New phone?

[themanofthedark]

I need to buy a new phone - my Jack got wet, and now the center button refuses to work, as does the left button on the directional pad.

I have a temporary fix, as the Enter button can replace the Center select button, and Fn+c-clockwise scroll gives me the function of pushing the left button.

Since I sold my iPhone, I've had a ridiculous number of phones - I've had the Nokia 5610, the Nokia 6300, the BlackJack I, and the BlackJack II. there have been a few old MotoRazrs thrown in there somewhere.

Now, here is what I want,

I want a WinMo device, (but would go with something else if its good) preferably with a fixed keyboard, but sliders are alright, touchscreen would be nice,
It should have Bluetooth 2.0, with A2DP support
GPS should exist, and it should actually WORK (*cough*blackjack II's GPS fails)
it should have a fairly decent speaker, one that I can actually hear when it plays music, or a ringer.
3.5mm would be nice.
it must be 3G/GSM

any suggestions? I'm trying to stay under $250.

(i know the iPhone would be best, especially the 3GS, but, my father still won't let me get one)

[TarekElsakka]

Wish granted. http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e71-2425.php

Personally tried the phone, can say it pretty much is one of the best Nokia phones I've ever used before. Didn't buy it yet, but I am planning to really soon.

[themanofthedark]

beautiful - thank you - Nokias are really the best of the best.One question, Tarek, is Nokia Maps included in the software?and can you get turn by turn directions?

[TarekElsakka]

Of course, Nokia Maps is included in the software. However, some N and E series Nokia phones ask you to update it using WiFi or w.e connection you use. It's mostly to enhance its performance in your region. There are turn by turn directions (with sound as well). But to be honsest, I've never tried using Nokia Maps else where, since it doesn't work in Egypt, my father tried it in Dubai and he told me he got not just graphical street directions but also by sound. I am not sure if there's a sound pack you need to download from Nokia.com but there will be instructions given when you open the Application on your phone.

Good luck mate, if you buy it, tell me how it is. I'm planning to buy it this week or the coming one, I am just managing a few deals so I can get some money on my own lol.

[themanofthedark]

i'll see if i can con my father into letting me get a Wi-Fi device.

[themanofthedark]

p.s. does the HTC kaiser have GPS?

[TarekElsakka]

Yes, it does. I owned the HTC Tytn II about last year. It's pretty much a good phone but it has a lot of problems and is a bit hard to fix (harder than Nokia phones at least). So I am telling you, go for the Nokia E71, the HTC's touch screen SUCKS but the keyboard is nice.

About the Nokia E71:

GPS (http://www.gsmarena.com/glossary.php3?term=gps): Yes, with A-GPS support; Nokia Maps

*taken from gsmarena*

[Ramesh]

PM Aggieman - he has some phones he's trying to get rid of... including a n-95, I think.

[TarekElsakka]

Don't buy a Nokia N95 though, I have the 8GB one and I can tell you it's a bad experience. Plus, it's out of style and over priced.

[themanofthedark]

my dad found out about the Wi-Fi.I got the Samsung T919 instead.. its not a bad phone, from what I hear - a 5Mpix auto-focus flash camera, touch screen, very good HTML browsing and all the other good stuff. 3G and GPS are also included. One thing that i should probably have considered before pushing the "Buy It Now" button was that its not a widespread platform - meaning its not a PPC, nor does it run symbian, or any other widely known platform. so that means Skyfire won't be available, BeeJive won't be available, and that sort of thing. But i've heard of people somehow making it run WinMo 6.1, like the Omnia (correct me if i'm wrong, but either the omnia or some other new samsung runs winmo6.1)ah well. i guess i'll live somehow.

[TarekElsakka]

That's not a bad phone. You shouldn't have clicked Buy Now though, at least discuss it with your father first. But anyway, tell us how you think about it when you receive it (if you haven't already). And about installing Windows Mobile on it instead of the OS it already has, I am not sure about that, and I thought Samsung used Symbian?

Some flaws:

No Wi-Fi
No Radio
No Secondary camera for video calls and such
No Infrared Port (not important anyway)

It seems like a good phone all in all though, at least it looks good. You should do something about the Wi-Fi if you like to use it on phones, because I know some kind of a SD device that is a Wi-Fi card instead of a Memory one. You understand? It's something like this

http://www.theunwired.net/media/news/eastgear_wifi_sd_comparison.jpg

But of course with several different sizes so you can find one that fits your new phone. Congratulations man!

[themanofthedark]

well, my father said to me "I don't care what you get, but if i find out it has Wi-Fi, its going in the trash immediately, and you're using a Motorola Razr until you leave this house."that scared the hell out of me. such a bad phone.

[coasts]

what's the trouble with wifi?

[themanofthedark]

the reason he made me get rid of my iPhone was because I had been on the internet a lot.not that i'm on any less now, really, because most places i go, i have 3G service, and i just use that. I pay for my AT&T bill.a little off-topic question : this money is mine - i earned it through working at Shaw's Supermarkets. My father has no legal grounds to stand on if he wants to restrict my access to it, right?

[Europa]

That depends on your age.

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

Are you living at home?

[Ramesh]

That depends on your age.

Under 18

Are you living at home?

Yes.

[TarekElsakka]

Then he has the right to tell you not to use Wi-Fi. Wait till you go to the university dorms and then you can do what ever you want. You will not need the internet much at the time, though, you'll be busy with other more important things. You can just buy the SD card I told you about, it's cheap, and just hide it from him. :)

[TarekElsakka]

I just bought a new Nokia E71. I can tell you that it's amazing. Awesome size, keyboard, quality, and performance. It is faster than almost all of the Nokia phones I've ever used (speaking about the N and E series ones). I hope it continues that way, because I hate it when phones start freezing, you know. The Wi-Fi is amazingly fast as well as the 3G, but that's because I am in a good area that has good 3G service, it's still not as fast as 3G in the US. The GPS has voice directions, you can choose places to walk or drive to (optional) from states to supermarkets, but sadly GPS does not work in Egypt so I guess I'll use it when I'm abroad like my Dad did. If your father ever changes his mind about the Wi-Fi thing, I suggest you trade in your phone with an E71, it's pretty amazing and it has every thing you need - and much more. It has some amazing applications, especially the Office folder which is great. The camera, which was said to be the flaw of the phone, is not bad at all to me. I am not a fan of taking pictures at all, especially not using phones, so it doesn't really matter to me but I have tried taking pictures with both the N95 8GB (5 MP) and the E71 (3.2 MP) and I can't see much of a difference. The keyboard's letters are a bit small (like all blackberry and qwerty keyboard phones of course) but once you use it for about ten or fifteen minutes, you'll get used to it.

Sorry for the long post, was just giving you an idea on my first experience with the Nokia E71.

[christopher1]

You can use sony ericcson or any apple make that sounds cool and very easy and sound effects are also good,,,,

[themanofthedark]

so i've had the behold for a week, almost.Its a very nice phone, its very pretty..

the camera is simply amazing - a 5.0MP with auto-focus and flash.the speaker is quite loud, and the GPS works sometimes.
the touchscreen keyboard als has T9 with both the 1.@, 2abc etc configuration and the qwerty configurations, so its quite easy to type fast without mistakes.
3G. enough said. (altough, thats technically a double sided sword - its slower than AT&Ts 3G and doesn't work with it, either.)

some bad things -
t-mobile's firmware pisses me off. java apps are all very restricted, and i haven't figured out how to get a GPS program onto it (the software included is only a 14 day trial), and i can't use BOLT or Opera with it, although i am working on changing that.
its not a smartphone - it can't multitask.
no default e-mail application for it.
when sending an SMS message, you HAVE to wait until it says "Sent" before being able to get out of the messages menu.
it is impossible to adjust volume of music while doing anything else.
the microSD card is behind the battery, so you can't hot swap it.
the browser kind of sucks - i haven't been able to get on eic yet - i can lurk, but i can't log in.
all in all - its a decent phone, with decent features.
but its a little difficult to get used to after two years of mainly smartphones (iPhone, BlackJack, BlackJackII)

if anyone has information on how to debrand one of these, please let me know - i imagine a debranded version of this phone would be much better.

[Pakhangsari]

Has anyone over here has any idea about Nokia N97. The mobile looks real cool! I m thinking to go for it!

[TarekElsakka]

My friend's mother bought it and she's not that happy with it. That's probably because she doesn't know a dime about mobiles, so I suggest you go for it if you can afford it.

[aggieman]

Avoid the N97 like the plague. even the die hard S60 fans on HoFo are down on it. i haven't read one single positive review on it. RAM issues galore. S60 is just not yet optimized for a touch screen phone. If you can get it around $500 it's a maybe, but the $700 going rate right now, PASS. 128mb of RAM in it is ridiculous. For a flagship phone Nokia should have put more work into it. If I'm going Nokia, I'm waiting for the upcoming E72 which is the successor to the E71.

[themanofthedark]

128mb of RAM? i have that in my blackjack. its alright. not great, even for wm6 on a non-touchscreen, no-wifi, that type of device.

[aggieman]

128mb of RAM? i have that in my blackjack. its alright. not great, even for wm6 on a non-touchscreen, no-wifi, that type of device.

yeah, a phone like the N97 that's supposed to be Nokia's flagship should have at least 256 MB like the iPhone and Pre.

And the processor: ARM 11 434 MHz processor

Are you kidding me? I'd stick with the N95 or E71 before I spent money on the N97.

Blackjack isn't a bad device, I just don't think I can do winmo again, at least not till 6.5 is mainstream.

[AlexSmith]

You may check this new phone of nokia which is the n97.
The Nokia N97 wouldn't be such a disappointing device if it
weren't supposed to be the flagship multimedia smartphone
for the largest handset manufacturer in the world.
Release: June 2009. Price: $650.

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/nokia/nokia_n97_i06.jpg

[TarekElsakka]

32GB internally and SD slot up to 16GB lol. Crazy.

[themanofthedark]

i'd get an n80, because they're kickass.