Help buying a smartphone on meteor?

ScienceChickxx

What features are important to you in a phone? (i.e. camera, gps, FM radio, Stereo Bluetooth)
Features are a camera, gps, radio, good battery
Form factor - i.e. touchscreen, slider, flip phone, etc.
I dont mind, but they are nearly all touchsceen as far as i know
Internet - is 3G/mobile internet important, or WiFi/EDGE
3G wifi and edge
Operator - have you an operator preference
meteor
Pre-pay/Bill-pay/SIM-Free - have you a preference for either
currently on pre pay but willing to go bill pay
Price range
Nothing mental but if the phone is worth it and will last I will concider

Any help/comments would be appriciated! I'm clueless at this kind of stuff. I had an old android and it broke. I'm missing the whole 3g internet thing big time!! I'm also pretty blind so a phone where i dont have to have my glasses with me 24/7 would be great!

ongarite

I'd go for the Samsung Galaxy S based on your needs.

Large 4 inch screen, good battery & FM radio too.

Ardennes1944

not on meteor but unlock codes are free on the android thread here, i recommend the orange san francisco.
amazingly good phone for 140ish

evolutionqy7

I would have said Omnia 7 on Meteor but theres only one decent navigation app

Samsung Galaxy S or Desire Z would be my choice cause of google maps navigation

cnocbui

Samsung Wave S8500 for €334 Sim Free

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-S8500-Wave-Mobile-Phone/dp/B003LBT9Q6

If you are on bill pay with Meteor you can get the Wave 2 free, but the screen isn't as good as the OLED on the original Wave S8500.

A Wave will do everything you have mentioned and has superb build quality but is a good bit less expensive than equivalent hardware that runs Android. The Wave runs Samsungs own Bada OS, which I find excellent. Samsung have discounted the high end hardware in order to attract users to the new OS.

There is no way to magnify everything on the screen, but you can pinch to zoom in text messages and in the web browser the same as on an iPhone.

PS - It also has the best battery life of any smartphone.

kirving

Features are a camera, gps, radio, good battery

Nokia N8.

Has good battery life in comparison to most smartphones, a 12MP Camera, a decent radio app with excellent earphones and reception, and OVI Maps(free navigation without using data, so it will be fine without a data plan)

evolutionqy7

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Nokia N8.

Has good battery life in comparison to most smartphones, a 12MP Camera, a decent radio app with excellent earphones and reception, and OVI Maps(free navigation without using data, so it will be fine without a data plan)

Cmon that camera is nowhere as good as the figure say it is. Either way Nokia N8 at this stage is a dead phone and no point buying any Symbian product at this stage since at the end of year their adopting Windows Phone 7 and Symbian and MeeGo will serve as the lower end cheap phones

ScienceChickxx

Thanks for the feedback! I heard the software on the samsung is not as good as some of the other android? Any thoughts on HTC models?

evolutionqy7

Well theres some users complaining on boards that their messages getting deleted on the Desire HD. Desire Z seems to be fine from feedback though.

Yeah samsung suffers from lag issues

strecker

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Cmon that camera is nowhere as good as the figure say it is. Either way Nokia N8 at this stage is a dead phone and no point buying any Symbian product at this stage since at the end of year their adopting Windows Phone 7 and Symbian and MeeGo will serve as the lower end cheap phones

Whoa...how is it that you write such excellent posts/threads about the HD2 and winmo/wp7 in general, and then you post such utter BS here??? The N8's camera is absolutely as good as is claimed - numerous real tests prove it's the only cam phone on par with a dedicated digital camera. Symbian is not yet dead, either. In Q4 the N8 outsold the Galaxy S and pretty much most other high-end contenders. Sales in Q4 improved overall. But you probably think it must be crap cause it doesn't have a Snapdragon processor? It's disappointing cause you make sense in 'your' threads, yet here you just spout biased nonsense. And no, I don't currently own an N8 - actually I use a HD2 and a 9780, but you shouldn't confuse your presumptions and personal taste with advice. The op wanted some simple advice. And your hip Anti-symbian rant distracts.
The guy who suggested the N8 made a lot more sense.

strecker

ScienceChickxx wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback! I heard the software on the samsung is not as good as some of the other android? Any thoughts on HTC models?

I had a Galaxy S for 2 months, and there was some significant lag - especially when some app was synccing in the background or when I slipped from 3G to 2G pretty much everything came to a halt for 5-10 seconds. Rooting and applying the fix didn't help, either. Otherwise, the Galaxy S was okay - and for its screensize and features it had an acceptable battery life.
I reviewed the HTC Desire HD for mobot.net - initially I was very impressed. In fact, I'd still say it's the best of the Android lot, but for MY needs the battery performance was just too poor. I had to charge at least twice a day - though admittedly, I have skype IM on 24/7 and 4 mail accounts plus loads of forum activity. That aside, I would chose even a HTC Wildfire over a Galaxy S (okay, I'm somewhat biased against Samsung - their software update policy is iffy, my Galaxy lagged badly and NO 400.00 + gadget should come with such a shoddy battery cover. Millions disagree with me)

evolutionqy7

strecker wrote: »

Whoa...how is it that you write such excellent posts/threads about the HD2 and winmo/wp7 in general, and then you post such utter BS here??? The N8's camera is absolutely as good as is claimed - numerous real tests prove it's the only cam phone on par with a dedicated digital camera. Symbian is not yet dead, either. In Q4 the N8 outsold the Galaxy S and pretty much most other high-end contenders. Sales in Q4 improved overall. But you probably think it must be crap cause it doesn't have a Snapdragon processor? It's disappointing cause you make sense in 'your' threads, yet here you just spout biased nonsense. And no, I don't currently own an N8 - actually I use a HD2 and a 9780, but you shouldn't confuse your presumptions and personal taste with advice. The op wanted some simple advice. And your hip Anti-symbian rant distracts.
The guy who suggested the N8 made a lot more sense.

I dont WP7 got faults too nothings perfect

Atleast i dont have to charge my phone twice a day :P

I got data on and regular usage + games and it lasts me a day easily on the Omnia 7

Main reason i moved away from Android was the battery life was crap for my usage.

Though having said that the battery life is crap on HD7 too. Omnia 7 seems to perform way better.

Symbian devices are slow and outdated. And every N8 user will tell you that they get regular lag and it wont be fixed till its reset to factory settings. My mate in the house has one and he has to wipe it every once in a while just for that reason. All my previous Nokia "smartphones" suffered from the same issue. On top that he has to send his N8 back cause it wont turn on lol

ScienceChickxx

strecker wrote: »

I had a Galaxy S for 2 months, and there was some significant lag - especially when some app was synccing in the background or when I slipped from 3G to 2G pretty much everything came to a halt for 5-10 seconds. Rooting and applying the fix didn't help, either. Otherwise, the Galaxy S was okay - and for its screensize and features it had an acceptable battery life.
I reviewed the HTC Desire HD for mobot.net - initially I was very impressed. In fact, I'd still say it's the best of the Android lot, but for MY needs the battery performance was just too poor. I had to charge at least twice a day - though admittedly, I have skype IM on 24/7 and 4 mail accounts plus loads of forum activity. That aside, I would chose even a HTC Wildfire over a Galaxy S (okay, I'm somewhat biased against Samsung - their software update policy is iffy, my Galaxy lagged badly and NO 400.00 + gadget should come with such a shoddy battery cover. Millions disagree with me)

You had to charge your phone twice a day!!!!! That seems crazy to me!

kirving

I made a sensible suggestion, the N8 ticks all the OP's boxes, and is relatively cheap.

In fairness, I've had to turn mine on/off a few times alright. However, this is because I've been playing around with BetaLabs Qt Apps from Forum Nokia which haven't been released yet, so I'm not expecing them them to be flawless.

I've never had to wipe it, and if I really do have to re-install the firmware one day, my stuff isn't even deleted....


I know what the reply to this will be - Nokia's slow release of Symbian^3 PR1.1, and PR2. I have to agree that this is a pain for some of us.

I've had a heap of Nokia Smartphones for the pas 7-8 years, and others in between. At the end of the day it's down to personal preference because you really won't be left wanting very much at all with any high-end smartphone (once you do a tiny bit of research).