[Greenland is for toy dogs]

Hi. Wonder could anyone recommend a cellphone. I'm going to Hong Kong next month and intend to take the opportunity to buy an excellent cellphone while I'm there. I understand prices are lower and they have the best gadgets known to man and beast.

I'm in Europe and am looking for a phone with a responsive GUI, good SMS capabilities, decent battery life and - above all - excellent reception and sound clarity. Additionals like camera, bluetooth and full colour screen are also on the wish list, but not critical.

So, I was looking at the Sony Ericsson s700i -
www.sonyericsson.com/product/s700/. Good form factor and has everything I'm looking for as far as I can see.

I'm not really interested in any of Nokia's current products. I'm warm on Motorola but Sony Ericsson seem to be leading at the moment.

So is there anything you'd recommend? Or not recommend?

Thanks,

GIFTD

[Randman]

I've had SE phones and they've all had terrible quality control and the absolute worst reception of any cell phone.
I'd say the Nokia 6630. Best phone I've ever owned, or even used. Speed, great battery life, plenty of features and easy to use. And come Tiger, you get full MLSync.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by Randman:
I've had SE phones and they've all had terrible quality control and the absolute worst reception of any cell phone.

I just bought a SE K700i, and it has absolutely stunning reception.

What exactly is 'quality control'?

[Randman]

Lousy reception on the t39 and t68. The t68's microphone had to be adjusted on three separate occasions. I also had a screen go bad. My g/f also had a t68 and it needed to be taken to a shop for repairs three times as well. Would only get 1 or 2 bars (or no bars) when friends would be showing 4s on their phones.
Roaming was even worse. The paint flecked off, the infra/red sensor popped out once when I was smsing (and I usually treat my phones pretty gently).
Plus, while not as bad as Moto's, wasn't a big fan of SE's interface.

Know lots of people in SE Asia (including HK) with similar horror stories.