Best VALUE smartphone

DiarmaidGNR

Hi all!

I'm thinking of getting a new mobile for around €200 (negotiable) - preferably a smartphone, - does anyone know of one that is good value with great features? A nokia N-series would be great as my last phone was a N70.

I was waiting for the N95 to come down in price, but it's starting to look a bit dated, or is it?????

I was considering a nokia 5800 express music, - anyone have any experience of it?


Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!!

not_xanthor

DiarmaidGNR wrote: »

I was waiting for the N95 to come down in price, but it's starting to look a bit dated, or is it?????

I was considering a nokia 5800 express music, - anyone have any experience of it?

!

N95 is still a decent phone. N96... had some issues. N97 has some too..
In fact the N95 8GB is probably a better phone than the one (n97) that i have now.

5800 is popular, perhaps deservedly so, but my personal experience has been that it's a bit slow, and the camera looks just a mite washed out.

DiarmaidGNR

not_xanthor wrote: »

N95 is still a decent phone. N96... had some issues. N97 has some too..
In fact the N95 8GB is probably a better phone than the one (n97) that i have now.

5800 is popular, perhaps deservedly so, but my personal experience has been that it's a bit slow, and the camera looks just a mite washed out.

Thanks for the advice!
The N96 is an N95 without a graphics card.
The N97 just seems awkward to use to me, I'm not familiar with its features.

A friend of mine has the 5800, when he got it he said it was great, but then he used someones Iphone for a while and could never get used to the 5800's "****ty" touchscreen again.

My main concern with the N95 is whether or not the web browser is any good? -Youtube etc? Internet would be my main concern/motivation in choosing a new phone. (has to have wifi and a fast processor) - like a cheap version of google's android.:D

Bluefoam

HTC hero, about €79. Great operating system and loads of great apps.

EPM

Bluefoam wrote: »

HTC hero, about €79. Great operating system and loads of great apps.

+1. Only downside is the camera in poor lighting. I also have a Blackberry 8520. You'd prob find one for close on your budget. I find it great

DiarmaidGNR

Bluefoam wrote: »

HTC hero, about €79. Great operating system and loads of great apps.

I'm after looking at the HTC hero and it costs about €350, where did you get €79?

gcgirl

5800 is a really good phone and i just updated it and its flying.

DiarmaidGNR

gcgirl wrote: »

5800 is a really good phone and i just updated it and its flying.

What did the update do?

DanGlee

€79 for Hero would be contract.

For about €250 Vodafone have the HTC Tattoo, which is a similar spec to the Hero, its the same 528MHz chip (as used in the Hero, Diamond and many other HTC devices) I had the Diamond, was very good with a cooked ROM!

The Tattoo would be very good. Has GPS, WiFi, Internet, etc. Not sure about 3G, probably does. The main gripe with this phone is the screen resolution, but its a low end smart phone, you get what €250 pays for. Defo worth it if your not into spending stupid amount of money on a phone and or bills like they have for the jesus phone!

Also being Android, it will probably get most of the firmware updates!

nmesisca

DanGlee wrote: »

€79 for Hero would be contract.

For about €250 Vodafone have the HTC Tattoo, which is a similar spec to the Hero, its the same 528MHz chip (as used in the Hero, Diamond and many other HTC devices) I had the Diamond, was very good with a cooked ROM!

The Tattoo would be very good. Has GPS, WiFi, Internet, etc. Not sure about 3G, probably does. The main gripe with this phone is the screen resolution, but its a low end smart phone, you get what €250 pays for. Defo worth it if your not into spending stupid amount of money on a phone and or bills like they have for the jesus phone!

Also being Android, it will probably get most of the firmware updates!

yes it has 3G, and its (in theory at least) scheduled to receive the 2.1 Update sometime in february.
Its a great phone for its price and the only difference with Hero is basically the resolution of the screen.
some of the apps in the market are still not compatible with the reduced res. but the modifications required to make them work are not massive, so expect to see most of the new software released for any of the available resolutions.

billbond4

You could also get the SE Satio, great for taking pictures and its running the same OS as the Nokia N97

DiarmaidGNR

billbond4 wrote: »

You could also get the SE Satio, great for taking pictures and its running the same OS as the Nokia N97

It's €500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

billbond4

its 279€ on O2 as an upgrade

Jack burton

Well i have the HTC Tytn II now and i think its one of the best phones ive ever used, have a cooked rom packed with software and it really is some piece of kit for the price of 150 i got mine for

DiarmaidGNR

Jack burton wrote: »

Well i have the HTC Tytn II now and i think its one of the best phones ive ever used, have a cooked rom packed with software and it really is some piece of kit for the price of 150 i got mine for

Where did you get it?

Jack burton

DiarmaidGNR wrote: »

Where did you get it?

Got it it England a litle while back, Putting it up on adverts later on this week id say if my Xperia X1 comes through

LittleLebowski

Ive had a 5800 for a couple of weeks now and I just updated it. Its a great phone and the longer i have it the more I like it. Plus nokia just released ovi world maps for free. It turns the 5800 into a pretty decent sat nav (tried it on the bus this morning) and you can just download the maps for any country free at the touch of a button. Loads of cool apps to. Think its only €170 online at the moment. Food for thought.

nmesisca

LittleLebowski wrote: »

Ive had a 5800 for a couple of weeks now and I just updated it. Its a great phone and the longer i have it the more I like it. Plus nokia just released ovi world maps for free. It turns the 5800 into a pretty decent sat nav (tried it on the bus this morning) and you can just download the maps for any country free at the touch of a button. Loads of cool apps to. Think its only €170 online at the moment. Food for thought.

i never had one but a friend said the battery life was just abysmal

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

breeno

I upgraded from Nokia 5800 to the HTC Hero in November and have the say the Hero is light years ahead of the 5800. I liked the 5800 but found the touchscreen very restrictive and the software a bit too basic. The hero can do everything the 5800 can do and more. It's screen is far better, internet browsing is better and has far more apps available on the Android platform. I hadn't heard of the Android platform until I got the hero but have to say it's very good. The hero is also getting Android 2.1 update(same software that nexus 1/google phone has) in Mid February.

It's purely my opinion but the hero is streets ahead of 5800. Think it's available for €49 on meteor bill now too.

Just my two cents.

Edit -

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

In fairness, battery life on 5800 was pretty good. Heavy use would be a day max, but I remember being at a festival with light enough use, and getting 3 days out of it.

DOC09UNAM

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Two days my ballocks.

if you're using wifi, music player or even 3Gs, you'd be lucky if the battery lasted 15-16 hours.

LittleLebowski

At the start the 5800 battery life scared me it was so short but a week or 3 later and it seems to have charged up or something. Get about 2 days now depending on use.

DOC09UNAM

LittleLebowski wrote: »

At the start the 5800 battery life scared me it was so short but a week or 3 later and it seems to have charged up or something. Get about 2 days now depending on use.

Depends on what you use really, apparently the Wi-fi drains the fúck out of it.

LittleLebowski

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Depends on what you use really, apparently the Wi-fi drains the fúck out of it.

Think there an app for monitoring your power usage. Might be worth gettin to have a look. Think its free but could be €2.

DOC09UNAM

LittleLebowski wrote: »

Think there an app for monitoring your power usage. Might be worth gettin to have a look. Think its free but could be €2.

I hate the way they charge for apps aswell, iPhone has some of the best free apps ever, you'd think the ovi store could make more of an effort!