Help me choose a smarphone

[ncalipari]

Hello guys,

my old nokia 3310 is now 8 years old, and I think it's time to change it.

I though about buying a cheap phone, but I thought that maybe a smartphone could be cool: I have the really annoying problem of not being able to remember things, so I thought that maybe a PDA could be usefull. What I'm looking for is:

a) The ability of taking short notes easly and without pain. I don't think any keyboard small enough to fit my pocket will be as fast as I wish, so I thought that a smartphone with a pen would fit better my needs.

b) It has to have a LONG lasting battery, It has to be RUGGED, and I don't want to spend more than 400-450$ (the less the better)

c) I think android is better, since it will assure me to be part of a nice community full with nice software.


What do you advice me guys?

 

[Krynj]

A) I used to use a Blackberry Pearl 8130 for a while, but then I got rid of it for a G1. Both of them were just fine for having to take quick notes. Within a couple days I could type just fine on either phone. Both have notepad applications that allow for quick note taking, which I use frequently.

B) DO NOT GO G1 IF YOU WANT LONG BATTERY LIFE. All caps to emphasize the sheer truth of this statement. I have a G1 now (until tomorrow when my Blackberry Bold arrives, whoo). The G1 has embarrassingly bad battery life. In addition to keeping the screen at its dimmest setting, I have to keep Bluetooth, GPS, Wifi, and 3G off if I want it to last half the day. Even with almost everything off, some days I'm as low as 30% battery, even after very light use. Zero exaggeration here. Look elsewhere if you want decent battery life.

C) Android has a long way to go. It's off to a good start, but, no way could I ever consider it to be a Blackberry/iPhone replacement. I've had a G1 for 3 months and just last week I sold it on Ebay to go back to Blackberry. Blackberry has been in the smartphone game for 7 years. Android isn't even 1 year old yet. After a few months of use, with some apps loaded on it, it's horribly sluggish, and just, a very poor performer. The G1 is more a novelty than an actual, productive, usable phone.

And the apps aren't even very good yet. There are some alright ones, but nothing that's very good. Today on the market place we have: Electricians calculators, money counter, aStopWatch, Balance Checker, Better Deal, gracers, and That Was Easy. Suffice it to say, I've been very let down by the apps. There are some that are good, but, nothing that's any better than what you can get on a Blackberry, or an iphone.

Last year when I got the Blackberry Pearl 8130, I'd had a Nokia 3220 for 2 years before. Within a month I was wondering how I'd ever gone without a Blackberry.

Which carrier do you have? I just bought an unlocked Blackberry Bold from JR.com. It's $500 retail, or $475 after live.com/cashback. I definitely recommend a Blackberry though. Pearl, Curve, 8900, or the Bold. The Bold is considered to be the best Berry right now, but, they're all great.

Do you plan on taking advantage of data plans or anything like that?

 

[blackangst1]

Touch Pro. You mentioned notes...it has a note function where you can handwrite notes. I use that alot for jotting things down. Plus all the other benefits of a PDA

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I think you need to ask yourself a quick question first:

What OS?

1) Blackberry
2) Apple iPhone
3) Windows Mobile
4) Symbian S60

go from there.

Symbian has virtually zero reception in the US but is VERY powerful. It's not as user friendly as say WinMo or iPhone but honestly I love S60.

combine this with a list of phone features you need and it'll be cool

blackangst1 suggested HTC Touch Pro (Fuze). I think it is a great phone but don't expect awesomeness from the battery. I would wait for the Touch Pro 2.

 

[ncalipari]

Originally posted by: FetusCakeMix


Which carrier do you have? I just bought an unlocked Blackberry Bold from JR.com. It's $500 retail, or $475 after live.com/cashback. I definitely recommend a Blackberry though. Pearl, Curve, 8900, or the Bold. The Bold is considered to be the best Berry right now, but, they're all great.

Do you plan on taking advantage of data plans or anything like that?

I have vodafone but I live in italy, so I think situation is quite different from US

Originally posted by: DLeRium
I think you need to ask yourself a quick question first:

What OS?

1) Blackberry
2) Apple iPhone
3) Windows Mobile
4) Symbian S60

go from there.

Symbian has virtually zero reception in the US but is VERY powerful. It's not as user friendly as say WinMo or iPhone but honestly I love S60.

combine this with a list of phone features you need and it'll be cool

blackangst1 suggested HTC Touch Pro (Fuze). I think it is a great phone but don't expect awesomeness from the battery. I would wait for the Touch Pro 2.

How do i choose a OS?

I personally have a very bad opinion of Apple and Microsoft, but this is MY opinion. How's blackberry or symbian? How could I try them?

 

[ncalipari]

hey guys, what do you think about the LG km900 arena?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Pop down to a TIM store and ask for a BlackBerry Demo.

 

[ncalipari]

I can't find a blackberry demo.. which of those do you mean?

http://www.tim.it/consumer/c36...41/livello2standard.do

 

[pm]

He meant that he advises you to go to a TIM store and ask them for a demonstration ("demo") of the various Blackberry's.

 

[Dacalo]

Nokia E71 will somewhat fit your needs, although it has full QWERTY keyboard instead of touchscreen.

I just ordered mine at Amazon last week so I don't have it yet, but I did a lot of research before committing to that phone.

It has awesome battery life (around 10.5 hr talk time) and it was voted as the best smartphone in 2008 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards. Very durable and rugged, made of metallic parts rather than plastic.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: ncalipari
hey guys, what do you think about the LG km900 arena?

Sexy but not a smartphone. I recommended it to my gf though.

Ok OS maybe isn't the best list to choose from but rather features.

Do you want touchscreen or tactile QWERTY keys? Personallly I'm moving towards touch, so while the E71 would've been a good phone last year, I don't see it as so anymore.

 

[blued888]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
Nokia E71 will somewhat fit your needs, although it has full QWERTY keyboard instead of touchscreen.

Might be somewhat of a pain if the OP has huge fingers.

Originally posted by: Dacalo
It has awesome battery life (around 10.5 hr talk time) and it was voted as the best smartphone in 2008 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards. Very durable and rugged, made of metallic parts rather than plastic.

It's indeed very nice and sleek looking but the chrome parts are fingerprint and scratch magnets!

 

[ncalipari]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Do you want touchscreen or tactile QWERTY keys? Personallly I'm moving towards touch, so while the E71 would've been a good phone last year, I don't see it as so anymore.

I prefer touch, since being a mathematician often I have to take notes that can't be written easily with a QWERTY keyboard...

 

[ncalipari]

Originally posted by: pm
He meant that he advises you to go to a TIM store and ask them for a demonstration ("demo") of the various Blackberry's.

LOL, my english is SO poor that I make fun of myself

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: ncalipari

Originally posted by: pm
He meant that he advises you to go to a TIM store and ask them for a demonstration ("demo") of the various Blackberry's.

LOL, my english is SO poor that I make fun of myself

Happens to us all - I moved to Poland about a week ago and I can tell you that your English is better than my Polish. Since I got here, about once an hour I completely misunderstand what someone says.


For my advice, you should go to a store and play with the phones. It sounds like you know what you want to do with the phone very clearly, so I would recommend spending time playing with the phones and seeing what you like. For something around your price of around EUR300, in my opinion you should look at something a year or two old. Something like an HTC TyTn II known in the US as the AT&T Tilt. Or maybe more recent like a Samsung Omnia SGH-i900. You'll note that they are both Windows Mobile phones - I'm not much of a fan of WinMo personally, but for taking notes with a stylus, they tend to be the best phones available in my humble opinion.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/.../samsung-omnia-review/
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobi...030107,49292552,00.htm

 

[shortylickens]

There is no such thing as a rugged smartphone, not yet anyway.
You will have to settle for a smartphone that is slightly more durable that average. I'd vote for any Blackberry.
Battery life is also better than average on a Blackberry when comparing it to many Windows smartphones and the iPhone.

 

[ncalipari]

yes but blackberry doesn't offer any stylus/touch smartphone

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: ncalipari
yes but blackberry doesn't offer any stylus/touch smartphone

Storm is touch, and if you ask me Stylus PDA/Phones are very poor. Why should you have to bust out a tool to use it? I just want to get stuff done.

 

[ncalipari]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: ncalipari
yes but blackberry doesn't offer any stylus/touch smartphone

Storm is touch, and if you ask me Stylus PDA/Phones are very poor. Why should you have to bust out a tool to use it? I just want to get stuff done.

Sure, but taking notes still requires a stylus...

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: ncalipari

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: ncalipari
yes but blackberry doesn't offer any stylus/touch smartphone

Storm is touch, and if you ask me Stylus PDA/Phones are very poor. Why should you have to bust out a tool to use it? I just want to get stuff done.

Sure, but taking notes still requires a stylus...

I type with my fingers! If you need to do it faster than that then record a voice memo and type it up later.

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: ncalipari

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: ncalipari
yes but blackberry doesn't offer any stylus/touch smartphone

Storm is touch, and if you ask me Stylus PDA/Phones are very poor. Why should you have to bust out a tool to use it? I just want to get stuff done.

Sure, but taking notes still requires a stylus...

I type with my fingers! If you need to do it faster than that then record a voice memo and type it up later.

He mentioned a few posts up that he's a mathematician and often has to take notes that can't be typed... and I would presume that those won't work well with voice memos either.

I think a stylus is his best bet. I have a friend who's a chemist and he likes stylus based phones for their ability to capture detailed chemical formulas as well.

 

[hanoverphist]

i like my samsung omnia. i have huge thumbs, but havent had a bad time getting used to typing with my fingers fairly quickly. the transcript selection plain rocks from what i can tell by messing with it. notes are easy to get to, use and the freehand addition is nice when you have to have a specific layout/ formula. as for it being a stylus touch screen, when my finger isnt enough to get accurate, my fingernail works just fine. even when writing directly on the screen. i rarely use the stylus, but have it in case i want to. i find it makes browsing the net a bit easier sometimes. i used a BB storm for a couple weeks before getting the omnia, i wasnt greatly impressed with the storm