Requesting advice and reccomendations for a new phone

Claypigeon

Hey guys, I'm considering purchasing a new phone and I'd like some advice from the people in the know, particularly people who may have used multiple smartphones and the like in the past - I'll post what I'm after as reccomended by the sticky -

• What features are important to you in a phone? (i.e. camera, gps, FM radio, Stereo Bluetooth)

I'm mostly after a Smartphone such as the iPhone/Droid/equivalent because I want easy access to the internet from my phone on campus at University and potentially elsewhere if a constant internet service is available. Things like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc are all my kind of sites. A camera isn't a huge deal but from what I can tell most smartphones have a decent camera. Music playing capability and a good memory to store said music is a pretty nice option too but the outstanding factor that syncs up with all of these for me is battery life. I can't see myself being able to tolerate poor battery life if it means I only get an hour or three out of it when I'm online or using apps and other functions. I'd probably use apps a lot.

• Form factor - i.e. touchscreen, slider, flip phone, etc.

I'd like something relatively handy but not neccessarily the tiniest thing going - I doubt anything going at the moment is huge at any rate. I'd prefer not to have sliders or flips, touchscreen is fine by me provided it's a good one.

• Internet - is 3G/mobile internet important, or WiFi/EDGE

I'd like to be able to get online via available wireless networks but if there's a way to have persistent internet on a smartphone I'd like it (provided the cost isn't skyhigh).

• Operator - have you an operator preference

I don't much mind which network I go with; I have used Vodafone mostly since my first mobile but I've used an o2 phone recently for their free calls to same-network - they all seem largely the same apart from coverage maybe which I doubt is a big deal (I live between Sligo and Galway).

• Pre-pay/Bill-pay/SIM-Free - have you a preference for either

I don't mind which - I use my phone mostly for a small amount of calls and texts to friends ie meeting up for different things like lunch or nights out basically nothing in the way of a lot of conversation via texts. They're all o2 basically so o2 would be the best "same network calls and texts" provider for me. As far as Billpay goes, I've never had a bill plan before but if it works out good value for me then I have no qualms about it.

• Price range

Value is the major thing, if the initial price and the actual running costs such as the bill or internet costs (apps also I guess, do they cost much?) balance out as being decent then I don't have much of a budget provided it's not astronomical. As I've mentioned I'm not a huge texter and mostly network through Facebook chat or MSN so calls and texts wouldn't run up a massive bill on their own, are there plans that would work out cheap for me?

Any and all help appreciated, anyone who has experience with smartphones or using the iPhones or other manufacturers alternatives very much welcome in this thread, thanks in advance.

strecker

Hmmm... i could rattle off a few dozens of phones that tick your boxes.

Generally though:

iPhone is a great phone, but. But:

though the large screen makes it comfortable for surfing, battery life on that thing is notorious. (I'd say you easily get 3 to 4 times the juice out of a Nokia E-series phone such as the e71 etc).

Also: you say you use the web a lot. Now, people use the web in different ways. If you check twitter regularly, and read some email, data usage on any phone shouldn't be too heavy/costly. If you look a lot at full websites with loads of images etc etc then the iphone is quite kb-hungry - the Safari mobile browser uses a lot of data. (I once tried an E71 side by side with an iPhone 3g s - visiting the exact same sites, loading the same emails etc etc...at the end of the experiment my e71 had used 2.5mb of my data allowance, while the iPhone had used almost 10!!! Something worth considering when you don't have wifi around you all the time.
That leads me to browsers: if you often find yourself in areas w/out 3g/wifi coverage, you want a phone with a browser that goes easy on data trafick, while still giving you a decent web-experience. Opera mini is a third party browser that runs on many many phones (but NOT on the iPhone.) - it compresses website server-side and the page is rendered on your phone quite cleverly - making browsing bearable even on small-ish screens, data usage is reduced by 40-90% depending on website/content etc...

Then there's online video. Some phones' browsers can play youtube and other vids just like your pc's browser...others need 3rd party apps etc etc... Again, if that is not important for you, forget I mentioned it.

You say a cam would be nice. HOW nice? Because, whoa, there are big differences. The e71 has a 3.2 mp that is just about unusable unless you need loads of photos of rocks in bright day-light. Other 3.2mp phones get you pretty decent shots. i've used 5mp phone cams that were worse than some 2mp cams I've used.
But if you're just talking bout the odd snapshot, you're right: most 'smartphones' will do the trick.

Also worth considering: many touchscreen phones lure you with their nice big screen, but: typing on an onscreen keyboard is not everyone's thing, and definitely something that takes getting used to. Also: the moment that onscreen keypad pops up, you lose a lot of that lovely big scree. Often you only have a line or 2 left to see while you're typing. When you write/edit a lot on your phone that can be annoying.

Claypigeon

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah I'm using a Samsung Tocco Lite at the moment so it's basically a smartphone's retarded cousin. It has a touchscreen of course so I'm accustomed to using that. You say there's 3-4 times the battery life in a similar Nokia, but exactly how many hours of battery is there on an iPhone (ish, ie 3-6, 7-9, what have you). How little is little is what I'm asking.

How does internet access work outside of a Wifi zone really? Is it charged out of your credit as it would be on my current phone (Vodafone, not on a bill) or is it different when on (for example) an iPhone on billpay?

My internet use as you say would be limited to Twitter, Facebook, possibly an instant messenger and some forums; nothing exceptionally image heavy.

Camera really isn't a massive deal. Remotely functional is the key here, I generally have a digital camera/Handycam on hand anyway. Just nice for the occasional quick photo or video.

Do you know much about apps in general? Do they range from utterly useless to mediocre or are there some genuinely good ones? (iPhone)

smegheadz

nokia n900, is a mobile internet device with phone /sms capabilities.

skype/gtalk/msn etc built in to talk and txt conversations. (msn is an addon you download but skype is out of box)

it's a slide so not your first choice but i'm of the same mind, i'd prefer not to have a slide, but this phone blows me away. i'm not a major txter, i'm mainly on msn/facebook/websites etc and it's perfect for me. it has a proper desktop browser not a mobile toned down browser.
There's alot i can say about it but your better off checking out the video's people are making of it on youtube. there's some idiot reviewers out there (mainly american) so watch alot of the how too video's to see how it is.

maemo.nokia.com has all the info you need to know.
I'm not one to be impressed by the latest gadget but this is something anyone who is a heavy web chatter and user would appreciate. with it's full flash support (not mobile flash lite) and intergrated chat applications into the contacts and conversations.

other then this phone i'd say get a moto droid or wait for the new symbian's out this year because they will have all you are looking for but not as advanced as the n900, they'd be more like the iphone and andriods but have a broad range.

Claypigeon

Interesting, thanks for the info. I'm still curious about how billpay for example with an iPhone would work - how much is the cheapest effective package and how much do you pay for independent internet regardless of wifi location etc?