quickoffice app

LMac

Ive mislead you! LOL - camera isnt necessarily the top priority. Camera is handy. I want A camera. Decent one is a bonus. I really want to be able to edit documents and be able to use iplayer / itunes.

Reason camera was mentioned first was I had just been watching a review on youtube re the satio - the camera obviously made a bigger impression on me that I thought!

albyseinu

Apple dictate the price of the iphone, the price of the device will be the same, it's the tariffs that will cause a stir, and when it becomes available to voda as well................but it is a truley fantastic device and i have relegated my nokia to the bottom drawer, SE are inherently faulty at the moment and have been for a while, don't touch with a barge pole, go into an o2 store and play as all the devices are working and tryable.

CasparBone

LMac, Flash isn't available on the iPhone yet which can sometimes be annoying when trying to view a Flash based website but the other features more than make up for it. If you can stretch to it, the 3Gs is considerably quicker to load up apps etc than the 3G (which I have) and once loaded up with your photos, music, films, TV shows etc 16Gb can quickly get used up. albyseinu has got it right - go to a store and play!

LMac

Was very excited to see tesco are launching the iphone on the 14th. But then it occurred to me that I cant remember ever seeing the 3G symbol on my current phone, which is on O2, while in my house. According to their map, the coverage in my postcode is high... slightly worried. I may not be getting a smartphone afterall

Will enquire further when I get to the O2 store tomorrow

Thanks for your help everyone.