Call Me Geeky

[carbonel_]

It's that new phone time again - my current one is actually borderline functional.

I'm currently torn between the Motorola Z10 and the new 3G iPhoneI know the iPhone a bit of a poser thing, but after using Luke's the other weekend I'm kinda interested.. The Motorola I mainly want for its cool slideyness (I like phones that *do* things) but I'm a

Comments

[dave_chimaera]

I have a complete hatred of Motorola phones so I'll not touch on that one other than to say I'm wary of phones with too many moving bits as they are always potential points of failure...

The iPhone is very cool but also quite restrictive in terms of what you can and can't do with it (no linux support, forced to use iTunes for management, somewhat draconian controls over 3rd-party apps etc). It is however *very* cool :)

The N95 I have first hand experience, since I've had one for about 15Mo :). It's a *very* good phone, but the non-phone stuff is a bit more variable - the camera is extremely good in natural sunlight, but crap otherwise. The GPS is a complete gimmick, and is utterly useless (time to fix is ridiculously long) I'm also not keen on the media player, but then I am used to the whizzy Apple iPod interface, and I've never found any small scale interface that I like nearly so much.

My phone is up for renewal in 2-3 months. At the moment I'm considering either the Nokia e71 or (much more likely) the 3G iPhone

[dave_chimaera]

Turns out I'm already in the upgrade window and there is precisely naff-all to choose from on my T-Mobile contract :(

[medusa_81]

I know your pain on this one! This is why my current phone is held together with gaffer tape. We have different requirements from phones (to say the least!)but they don't do anything I like or would be able to use, so I keep praying mine will last another day...

[dave_chimaera]

I loathe Motorola phones so they're out (I'm not hugely keen on the hardware and the UI is a thing of pain)

Sony-Ericcson's aren't much better - they're tolerable but I don't particularly like them.

The T-Mobile branded ones are either Windows Mobile (been there once, not keen on going back) or worse, sidekicks

This pretty much leaves Nokia

I like Nokia S60 phones but the best of them is only an updated version of my N95, so not really worth it. The two Nokias I do like (e71 and e90) aren't carried.

Ergo nothing suitable for me at all.

Unless smoething changes in the next 6 weeks I'll be canning my T-Mobile contract and heading back to O2 I think :)

[carbonel_]

That's why I was looking at the Motorola Z10 - it uses UIQ rather than Motorola's own (admittedly infuriating at times!) system.

Having said that, I totally agree the S60 interface is better - my old Panasonic phone used that and it was a breeze.

I think I know what I'm tlaking about here... :)

[dave_chimaera]

Sort of...

UIQ and S60 are proprietary interfaces built on the Symbian OS rather than proprietary inhouse stuff like Nokia's S40 platform, or whatever Motorola called their PoS OS. I've no idea if the Panasonic is based on Symbian or not though, I don't know anything about their phones. To use a linux analogy its similar to KDE and Gnome - they are seperately developed graphical interfaces that work on a common base.

I've read a couple of reviews on the Z10, and the consensus seems to be that it improves on the Z8, but not enough...

[carbonel_]

D'oh! :)

I'd forgotten that iPhone => iTunes - that might be a factor, albeit not a huge one. I have to join the iParty eventually, I guess).
As to the N95 it's food for thought - the GPS was one of the main reasons I was looking at it (although apparently this Assisted GPS thing helps lock - any experience?) On the other hand, since messaging email and web are my biggest uses, I guess it'd do fine.

You at Adam etc's party on Friday? Chat more then..

Oh yeah, IT Crowd - it's good. The scripts are a bit hit & miss I think, but most of the humour comes through identifying with the situation, and in that respect I think you'd like it :) And their 'IT Office' is definitely well-observed!

[dave_chimaera]

*shrugs* I'm running the latest Nokia firmware on the device (rather than one of the vendor-specific ones (which tend to lag behind)) and I've found it did improve things a bit. Admittidly that was from 'are you fucking kidding me' to merely 'intolerably slow'. Mind you I am a bit spoilt, my Tom Tom is extremely quick to lock on (rarely more than 30s, and thats usually if its been turned off in one place and turned back on 200 miles away).

anyhoo, yah - will see you Friday :)

[asw909]

According to the few of our customers who have taken the E71 so far, it sounds like a winner. The only gripe has been the small screen.

Motorola: totally with you on this. I'd avoid them too.

[dave_chimaera]

The main concern I have is the keyboard - I'm not exactly blessed with dainty fingers ;)