which smartphone?

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:02 pm

I know it's not a car-related topic, but I'm asking here as I'm sure a lot of you, guys, have them and then could recommend me one.

I'm looking at a good smartphone with easy use for internet and email: apart from iphone (I can't get via Virgin), which one would you recommend?

many thanks,
Vincent

PS: if this is not the right to post, please delete my message and accept my apologies.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:23 pm

Hi Vincent,
I'd go for a Blackberry every time. Great push email features and everything you want/need for work use. Camera's aren't great on them but I never use them. I've had several as they are work issue but wouldn't choose anything else, even the iPhone. I'd always get one with a full qwerty keypad though if you plan to send a lot of emails, so much better than the Suretype where there are several characters per key.

Hope that helps...

ps - I actually have a spare one kicking around (Curve 8390) if you want to borrow it for a play.

joylove · Post by **joylove** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:46 pm

If you intend to use data I would seriously rethink using Virgin. They are a VNO using T-Mobile's network, whihc is merging with Orange.

My story: I used to be on Three. At 5-8pm I could ring my phone, which would be displaying full signal next to me, and it would go to voicemail, simply becuase the Three network has too many users on the same cell and I couldn't get any allocation. This was every day. For data, I rarely got full data rate unless it was the middle of the night or I was looking at the cell tower in the park.

Just because a network is Â£5 cheaper a month, doesn't mean you will get a good service. I'm on O2 but once my contract expires will be moving to Vodaphone, who seem to have the best rural coverage. There is no substitute for having more cell towers and more network capacity, especially on 3G, but also on 2G.

When Orange merges with T-Mo, you may find some duplicate cells are relocated, doubling the loading on each cell. Since Virgin is a MVO, they will play second place to the T-Mo and Orange customers.

For phones, there is little I can recommend at the moment. If I could I would buy the Droid X, but it's not available in the UK yet as it's not GSM. Avoid Korean shite, LG and Samsung ETC - all poorly designed/built, HTC Desire and Nexus One are really thirsty on battery life, iPhone 4G has dodgy antennas, 3Gs also has terrible reception, HTC Legend's metal chassis detunes the antennas, Droid 2 isn't out yet, Nokia N9 isn't out until the fall, windows 7 phones aren't out till the fall, SE X10 has software that has problems with the keyboard keystroke registration, Dell streak is huge and has an obscure charging socket.

I am waiting for a Nokia N9 or the Droid 2 or X. I only trust Nokia and Motorola these days, the old hands at making phones that actually work properly as phones (good reception on all radios including GPS and WiFi, good battery life, no custom chargers, replacable batteries, thoughtful ergonomics, stress tested mechanical design).

FWIW, I have the 3Gs, singularly the most frustrating phone I have ever owned. 15 minutes to get a GPS fix in Paris after exiting the Paris Metro was the last straw, after frequently fighting with the signal strength indicator for the WiFi which simply lies about having 1 bar of signal when it has none. Stlye over substance. Shame it's the only brand people build full control car radios for.

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:08 pm

thanks for your replies.

Thing is that I already have a monthly tariff with Virgin for 18 months, so I can't really cancel my contract. I was thinking about upgrading to a smartphone as they -at work- are putting more and more restrictions to have personal emails, etc...

joylove · Post by **joylove** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:11 pm

If you are buying a phone offline from Expansys etc then you can put anything you like on Virgin.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:18 pm

The Curve I have is unlocked and will work on any network I believe (except 3 I think). If you are looking for one for email I'd still recommend the Blackberry although I have only ever used them so have no experience of the other makes when it comes to Smartphones.

Anyway, if you want to borrow it for a while and stick your SIM card in it and see how you go then I'd be happy to post it to you.

joylove · Post by **joylove** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:23 pm

If you do end up with a Blackberry, wait for Storm 3 with Blackberry 6 and the new webkit browser.

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:23 pm

Well, I would be happy to borrow it, thank you very much for offering. Let me know shipping costs and I can "paypal" you?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:21 am

don't worry, I'll post it there you post it back...PM me your address and I'll go dig it out...

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:34 pm

ok, but I need to check if I can upgrade my current account to get internet access. I'll let you know. Thanks again

ajsmith · Post by **ajsmith** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:16 pm

Blackberry 9700 Bold, brilliant.

Crombers · Post by **Crombers** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:58 pm

When were you last on 3 Joylove? You won't get better 3G coverage elsewhere at the moment time having undergone a substantial network / capacity expansion programme to support the growth in data services.

Slightly biased, but a well founded claim nonetheless

joylove · Post by **joylove** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:03 pm

Crombers wrote:When were you last on 3 Joylove? You won't get better 3G coverage elsewhere at the moment time having undergone a substantial network / capacity expansion programme to support the growth in data services.

Slightly biased, but a well founded claim nonetheless

It was about 12 months ago more or less. The other problem is that the weighting for the 3G/2G handover was set to heavily favour 3G. This is because they had to pay to use the 2G network. Consequentially, when I had 1 or less bars of 3G, the phone would really resist handing over to a medium to good 2G signal. I often had to dance around a building until the 3G signal was finally lost and the phone reluctantly camped on to a 2G cell before I could make an outgoing call.

John_C · Post by **John_C** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:41 pm

I think they certainly used to be bad, I used to hear nothing but bad things about 3. I've used their mobile broadband for a couple of years with no issues so thought I'd take the plunge for my phone too. I moved from O2 to 3 about a month ago and find I have better signal and fewer "black spots" on 3.

Obviously it depends where you are, but at Â£15 a month for 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 1Gb of data with only a one month contract I'd say they're worth a shot (that's their iPhone SIM only contract BTW)

Cheers,
John