I'm thinking about a smartphone too; I've followed this thread with interest. My needs are simple; quality phone comparable with a 6310i, text message, bluetooth, hotmail with occasional internet browsing. I've got a camera and a satnav, don't do music and emphatically don't want to progam or configure my chosen device. My Nokia 6310i charger port is broken; it's difficult to switch on and it owes me nothing. Time to move on probably. I'm drawn to the Sydney because it looks OK, seems good value, it's a Nokia and, on paper, will do what I want. I can't see the value in a £200 device for my requirements.
Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Moved from the tail-end of the Smartphone thread. I was trying to read this on my iPhone and nearly wore my finger out...!
Last edited by: R.P. on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 14:29
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>> I'm drawn to the Sydney because it looks OK, seems good value, it's a Nokia
Are you talking about a Nokia Lumia of some sort? Or the last of the Symbian phones?
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Blackberry.
Good keyboard for text & email
Push email, including Hotmail
Reasonable camera just in case
OK for occasional internet.
Pretty much no configuration required (or possible).
In my experience, very reliable.
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Yeah, sounds like a blackberry is what you need. it does all the bits you want well.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 21 Sep 12 at 14:59
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Yeah, sounds like a blackberry is what you need. it does all the bits you want well. "
I've just updated to Blackberry (9360? or something) after about 20 years on Nokias (not a clue what numbers!!).
Had a previous Blackberry for work, found it simple to use. Prefer keyboard thing (touch screens I don't like - no good if you've got greasy fingers from a Melton pork pie!!).
I just want a phone which is good for calls, texting, email and very occasional data stuff - not bothered by all those app things - work phone does that stuff. Of course, son and daughter reckon that I should go for iPhone this or that but all I need is simple phone - probably could have got cheaper/ simpler but Bb does have room to pay a bit more and do more if I realise I need more. Pocket sized also and simple to set up for my needs.
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>> to the Sydney because it looks OK, seems good value, it's a Nokia and, on
1. Nokia Sydney? What is that? Never heard of it.
>> paper, will do what I want. I can't see the value in a £200 device
>> for my requirements.
2. Do you want to buy outright or on a contract?
3. How much max do you wish to spend, one-off or monthly?
>> Comments and opinions welcome.
>>
Await your reply on above points.
If you go for a Nokia, see my link earlier for the Lumia 710 PAYG available for under £100. Contract for £5.50 p/m upwards.
Blackberry PAYG SIM only deals at Giffgaff and Tesco allow inclusive free 10 MB per day BB data roaming abroad.
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But that's not a Nokia and it's running Android.
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>> shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/orange-sydney-black
>>
>>
Oh, it is an Orange brand phone.
Doesn't look like you can buy it on that link.
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I've assumed it's an Android phone BTW. But can't see that being the one he mentions.
I too think his requirements suggest looking at a Blackberry of some sort.
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Yes it was an Orange Sydney, sorry.
I've been to Darlington today and had a taste of the best and worst in customer service. The worst I don't want to dwell on; the best was at the O2 shop where the 'guru' allowed me a play with a Nokia Lumia 720. I could see what browsing and Hotmail looked like, a privilege denied me at Carphone Warehouse, Orange and Phones4U.
If he'd had one in stock, I'd have been posting a 'what have I done' reply.
I don't mind a contract but it would have to be less than £15/month; we have 2 phones at the moment that cost us about £20/month for the both.
My budget is £150 to buy outright.
I've played with a couple of Blackberrys (blackberries?) and didn't take to them at all. I found the keyboard fiddly and their appearance bulky and dated. Seeing loads of phones in a short space of time has altered my view of what I want, but that's always the way with end-users isn't it?
Thanks for all the input so far.
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I think the Lumia 710 and 800 are just right for non-geeks, and are available for fantastic value for deals now (due to latest but more expensive 920 and 820 due soon).
>> O2 shop where the 'guru' allowed me a play with a Nokia Lumia 720.
>>
Nokia Lumia 710 from CPW under £100 for PAYG, or £7.50 p/m 24 month contract (less cash back via cashback sites)
>> My budget is £150 to buy outright.
>>
SIM free Lumia 800 for £149 from
direct.asda.com/Nokia-Lumia-800-Mobile-Phone/008723443,default,pd.html
while stocks last.
(same phone is £399 at CPW)
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Hawkeye I have very similar basic phone needs to yours and when I wanted to change a few months ago went for a Samsung Galaxy Ace II. A no frills touchscreen of a sensible size that does all you need yet isn't overcomplicated to use and no tweeks needed above out of the box operation.
Daughter has owned the same model for over a year and it's proved robust and reliable.
I found a decent bundle for £15/mth on Tesco which suits me fine.
As a long time ex Nokia user myself I found the Samsung menus easy to sort out.
BTW I don't think the Lumina 710 has a removable MicroSD card, this would be a problem for me but perhaps not you?
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 12:01
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Samsung Galaxy Ace II is an Android phone but with Samsung's Touchwiz interface (probably version 3). I didn't particular like some of the way Samsung had implemented this on my Samsung Galaxy S. One annoyance was when you installed apps you couldn't sort the apps drawer. Over time and lots of installs later that was pretty useless.
If an Android phone is an option the HTC One V might be worth a look.
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>>>One annoyance was when you installed apps you couldn't sort the apps drawer
I think Hawkeye and I have similar basic phone needs hence app stuff is of no importance (not to me anyway). I will use my phone as it came out of the box and there is no app that would enhance my life.
Grindr indeed.... whatever next.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 14:10
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I had the Ace about 2 weeks ago, a perfectly adequate phone.
The only point I would make is that if you don't want to do much, then the Ace does more than that and you're paying for stuff you won't use, and which may merely serve to confuse.
If you do want to do lots of stuff, then the Ace is lacking and so you may be frustrated.
Having said that, there are very few phones, if any, which are actually rubbish. There are phones people like, and ones they don't, but life is unlikely to be a disaster.
So whilst the Blackberry may be ideally suited to Hawkeye's (previous) requirements, its just as important to get one you like.
And honestly, "I like it and the price suits me" is as good a criteria as anything.
The only thing I believe Hawkeye should check is whether or not he believes he will become comfortable using a touchscreen keyboard.
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If you want a phone with a small touchscreen and a keypad and like Nokia, he could check out the cheap as chips Nokia Asha 300. It still runs the old Series 40 software.
www.expansys.com/nokia-asha-300-grey-233229/
Or if you want totally touch there's an Asha for that:
www.expansys.com/nokia-asha-311-dark-grey-234209/
Or a qwerty keyboard:
www.expansys.com/nokia-asha-303-qwerty-graphite-227087/
Or dual SIM (popular in the far east where these are aimed primarily):
www.expansys.com/nokia-asha-202-dual-sim-dark-grey-230238/
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>>Seeing loads of phones in a short space of time has altered my view of what I want
So, what's your view of your requirements now?
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>>
>> So, what's your view of your requirements now?
>>
Erm, as of 4pm today, a Nokia Lumia 710. A luvverly new toy for me, £7.50/month 24 month contract from carphone warehouse with minutes, texts and a few Gb of internet, phone included and a charming sales person to boot. The old Nokia was costing me that for fewer minutes.
Many many thanks for all who took the trouble to add their two penn'orth to the thread.
Now, our wifi at home has a 64 character password; any idea how I cut and paste from the laptop to the phone without having to enter each character individually? As the man from the Fens hinted, it doesn't have a port to put a card in.
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copy/paste/e-mail/read/copy/paste
Or insert text in place of email.
However, you'll be better typing a 64 character password carefully once manually.
Then we can talk about why you would have such a ridiculous password.
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I dont think you have a 64 character password, merely a 64 bit password? Please tell me that is the case?
As Mark said it gets typed once. Carefully.
And to be honest, with cloud synching/transfer packages about, you dont need removeable media in your phone. Its old technology in phones.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 19:58
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>> And to be honest, with cloud synching/transfer packages about, you dont need removeable media in your phone
Fine if there is plenty of space on the phone's internal storage for music and videos to be held locally.
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>> >> And to be honest, with cloud synching/transfer packages about, you dont need removeable media
>> in your phone
>>
>> Fine if there is plenty of space on the phone's internal storage for music and
>> videos to be held locally.
But connected to your cloud, whats local and whats not?
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>> But connected to your cloud, whats local and whats not?
So how much does that cost when on holiday in Europe or USA? And how fast can you access the files in the cloud? And what of data allowances in the UK too for that matter.
You sure you can stream a 1GB video file without it stuttering or costing you even at home?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 21:57
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I dont know anyone that keeps a 1GB video on a phone,
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You do now Zero. Modern Times and Guiseppina (which came from a source you found ages ago), both on the phone.
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Not wanting to get in between all the willy waving, but why does it matter whether or not the card is removable? Unless you're saying you carry extra ones to swap out; you can synch with the cloud, and where that is not possible you can synch by wire to a PC.
How does the card being removable help?
You wouldn't catch me arguing about something so irrelevant.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 22:09
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>> why does it matter whether or not the card is removable?
If you are travelling and want access to lots of media I guess?
>> you can synch with the cloud, and where that is not possible you can synch by wire to a PC.
So how do you do that economically when travelling? And don't take a PC?
My phone has 32GB (about 25GB useable) and that is plenty. I still have files larger than zero thinks is possible. 720p video without losing quality takes space doesn't it? Or am I missing a trick in encoding?
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>>So how do you do that economically when travelling?
Internet cafe to dropbox.
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They cant be 1 gb? I have the godfather trilogy on my iphone and all 6 hours doesn't add up to one GB!
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But a good quality version of a 2 hour movie in MP4 format is going to be close to 800MB-1GB. I might have considered different quality levels but then I need to keep two versions of files. And my phone does 720p native display (i.e. it's resolution).
And let's say I take a lower quality 500MB version, the argument is about the same. Grab an MP4 copy off iPlayer and 30 minutes is about 175MB.
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>> I dont know anyone that keeps a 1GB video on a phone,
Screen resolution on the iPhone 4S isn't that bad is it?
Seriously you might want to play a 1080P video on a TV from a phone.
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>> >> I dont know anyone that keeps a 1GB video on a phone,
>>
>> Screen resolution on the iPhone 4S isn't that bad is it?
Its 3.4 inches! not a 46 inch plasma!
>>
>> Seriously you might want to play a 1080P video on a TV from a phone.
Why? When?
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 22:38
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I sometimes chuck a movie from the phone to the TV, yes. Takes two seconds and an easy way to do it.
Now that you ask about the size, of course, I've turned my phone off for the night, so I'll check tomorrow, but I'm reasonably sure my movies are about that size.
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>> I sometimes chuck a movie from the phone to the TV, yes. Takes two seconds
>> and an easy way to do it.
>>
>> Now that you ask about the size, of course, I've turned my phone off for
>> the night, so I'll check tomorrow, but I'm reasonably sure my movies are about that
>> size.
I dont understand why, the film you mentioned was never shown in anything like high definition.
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Well as usual I expect you're right and it will be 6k, but I'll check, out of interest. Actually, it's ages since I've seen it. A petrol station awaits, as well as a priest on a bicycle.
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I dont think I kept it, it was a marvellous reminder for sure, and one I would like to revisit in 20 years, not sure I would need to keep it in my shirt pocket tho!
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I get overly attached to things.
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>> I get overly attached to things.
>>
I get overly attached to money.
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1.2 giggles, but I know why. It was the first thing I ever chucked through handbrake to convert it to something the phone could handle and I think my settings were a trifle ambitious.
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>> Why?
>>
Because if you have superfast BT Infinity, you gotta have mega films on your phone to match.
>> When?
>>
When you have got up to speed with modern times by getting Infinity too.
Then you can join in the willy waving contest.
p.s. Having an iPhone 4 is not enough, you will also have to upgrade to 5 and give up your Mitsu and get a BMW to qualify.
;-)
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>> >> Why?
>> >>
>>
>> Because if you have superfast BT Infinity, you gotta have mega films on your phone
>> to match.
>>
>> >> When?
>> >>
>>
>> When you have got up to speed with modern times by getting Infinity too.
>>
>> Then you can join in the willy waving contest.
>>
>> p.s. Having an iPhone 4 is not enough, you will also have to upgrade to
>> 5 and give up your Mitsu and get a BMW to qualify.
>>
>> ;-)
Go stick your finger up your bum shorty.
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My phone shows 1280x720 on it's screen. Some might say that's too high a resolution for a 4.7" screen but:
1. If you hold the phone away from you the screen is about the same size viewable as a 32" TV.
2. If having such a high DPI on a phone is wrong.... Apple having an even higher DPI for a tiny screen has been doing quite well in the selling department.
I've not got around to it yet but I will get either the USB to HDMI cable or even the wireless streaming for this phone.
But seriously having a 2 hour or longer movie in MP4 format is easily approaching 800+MB. Unless you want poor quality.
And even if it's 175MB or thereabouts.... when you're sat on a beach in Greece what use is the cloud?*
* For £3/day when used I can access my home tariff including data. I think I'll give it a miss. Send one text and it's £3 for that day. Okay you can access lots of data but.... not worth it.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 22 Sep 12 at 22:58
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>> copy/paste/e-mail/read/copy/paste
>>
>> Or insert text in place of email.
>>
>> However, you'll be better typing a 64 character password carefully once manually.
>>
>> Then we can talk about why you would have such a ridiculous password.
>>
My old number doesn't port until Wednesday so I can't make a call or get email but I have connected to the home wifi. Yes the home network really has a 64 character password. Why? No idea. My son set up the network a year or two ago and it's worked well since.
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>> Erm, as of 4pm today, a Nokia Lumia 710. A luvverly new toy for me,
>> £7.50/month 24 month contract from carphone warehouse
Very good phone, and it's a very good deal, so I won't mention again the cashback you could have had with that deal. :0)
geekaphone.com/compare/Nokia-Lumia-710-vs-Apple-iPhone-4
"Winner: Nokia Lumia 710
More powerful processor, snappier and more responsive (around 80% faster), 1.4 GHz vs 0.8 GHz "
>> Many many thanks for all who took the trouble to add their two penn'orth to
>> the thread.
>>
Don't forget to do this
conversations.nokia.com/2012/06/27/new-features-and-apps-with-a-software-update-for-the-nokia-lumia-800-and-nokia-lumia-710/
and bear in mind
conversations.nokia.com/2012/09/11/great-times-ahead-for-all-nokia-lumia-smartphones/
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A friend of mine will soon be getting his new iPhone 5, and has offered me his old IPhone 4 (not 4S).
If i can get it unlocked, get a free SIM from GiffGaff and pay £10 pcm for 250 mins, unlimited texts and data, and get the iPhone cheap, presumably this would make a decent first 'smartphone' for myself. Then we would only have to agree a price for his phone.
Any reasons not to...several non techie friends have these iphones and tell me they are ok.
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Go for it if the price is right.
ps, the unlimited data package is only ok if your main location supports a 3G signal (if Wi-Fi isn't available)
At home I'm not bothered because I have Wi-Fi, but where I work there is no 3G signal on 02. I ended up buying a 2nd hand Mi-Fi device and run it with a 3 Network SIM that I get from Amazon every 3 months for approx £11, which gives me 3GB / 3 months of data, which is more than enough for my needs.
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>> A friend of mine will soon be getting his new iPhone 5, and has offered
>> me his old IPhone 4 (not 4S).
>> If i can get it unlocked, get a free SIM from GiffGaff and pay £10
>> pcm for 250 mins, unlimited texts and data, and get the iPhone cheap, presumably this
>> would make a decent first 'smartphone' for myself. Then we would only have to agree
>> a price for his phone.
First things first, your friend will be wanting about 180 - 200 quid for his eyephone, and your friend will want the old phone unlocked by the network supplier, otherwise the only way to unlock it is by jailbreaking it, and thats not a good prospect for an iphone rookie.
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Some base bands cannot be hacked. You need to upgrade to an iPad baseband if possible and downgrade. The iPad baseband breaks GPS.
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There is no problem jailbreaking the Iphone 4 with respect to baseband.
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Another smartphone rookie - rtj70
