When mobiles first started being readily available in the mid 90’s I had the best that you could get each year. I just wanted the newest smallest on the market.
When the Nokia 8210 came out, phones, for me, had hit the best point in their existance. It was small, light, battery efficient and did what I wanted. I loved it. I loved it so much I kept it until 2005 when after many repairs it died in a pool of condensation due to leaving the windows of my apartment open whilst staying next to the Maekong. Maekong mist killed it.

At that point I bought a smartphone from o2 – it lasted a week and then was wrecked in a motorbike accident.

I went back to a normal phone since then. That only does what it says on the tin.

My trusty Nokia something or other, has now bitten the ghost. Keys arent working and it’s screen is badly scratched.

So is it time to get with the 21st century and get something a bit fancier or not?

Sell me a smartphone or standard phone and explain why I should or shouldn’t change.

First what do you want from the phone?

^ I don’t know.

The missus has some fancy phone that she wanted. It has come in hadny to check the interent every so often when out and about to look stuff up. I have used it to send the odd picture message to my folks.

Other than that, I don’t really know. I don’t Facebook, Tweet or do anything like that. I make calls and send the odd text, less than 20 a month.

BUT maybe if I had more function I would use it. I like the idea of a Win 7 phone, but for no reason other than being different.

Other than that, I don’t really know. I don’t Facebook, Tweet or do anything like that. I make calls and send the odd text, less than 20 a month.

This will change though. I am not on facebook or anything like that, but I use my smartphone for:

Satnav
Music
Web Surfing
Emailing
Playing games
Finding out where the hell I am when lost with google maps
etc

…basically all things I never thought I would use it for. The phone will come first, you will add the need later 😉

but for no reason other than being different.

That’s stupid. There is a reason Android and iOS are so prevalent. They are better than the competition. This might change in the future, but at the moment the best handsets are not using W7.

i got a HTC wildfire, the cheap low power version, and cant stop using it.

I dont neeeeeeed it, but being able to look at OS maps on demand, Google maps, GPS track my rides and upload them to google, check head angles on bikes, remote view and support my dads computer when he calls up and cant work it, (even over the 3g network teamviewer6 is EXCELLENT), recieve emails, sync with google calender,the list goes on and on and on.

i genuinly think they are the modern swiss army knife, and beat seven shades out of the knife for usefulness.

OP Like you, I’ve always just made do with a small old phone on pay as you go, for texting and talking, not really been interested in phones beyond that. However, now, with GPS, internet, music etc all in one. it’s a whole new world. I’m thinking it might make alot of toys redundant, GPS, sat nav, ipod even the laptop (for the amount I use it). I’m almost tempted.

I’m thinking it might make alot of toys redundant, GPS, sat nav even the laptop (for the amount I use it).

Well this is where these devices do excel, convergence.

My smartphone replaced my iPod Classic and negated the need of buying a standalone satnav unit.

True they can be jack of all trades and master of none, but if you only use stuff like sat-nav, camera etc occasionally then its ideal.

….the only prob is the fragility of having all this stuff in a phone. If I know I am going on the bike and/or getting wet and muddy somehow, I will take an old nokia so I know I can make a call without knackering £400+ worth of device 😉

I had something similar to Olly’s experience when I got a BlackBerry. I now always have an “iPod” with me so I can listen to podcasts all the time in the car/walking to/from work etc. It’s also meant that I communicate with friends/family overseas through BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp – somehow an instant message is a lot easier to write (and send a lot more of them) than a whole email – which I never did!

I bought an htc legend smartphone after years of basic Nokia’s – broke the screen on it twice in a couple of months, so went down the toughphone route with a Samsung something or other- still got googlemaps/satnav, a browser etc, but very clunky interface.
If I was looking now I’d consider the Motorola Defy- same IP67 rating, but a decent sized touchscreen.

I’ve just done a swap from the best standard phone I could find (nokia 6700) back to an iPhone. I love the standard nokia. Small light, good battery, stainless steel case decent functions… But I’m sat posting on stw on the iPhone plus have all the apps maps etc that I decided I missed. There is no best, just better for you

I got a iphone ’cause I was fed up of using two things (music and phone) when there was one thing that would do the job. Now it’s got games, Sat Nav (free) internet, photos editor, emails all sorts. Pretty much whatever you think of doing with it, there’s probably a way of doing it, they just become more and more useful.

Played with most of them, they all do some things better or worse than each other. Wouldn’t want to recommend any of them, go to a shop and have a play

Cheers for all that.

As a loyal orange customer I can get a decent sim-only deal upgrade similar to the one I am on now but with internet and minutes for 15 quid a month.
I would most likely buy a phone outright rather than adding it to the cost of a contract and tying myself in for 18months or 24 months.

This what I use a smartphone for, in no particular order:

Google maps – fantastic when you’re out and about in a small city
Google/internet – I’m an impetuous person, so when an idea pops into my head I need to act on it. So I look something up, find a price, answer a question on wikipedia etc.
Facebook – I like to keep up to date with friends and family
Email – only if I am waiting for an important mail, or someone mailed me something and I need to get the details – an address, a phone number etc.
Forgetfulness – many times I’ve set off to a race or something and forgotten to take down the postcode or directions – I can go online and find it. IF I’ve got network coverage 🙂
Camera – often taking photos and uploading them straight to flickr – not strictly smartphone territory of course.
GPS – sometimes on foot or in a car with no satnav, but often when road biking and getting slighty lost or needing to take a shortcut home or somewhere else.
Storage – I often send or beam files to it if I haven’t got a memory stick handy
Music – I listened to the radio a lot and music at my last workplace – saves buying an iPod.
Video calling – not used it, but would be pretty useful – I skyped and MSN videoed a lot to my wife and daughter when I was away working.
Sportstracker – the nokia thing, gives me running stats like pace and averages, also plots me on a map which helps if I am running somewhere unfamiliar, and I can upload and share to facebook, which can be motivational for some of my friends
Interval trainer – downloaded an app for managing intervals – makes a sound at the start and end so I don’t have to keep looking at a stopwatch
Games – downloaded some kiddie games for my daughter, she loves them and it’s much easier for her to handle and the touch screen is really the only input method she can use at the moment.

Oh and all the above is with a Nokia 5800 which can be had for nothing and on cheap contracts.. big money not needed for smartphones.

I’ve had a smartphone a few months now after my £30 Sony Ericsson started playing up too much, and it’a s very different thing to a ‘normal’ phone. If you get one you won’t go back. I don’t use Facebook or much social media stuff but it’s still a very handy thing.

That said, if you had a perfectly workable old-school phone then I wouldn’t necessarily urge you to upgrade for it’s own sake. But if you’re looking for a replacement anyway then I think you’d have to be making a point and digging your heels in to choose a normal phone over a smartphone (assuming you’re not really skint of course).

If you want basic try one of these – I love ’em…

http://www.johnsphones.com/