I know there are lots of techy types on here.

Does anyone have any recommendations for smartphones?

Looked at the iPhone but even though I love apple stuff, I’ll not be getting one as it won’t send MMS messages. Which seems a bit of a fundamental oversight for a phone with a camera.

So anyone? Lets get geeky!

Have one of the new Blackberry Storm and I quite like it, email very simple and other stuff like google maps etc also pretty useful. Camera is verrrry slow and typing isn’t mega quick either, though as I tend to send short emails that isn’t a problem.

Looked at Iphone and typing is a similar issue there, think it was probably faster on web browsing too but couldn’t be bothered swapping from Vodaphone and paying more money for it!

N96 seems to be pretty fragile, my mates on his 3rd as they are very plasticky

Also looked at some windows moibles (samsung) but seemed very clunky interface.

Ive been using the Orbit2 made for O2 by HTC. (you can get unlocked versions) O2 package comes bundled with CoPilot road mapping which works very well.

Its a Windows Mobile 6 handset with a touch screen/stylus. Includes a GPS chipset as well as HSDPA/3G/EDGE/GPRS/WIFI/BLUETOOTH connectivity. That’s quite a lot packed into this little thing.

has internet sharing ability to connect to my laptop over Bluetooth so I have mobile 3G.

Hasnt let me down all year. Syncs with my Outlook and Windows Media Player – I store 4Gb of music on a microsd on board. Camera isnt amazing but works OK and pretty easy to MMS from. Battery life is pretty good and I can get 72hrs of very heavy use out of it between charges.

Looking a bit scruffy now, and the screen can get a bit tired where the writing zone is.

I’ve got a nokia 6120 classic – its nice and slim and was fairly cheap. I run tomtom on it with an external gps, plus I’ve got gameboy and snes emulators on it! 2 gig memory card was super cheap too. It all syncs nicely with my mac too.

Hmm.. not sending MMS is a pretty rubbish reason not to go for an iPhone IMHO.

You’re right, it is a missing feature. But it’s really not one that I actually miss. You can always just send an email instead or use one of the numerous apps to upload your photos directly to flickr etc.

If it is vital to you then there is an App available in the App Store which lets you send MMS from the iPhone (via a third-party gateway) at a cost of 37p an MMS.

Just got my iPhone delivered after what must be months of pondering. Can’t wait to get home and activate it!

Nokia seem too slow and were forever telling me I was out of memory and to close/delete stuff! Very annoying!

Would imagine there are better phones at doing some things than others, but doubt there is one phone that does everything better, so despite everything else, the iPhone was for me, as GS says, just upload or email your pics.

Really like my Nokia E71. Nice and solid. No flashy stuff, just gets the job done with a proper keyboard*. Good battery life.

<geek>
*SSH into my *nix boxen is lovely on it 🙂
</geek>

HTC Touch Diamond is good if a little slow.

*SSH into my *nix boxen is lovely on it

Geek.

I use VNC over a VPN connection on my iPhone, though I do have the option of using TouchTerm for SSH if I need it

hold off for the Palm Pre?

oh!

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/19/n97_launch_price/

in the meantime I’ve got an XDA Orbit sat on my desk at work, wanna buy that?

Have a look at the HTC phones – available under various names from each of the main mobile guys (the XDA on o2, HTC on Orange and MDA on T Mobile.)

the HTC Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and Touch HD are the latest handsets. all run WinMobile 6.1, but with HTC’s own interface running on top.

When it first came out the Touch Diamond was a little sluggish, but the update that came out within a month last summer quickened things up nicely.

the basic differences is:
Touch Diamond: 4Gb internal storeage, smallest of the 3. sVGA screen, no expandable memory slot.
Touch Pro: same as the Diamond, but has a slide out keyboard and a MicroSD card slot.
Touch HD is the largest, about the same size as a iPhone. doesnt have a slide out keyboard, but does have the internal memory and expandable microSD card slot. also has a 3.5mm headphone jack so you dont need special headphones.

all 3 have GPS on board. and google maps installed (or can be installed for free if not) have opera browser

a good place for reviews: http://www.coolsmartphone.com

Just bought i-phone on Saturday and I must say I’m impressed. There are lots of things it could and should do better, but they are only minor niggles. Only major downside is the battery life which depletes quickly if you use the unit intensively. There are lots and lots of positives.

Just starting using an N78 and it’s been grand.

You can send MMS from an Iphone…

Just go into the aplication store and download the software.
It takes about 30 seconds to do..

Have a look at the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Its WM 6.1, made by HTC. The GUI is better than HTC IMO, especially if you download the free SPB stuff. Huge high res screen, full slideout QUERTY keyboard, 3.2mp camera, wi-fi, GPS etc and pretty good battery life. I was very sceptical before I got it, having sent back both the HTC Touch Diamond and the touch Pro, but after 2 months I am sold

iphone all the way , had mine for 3 days now , brill bit of kit, i do miss not being able to forward msgs tho , hopefully a update will sort this soon, its one of the biggest complaints todate , not really botherd about forwarding pics much tbh.

I’ve been using Nokia E71for some months now and it’s great. I tried Samsung Omnia the other day and couldn’t work it out. The other line is on Nokia N96 and it’s a great phone too.

N97 looks like a good cross when it comes out….

I use a Nokia E61i, better than the E61 as its a bit slimmer, metal case and has a camera. Works really great, has all I really need for Uni. My mate has a E71 and thats a really great phone, only downside is that the screen is a bit smaller to my e61 and because the keys are a bit cramped on the e71 I cant use the full keyboard as fast as on my phone.

In my opinion I would go for an E71 over an N95 as apart from the camera its just plain better.

Had an O2 XDA Mini S some time ago, but it was a bit on the big side. Plus Windows Mobile wasnt the fastest.

Wouldnt want a touch screen only phone as it would probably drive me crazy (plus I do have big hands and typing anything on a friends iPhone was a nightmare) and the ones with slide out keyboard are a bit on the big side so my Nokia ticks all the boxes for me.

Before the Nokia I was considering HTC TyTn 2 but it was too expensive, as it was impossible to get a decent one under £220-£200 mark.

N97 “You’ll get a massive 32GB of on-board storage where you can keep pictures snapped using the phone’s 5Mp camera. If you do need more capacity, a Micro SD card slot’s built in too. ®”

Why would You ever need more space than 32GB on your PHONE? Is it just a race who will fit more memory on a phone?

iPhone. It’s rare I take a laptop/map/guidebook anywhere with me these days.

I get about a day out of the battery if I’m out of the office. Two or three days if I’m working in

Anyone tried a G1 Google phone?

Why would You ever need more space than 32GB on your PHONE? Is it just a race who will fit more memory on a phone?

They’re not really just a phone though are they?!

Anyone tried a G1 Google phone?

Yes have had a quick play on one, and it is surprisingly nice. Much less version 1 than I was expecting.

It doesn’t have off road maps, so I won’t get one yet. I’m hooked on viewranger, which is nokia only and way ahead of any map thing on the other smartphones currently – the only thing that comes close is memory map on windows mobile. I think it also requires 3g connection for street mapping, which isn’t so good either (although that’s the same on the iphone I guess?).

Joe

Joe: nope – iPhone has a GPS receiver built-in. AFAIK it only uses transmitter-triangulation if it can’t get the GPS signal.

Needs some kind of data connection to download maps on the fly obviously, but this doesn’t have to be 3G – it could also be GPRS, Edge or WiFi.

It does a first fix using the mobile signal and then refines it with the gps. Much faster that way

Joe: nope – iPhone has a GPS receiver built-in. AFAIK it only uses transmitter-triangulation if it can’t get the GPS signal.

Needs some kind of data connection to download maps on the fly obviously, but this doesn’t have to be 3G – it could also be GPRS, Edge or WiFi.

Yeah, that’s exactly the same as the G1. It means you can’t rely on it for outdoors navigation (for example try using the bugger in Edale). Whereas nokia maps works anywhere, and you don’t have to have a data contract at all to use it. You can also go abroad and use Nokia maps as much as you like without worrying about roaming data costs. Until someone brings out a cached map solution (and something that supports OS maps for the UK), the G1 and IPhone are currently not as good as Nokia for anything other than on-road navigation in places you have signal and a cheap data contract.

Joe

Some of the iPhone apps do have cached maps – I have a couple for skiing that show you what run you are on etc.
There are a few “trail” ones as well. A cached OS map one would be easy to write but it would take up a lot of space and would need an Ordnance Survey licence which is very expensive.

blackberry Bold if email is important, browser & media player not bad. Battery life pretty good too.

iPhone if music & browsing is what you will mainly use it for..

For good camera functionality, sony & Samsung..

Windows Mobile smart phones!!! Don’t go there if you want to use it as a phone!

For MTB specific GPS , get a Garmin edge and use a cheapy PAYG phone…

I use a Nokia E61i, better than the E61 as its a bit slimmer, metal case and has a camera. Works really great, has all I really need for Uni.

On what planet do you need a 200 quid phone for Uni? Sorry if that seems like a personal criticism …. maybe it just shows I’m out of touch …

HTC Touch HD here – it’s really very good. Same size as an I-Phone, better screen res, better camera if that’s your thing and you can install Garmin Mobile XT for full SATnav which works very well – especially in landscape mode.

Good battery life, loads of software available to enhance things like the g-sensor.

OK, so it won’t cut it for those intent on following the ‘I’ crowd and winmo has it’s detractors, but this is very good at what it does and looks good too and the winmo front end is barely visable for the most commonly used apps.

For the map addicts, garmin are bringing out a smartphone this year. The nuvo I think…