Help me pick a cellphone

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-28 08:05am

..or die.

I'm thinking about buying my dad a new cellphone as a New Year's present, but it's been two years since I last went phoneshopping so I don't know what to avoid. The stuff I'm looking for:

- around €150/$200
- Must have Bluetooth.
- reliable (ie, a sturdy casing and no flimsy bits)
- gadgets like a camera or music player don't matter. If it can take calls and send messages it'll do.
- Has to look relatively stylish.

He hates Nokia for no specific reason.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-12-28 08:12am

I always have the worst luck with cellphones. For some reason, it's software always gets messed up in less then a year. That said, my current cellphone is starting to get "issues" as well now

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2006-12-28 08:23am

I have a Samsung X-820, it has all the requested stuff and is light and all around aweresome.

That image is the true size.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-28 08:28am

Shit. That is slim. It's about €100 over my budget, unfortunately...

ETA: There's another Samsung that might do the trick - the E250. I know he thinks slider keyboards are neat and apart from the shoddy camera it looks pretty good.

...is it?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-28 10:30am

Faram wrote:That image is the true size.

...on what resolution and screen size?

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2006-12-28 12:11pm

If you've configured your screen correctly, the resolution won't matter, nearly everyone uses 96 DPI. I know 120 is starting to come into fashion, but 96 is generally to be expected.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2006-12-28 01:50pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Faram wrote:That image is the true size.
...on what resolution and screen size?

Forgot about that...

19` 1280*1024

KhyronTheBackstabber · Post by **KhyronTheBackstabber** » 2006-12-28 09:00pm

The Razr is a good phone. I've got the V3c.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2006-12-28 09:11pm

Motorola V3s (RAZRs) have some reliability issues. I'm in telecommunications and we get more of those come back than any other model.

I'd go an LG or a Samsung. There should be a 'tradesman' model if you really want reliable.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-28 10:34pm

Yeah, I wouldn't call the V3 a 'good phone'. It's style-over-substance to the max, not that Bounty cares about features beyond bluetooth.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-12-28 11:27pm

The RAZR is fragile, uncomfortable, and the sound quality is shit. Only get one for your father if you hate him.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2006-12-29 12:54am

Sony erricison phones are ok...although their design sucks.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-29 04:54am

Thanks for the tips. I've bought him a Samsung - let's hope that come New Year's Eve he'll be happy with it

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2006-12-29 06:25am

ray245 wrote:Sony erricison phones are ok...although their design sucks.

Their sync software however is horrendous. For example, on Christmas day I was at the family gathering at my uncle's, and was helping my cousin - a recent masters degree in CS holder while I'm currently studying CS, transfer the contacts of his 2 year old Sony Ericsson to a new Nokia. Time required to set up the sync on the Ericson - close to 3h, lots of tweaking and jurryriged stuff to make it work, and that with the benefit of me going through the same pain with my SE phone a few months back. On the Nokia? About the time it took to install the software.

If its something that is important to you (and most people I know these days have a shitload of contacts in their phones so they, at the very least, have to do one sync to transfer to a new phone as the only practical way of transferring them), I'd advise staying away from them.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-12-29 09:33am

I find the Sony Ericssons last, but that the model I have now which was my bro's former phone (he now has a K800i, the limited edition Casino Royale pack) has a crap battery charge issue. It can only be charged via USB and it has a nasty tendency of not going anywhere near 90%, max may be 85%. Also, I left it plugged in overnight with the PC mains switched on and it discharged.

Other than that, I can't fault it. Reliable as my old Nokia 3310. Transferring contacts was easy enough, though I still use just my SIM card for that memory.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2006-12-29 12:42pm

Bounty wrote:Thanks for the tips. I've bought him a Samsung - let's hope that come New Year's Eve he'll be happy with it

Is it the ultra silm edition?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-29 12:46pm

ray245 wrote:
Bounty wrote:Thanks for the tips. I've bought him a Samsung - let's hope that come New Year's Eve he'll be happy with it
Is it the ultra silm edition?

No, a slightly bigger one. The ultraslim was way too expensive.

Lt. Dan · Post by **Lt. Dan** » 2006-12-29 05:20pm

Trust me, razr sucks ass. I could list off a ton of things that go wrong with them. Exchanging them got old. Fast. LG is good and samsung is one of the best in my opinion. Nokia is very good indeed.(Atleast the candy bar ones.)