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cpac · Jun 11, 2003, 09:08 AM

my old little nokia 8260 is damaged and on its last legs.

Factors important to me:

size - I'd prefer it to be small
functions - I don't need a camera. However, more extensive PDA functionality would be welcome (larger size is ok if it replaces at least some aspects of a Palm). i'd love it to be able to sync with my tibook.
region/provider - US (NYC and Salt Lake City) and AT&T Wireless (though if people can offer a compelling reason to switch providers, I'd listen).

Recomendations?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 11, 2003, 09:45 AM

Anything from Sony Eriscsson.

PowerBub · Jun 11, 2003, 12:33 PM

i bought a used ericsson t68m that i just love. it has bluetooth, can store address/pda type info and will sync with OS X.

You can pick up a used one on ebay for ~ $80

TAZ · Jun 11, 2003, 02:22 PM

Dont know about your region, but GSM service from ATT here in Central TX SUCKS royal. I spent a month trying to get my service back up to par with the original Digital service I had. NO GO. Tried every GSM phone they had in inventory from Nokia, SE and Siemens. Not one could get signal consistently all over town. All of them had hard hand offs that you could hear. Finally had to cancel service as they could not provide consistent signal.

Axo1ot1 · Jun 11, 2003, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by TAZ:
Dont know about your region, but GSM service from ATT here in Central TX SUCKS royal. I spent a month trying to get my service back up to par with the original Digital service I had. NO GO. Tried every GSM phone they had in inventory from Nokia, SE and Siemens. Not one could get signal consistently all over town. All of them had hard hand offs that you could hear. Finally had to cancel service as they could not provide consistent signal.

Relax buddy. The GSM network is just getting installed. It has slightly lower range per tower as I understand it, so it's harder to blanket an area with service, but where there is service the sound quality is much better, plus you can have a conversation with much less signal than other types of phone. It also has lots of really valuable web functions. You can have the phone triangulate your position and then list nearby movie theatres and showtimes.

cpac · Jun 11, 2003, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by TAZ:
Dont know about your region, but GSM service from ATT here in Central TX SUCKS royal. I spent a month trying to get my service back up to par with the original Digital service I had. NO GO. Tried every GSM phone they had in inventory from Nokia, SE and Siemens. Not one could get signal consistently all over town. All of them had hard hand offs that you could hear. Finally had to cancel service as they could not provide consistent signal.

This was actually a fear when considering a GSM phone - anybody who uses one in Salt Lake or New York care to comment on AT&T's coverage?

cpac · Jun 11, 2003, 08:42 PM

ok, - I've found my ideal phone - it's the Nokia 8910i - anybody have any idea if it'll come to the US anytime soon?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 11, 2003, 09:17 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
ok, - I've found my ideal phone - it's the Nokia 8910i - anybody have any idea if it'll come to the US anytime soon?

have a look at the battery life on the Nokia's and then on the SE's.

maxintosh · Jun 11, 2003, 09:19 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
ok, - I've found my ideal phone - it's the Nokia 8910i - anybody have any idea if it'll come to the US anytime soon?

No, it's a dual-band phone that won't work on American GSM networks.

cpac · Jun 11, 2003, 09:47 PM

battery life - not truely an issue - my 3-4 year old nokia 8260 still holds a charge for a weekend which is pretty much the longest I'm away from a charger. Longer life is nice, but not necessary. (and beyond that, nokia's menu system etc. make much more sense to me than Sony's - after playing with the virtual T68i on their website)

As for network stuff, I realize the US is a lot less densely populated and as a result the network support is far behind that of Europe and the pacific rim, but is there anything keeping Nokia from releasing a US GSM compatible version of the 8910i? or is it that the hardware that works with out network would be too big (hard to believe, etc.)

I just don't get why the sleekest looking cell phones americans can purchase look like a wad of bubblegum next to those in europe.

maxintosh · Jun 11, 2003, 11:09 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
battery life - not truely an issue - my 3-4 year old nokia 8260 still holds a charge for a weekend which is pretty much the longest I'm away from a charger. Longer life is nice, but not necessary. (and beyond that, nokia's menu system etc. make much more sense to me than Sony's - after playing with the virtual T68i on their website)

As for network stuff, I realize the US is a lot less densely populated and as a result the network support is far behind that of Europe and the pacific rim, but is there anything keeping Nokia from releasing a US GSM compatible version of the 8910i? or is it that the hardware that works with out network would be too big (hard to believe, etc.)

I just don't get why the sleekest looking cell phones americans can purchase look like a wad of bubblegum next to those in europe.

US buyers don't tend to buy expensive phones, they usually stick with the freebies you get at the local AT&T or Cingular booth. For instance, a color screen and camera are seen as a luxury in the US but seen as basic features elsewhere. I don't know whether it's more expensive to make a phone tri-band, but I imagine phones designed for the European and Asian markets don't take into account the fact that the US has military-imposed restrictions on wireless networks (why we don't use the same band).

However, I know that GSM networks, especially T-Mobile, are fine in many parts of the US. I live in the deep woods of Massachussetts and I get a useable signal with T-Mo, and of course in Boston or New York City it's constantly a full 7 bars.

Besides that, I've heard from reviews across the sea the 8910i is a slick but overpriced phone and probably under-feature phone.

The Nokia 7210 is a TINY and powerful phone. I got a chance to play with one recently and I was very impressed by how solid it was. Even smaller is the 6100, but I haven't played around with it yet. I would also look at the Siemens S56 (it's like the T68i only without the reception problems) and the upcoming Motorola V600 (OLED display, yummy)

ranga · Jun 12, 2003, 12:50 AM

I have a Motorola v60. I use AT&T wireless and due to a bunch of rebates that AT&T had the phone ended up being free.

The phone quite small, yet reasonably rugged. I get pretty good reception with the phone in most places and I haven't had any problems with AT&T wireless and this phone in most of the US and parts of Canada. There is also a nice usb charging cable you can get for the v60 that allows you to charge the phone from your computer's USB port (very handy if you travel with your pb and don't want to carry chargers and power converters).

The v60 also has some PDA type features, but the main drawback is that it won't sync with a Mac.

If you are looking for a decent cheap phone, I'd recommend the v60.

--ranga

Captain Obvious · Jun 12, 2003, 11:55 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Anything from Sony Eriscsson.

Garbage. The RF is the worst I have ever seen on those things and they are made so flimsy they will break on the first drop. Get a Siemens. The quality control is far superior to anyone else, gotta love the Germans, and they get amazing reception.

I am stuck with AT&T for another six months but they will be releasing the Siemens S56 (fully Mac supported) in a matter of days if not a week or so. A lot of people who travel nationally like T-Mobile but AT&T should expand to the 850 network range later this summer and coverage will be worlds better.

Just avoid SE like the plague. Go see http://www.howardforums.com you'll find a better informed group of users.

xi_hyperon · Jun 12, 2003, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
Garbage. The RF is the worst I have ever seen on those things and they are made so flimsy they will break on the first drop. Get a Siemens. The quality control is far superior to anyone else, gotta love the Germans, and they get amazing reception.

I am stuck with AT&T for another six months but they will be releasing the Siemens S56 (fully Mac supported) in a matter of days if not a week or so. A lot of people who travel nationally like T-Mobile but AT&T should expand to the 850 network range later this summer and coverage will be worlds better.

Just avoid SE like the plague. Go see http://www.howardforums.com you'll find a better informed group of users.

On the contrary, I've dropped my T68 several times on hard surfaces and it hasn't had a problem. Small nicks in the corners of the housing are the only damage it took. With regards to Siemens, I've never owned one so don't know about their quality. I do find them visually unappealing though, and the one you're referring too is a flip-top which is something else I avoid in a phone.

Captain Obvious · Jun 12, 2003, 05:38 PM

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
I've never owned one so don't know about their quality. I do find them visually unappealing though, and the one you're referring too is a flip-top which is something else I avoid in a phone.

Flip top? You have it confused with another model.
And most of the Siemens models have gotten really high rankings in call quality which is my main concern. If I can't call from the places I am most of the time what's the point of having a cell phone?
I still say to turn to a cell forum like Howards rather than here.
SE has a good reputation with this crowd because it was the first that was supported by OS X. But Apple has moved on and now other phones are just as compatible as the T68i. And IMO the S56 is much cooler looking, has the same abilities (including Bluetooth supported by X), is less feminine, and has the all important ability to make a call from almost anywhere there is GSM..... which the T68 has problems with.

http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/prod...420253,00.html

torifile · Jun 12, 2003, 09:25 PM

I'd recommend the Nokia 3650. It's packed full of features and you can get it free after rebate from amazon. BT works with iSync, a big plus. The OS is really great, too. I never thought that would matter, but it does. It's very intuitive. Things work the way they should and I like that.

One thing about the phone is that it's on the large side. Not too bad, but for some it could be an issue. My 2�.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 12:33 AM

This phone looks great, Nokia like battery but looks awesome. Wish it had bluetooth though.

7Macfreak · Jun 13, 2003, 01:05 AM

either this nokia 8910i
or the nokia 9210i

OR there's always the sony ericsson P800

cpac · Jun 13, 2003, 09:37 AM

Thanks for all the recomendations - I'll look into Siemens, although their website is lousy compared to either SE's or Nokia's (few pictures/demos). I'll also definitely be spending more time looking at those howard forums as they seem quite full of info.

Love that SL55 - any idea if/when it's coming to the US?

The Nokia 3650 is probably too much for my needs - I don't need/want the camera - same goes for the P800.

What I don't get is why the top-of-the-line US phones have to be these relatively bulky camera-phone combos. Why not make a slick little number like the nokia 8910i (which, I'm told, wont work on the US GSM network)

Maybe I need to try to find one of those discontinued nokia 8890s...

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 10:24 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
What I don't get is why the top-of-the-line US phones have to be these relatively bulky camera-phone combos. Why not make a slick little number like the nokia 8910i (which, I'm told, wont work on the US GSM network)

http://www.sonyericsson.com/us/spg.j...5%26LM%3DPSM_V

TAZ · Jun 13, 2003, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
Relax buddy. The GSM network is just getting installed. It has slightly lower range per tower as I understand it, so it's harder to blanket an area with service, but where there is service the sound quality is much better, plus you can have a conversation with much less signal than other types of phone. It also has lots of really valuable web functions. You can have the phone triangulate your position and then list nearby movie theatres and showtimes.

I understand that GSM is just getting started here in the USA. This is why I wanted to switch as I feel it will eventually become as pervasive here as in Europe and elsewhere. However, I still have a need to be able to communicate today so it still needs to function right now while I am paying the bills. Unfortunately the GSM service from ATT was not set up well enough to operate. Atleast here in Cen TX. I am betting that once ATT drops some cash to put up more towers the service will get much better. My feeling is that they simply added different repeaters to their existing towers with the hopes that it will be good enough. However, my understanding of GSM, which is limited, is that it is a low power service that requires high tower density for efficient service. This is probably why it works in condensed areas such as Europe and Japan. Here in the USA where we like to spread out it poses the problem of having to place more towers.

As far as the web functions, these are not GSM only. E911 location service will be handled by every service provider within the next year or so. I think it is or will be law soon to have location service for cell phones. While cool, I have mixed feelings about someone tracking every step I take with my phone.

cpac · Jun 13, 2003, 11:25 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/us/spg.j...5%26LM%3DPSM_V

Yep - seen 'em.

Nothing on that page looks anywhere near as good as a nokia 8910i

I may well end up with T68i, but I don't like the menu set-up, and the color choice for the phone itself is horrendous - why in the world would a professional ever want a white-and-baby-blue phone? (maybe I'll be able to find one of those 007 editions - at least they were grey).

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 11:28 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
I may well end up with T68i, but I don't like the menu set-up, and the color choice for the phone itself is horrendous

Why would you want the t68i over the 610?

cpac · Jun 13, 2003, 11:40 AM

alright - well the T610 actually looks pretty nice - i'd still prefer an all black one, and I don't need a camera (i'd rather they saved the expense/weight/size) but its definitely work looking into more.

thanks

off/lang · Jun 13, 2003, 11:41 AM

check out the upcoming nokias...

7210 My dad just got this phone, and he really likes it (He got it in europe and then brought it over here.)
6610
7250i

Personally, I just upgraded from a Nokia 8290 to the new SE T610. It is in the mail as I type. Sadly, it wont be here until monday.

I would probably have stuck with Nokia if they had had a phone with bluetooth in the 8xxx or 7xxx form factor.

Yeah check out Howards forums. Good place.

I'm with T-Mobile, and very happy. They seem to have gotten over their gsm growing pains that ATT is going through now. I've been with t-mobile (voicestream) for about 2.5 years and the service has just gotten better and better. I go to school in DC, live on the MN/WI border, and have travelled most of the rest of the country, and I've been over all quite impressed with their quality and coverage. And you can't beat their prices...

cpac · Jun 13, 2003, 11:49 AM

Originally posted by off/lang:
check out the upcoming nokias...

7210 My dad just got this phone, and he really likes it (He got it in europe and then brought it over here.)
6610
7250i

Personally, I just upgraded from a Nokia 8290 to the new SE T610. It is in the mail as I type. Sadly, it wont be here until monday.

I would probably have stuck with Nokia if they had had a phone with bluetooth in the 8xxx or 7xxx form factor.

Yeah check out Howards forums. Good place.

I'm with T-Mobile, and very happy. They seem to have gotten over their gsm growing pains that ATT is going through now. I've been with t-mobile (voicestream) for about 2.5 years and the service has just gotten better and better. I go to school in DC, live on the MN/WI border, and have travelled most of the rest of the country, and I've been over all quite impressed with their quality and coverage. And you can't beat their prices...

Thanks for the great info. The 6610 looks pretty nice, though I think at this point I really need to go play with all these phones in person to see what i'd prefer.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 12:15 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
alright - well the T610 actually looks pretty nice - i'd still prefer an all black one, and I don't need a camera (i'd rather they saved the expense/weight/size) but its definitely work looking into more.

thanks

the 610 is the same size as the t68i which is TINY!

cpac · Jun 13, 2003, 12:49 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
the 610 is the same size as the t68i which is TINY!

about the same size as my currently dying 8260...

Captain Obvious · Jun 13, 2003, 01:41 PM

If you are having such a hard time picking a phone because of limited selection you know you could just find almost any 1900/850 frequency cell phone and have it unlocked. I am not sure how proficient you are around phones but from what I have seen there are relatively small barriers that stop you from purchasing a phone (not currently sold by your carrier) and using it on your service plan. Theoretically you could get a triband phone that also supports TDMA when there is no GSM signal, thus solving almost all your coverage problems.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 02:11 PM

Originally posted by cpac:
about the same size as my currently dying 8260...

Yes it is but the t68i and 610 have many more features and the battery lasts 10x longer.

aaanorton · Jun 13, 2003, 02:32 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Yes it is but the t68i and 610 have many more features and the battery lasts 10x longer.

Bull. We get that you like SE phones, but they're still hollow-felling, plastic POS'es. Maybe the T610/616 will be different, but the jury's still out on that. I returned my T68i cuz the battery life was abysmal and I got little to no signal reception. My Nokia 8390 is MUCH better in both regards to the T68i.

Originally posted by off/lang:
And you can't beat their prices...

Unless you signed up on AT&T, like I did, when they first offered the service: $99/month for unlimited minutes. Now that's a plan.

maxintosh · Jun 13, 2003, 03:31 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Bull. We get that you like SE phones, but they're still hollow-felling, plastic POS'es. Maybe the T610/616 will be different, but the jury's still out on that. I returned my T68i cuz the battery life was abysmal and I got little to no signal reception. My Nokia 8390 is MUCH better in both regards to the T68i.

Unless you signed up on AT&T, like I did, when they first offered the service: $99/month for unlimited minutes. Now that's a plan.

I agree -- we all get that you like your phone. I'm glad your happy, but please stop being such a fanatic. Nokia, Seimens, SE, Kyocera, Samsung, etc. all have their virtues. Not everybody cares about a battery that can last 200 hours on standby, especially if the phone has terrible RF.

As for AT&T - that IS a nice plan. T-Mobile still tends to be less costly overall, though, and they also don't #$*(ing lock their phones like the AT&T tyrants do. Their data rates are also a lot cheaper (you can get UNLIMITED GRPS data for $19/month now -- now that's a nice plan!!!)

aaanorton · Jun 13, 2003, 06:14 PM

Ya, AT&T keeps telling me that an unlimited data plan is coming, but not yet. I definitely want that. As it is, though, I forward all my calls from my home # to my cel and use it exclusively. It's really nice having ALL your call logs (placed, receive and missed) on one device.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
I returned my T68i cuz the battery life was abysmal and I got little to no signal reception. My Nokia 8390 is MUCH better in both regards to the T68i.

No way in hell will you convince anyone that a Nokia has better battery life then the T68i. No way.

aaanorton · Jun 13, 2003, 08:33 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
No way in hell will you convince anyone that a Nokia has better battery life then the T68i. No way.

I have zero interest in convincing anybody of anything. That is not my concern.
But for what it's worth, the time I spent with my T68i convinced me that it was a POS with a battery to match. It did not last as long as my 8390's. Oh, and the UI sucked too.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jun 13, 2003, 09:25 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
I have zero interest in convincing anybody of anything. That is not my concern.
But for what it's worth, the time I spent with my T68i convinced me that it was a POS with a battery to match. It did not last as long as my 8390's. Oh, and the UI sucked too.

Oh ok, good to know. Wish I could return my t68i with a great GUI and incredible battery life.

Hozie · Jun 14, 2003, 07:28 AM

I live in Europe and have a T68i. Over the years, I've had Nokia , SE and Motorola phones and this is what I think:

Build quality:

1) Nokia
2) Motorola
3) SE

Sound quality:

1) Nokia
2) SE
...
55) Motorola (really horrible hiss on my v60)

GUI quality & speed:

1) Nokia
3) SE (though the UI on the T68i is too slow)
2) Motorola

Size:

1) Nokia-SE
2) Motorola

Connectivity:

1) SE
2) Moto-Nokia

PDA-features (Calendar, To Do, etc..)

1) SE
2) Nokia
3) Moto

Overall, the connectivity thing and the relatively low price of the T68i (for a color screen) at the time clinched the deal. Add seamless syncs with my PB to that (over BlueTooth, something that is sadly missing form most Nokia phones), and you've got a winner. Down side is that I dropped it once, from a relatively low altitude, and the side-switch came off and refuses to work now. If there was an affordable Nokia phone which let me do the same as my T68i over BT, I'd have gone for that instead...

Oh, and to you guys recommending the 8xxx-series Nokia's, they cost over $600 over here, so nevermind those...

yoyoman · Jun 14, 2003, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Yes it is but the t68i and 610 have many more features and the battery lasts 10x longer.

The sony p800 is good but verizon is a better service out of all of them. That is what nokia motorla samsung use to test there phones at there company. Wait till the new motorola phone comes out. flip and blue tooth.

CheesePuff · Jun 14, 2003, 04:10 PM

Sanyo 8100.

Back up 15 and punt · Jun 14, 2003, 10:43 PM

Give a good look at the Motorola T720. It has great sound quality and it will sync using iSync.

7Macfreak · Jun 15, 2003, 02:34 AM

Originally posted by cpac:

Maybe I need to try to find one of those discontinued nokia 8890s...

are you serious?
i dont mind selling mine. i want a new one anyway.

Angus_D · Jun 15, 2003, 04:23 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Oh ok, good to know. Wish I could return my t68i with a great GUI and incredible battery life.

Maybe he just got a dud? In which case his attitude is understandable but wrong.

Cipher13 · Jun 15, 2003, 05:03 AM

Every person I know with a 7210 has had problems with it... they seem like lemons.

Anyway...

With phones, for me, it'll always go like this:

1. Siemens
2. Nokia
3. Sony-Ericsson

Cipher13 · Jun 15, 2003, 05:04 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
Thanks for all the recomendations - I'll look into Siemens, although their website is lousy compared to either SE's or Nokia's (few pictures/demos). I'll also definitely be spending more time looking at those howard forums as they seem quite full of info.

Love that SL55 - any idea if/when it's coming to the US?

The Nokia 3650 is probably too much for my needs - I don't need/want the camera - same goes for the P800.

What I don't get is why the top-of-the-line US phones have to be these relatively bulky camera-phone combos. Why not make a slick little number like the nokia 8910i (which, I'm told, wont work on the US GSM network)

Maybe I need to try to find one of those discontinued nokia 8890s...

The 8890 is an awesome phone.

bamchum · Jun 15, 2003, 07:44 PM

I like my new Nokia 6610: it's a tri-band (unlocked, so I got an AT&T pay as you go plan when I went to the states recently). Only 2 real problems with it:

1) No bluetooth. It has IRDA, but my powerbook doesn't.

2) Can't find a polyphonic ringtone that I like. I just want something that sounds like a phone ringer and everything in the phone (or that I've found on the web) is a freakin' song.

Otherwise: I like the screen, the ergonomics, the size, and I'm used to the nokia software (although it seems to take more keystrokes for some basic functions than it did on my 8210).

rtdunham · Jun 17, 2003, 02:25 PM

Love my Handspring Treo 300. Works great as a phone, has full Palm PDA capabilities, syncs to Now Up-to-date & Contact on my Mac (dial direct from any of my nearly 600 contacts), and the thumbsized keyboard really works.
terry

natan · Jul 20, 2003, 02:27 PM

Originally posted by yoyoman:
The sony p800 is good but verizon is a better service out of all of them. That is what nokia motorla samsung use to test there phones at there company. Wait till the new motorola phone comes out. flip and blue tooth.

Any idea when this is coming out? I'm probably signing up with Verizon in late August / early Septemeber.