New mobile phone advice

Posted by: Jonathan Gorse on 25 September 2009

Hi,

Phones bore the pants off me and the plethore of models is a minefield.

My wife needs a new mobile and would like:
Big touchscreen for viewing family photos
MP3 player to carry her music on the device
Facility to access the web when at home for email (We have BT broadband wireless router)
Must be vodafone because its the only reliable network at the house in the sticks!
Line rental ideally 300 mins/month min for £20 a month or less.

The Nokia 5800 Expressmusic seems to tick most boxes but so does the HTC magic and Samsung Blade and Jet models. Can anyone point out any significant differences?

Cameras and the like are irrelevant as we both have good cameras. I'm also rather confused by the whole internet on a phone thing. Am I right that as long as you're using the web on the phone at home via the BT broadband wifi there should be no charge? Do you only incur charges when roaming and using the web etc?

Sorry if these are basic questions but would welcome some advice without spending hours researching!

Thanks,

Jonathan

Posted on: 25 September 2009 by gone

I am in the sticks, and I changed from Vodafone to O2 because of coverage issues. I only say that because the iPhone does everything you want in a package that even I can use, but of course it's O2.
If other phones are the same, the phone will browse via WiFi automatically when it's available/connected, so there's no charge. You only use (and pay for) your data allowance when away from your WiFi out of the house.
A word of warning - avoid using data when abroad unless you need it for e.g. business - it's bloody expensive, and I'm always surprised how the megabytes clock up
Cheers
John

Posted on: 25 September 2009 by nocker

quote:
Originally posted by Jonathan Gorse:
Hi,

Phones bore the pants off me and the plethore of models is a minefield.

My wife needs a new mobile and would like:
Big touchscreen for viewing family photos
MP3 player to carry her music on the device
Facility to access the web when at home for email (We have BT broadband wireless router)
Must be vodafone because its the only reliable network at the house in the sticks!
Line rental ideally 300 mins/month min for £20 a month or less.

The Nokia 5800 Expressmusic seems to tick most boxes but so does the HTC magic and Samsung Blade and Jet models. Can anyone point out any significant differences?

Cameras and the like are irrelevant as we both have good cameras. I'm also rather confused by the whole internet on a phone thing. Am I right that as long as you're using the web on the phone at home via the BT broadband wifi there should be no charge? Do you only incur charges when roaming and using the web etc?

Sorry if these are basic questions but would welcome some advice without spending hours researching!

Thanks,

Jonathan

An unlocked iphone will do it all, and control your HDX in the future!

Posted on: 25 September 2009 by Bruce Woodhouse

Well one simple solution is any cheap phone that works on the Vodafone network and an iPod touch for the pics/music/web browsing.

I hate complex mobile phones (in fact mobiles in general) and the web interface on mine is clonky and horrible. iPod Touch is a sweet device and you would not have to worry about your web browsing time/charges this way if you have WiFi at home.

Bruce

Posted on: 25 September 2009 by Fred Mulder

Jonathan, I can recommend the HTC touch pro 2.

It has a big touchscreen, easy to type with keyboard and a user friendly interface. Works fine with Vodafone. (I've bought the phone separately because Vodafone didn't have a packagedeal).

I'm using it for 1,5 month now, and I'm very pleased with it. Previous one was the good old Nokia 6210 (to bad, I really loved it). Selecting a new one was quite annoying

(I thought with buying cookies there are too many choices...) Good luck hunting!

Posted on: 25 September 2009 by Jono 13

Jonathan,

A buddy has the Nokia and really likes it. He also reckons that it holds the signal better than his wife's Sony.

I like the Nokia menus as well. They are reasonably consistant from one model to another.

I would also agree that the wi-fi thing is great and free as it is Un-Metered Access, UMA.

Jono, always a Nokia chap.

Posted on: 26 September 2009 by Willy

I've had a Magic for about four months now and no complaints. On an unlimited tariff and 600mins for 35 quid a month. Coverage here is crap on all networks but I've got a femtocell (routes calls via my broadband) in the house. Would check on how the wi-fi to 3g switching works, I never bother with wi-fi. In fact this message was sent from my magic via 3g and over my BT broadband.

Willy.

Posted on: 26 September 2009 by Jonathan Gorse

Guys,

Thanks for the great advice - it is much appreciated. Well I finally went with the Nokia 5800. Part of the appeal was the fact it is guaranteed to work on Vodaphone and has a standard headphone socket so she can use her Senheisser in ear phones with it unlike many others with proprietary conections.

Just got to set it up now!

Can report back if anyone's interested.

Thanks again

Jonathan (PS SO far I want one too just so I could ditch my old (bulky) Sony MP3!