Well it’s official. I hate my two-year-old XDAii. It’s hard-reset on me about 6 times during the last month. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t trust it enough to put any data in it. So it’s time to get a new phone. I’m finally going to get off the Microsoft Office crack as well. My XDAii is the only thing keeping me using Office and I’m determined to move 100% to using free, online services such as Google Calendar.
I’m also going to dump my mobile service provider, Optus, because their customer service sucks ass. My two year plan expires in December (coincidentally just as my phone dies???) and when I rang them up two months ago to make sure they cancelled my plan on the expiration date, their customer service rep I spoke with told me he couldn’t go that and that I’d need to ring them back closer to the date.
ME: “Why? I’m telling you now.”
DUMP OPTUS REP: “Because I can’t remember to cancel it.”
ME: “You don’t have, like, a COMPUTER you can put the information into?”
DUMP OPTUS REP: “Our systems aren’t set up for that.”
ME: “You guys made a $600 million profit last year and you don’t have systems that work?”
DUMP OPTUS REP: “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
So anywhoo… I’m thinking about getting a Nokia e61 on Three so I can use Skype over wifi via the Soonr client.
Here’s my phone wishlist:
– wifi
– 2MP+ camera
– expandable memory (pref SD card but MicroSD will do)
– quadband so it works in the US
– bluetooth that works
– can access my gmail and google calendar on it
– speakerphone
– GPS which will work with a mapping service
I think the Nokia hits all of these except the phone.
Ewan? Shane?
The only thing to watch out for is that Three haven’t disabled any of those features.
They tend to do things like disable proper web-browsing so you can only use the my three site, lock soft keys to open web browser even when there’s a button under that which does exactly the same thing etc.
I’m always happy to ask our lab guys who get to see and more importantly, use, just about every phone that comes out. They’d have a pretty good idea, I imagine…
I looked long and hard at the E61 Cam, but eventually settled on the E70. I just couldn’t get myself to love the E61 form factor, and a phonecam is something I love to have for those occasional “I must shoot/video this” moments.
I’m loving the E70. It’s a bit of an ugly duckling, but having that traditional candybar form factor with the option of qwerty (flip-over keyboard), built in everything (wifi, BT, 3G, etc), is worth a bit of ugliness in my book.
Oh crap, quad band? Unsure on that one. And the speakerphone on the E70 is awesome.
Everyone I know on 3 says they’re customer service sucks ass.
Don’t use the web on my vodafone account but they’ve always been helpful and on my semi-contract, i get around $400 buck towards a new phone every 18 months or so.
cam – check out the O2 Atom on any network – it comes with all the things you want and you can make it skype ready as well. I have a mate in bangkok who uses one, he goes to a bar with wireless (for whatever reason you want to attribute) and I talk to him via my skype connection here in Aus. All for nothing,
I’m waiting for mine to turn up.
I want the Noki N95
http://www.cnet.com.au/mobilephones/phones/0,239025953,339271384,00.htm
5 megapixels!
I cannot recommend a phone, but I am using Gmail on my mobile without any hassle at all.
I do it using 3’s mobile web ($5/month) and the browser on a Nokia 6280.
The interface is very good given the limitations.
The mobile web charge only covers 10MB of downloads, but in occasional (2 days/week) use I have never got anywhere near the limit.
The 6280 synchs nicely with Outlook too, and can also become a modem, even via. bluetooth.
Cam Three customer service does suck, and as Miriam say’s they tend to lock features.
I would be interested in what phone you do choose as I am up for the same thing next year.
Sounds like you need to do some DA!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepner_tregoe
(sorry this what happens when you do a weeks of training on this stuff! Extremely interesting and useful!)
Molly
I highly recommend the Nokia N93. I have one and it is fantastic – great photos and video, easy to use and funky.
It’s a bit bigger than the other phones around, but it makes up in features for its size.
The only draw back for you may be that it doesn’t record audio as a MP3 file, but that can be fixed by downloading simple software.
The N95 looks aamazing, but I think it will be next year before it’s available.
Hi Cam
Not a marketing pitch for three but check out their xseries service in the UK!!
xseries.three.com – I’m impressed with the data services including sling!
When is it coming to Oz is my question?
Nick Gonios
3eep.com
I’m over fancy phones- the Nokia N95 costs more than my new laptop!!
I want a 3G phone that can bluetooth as a modem and do calendar and addresses. no stylus, no fuss.
and nothing more than a 2 mpxl camera!!
Tom
No camera on the E61.
No curent Symbian phones with GPS on release
The N95 is not gonan be mainstream for at least 4-5 months, and needs time to patch the firmware upgrades.
Id; run with the N93 – tis stable now, and works very nicely
What ever phone you get, as soon as you get it, you will want the next latest and greatest. I think if you are still fine using your moleskine then getting a non windows mobile phone will be fine, but I think you will miss the functionality of having a mini PC in your hands. Gmail may be OK to use on the small screen but not much else is good. (ie just tried Remember the Milk for To Do Lists and could not get past log in). I was cheating at trivia the other night and googling a few things on my Nokia 6131 which has a very large screen, but it was still crap due to the screen size and sites like google not being made for mobile devices. I’m not sure that 3G will make things any better (only quicker). I tried out Telstra’s next G and it’s a big load of marketing hype only. There is nothing on there that is any good, even me as a TV addict would not bother with the offerings they have at the moment. So my suggestion is stick with a new Windows Mobile device at the moment, until the true holy grail of phones is available with the features you want. If I had $1000 to spend on a phone right now, I’d probably go with the Atom. Or go the other way which is what I did. Get a cheap $250 phone that will do the job and last 6 months or so to tide you over. However, big warning… no matter how much you think it’s a simple phone they are a real pain in the arse to set up. Mine took me a week of fiddling, talking to Vodafone and Nokia and I still haven’t finished. I haven’t got O-Sync working yet (but managed to get Zyb sync working sort of), but I do have email (natively + the new java app) and web set up, but the new GCalSync won’t work on a series 40 phone. So now I think that it’s just too much pain to swap over… Anyway here is a link to some sites for mobile usage http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/378227.html
I agree as far as sticking to 2g I’m with three atm and I’ll be swapping back to 2G the second my plan runs out. I don’t get enough from 3G functionality to justify the fuglier chunky phones.
thanks for your recommendations s far folks. nothing really jumps out at me yet. the N93 seems a bit clunky and overkill.
Nokia N95!
There is no substitute……
Yes, the N95 looks great, but Ewen is right when he says it won’t be mainstream for 4-5 months and it sounds like Cam needs an upgrade NOW. You can try an import via e-bay but you will probably get the same problems I had with my ill fated PEBL (that is now sitting on my desk at home as a reminder to NOT spend $350 on a pre release phone from e-bay).
The N95 on Vodafones new HSPDA network might be an interesting combination (steering clear of Telstra) but for large volumes of data access it is still VERY expensive. PC Authority’s December 2006 mag has an article about Mobile Data Access and there is no plan out there that is reasonably priced for more than the very occasional use. So unless you can get WiFi, it is going to be expensive.
If you don’t like any current ones on offer Cam, just buy something secondhand while you wait for something cooler. The Nokia N95 will be awesome, but it’s only going to hightlight how much Aussie infrastructure sucks ass.
If the N93’s too vast (it is for me), then the E61 is a good fit, pretty much all the functionality of the N93 (minus the camera), in a sleeker package.
The N80’s another good option too, still S60 v3, so you’re buying into the biggest smartphone platform by far. The N80’s got quadband GSM (+ 3g for Oz), WiFi and a 3MP camera, and it’s pretty cheap these days too.
get the N95 :).. i’ve got one!!.,. its rocks!!
chk this link out:
http://www.cnet.com.au/mobilephones/phones/0,239025953,339271384,00.htm
as for customer service at optus, they are sH#(#IT.. I waited 3 hrs just to reset my password for my DSL. I believe its about “cost cutting” and forgetting customer satisfaction
other companies, such as voda, three.. offer good deals.. its worth to check it out