Share your advice: no-nonsense GSM phone

[atomicbartbeans]

Alright, so I'm soon going to switch from my regional carrier with shitty coverage (Cricket) to T-Mobile.

A few of you probably know about my love affair (http://forums.applenova.com/showpost.php?p=552593&postcount=9) with the Nokia 1100! Now I'm looking for something that's still a pleasure to use but can do a little more. Want to recommend me a phone? I'm looking for...


small! (and durable) - I don't want a big clunky PDA-type thing
ample storage space (I hate having to delete text messages from only a week ago)
solid battery life
responsive (NOT laggy), well-designed interface (i.e. GTFO Motorola)
relatively high-quality camera - think the iPhone's - video capture would be nice but not required
ability to send/receive pictures/ringtones/whatever via bluetooth or USB
well-designed QWERTY keyboard would be nice but certainly not necessary
available unlocked with manufacturer-spec UI (not carrier-branded)


I'm not limiting myself to a candy bar, flip, or slider deal... just want to see what you guys really like. :)

[kieran]

1st gen iPhone.

:)

Just kidding, I know you don't want something big, but that's probably what I would get if I was looking for an unlocked GSM phone.

[atomicbartbeans]

Haha, I dunno - the iPhone is pretty damn cool, perhaps cool enough to justify the extra bulk. Where/how cheaply are they available - and how easy are they to unlock yourself?

I'm primarily just looking for something simpler though...

[kieran]

From looking at eBay quickly, they seem to be between $200-300.

I know I sold my first gen iPhone unlocked for well over retail, so I don't know how the market has gone since then, but you might want to look into it.

[atomicbartbeans]

Ooh, someone local is selling a new in box iPhone 3G on Craigslist for only $195. how hard/easy is it to unlock an iPhone 3G?

[kieran]

I haven't unlocked my 3G and I don't think I'm going to.

But, there's a program called yellowsnow that apparently enables that.

[Taskiss]

I haven't unlocked my 3G and I don't think I'm going to.There's only one reason I would, and that would be to tether my laptop for net access.

My ISP had an outage a week ago that caused me to lose 8 hours of work, and I only get paid if I work the hours. I've been thinking about getting the tools together to jailbreak my phone and set it up for tethering so in those situations I could be back on the air. I'd only do so if I could un-break my phone immediately afterward.

[Wyatt]

There's only one reason I would, and that would be to tether my laptop for net access.

My ISP had an outage a week ago that caused me to lose 8 hours of work, and I only get paid if I work the hours. I've been thinking about getting the tools together to jailbreak my phone and set it up for tethering so in those situations I could be back on the air. I'd only do so if I could un-break my phone immediately afterward.
Jailbreaking != unlocking. Jailbreaking is an iPhone/iPod touch-specific process that allows you to install non-supported (read: non-App Store, non-Apple) software. Jailbreaking is stupid easy, and there's no good reason not to do it. If you want a non-supported app, just go ahead and do it. It doesn't hurt your iPhone in any way.

Unlocking, however, is a general cell phone term that refers to enabling a phone to use any GSM carrier, which is what we're talking about here. abb wants to use T-Mobile. You generally must jailbreak before you unlock, but you don't have to unlock if you want to jailbreak.

Or, you could think about it this way: You can jailbreak an iPod touch (I did with mine), but talking about unlocking an iPod touch is completely nonsensical, because it's not a phone.

[kieran]

I've jailbroken my iPhone before, but had a few too many issues with it, so I went back to stock.

I don't need to jailbreak it to tether it because I was lucky enough to grab NetShare while it was up on the App store.

I've jailbroken + unlocked at least 4 iPhones when I've sold them. Fairly simple, but I haven't done a 3G one, and I've read that they're harder to actually unlock than the first gen ones.

But, to reiterate what Wyatt said, Jailbreaking and unlocking are two different things.

[atomicbartbeans]

Back on topic, here are a few that I'm considering...

Nokia N80 (http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-n80-unlocked/4505-6452_7-31582495.html)

Nokia N73 (http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-n73-unlocked/4505-6452_7-31861312.html)

Nokia 6133 (http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/nokia-6133-t-mobile/4505-6454_7-32125019.html)

Anyone have experience with these or similar?

[Dorian Gray]

My brother has an N73 and I've used it quite a bit. The feature list is very long, and it's got a great screen and a good camera (3.2-megapixel sensor, mechanical shutter, "Carl Zeiss" lens), but if you're looking for a snappy phone it's a horrible choice. The user interface often feels like running through treacle, and it runs out of memory when multi-tasking. It's a great phone in terms of design and features, but it would need a faster processor (4x faster, maybe?) and much more memory. What that would do to battery life (already not great) is anyone's guess.

The 6133 is a flip phone: have you used one before? The flip mechanism adds weight, thickness, mechanical complexity, and impedes speedy operation. I'd avoid a flip phone if I could, but I know lots of people like them.

The N80 has Wi-Fi if I remember right, but unless it sports a far faster processor and more memory than the N73, Wi-Fi won't be very useful.

I've fallen out of touch with the mobile phone world, so I'm not sure what's out there. But do read lots of user comments before committing to one if you care for things like the user interface. Most reviews barely mention such things!

[atomicbartbeans]

Yeah. It's a shame, because I *really* like the N73's capabilities.

Is responsiveness a big problem when just calling and texting - or just when doing more CPU-intensive multimedia things?

[Unch]

I've been really disappointed with my Nokia (a 6120c), the OS is really sucky. I think you really need the high end phones to get any semblance of performance out of it. The worst thing is the frequent crashing. Both my wife and I have the same model and we both experience crashes at random times, including during calls and when using the camera (which is absolutely shit - Nokia put great cameras into the high end though).

One nice feature is that every once in the while, all audio (ringtones and phonecalls) will simply fail. You will try to ring someone, but won't even hear it ringing, meanwhile the other person has answered and is trying to work out why you're not responding. Same happens if someone phones you, the ringtone won't even sound.

I don't know if these problems are limited to just this model, but it has seriously put me off getting another Nokia when I get a new contract.

[Dorian Gray]

Yeah. It's a shame, because I *really* like the N73's capabilities.

Is responsiveness a big problem when just calling and texting - or just when doing more CPU-intensive multimedia things?
Calling and texting are normally fine, as is watching a video or something like that. At least if you've rebooted in the last few days. ;) I don't know if Nokia have improved the Series 60/Symbian platform on newer phones, but the N73 was incapable of any kind of multitasking. Say you're writing a text and you want to view some photos in the gallery to select one to add to the text. Then you get an incoming text. Trouble ahoy! Everything grinds to a halt and you might wait literally 30 seconds before it becomes responsive again. If you're unlucky you'll get an out-of-memory message and one of the apps will close.

A few years ago I absolutely loved Symbian and Series 60, but it became slower and buggier as they added features. As I say though, perhaps it's improved in the last year or two.

[cosus]

Problem remains, I think Nokia is even giving up on the OS. We'll see soon enough.

But seriously, just get the cheapest phone. ;) Seems like what you desire is within grasp of just about any modern phone.

[atomicbartbeans]

Haha, I ended up buying the very well-liked Nokia E51 (http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Nokia-E51-Review-review-r_1883.html). Crappier camera than the N73, but with a supposedly more responsive OS and much smaller. Paid $195 on eBay for brand new and unlocked. :)

[cosus]

Congratulations!

When it comes to cameras on phones and which one is better, I see it like the pot calling the kettle black, they're all equally crappy.