New smartphone - opinions?

Mark_In_Hampshire

Hi

I have an HTC Touch2 smartphone which I bought about 18 months ago.

The finish is all faded, the battery is dying already, the screen was and is too small to use comfortably, and the Windows Mobile operating system was and is absolutely dreadful.

I'm not a big Apple fan and I don't see much point in paying the extra for Apple stuff. Also I don't really use it as a phone, more as a portable pocket PC, and so I'm looking at PAYG only as all the contracts seem to be £30 for 2 years type things and I wouldn't accept a contract of more than a year at most.

This time I want an Android phone.

Key priorities are 1. Sync with MS Exchange 2. Google Maps 3. Decent browsing experience which must also support Flash.

So browsing around I've got the list down to:

Samsung Galaxy Ace 199.99

HTC Wildfire 129.99 or Wildfire S 229.99 (not sure about another HTC though after this one, it really ought not to be dying after such a short time)

Nokia C5-03 149.99

Anyone have one of these? Is it any good?

Scotty1.7

I've got the Wildfire S, and to be fair I use it as a phone, but its great as anet based device at Home.

Screens not great size wise though (3.2 inchs)

Good spec though I think and it wirks well enough for me

And I've got my battery life upto 2 days of normal use

jbainbridge

Nokia - not android.

Wildfire - is ok but the screen does let it down. Given the price though it's not bad.

Wildfire S - the screen is a vast improvement. New model with upto date software. This would be my choice.

Galaxy Ace - similar in spec to the Wildfire S - not quite as slick though.

Also consider the Orange San Francisco which can easily be unlocked and used on any network.

Mark_In_Hampshire

@jbainbridge - Nokia - well spotted on that one

The screen size on the HTC I have is about 1.75" w x 2.25" tall.

Basically, too small to use for typing anything. I don't have fat fingers, but even I struggle to hit the right keys unless I hold the handset in both hands at exactly the right angle and stab just above where each "key" is on the screen with the edge of my nail.

Battery life was the other thing - this HTC was always poor at the best of times, battery life is down to about half an hour of talk time or about 10 hours of standby now. One call and it needs recharging for a long time.

On the other hand, it was well priced and if it weren't for Windows Mobile my experience probably would have been better (got that because I wanted full Exchange sync e.g. contacts, calendar, notes - I realise most others will probably only sync contacts and mail)

Was tempted by the Samsung but the comments above mean I think I'll go back and take a second look at that Wildfire/Wildfire S, they're all around the same price point anyway.

One more question for those with HTCs - where does the dictionary come from? As I have to turn off the intellisense on this, because it's American and dangerous For instance "keys" becomes "jews", it knows "McDonalds" but nothing else of much more than two syllables and some of the defaults are daft - words like "of" come out as "nd" randonly and so on. It's worse than useless and quicker just to type it all out than it is to have to go back and spell words manually.

Is that a feature of the Windows Mobile OS (and Android differs) or it it an HTC feature?

dulcificum

The OSF is far better and cheaper than the Wildfire.

flashg67

dulcificum wrote: »

The OSF is far better and cheaper than the Wildfire.

Care to advise why - not that I have experience of the OSF

flashg67

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

One more question for those with HTCs - where does the dictionary come from? As I have to turn off the intellisense on this, because it's American and dangerous For instance "keys" becomes "jews", it knows "McDonalds" but nothing else of much more than two syllables and some of the defaults are daft - words like "of" come out as "nd" randonly and so on. It's worse than useless and quicker just to type it all out than it is to have to go back and spell words manually.

Is that a feature of the Windows Mobile OS (and Android differs) or it it an HTC feature?

I don't like the Wildfire dictionary - not sure if it's HTC's or Androids? It has some daft defaults but at least if it doesn't recognise the word it highlights in orange (green if it likes it) so you get a warning before you accept the word.

I have found the HTC Wildfire battery life is poor - 1 day with wifi & bluetooth turned off... maybe the Wildfire s is better?

dulcificum

The Wildfire's screen makes it pretty much unusable unfortunately. But then, the OSF camera is also unusable.

Wildfire has much better battery than OSF.

z3phyr04

To be honest you'd be better getting a Desire (cheapest), Desire S, Desire Z or Incredible S if possible than a Wildfire if you need Maps and decent Browsing capability. Don't let your bad experience with Windows Mobile put you off HTC's Android phones. Haven't looked back since I got rid of my N97 and wouldn't consider anything else. Sense is brilliant. I don't know about the dictionary but when I have it turned on I find it quite useful filling out longer words quickly for me saving time typing!

dulcificum

Yeah Android is in another league to Windows Mobile.

H.Horton

BlackBerry device is the best one for business people due to BBM - BlackBerry Messenger!