Low budget cell phone, MP3 player, camera, GPS, No data..?

[TheStu]

I am definitely a bottom feeder when it comes to consumer electronics, but I don't know what trolling means.

Suggesting a blackberry.

Trolling is saying things just to get a rise out of people. I don't think that is what you are doing. But Blackberry isn't really the way to go.

 

[_Rick_]

I just got myself a Nokia C5-00 for 130 euros.
It's got S60 installed, which is a step down from the S40 ergonomics of my 6700 classic which I came from, but it's got Bluetooth, GPS, a decent camera and a full keypad as well as no mechanics. Only switched because the 6700 classic's screen was more broken than not. Might open her up and see if I can get he repaired. Had the same features, looked better. Would recommend, if it wouldn't be so damn flaky.

If you can live with touchscreen dialing, you can go cheaper, I suspect. But that's not an option for me.

 

[J-Dubya]

Suggesting a blackberry.

Trolling is saying things just to get a rise out of people. I don't think that is what you are doing. But Blackberry isn't really the way to go.

I see, that makes more sense to me now. Thank you, I very much appreciate the help. So is the HTC Nexus refurb for ~$110 a good deal and option? I read a review and it says that it didn't synch up with Outlook (my wife & I make extensive use of OUtlook) and synching music is not very easy (I generally synch music from my (low budget) laptop). What is hard for me to know is whether these are small nitpick details compared to big bucks devices or whether they amount to a nonstarter.
jws

 

[J-Dubya]

Refurbished Nokia 710: Windows Phone 7.5, 5MP Camera, 8GB HDD, Nokia offline map/GPS, Zune music for $150 + free ship - you're welcome .

If you don't have a plan in mind, I'd suggest pairing it up with Simple Mobile's $25/mo. unlimited voice/text plan - you just need to get their SIM card and you're good to go. You can still browse the internet if you have a wifi source (home, McDonalds, etc.) but you won't get dinged/charged by the service provider for random "data charges".

This phone is a T-Mobile "no-contract". Does "no-contract" always equal "unlocked". I.e. can I install my prepaid gophone sim and plug and play -- would I lose any features? would it even work. T-Mobile doesn't look to have great coverage in my region.
jws

 

[J-Dubya]

Sorry, another question: What are the good websites or metasearch engines for the "(unlocked) mobile phone bargain of the day" type of thing?
jws

 

[Schadenfreude]

This phone is a T-Mobile "no-contract". Does "no-contract" always equal "unlocked". I.e. can I install my prepaid gophone sim and plug and play -- would I lose any features? would it even work. T-Mobile doesn't look to have great coverage in my region.
jws

In this instance, no; the phone is locked only to tmobile and its network resellers. You can potentially get it unlocked yourself if you're looking to use it for AT&T however; as far as finding deals online, I'd suggest going to the hot deals sites like slickdeals.net and going into the hot deals forum. The slickdeals forum has a tag like "phone", "tech", etc. That you can click on and read all the applicable deals under that category.

Another good resource is cowboom.com; they sell refurbished phones at decent enough prices, but the phone can be pretty beat up from what I hear (I personally have not purchased anything from them . . . Yet); BUT they have grade levels that you can choose from and I believe they have a 30day return policy so it may be something to check out.