New phone recommendations?

Buford T Justice

Hi Guys

Currently on Meteor and thinking of upgrading my phone. I got the lend of a 5800 over the weekend and the maps are pretty good.

Can someone recommend a smart phone that is good, reliable and not overly expensive? I'm not really interested in an Iphone as its way too expensive, but I was thinking of something that I might be able to get for free on an upgrade

Thanks.

nathanl

The HTC Android phones are a good alternative to the iPhone. Meteor do the HTC Wildfire or the new beefier Desire S for upgrade prices.

Buford T Justice

Thanks. Do they allow to download maps to the phones like Nokia, so I only need a gps signal to pinpoint my location?

Lcronin2011

The samsung galaxy ace is meant to be really good, thinking of getting it myself! has maps and the whole lot! €240 euro tho.. bit more pricey than the htc i think?

langdang

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Thanks. Do they allow to download maps to the phones like Nokia, so I only need a gps signal to pinpoint my location?

I believe the HTC Desire S and Desire HD allow you to preload maps onto them rather than constantly downloading. I'm in the market for a smartphone and can't figure out which of these to go for!

EDIT - double check the Desire S.
OVI maps will be the only thing I miss if I move away from Nokia.

srsly78

Nothing to do with the Desire. What you mean is "google maps" downloads data on the fly. There are other navigation apps you can install on any android phone, "CoPilot" is one that stores maps locally.

OP, the type of phone DOES NOT MATTER for this. Only the map application you run. If you run google maps on a Nokia it will behave exactly the same as on android. But yes, Ovi maps that comes for free with Nokia is actually very good (Nokia's only saving grace).

langdang

srsly78 wrote: »

Nothing to do with the Desire. What you mean is "google maps" downloads data on the fly. There are other navigation apps you can install on any android phone, "CoPilot" is one that stores maps locally.

OP, the type of phone DOES NOT MATTER for this. Only the map application you run. If you run google maps on a Nokia it will behave exactly the same as on android. But yes, Ovi maps that comes for free with Nokia is actually very good (Nokia's only saving grace)

It is confusing isn't it? HTC make a point of it on their spec for the Desire HD, "zero-wait" pre-loaded maps, implying that it is something built into it. http://www.htc.com/www/product/desirehd/overview.html

EDIT - looks like the HD does have somethign the desire S doesn't - Tom tom maps - http://www.talkandroid.com/18395-htc-desire-z-desire-hd-to-ship-with-tomtom-maps/ So it looks to be equivalent to the OVI maps.

evolutionqy7

nathanl wrote: »

The HTC Android phones are a good alternative to the iPhone. Meteor do the HTC Wildfire or the new beefier Desire S for upgrade prices.

HTC Desire Z,HD and Wildfire are all discontinued. Only stock left is left overs. If they havent been recalled yet.

Galaxy Ace is decent enough for the money.

Buford T Justice

What would people make of the Samsung Galaxy Ace?

evolutionqy7

You can look at a review here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLDuRqdelW4

Its not a ground breaking phone. But its good value for money

langdang

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

HTC Desire Z,HD and Wildfire are all discontinued. Only stock left is left overs. If they havent been recalled yet.

That was a short run of the Desire HD wasn't it? October 2010 to April 2011? Or are you referring to the HD2 (windows mobile)? New to this malarkey, had my eye on an Android HD, but if they are already obsolete after 6 months I won't bother!

evolutionqy7

As in they stopped producing them as its pointless since Desire S is already here, Wildfire S and HTC Sensation is nearly here to replace them.

Any stock being sold by carriers is just left overs. Once that gone it will be gone out of all the shops. Alot of shops have sold it off or sent it back and removed all the advertising in the shops.

Of course that doesn't meant that HTC dropped support with updates for them but their just not selling them here anymore. Not sure about the rest of the world.

Personally im pretty sad to see Desire Z to go as it was a good little phone. But i think HTC went mad a bit with the naming and series. People got confused between normal Desire, HD, Z. Now Desire S and Wildfire S is here i can see where more confusion is going to take place for customers to which phone is which.

You can still get them. Just not everywhere and only till the stock ends

kaensm

I would also suggest Samsung Galaxy Ace for you. It's affordable and its features will satisfy your needs.

langdang

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

As in they stopped producing them as its pointless since Desire S is already here, Wildfire S and HTC Sensation is nearly here to replace them.

OK cool, with the Desire S and the HD being the same price on Vodafone billpay I had thought they were complementing each other (same basic phone but big-screen + better camera + tomtom maps versus longer talktime and newer Android) rather than the Desire S being a replacement for the HD.

As you say, the naming system and number of variants is gone mad with HTC, maybe this is an effort to reign it back in to reduce confusion...

evolutionqy7

No Desire HD won't get a replacement HTC sensation just fill in its place for the high end big screen phone

langdang

I have to admit, I'm now intrigued by the Desire HD!
Hit the shops today to see if there were any around.

Meteor has the HD on the cover of its current mag "OMG - Desire HD -smart fast and goodlooking" - their take on it was "the HD is so buggy its dangerous and was recalled - buy a Galaxy S"
A bit weird, problems must have only developed since they published the mag eh? "OMG - Desire HD - smart fast and EATS BABIES" doesn't have the same ring to it I suppose.

Thought I'd go for a second opinion:
Carphone Warehouse "the HD was very buggy and was recalled - buy a Galaxy S, everyones doing it"

Vodafone "A Desire HD?" (Staff look at each other with a kind of God-bless-him-he's-abit-simple look) "How about a Galaxy S?"

As the Desire S is pretty much the same phone, I presume that it is also a steaming pile of dung, and the Galaxy S is officially the "be all and end all"?

evolutionqy7

No Desire S so far had great reviews.

Desire S is a good phone for an average joe that doesnt care about bits and bobs and it does the job well

The predecessor Desire was even named the phone of the year. So the Desire S is slightly upgrade revamped version

Samsung Galaxy S is buggy too. The release version which it was on Android 2.1 was very laggy. It was removed (in most cases) with the update that should be out now

Id pick the Desire S over the Galaxy S just because Desire S will be supported for longer as it only has launched where as the Galaxy has been out a long time now and with the debut of the Galaxy S2 i imagine that will be the case.

The main difference for normal person would only be the screen.

Galaxy S has a super amoled screen which is great for colours but the technology they use makes it look like its lower resolution than it actually is making it less clear when looking at it.

Where HTC Desire S has a Super LCD which doesnt have that great level of colour intensity but it is very clear and nice display.

And it has a flash Tbh dont really take in what sales rep. Most of them are clueless of what they are talking about.

Best source is youtube for looking up reviews. As gadget websites would actually be interested in smartphones

Galaxy S http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VYin61EQx0

Desire S http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwhxoxpDT3Y

langdang

Thanks evo, will take a look at the links. have just read reviews on slashgear for the galaxy s and the desire s. Desire S would seem to be the better phone - is there any chance the shops have a big stock of the Galaxy S that they need to shift before a newer version of the Galaxy S comes along ??? hmmmm

evolutionqy7

Maybe No idea

kaensm

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

No Desire HD won't get a replacement HTC sensation just fill in its place for the high end big screen phone

HTC is also a great touchscreen phone. I hope I could have one.

kaensm

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

No Desire HD won't get a replacement HTC sensation just fill in its place for the high end big screen phone

HTC is also a great touchscreen phone. I hope I could have one.

Abelloid

langdang wrote: »

I have to admit, I'm now intrigued by the Desire HD!
Hit the shops today to see if there were any around.

Meteor has the HD on the cover of its current mag "OMG - Desire HD -smart fast and goodlooking" - their take on it was "the HD is so buggy its dangerous and was recalled - buy a Galaxy S"
A bit weird, problems must have only developed since they published the mag eh? "OMG - Desire HD - smart fast and EATS BABIES" doesn't have the same ring to it I suppose.

Thought I'd go for a second opinion:
Carphone Warehouse "the HD was very buggy and was recalled - buy a Galaxy S, everyones doing it"

Vodafone "A Desire HD?" (Staff look at each other with a kind of God-bless-him-he's-abit-simple look) "How about a Galaxy S?"

As the Desire S is pretty much the same phone, I presume that it is also a steaming pile of dung, and the Galaxy S is officially the "be all and end all"?

That's odd, the Galaxy seems to be more problematic, if forums are a good indication... for example Google 'kies problem' and see how many hits you get.
I had one for a couple of weeks, and most of that time was spent trying to get the USB drivers working reliably just to update it to 2.2 in the hopes of fixing the awful lag and black screen issues. Samsung must have a good sales incentive.
I never trust the 'opinion' of the sales people in the shops, most don't have a clue.

langdang

JustinOval wrote: »

That's odd, the Galaxy seems to be more problematic, if forums are a good indication... for example Google 'kies problem' and see how many hits you get.
I had one for a couple of weeks, and most of that time was spent trying to get the USB drivers working reliably just to update it to 2.2 in the hopes of fixing the awful lag and black screen issues. Samsung must have a good sales incentive.
I never trust the 'opinion' of the sales people in the shops, most don't have a clue.

Ya, this experience confirms that for me about most sales staff.
I know people with samsungs and they seem to be extra-ordinarily sensitive to temperature amongst other bugginess.

evolutionqy7

O2 is trying to sell out their Galaxy S range. They have it free from advance 250 for 35pm.

Also get a free pre pay phone up to 80 quid

Not sure does o2 shops do it. But thats the deal in CPW