New mobile phone... wtf to get???

[opAsx]

My sony ericson just went swimming on monday and i tried to dry it out and no luck.

i think where i have dropped it 3 or 4 times before has caused a few probs.

so i need a new phone, buy it outright use it on telstra blah blah

needs to sync with outlook, have a camera, poly tones (cant go back to non poly now :P )

budget up to $1000

prefer sony ericson or nokia. or maybe a sexy PDA style.

all help appreciated

i know nothing of phones, except they dont like swimming or bouncing.

[Bowling Ball]

http://www.ow.com.au/shop/product_info.php/cPath/129/products_id/46

I have been looking at the O2 stuff myself for a while now. Toy Gadget ;)

[nexxus]

I'm a mobile phone techy on the weekends, and use a 6230i now. Good phone 1.3MP camera, nice MP3 playa, video. MMC card, Bluetooth, Infrared, decent battery life, good screen MP3's as ringtones and synchs with Outlook via PC Suite (included) I got mine for $570, add another $100 for a decent MMC (256-512 mb) and ya laughin!

[remotebandit]

Op , ive got an XDA II Mini .

YOu cant go past it at all .

If youve got nokias and sony erricson etc if you want to download ringtones , games etc , youve got to pay $5.00 through some rip off company as their not as readily available as EVERYTHING for this XDA mini .

They use pocket PC and if you go to a P2P site , just type that in and you get over 1000 games , programs etc for it .

My phone has a 2Gig SD card in it so i use it as an MP3 player ( with win amp skin ) i use it to tune my guitar , i use it as a small tape measure , i play strip poker on it , i surf the net on it via blue tooth , i check tides , i use it as a stop watch , i play golf on it and the most important function of all is that for an extra $150 i bought a blue tooth GPS adaptor that sticks on the top of my car roof and its now a global navigator with not only every Australian street in it but also for the boat when fishing so that when we come back at night we just follow the arrow back to the boat ramp .

Its got full on touch screen so its soo easy to use .

I get sick of phones every 3 months and do regularly change but this ive had for nearly a year now and there is no looking back . In fact even though its pretty old to me now , the novelty still hasnt worn off and there is still the wow factor when people see it . As far as im concerned , when i start getting sick of it a bit , i go to P2P sites and download new programs for it that change the look and use .

When i bought mine it was $1600 but now you can find them for under $900 . below are a few EGs :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5794176164&category=38331&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6420361371&category=3312&rd=1



Adam .

[nexxus]

Got to admit I am tempted to get one too, ditch the 6230i and the Iriver 20Gig MP3 player and simplify man!

[James]

your a fool if you buy a camera right now. in four to six weeks you will see a HORDE of 2 megapixel camera phones on the market... polyphonic is dead too, that was a waste of time, it will be true audio ringtones (mp3, wma, wav, whatever)

the Nokia N90 has a carl zeiss (sp?) lens, 2mpx, lovely camera. the Nokia N91 has a 4gig hdd built in, and is being labeled an "ipod killer" that i doubt, but the specs are amazing.

Then theres the Ericsson 750i, which is out NOW... and has 2mpx camera.

I suggest visiting the nokia and ericsson sites for more information.

samsung is finally bringing out their "wristwatch" mobile phone, among other 2mpx camera phones.

new higher-spec models are about to explode onto the scene, any day now, seriously...

One of my good friends works for communique in Osb Park (next door to revolution race gear)... Sarah, go see her :)

I too will be after a new phone in a month or two...

[remotebandit]

it simplifies things massively and when i bought it a while ago , 512mg was the largest card available and now ive worked out 10 months later , 2 gig is available at the same price i paid for a 512 back then . Wont be long till the 4gig comes out and so forth and so forth but i can tell you it doubles gig every 8 - 10 months .

If anyone has a phone or PDA with Pocket PC , pm me .

[opAsx]

im not looking to take photos worth keeping on my phone, its more for grabbing things here and there and talking to mates and adding a pic of where i am at the time (came in handy on holiday to europe)

the camera part is just there as a toy, kind of like the phone itself :)

sounds good adam, looks like i have found a phone :)

[JD]

I have the best mobile in the world. It rings and I talk. Thats it :)

does anyone talk back?

[opAsx]

FAILED

[justo316]

I am personally waiting for the Nokia N91. Killer phone even though I normally HATE nokias. I had their first camera phone (7650?) which I loved, but that was cos it had the symbian OS which meant wicked third party apps.

The cameras are never gonna be as good as using a dedicated digital cam, but 1.3MP provides usable quality shots.

My Sony Ericsson 3G phone (forgot the model....k800i?) is pretty cool. I got it half price and plan to unlock it so I end up with a phone that works with telstra, has a 1.3MP cam, expandable memory, big screen, nice speaker/headphones for tunes....all for less than 400bux.

[nexxus]

Take it to foneezy to get it unlocked, say you were sent by Brad and he'll give ya a good rate :) The N90 is a dicky one, works on 3G only, won't work on normal GSM! (BASTARDS!)

[justo316]

popped out to Officeworks just then. Saw the O2 XDA II mini. Nice size. Cost a grand there.

Someday maybe.....

[RohaN]

those O² XDAs are tasty bits of gear. I've got a siemens phone & a palm ZIRE 72 Pda that can communicate bluetooth & all that crap but truth be told i rarely use the PDA for phone related stuff. The Phone (M55) is an awesome PHONE. indistructable, its got poly ringtones, colour screen & thats it.
it answers & recieves calls & stores numbers
My PDA does all the other shit. MP3, EBook reader, games, camera (1.2mp) organiser, photo album, toss toss toss.
i love my gagets, but immagine going swimming with an O² in your pocket!
my M55 went swimming with me a while back, died in davey-jones' locker & i bought another one brand new the next day on ebay for 90 bucks.

I'll only ever buy siemens phones i'f its up to me, they rock
!rockband

[anson]

I know a few people with the o2 xdaII mini, really good phones/pda, so if you are looking for something with PDA functionality you can't go past it. As it runs Windows Mobile 2k3 there are HEAPS of software out there, most of the software is cheap, or free (if you fly that way), there is lots of freeware apps.

The screen is crystal clear and nice and bright, not that hard to read in bright sunlight. The camera portion is acceptable for a phone/pda. It can play movies if you format them correctly (resize to 320*240).

If I had the money and wasn't an RC addict I would be looking into getting one myself, as I current use a PDA and a phone.

[opAsx]

looks like the o2 xda mini is the one :)

[remotebandit]

hey rohan , im not on a plan but am with optus and for an extra $6 or $7 a month ( with each of my bills its pretty much irrelavent) , its fully insured and thats FULLY even if i decide to drop it and step on it so maybee a few people that own high end phones should look into it as they only ask for the IMEI no of your phone and thats done , it doesnt matter if your on contract or not .

I reckon that if you have a PDA and then a seperate phone , then an MP3 Player and havnt tried a combo of an all in 1 , youll die in the ass when you see how easy it is to take just 1 item with you and its all there . It also means only 1 item to charge as well and the battery life on it is sensational considering it will do a full day of hard abusive use .

On another note , its got windows media player 10 so you can get a program called pocket DVD and convert dvds to your memory card and let me tell you that the only trips i do are Melb to Tas and sitting in that airport used to be a killer but now its grouse when you can watch a movie waiting for your plane , the time flies ( get it ... flies ... hehe ) .

Once again , yes you can do it on PDAs with Pocket PC but as i keep saying , its just not convenient . Also you can put it into flight mode which disables all Wireless and bluetooth features along with the phone so that you distract no instruments on the plane .

[anson]

I use BetaPlayer to play my AVIs, and use PocketDivxEncoder to make movies suitable to be played on my Ipaq. Works very well, I use it to encode TV episodes that I get, so easy to watch on the trip to uni and back.

[Jai]

i have a motorola V3 in black... great phone has evrything you need... also has a USB port instead of the normal !gay access ports.. screen size is good and the phone itself is a nice size. my avatar was taken using it. still only have a VGA camera. but why would you bother about a camera ion your phone thats what you have a digicam for.

if you want any sound advice my partner sarah works for communique in osb park. and she's pretty well up to date on all things phone related. she's also a telstra dealer

[nexxus]

See what you guys did! I went and got an O2 mini yesterday because of this damn thread. PS anyone wanna buy a 6230i now? 02 Mini (Imate Jam in my case but same machine) is nice, but the battery life is a bit, well, ho hum, better buy another charger for work me thinks! (big screen will drain battery!) Now to find me some software. Ps Ipod cases fit awesome!

[remotebandit]

Gees Nex , didnt take you much convincing ... lol .

Give it about 3 or 4 good charges till the pack get up to peak and from then on , i do 3 hours a day calls on it and allot of play and it does the day fine with probably about another half day to spare . Id assume O2 and Imate Jam use the same battery pack ( 3V 1800Mah ).

Im proud of your move and welcome to the club .

Adam .

[remotebandit]

Hey nex , go to www.downloads.com

Just do a search " pocket pc " and presto , youll get about 1,300 free / shareware / trial programs on there . Install what you like and if you like them after and it was a trial , go to P2P and download full versions .

[nexxus]

Lol I got it from Cashies for $555 so that helped my "convincing" I figure a new battery won't go astray but even then, $90 for a battery, still a good deal, and it looks and acts like new. I knowz me a bargain :D, and keep in mind I am a phone technician so if there is a fault, I'll find it and be claiming me on their 30 day warranty!

[opAsx]

I have just ordered one through my dad for not lot more than you paid for your 2nd hand one :)

he knows a few people who do the whole import thing and said for $650 I can have one with a "Bonus Extras" pack.

should be here next week. now just to make sure the wife doesnt pinch it :)

[BALISTC]

nexxus, how much for your 6230i?

[nexxus]

Thats not bad, careful on the imports the a/market chargers, but thats not a bad deal really. The standard case is a pain, get an Ipod pouch and cut a little hole for the speaker.

[nexxus]

Ballistic: Pm'd price on 6230i

[anson]

ipaqhq.com theres a helpful forum there as the o2 uses WM2003 so most of the info there will be beneficial for you. www.freewareppc.com I think has some very nice freeware apps if you feel guilty getting software the other way.