Looking for a new phone

[Jayp]

I'm getting tired of my ancient Nokia 5510 (yeah it's 7 years old but at least it has an MP3 player and a qwerty keyboard!) so I'm looking for a replacement. My main candidate at the moment is Nokia N81 (NOT the 8GB model that costs a lot more and has a slow ass internal flash drive) but I really have no idea about other brands so I'd like some suggestions.

Most important reasons why I'm considering N81 (most important at top):
*QVGA (320x240) display with 16,7M colours (2,4" also seems like a pretty good size for a phone)
*Hot swappable memory cards (microSDHC, supports at least 4GB cards, not sure about bigger)
*MP3 player (As far as I know N81 has a pretty good audio quality which is a really important factor for me, also the output power seems quite sufficient)
*Plays H.264 video
N-Gage games (I don't really know if they're good but can't be worse than usual cell phone games)
Web browser
2 megapixel camera (I'm not going to pay any extra for a better camera anyway)
Normal 3,5mm audio jack for some extra convenience
Seems like just the perfect size. I hate too small phones that I couldn't tell if it's in my pocket or not :P
I do like the design but that's hardly a very important factor.

So if you can think of anything that offers at least most of those features (those marked with * are a must) at a price around 300€ (400€ max but preferably less. best price I've found for N81 is 289,90€) please tell me. A qwerty keyboard would be great but I think that limits the selection too much. Battery life could be better than in N81.

[psyren]

N81? Don't you have the N82 there?
Or the N95. That's always a good option. The N96 is scheduled to come out soon.

[Jayp]

N81? Don't you have the N82 there?
Or the N95. That's always a good option. The N96 is scheduled to come out soon.

Sure, except that all of those are way above my budget. Seems to be the case with other brands too or at least I haven't seen anything with the features/price of N81. I can't seem to find any difference between N81 and N95 except for the completely unnecessary 5 megapixel camera. N82 seems like N81 with a completely different and ugly design and a massively upgraded price tag (ah seems like it has some built-in GPS crap, don't need that, I can always buy the GPS module for N81 if I need it).

*Edit*
Sony Ericsson W890i might be an alternative but it costs quite a bit more and doesn't seem to have any real advantages and actually seems to do worse in some areas. Meh, back to researching.

[GoGeTa006]

Ive never really been a nokia fan since the 2 nokias ive ever had ended up really fcked up *one of the batteries like.  .exploded when i left it charging. . . it looked like a balloon!

then the other one. . . well amm lets not get into that crappy screen.

im talking old phones but thats why i never got into new ones. . .

Ive alway's been sony ericsson and motorola cellphones *not fcking nextel bricks*

i have the w580i and i have to say Im still lovin it.
I also had the KRZR and it was really good and a friend of mine had the V3x or something like that .. .really good too
=)

and the w580i . . .I chose it cause its slim and has quite some good specs


262000 colors (TFT)
240 x 320 px


MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / eAAC+ / m4a / TrackID *that shit rox*

Network:     GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Form Factor:    Slide
Dimensions:    99 x 47 x 14 mm
Weight:    94 g
Navigation:    5-Way Keypad
Memory:    12.0 MB
Expandable Memory:    Memory Stick Micro
2 megapixel camera





I dont wanna recomend the iPhone cause i dont wanna summon the flaming posts!

still i do recomend the iphone i loved it =p. . .but still it doesnt fall into the cellphone categories. . .its like workphone or something like that.. . .another category. . .

[mgz]

i recommend you get a seperate phone and mp3 player as its suprisingly difficult to find a phone with 3.5mm jack that is a actual mp3 player and phone although every phone out there tries to call themself a mp3 player phone ITS ALL LIES

[Jayp]

At least N81 is more like an MP3 player with a phone than the other way around. I'm likely getting that one unless someone brings up something that's in the same league. It seems like all the would-be rivals are at least one price tier higher or have reduced features or both. There also seems to be some weird fetishes about 5 megapixel cameras and touchscreens and designs by Armani (:D) and some other useless stuff that's just going to make the price higher.

I definitely won't be buying a separate MP3 player. I just wish someone could combine a phone, an MP3 player, a camera that isn't crappy, a portable media player with at least VGA resolution, real mobile broadband like 10/10 Mb/s, a GPS navigator and Nintendo DS (read: a real portable game system) and make it affordable. Add 1TB+ of internal memory to that list so it can work as a wireless storage device. Maybe in the next decade... or the one after that...

[mgz]

the samsung g800 is rather nice

check out this site gsmarena.com

they have a shit ton of information about a shit ton of phones including reviews and where to buy ect

[BakaBT]

Originally posted by Malus:

the samsung g800 is rather nice

check out this site gsmarena.com

they have a shit ton of information about a shit ton of phones including reviews and where to buy ect

+1 gsmarena!!!

lalala

blackberrys are good too

[kureshii]

Man, sometimes I wonder if it is so hard to make a nice, simple phone relatively lightweight and slim, with nothing more than call+SMS capabilities and some organiser functions, no camera wanted or needed. And at a very reasonable price for what it offers. Media player would be nice but purely optional.

The day I find a phone like that is the day I reach phone nirvana.

[mgz]

uh most low end phones are damn near exactly what you want but its almost impossible to find a phone without a camera nowadays

and the reason they have no mass appeal is because when they offer a stripped phone they stick it into the cheapest plasticy piece of garbage constantly  broken phone youll ever have, i currently use samsung sgh a717 from att its fairly basic and doesnt have a huge screen on the front to get destroyed or burn battery

[psyren]

Man, sometimes I wonder if it is so hard to make a nice, simple phone relatively lightweight and slim, with nothing more than call+SMS capabilities and some organiser functions, no camera wanted or needed. And at a very reasonable price for what it offers. Media player would be nice but purely optional.

The day I find a phone like that is the day I reach phone nirvana.

Vodafone has made an idiot's phone. Have a look for it. It's not lightweight or slim (it was designed with older people in mind [sight dififculties, etc.]), but it fulfils everything else you want.

[aghstnashell]

Man, sometimes I wonder if it is so hard to make a nice, simple phone relatively lightweight and slim, with nothing more than call+SMS capabilities and some organiser functions, no camera wanted or needed. And at a very reasonable price for what it offers. Media player would be nice but purely optional.

The day I find a phone like that is the day I reach phone nirvana.

Vodafone has made an idiot's phone. Have a look for it. It's not lightweight or slim (it was designed with older people in mind [sight dififculties, etc.]), but it fulfils everything else you want.

What about this one?
http://www.jitterbug.com/Phones.aspx

[Quadlazer]

Man, sometimes I wonder if it is so hard to make a nice, simple phone relatively lightweight and slim, with nothing more than call+SMS capabilities and some organiser functions, no camera wanted or needed. And at a very reasonable price for what it offers. Media player would be nice but purely optional.

The day I find a phone like that is the day I reach phone nirvana.

Vodafone has made an idiot's phone. Have a look for it. It's not lightweight or slim (it was designed with older people in mind [sight dififculties, etc.]), but it fulfils everything else you want.

What about this one?
http://www.jitterbug.com/Phones.aspx

That's an old people's phone. Definitely not compact.

[GoGeTa006]

Man, sometimes I wonder if it is so hard to make a nice, simple phone relatively lightweight and slim, with nothing more than call+SMS capabilities and some organiser functions, no camera wanted or needed. And at a very reasonable price for what it offers. Media player would be nice but purely optional.

The day I find a phone like that is the day I reach phone nirvana.

over here they sell those!
slim phones. . .motorola sucky phones for 300 pesoss at oxxo *its like 7-11 but in mexico* and it comes with 200 pesos call credit
and all they do is organize, call and SMS and color screen. . .
motorola
look at the w375. . . its pretty simple and slim
or the v172. . . simple enough

they both play mp3 ringtones *dont have enough memory to hold more then 1 song so . . .they arent mp3 players at all. . .

[Jayp]

Unfortunately simple and slim is not what I'm looking for :P I hardly ever use my phone so the phone functions would be just secondary features of an MP3 player (and a game system if the games are any good). My phone bill is so low they only send it a couple of times a year when the total gets over 20€.

That N82 would be quite nice but the N81 looks much better. The improvements over N81 are also nothing I would absolutely need and it costs 50% more than N81 here... Overall it seems that the only competition for N81 are the more expensive N models by Nokia :P I wonder why the N81 seems to be ignored by most. I haven't heard anything really negative about it. That sounds exactly like my phone though - unpopular without any real faults making it uncommon and cheap.

[kureshii]

Ah, pardon my rudeness, didn't mean to hijack your thread Jayp =P

Seems an MID-like device is what you're looking for, like the recommended N81, I've been thinking about an ebook reader like that but in the end I decided I'd just mod it from a Eee =) Not sure about the taking calls part tho, maybe when VOIP is more popular...

As for that low-end phone... if it's not lightweight and slim it defeats the whole purpose >_< my current phone is all that except the light and slim part too. I just want a well-engineered phone (i.e. not fragile and no cheap tacky parts), easy to carry around and whip out of my pocket without dragging the beltline down. All it has to do is take/make calls and messages, and have some basic organiser functions, at a reasonable price (unlike those crazy flashy pricey Samsung ones). I guess requirements like these are too niche huh.