In Search Of Advice

[drplokta]

I may need to buy a new mobile phone. And the old one was getting pretty old anyway -- nearly three years old, and battery not taking the charge like it used to.

Anyway, infamous technophobe that I am, I've not really been keeping up with the mobile phone market. What should I get?

Must-have features are:

• Tri-band
  
• Predictive text messaging (I doubt you can get a phone without it, mind you)
  
• Modem with IR and USB connectivity for use from my Clié and Powerbook
  
• Supported by Apple iSync
  
• Works on Virgin Mobile
  

Nice-to-have features are:

• Camera/MMS
  
• GPRS web browser
  
• Small
  
• Light
  
• Anything else I've forgotten
  

Comments

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

Anything else I've forgotten

Ability to make and receive phone calls?

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

:-)

My mantra now is that my Orange SPV is very good at being a computer but pretty crap at being a phone..

[neilf.livejournal.com]

I suspect you are looking at the Sony Ericsson T68i if Virgin supply it.

Support by iSync serverly limits your choices. Full iSync support is one reason I've gone back to using the T39m in preference to the P800.

The full list of supported phones is here. Interestingly there are now a couple of Nokia phones on the list, not sure if they are tri-band though.

[neilf.livejournal.com]

Having just checked, only one Nokia, the 3650, is tri-band. It seems to meet your other requirements if you can cope with a circular keypad!

Having checked however, the 3650 is not an officialy available phone from Virgin, which would mean buying one off contract which is likely to be rather expensive as it's a fairly recent model.

In actual fact none of the phones on the Virgin list feature on the iSync list. I suspect an unlocked second user T68i from Computer Exchange on TCR may be your best bet. Just make sure it's covered on your home contents insurance.

[drplokta]

The P800 is on the list of iSync supported phones. Is there some problem with it? I'm considering it, although it's very expensive, as it might mean that I could ditch the Clié as well and have one less thing to carry around.

Alternatively, it looks like the T68i, as you suggest.

[neilf.livejournal.com]

There is no calendaring support yet and getting the P800 to work as a GPRS modem proved a non-starter, though I suspect that's because no-one has written the scripts yet.

By comparison the T39m was a breeze. So I now use that alongside my Tungsten T. The P800 sits in it's box. I really should talk to Orange to see if there's something that can be done about that.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

I have a 3650 and a P800 you can come by some time and try out...

[damienw]

I want bluetooth!

Am probably going to settle for not triband, and just avoid the US. Will be following this thread closely.

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

I'm very fond of my Nokia 6610. Not sure if it's got everything covered...

• Tri-band - Check
• Predictive text messaging - Check
• Modem with IR and USB - Check - I think the USB cable is quite expensive, though.
• Supported by Apple iSync - Not sure about this. Syncs pretty well with my PC over IR.
• Works on Virgin Mobile - Don't see why it wouldn't, unless you've got one that's locked to another network.
• Camera/MMS - Check - Camera is an optional plug-in extra.
• GPRS web browser - Check
• Small - Check
• Light - Check

A lot probably depends on what models Virgin is offering at a good rate. I got the 6610 when it was on a special offer from O2.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

You're best looking at the Sony Ericsson T610, which is the replacement for the T68i. Pretty much all the features you want...