Smart Phones...which do I go for!

griffster

I've never had a smart phone, and now have the opportunity to upgrade. Problem is, most contracts on these are either very expensive or tie you in for at least 18 months, so I want to make sure I get a decent one that I'll be happy with if I upgrade. IPhone's seem to expensive (from the deals I've seen), but I have read that the HTC HD2 is supposed to be very good, the Nokia N900 is also a pretty decent phone. The Blackberry Storm 2 is another that's taken my eye. I've always had Sony Ericsson's before as they've been pretty good, and they have the Xperia X10 coming out in February. Is it worth waiting for that one to come out to see what it's like? Not so bothered about having too many games, I'm more interested in being able to roam the internet, easy texting, and a relatively decent camera.

It's a minefield out there!!!

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I love my N900, it is a very powerful, very featured phone that is priced to sell if you take out a contract. The handset has 32Gb storage and has a faster processor than the latest iPhone 3GS. That model iPhone sells for about £72 per month on O2 with a 24 month contract if you pay £0 for the iPhone handset. The N900 can be had for free on a £35 monthly contract (or £30 plus about £13 for the handset) on Vodafone.

Smartphones are really more about how featured you want them to be. The N900 is not a sleek, sexy phone - its design is good, I like it, but freely admit the iPhone is far sleeker and slightly lighter. For me the important thing is about the phone being unrestricted. I can replace my own battery if I need to, I can install whatever software I want and I do not have to use specific software on my PC unlike the iPhone which restricts all of this (as Apple do not like you messing with their phone).

The 900 has a great camera, one of the best out there on Smartphones. Texting is easy using the pull-out keyboard or on screen, but on-screen texting can only be done in landscape mode (at the moment). Internet use is brilliant and the N900 is the only phone out there with Flash as far as I am aware.

jclegs

It's not out yet but the HTC Bravo looks like it's going to be one to look out for:

http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/htc-bravo-found-hiding-in-poland

almillar

Don't forget about the Palm Pre!

griffster

jclegs wrote: »

It's not out yet but the HTC Bravo looks like it's going to be one to look out for:

http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/htc-bravo-found-hiding-in-poland

Is this the Google phone then or a different one?

griffster

almillar wrote: »

Don't forget about the Palm Pre!

What can you tell me about this then? I've seen some good reviews but some equally bad ones on this phone.

nsabournemouth

griffster wrote: »

What can you tell me about this then? I've seen some good reviews but some equally bad ones on this phone.

UOTE=griffster;29354579]What can you tell me about this then? I've seen some good reviews but some equally bad ones on this phone.[/QUOTE]


Have a look here

http://www.palm.com/uk/en/

I was very keen to get hold of it and when it first came out i played with it and thought about taking it back in the first 2 weeks.
Glad i kept hold of it.

One of the many things i like about this is the way you can update your phone. Palm send out updates over the air so that means no need to hook it up to a computer and one of the ways they are showing how great his is done is by adding Video Capture to the Pre, you just download the ability to do so by downloading it via the web straight to the phone.

The Pre also backs up your items on the phone, apps etc etc, in the background every day so if you're phone is lost or stolen when you get your new one you sign in to your Palm profile during the set up of the phone and everything is downloaded for you. Also if your phone is stolen / lost you can delete everything from the Palm website.

Apps are few and far between but so s the iPhone when it first came out. You can sync emails very well and you decide if the phone looks for them or if you do it as and when. The phone notifies you of emails and SMS etc at the bottom of the screen.

You can also sync contacts from Facebook, Yahoo and Googlemail so if for example you have a friend on Facebook and in your contact list for Googlemail they will be stored under one contact.
It does everything else any other phone will do apart from video capture but that is released in a week or two and with the iPhone you had to but a new handset for the video capture, Pre will give it to all Pre owners over the air.

Multi tasking is great on the Palm so you can have many apps open and running at the same time so you can open 1 app and open another with no need to re open what you may have been doing.
Like how all conversations are kept with each person so for example a text,email and if you have used Google Talk IM they are all kept in date order and from there you can decide how to contact that person,text, email or im
You can also sync your calendar such as outlook or Google etc etc with your phone.

Looking forward to Flash 10 on the 1.4 update which will also have the video capture function and then in March EU users will get the paid app catalog but there are some very good apps in the current app cat to use.

maxtweenie

griffster wrote: »

Is this the Google phone then or a different one?

Same spec different phone, both made by HTC. the Nexus One (Google phone) can be bought unlocked from the USA for about £350 in total, and will be released here exclusive to Vodafone shortly I believe. The HTC Bravo (known in the USA as the Passion) won't be available here until March, and probably only on TMobile to start with. They both have a 5mp camera, and a Snapdragon 1ghz processor and Android 2.1.

jclegs

Yeah, it's basically the same spec as the Nexus One but with an optical trackpad and HTC's Sense UI.

almillar

nsabournemouth has done a great sales pitch and I can't really add much. perhaps you'd share the negative stuff you've heard and we can put you straight if required. I'm a long time Palm user, and the new OS continues their tradition of simply being able to get things done quickly. This is something that never shows up in the specifiations, but makes a big difference.
Biggies for me other other phones are the hardware keyboard, Synergy (the automatic syncing of everything, without the user doing ANYTHING, as well as very cleverly pulling together all your contacts), multitasking (and the way that it does the multitasking).
I'd like the battery to last longer and the little door for the micro-USB plug is a but fiddly until you're used to it, but it's the best smartphone for me by a mile.

griffster

I've seen reviews like these (see the reader reviews at the bottom)

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/palm-pre-500030/review

This one also highlights the battery issue and that WebOS 1.3 isn't attracting much development of apps

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2009/10/full-palm-uk-revie.html