Need a new phone...

[ex_reven]

Gentlemen, I need some assistance in choosing a new phone.

My old phone got damaged, and in the process of looking for a new one I noticed the large amount of ugly and totally retarded cell/mobile phones on the market.

Im trying to keep it cheap, but id like the following features:
Makes Calls
Sends Texts
Ability to store data and play music

LOL when I was looking, the only phone that looked decent in design was the Nokia N80..then I clicked on it to discover its $600 price tag. God cell/mobile phones are a rip off.

I also prefer a phone that flips or slides open, with buttons that ARNT miniscule.
All suggestions are appreciated. Although im not sure if Im able to get all phones that are available in the US over here, i can certainly try I guess. Feel free to post pics of your own phones also lol..

Evil Regards,
Ex_ReVeN

[cjoyce1980]

sony ericsson w850 or the w900

[Pinchy]

Why would you want a phone for mp3...thats what your ipod is for :p.

Nokia N80 doesnt look that great IMO. Best phone company in terms of performance for me has to be SE. Never have any trouble with their phones. Although their designs are pretty plain/repetitve, its worth it for their sound quality and general phone performance.

[Darknova]

Moto RIZR is GOD :D

I've had motorola's for years and I would never change. They rule in so many ways. Best part is I can mess around with them like I do with my PC :P

I currently have an old Motorola V635, and even though it's caused me SOOOO much shit over the 2 years I've had it, I finally fixed the bugger and now I love it. However I will soon be replacing it with a Motorola RIZR as they are just gorgeous.

[Jimmy 2004]

Whatever you do get a Nokia. They :nutkick:

Admitedly some of them are expensive, but there are plenty of good Nokias that are much cheaper and they are all solid. Who here has had a Nokia break (without doing something stupid like standing on it)? I've dropped mine on to concrete floors a few times and nothing is wrong with it, save a couple of minor scratches.

[ex_reven]

sony ericsson w850 or the w900

That phone looks good but its like $400 here :ohwell:

Why would you want a phone for mp3...thats what your ipod is for :p

Well its just an extra feature I guess. Most phones are capable of it anyway.

[Wile E]

I say Moto Razr as well. They're a really nice phone, and pretty hackable, too.

[ex_reven]

I say Moto Razr as well. They're a really nice phone, and pretty hackable, too.

Why does everyone I know with that phone have issues with it randomly stop working.
Our family has gone through about 3 of those with the same issues - speaker/microphone randomly dieing, and short battery life.

At jimmy - yeah ive always had nokia and they havnt failed me yet.
They also take on water rather well :roll:

[Wile E]

Why does everyone I know with that phone have issues with it randomly stop working.
Our family has gone through about 3 of those with the same issues - speaker/microphone randomly dieing, and short battery life.Had mine for a year, no issues. Battery usually lasts me 3 days on a charge. But I do know a couple of people that had short battery life problems. They replaced the battery and all was fine. I'm guessing it was just a bad batch of batteries, because all of them got their phones around the same time.

[Pinchy]

Well its just an extra feature I guess. Most phones are capable of it anyway.

You would be suprised how much extra phones with mp3's are :p. All phones come with cameras and crap, but the mp3 phones with expandable memory (which is basically needed, or the mp3 capability is pointless) are quite expensive, especially if your going retail.

And i tend to agree, the Motorola RAZR's seem to be built poorly. I bought one for a friend and the outer shell was breaking and he had a whole stack of problems.

Nokia phones tend to be pretty good, the are reliable and durable. But, as i said, nothing beats the SE. Between both my brothers/father and myself, my SE w800i and older brothers w810i have to be the best phones we have ever used. The battery lasts an easy week with a few phone calls up and down.

[Darknova]

Ok, firstly I said RIZR not RAZR, and secondly, the first two generations of the RAZR were riddled with bugs, short battery life etc. All they needed was the latest firmware flashed on to them and all the problems were solved. Also the microphones were crap to start with but then they changed supplier. It was the same with all the older Motos, you needed to flash a new firmware before the phone could be considered stable. However Moto has overcome that problem now.

I do agree about the Nokia's never had one break, but they are so boring. The only Nokia I would consider having is the N95. Nokia designs are all the same, they can't come up with anything new, but if you want a solid, reliable phone then yeah fine, but I would never have one.

I've known people who had motorola's who got a nokia and then switched back to a motorola because they said it was better.

[ex_reven]

i see, thanks for that tidbit of knowledge.
Its still out of my price range however. $260 :(

Is it cheap over there?

[Darknova]

i see, thanks for that tidbit of knowledge.
Its still out of my price range however. $260 :(

Is it cheap over there?

Yes, the Rizr is £150, the Razr can be gotten for less than £80, and the new(ish) Razr V3i can be got for about £120.

[Pinchy]

Lol, £150 is $375 AUD :p.

BTW rev, whats your budget?

[Darknova]

Lol, £150 is $375 AUD :p.

Ouch I didn't know that....but then it's cheap over here lol.

[ex_reven]

I have no idea what my budget should be... maybe around $200 looking at how expensive even the most basic of phones are. Im willing to push it if its a good phone, i dont want to be caught using something ugly lol

[Pinchy]

Well what are your preferences in order?

Size, style, features, cost, battery life?

[Easy Rhino]

do not buy the LG Chocolate Phone. i own one and it b-l-o-w-s
i got it for 50 bucks tho...

[Pinchy]

Just looking around, I reckon you would like the Samsung E250 design wise (if you like the N80). Id say the SE Z550/Z558i for flip or the W200i for normal are good, but I dont think they have the "looks" your after ;).

[ex_reven]

SGH-E250 - $230 - Looks ok

[ex_reven]

W200i and the others the buttons arnt to my liking...

[Pinchy]

I can get you that SGH-E250 for $185 ;). I didnt think you would like the W200 :p.

[ex_reven]

thatd be great
it comes in black :D

my favouritttttte colour....

[DrunkenMafia]

get a nokia mate... that is all I can say. Who ever up there ^ is telling you to get a razr DO NOT man... I have seen so many of them crap out in the first 2 months. They are terrible phones. I have had heaps of mobiles from sony to siemans etc and Nokia is the only way to go. Just get a 6230i they are a little old now but have a good camera and are small. I have one for work and it cops a kaning and never misses a beat..

[Pinchy]

get a nokia mate... that is all I can say. Who ever up there ^ is telling you to get a razr DO NOT man... I have seen so many of them crap out in the first 2 months. They are terrible phones. I have had heaps of mobiles from sony to siemans etc and Nokia is the only way to go. Just get a 6230i they are a little old now but have a good camera and are small. I have one for work and it cops a kaning and never misses a beat..

Nokia have pretty good phones but I dont like their screens or their design. The 6230i is a perfect example, its a great phone but looks too original :p. Also, nokia tend to be pretty expensive.

[Jimmy 2004]

Nokia have pretty good phones but I dont like their screens or their design. The 6230i is a perfect example, its a great phone but looks too original :p. Also, nokia tend to be pretty expensive.

I used to have a standard Nokia 6230 (my sister has the 'i' version too) - it was over a year old when I got it, and is still going strong now with one of my friends as far as I know. Must be about three years old now, some minor software issues which make it crash very occasionally, but I'm sure a firmware update would fix those.

I now have a 6280, which has a nice camera and looks good, plus it is obviously reliable and very tough (especially considering it's a slider). The problem with the Sonys is that the little 'joysticks' are prone to breaking. Nokia FTW!

[ex_reven]

Im liking
-Samsung SGH-E250
- Nokia 6280

Theyr both similar, I guess ill go with whatevers cheaper.

[GJSNeptune]

Love my LG VX8300. I got the Verizon music kit just to get the data cable. I use BitPim to "hack" the phone and upload and tweak anything I want. I also have a 1GB mini SD card in it.

I use Audacity to edit mp3s into my own rings for people, upload, and assign to a contact. I've also uploaded pictures to assign to contacts. Great little phone. If you turn off EV-DO, the battery will last for days. The RAZRs tend to have pretty poor battery life.

[Pinchy]

I used to have a standard Nokia 6230 (my sister has the 'i' version too) - it was over a year old when I got it, and is still going strong now with one of my friends as far as I know. Must be about three years old now, some minor software issues which make it crash very occasionally, but I'm sure a firmware update would fix those.

I now have a 6280, which has a nice camera and looks good, plus it is obviously reliable and very tough (especially considering it's a slider). The problem with the Sonys is that the little 'joysticks' are prone to breaking. Nokia FTW!

Yeah, the joysticks suck, but thats why they are moving away from them with the W810i and so forth ;).

[WarEagleAU]

I have the Samsung SGH-900 (Cant remember model number) Sync phone and I love. It has an expandible memory slot (microSD) plays mp3s has a 2.0MP camera built in that is pretty good with 4x zoom, is in black with a sleek finish, nice buttons and a slew of other features. It even does TV, games, etc. The only problem I see with it, is I cannot hack it right now or download games to it either. Other than that, its rock solid, stable, great sound and call quality, great mp3 sound, dropped it a few times from different heights and on concrete, and it has yet to break, scratch or crack. To me its the best phone Ive had and Ive had a motorola 620 (I think thats what it was, it was awesome, no problems and it was refurbished) a motorola something (first phone, no color, nice sleeves, decent) a Sony Ericson something or nother and it did well but it was boring and low battery life.

I recommend Samsung Sync though :)

EDIT: upgrading or new 2 year contract at Walmart or any other stores can get them for $25 to $50 USD :)

[Jimmy 2004]

Im liking
-Samsung SGH-E250
- Nokia 6280

Theyr both similar, I guess ill go with whatevers cheaper.

The 6280 is a nice phone, provided you get fairly recent firmware (the earlier versions have some niggling issues, nothing major). The 6288 is the same phone in terms of hardware, but with newer software - not worth the extra cash IMO, but worth considering if it's about the same price.

One thing to remember about the 6280 - it isn't symbian (it's uses Nokia's S40), so you won't be able to install much fancy software, but it runs java games and applications fine, plus it has all the PC sync features ect (the cable you need came with mine). The battery life is good, the sound quality is fine using the headphones that come with it (it plays Apple's M4A files which iTunes often uses), screen is awsome and camera is nice for snapshots, perhaps 6x4 prints. And it has 3G which is an added bonus (2 cameras on the phone!). Build quality is good and it looks quite professional.

The only downsides are that it looks big (it's actually the same size as my sister's Sony K750i or something, not as big as it looks) and the internet is quite slow on it (but that could just be my network provider).

You should check out the Nokia Theme Studio if you get it - lets you build custom themes, and if you take the time they can look quite sweet. I'd say the 6280 is definitely a good phone provided you don't need Symbian.

Edit: if there's anything else you want to know about the phone features, let me know and I'll try to help.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Why does everyone I know with that phone have issues with it randomly stop working.
Our family has gone through about 3 of those with the same issues - speaker/microphone randomly dieing, and short battery life.


Because its treated like shit.


My razr has "gone through hell" and is 100% functional and is in pretty good shape.

I've noticed the "general public" normally have shit experiences with cell phones because they treat them like they're disposable instead of what they are- electronics. ;)


Most people buy LG's and expect them to last ~1 year and complain when they break.. after tossing them around, sitting on them, dropping them, etc.

cheap phone+poor treatment = always poor results.


I would have to vote razr, with a decent clip.. treat it decent and it should NEVER have any issues.

If you want a quality phone I would suggest against anything samsung, or LG made.

I personally am a fan of Motorola phones. We use ~500 at work. :)

[Greek]

i personally boight the LG SHine ke970 or sumit, smart looking phone, good design and some good abilities and features, and its cheap and elegant.

[EviLZeD]

i got a samsung e250 its a really good budget phone has microsd slot etc slider is good quality aswell

[Zero Cool]

get what I have!