New contract time - BB, Nokia X6 or iPhone?

[malef!c]

I have the chance to get a new phone with Orange, probably not the network of choice for a lot of people but I haven't had that many probs with them over the years.

I had a Diamond and after the honeymoon period was over I discovered it was a pile of poo so have been using a Samsung Tocco Lite.

So, have narrowed my choices down to a Blackberry, Nokia X6 or an iPhone.

I will be using it for internet, email and SMS mainly with the natural drunk photo taking down the pub etc (so the X6 may be better for this with 5MP camera and dual LED flash).

I have been using an iPhone for work and quite like the feel of the keyboard and using it in general but don't want to be like everyone else and whip out the iPhone all the time.

Blackberry have always interested me but for some reason I never went for one.

Any helpful hints on how good each phone is would be appreciated from people who use any / all the phones above!

Cheers
M.

 

[Mekrel]

I have the chance to get a new phone with Orange, probably not the network of choice for a lot of people but I haven't had that many probs with them over the years.

I had a Diamond and after the honeymoon period was over I discovered it was a pile of poo so have been using a Samsung Tocco Lite.

So, have narrowed my choices down to a Blackberry, Nokia X6 or an iPhone.

I will be using it for internet, email and SMS mainly with the natural drunk photo taking down the pub etc (so the X6 may be better for this with 5MP camera and dual LED flash).

I have been using an iPhone for work and quite like the feel of the keyboard and using it in general but don't want to be like everyone else and whip out the iPhone all the time.

Blackberry have always interested me but for some reason I never went for one.

Any helpful hints on how good each phone is would be appreciated from people who use any / all the phones above!

Cheers
M.

Both the Blackberry and the iPhone will cater very well for the email and SMS side of things - although push email on the iPhone really hits the battery, I'm not sure what the Blackberry is like in terms of battery life.

As for getting the iPhone out all the time, surely iPhone owners get their phones out as little/often as other phone users? I only get mine out to text, make a call, download email or use another application that I need.

The iPhone camera is pitiful, especially in the dark so that will hinder your photo taking in pubs. This isn't an issue for me seeing as I don't really use my phone as a camera and as an owner of a SLR, I don't consider any camera phones to be a substitute.

They're ok for a quick snap of something that doesn't need a large amount of detail, but camera's on phones for me aren't a selling point.

I've not used an X6, so can't comment. If it has a decent screen size and runs android then it should be good for browsing and email.

What about the HTC Desire coming to stores in a couple of weeks? I think Orange are getting it.

 

[Yas786]

Well for internet use i wouldnt look at the BB as it tends to be slow and not that great at rendering web pages but for email/sms its probably the best device ive ever used. Also having a BB incurs an extra £5 or so for the unlimited email or BIS as networks call it...best BB device by far is the 9700...the 8900 curve is good but lacks 3G...i use the 9700 and have used most if not all BB devices and the 9700 is by far the best...fast and really easy to get to grips with.

Iphone will be great at web browsing and multimedia stuff...its a capable phone as well.

 

[PermaBanned]

BB - Kinda an outdated format as it stands. Still a solid device, but can be easily bettered if you don't need the exclusive features it offers.

X6 - On paper it's a fantastic phone, 3G, WiFi, GPS, 5MP Camera, 3.2" Capacative screen... but it's all let down by the Symbian Operating System. And that wouldn't even be much of a problem if it was priced right, say £100-£150 PAYG but it's trying to compete with the high end models and is just failing. If Nokia had had the sense to put Android on it on the other hand then it would be a completely different story, apart from the old ARM 11 CPU which could have helped with the price but seemingly hasn't.

iPhone - Don't even go there... there are plenty of superior Android phones out or coming out in the near future.

 

[malef!c]

As for getting the iPhone out all the time, surely iPhone owners get their phones out as little/often as other phone users? I only get mine out to text, make a call, download email or use another application that I need.

Didn't mean it as a bad thing but if I went out with the normal mob of people and the phone rang that would mean about 8 of us would whip out the iPhone at the same time

The iPhone camera is pitiful, especially in the dark so that will hinder your photo taking in pubs. This isn't an issue for me seeing as I don't really use my phone as a camera and as an owner of a SLR, I don't consider any camera phones to be a substitute.

Being a camera numpty I only ever take snapshots and as you say, the iphone camera isn't that flash which is an extra point for the X6.

I've not used an X6, so can't comment. If it has a decent screen size and runs android then it should be good for browsing and email.

Haven't found many people who have used the X6 - normal online reviews but I never trust them much! Its got a decent screen (size and looks) but doesn't run android, S60 I think it is.

What about the HTC Desire coming to stores in a couple of weeks? I think Orange are getting it.

After my experience with the Diamond I had, as well as some horrific customer (un)service I don't think I will ever go back to HTC.

Well for internet use i wouldnt look at the BB as it tends to be slow and not that great at rendering web pages but for email/sms its probably the best device ive ever used. Also having a BB incurs an extra £5 or so for the unlimited email or BIS as networks call it...best BB device by far is the 9700...the 8900 curve is good but lacks 3G...i use the 9700 and have used most if not all BB devices and the 9700 is by far the best...fast and really easy to get to grips with.

Thanks for the advice on browsing speed, shame as it doesn't match the SMS / email ability.

Iphone will be great at web browsing and multimedia stuff...its a capable phone as well.

Looks like its between the iphone and X6 so far!

X6 - On paper it's a fantastic phone, 3G, WiFi, GPS, 5MP Camera, 3.2" Capacative screen... but it's all let down by the Symbian Operating System. And that wouldn't even be much of a problem if it was priced right, say £100-£150 PAYG but it's trying to compete with the high end models and is just failing. If Nokia had had the sense to put Android on it on the other hand then it would be a completely different story, apart from the old ARM 11 CPU which could have helped with the price but seemingly hasn't.

Agree it looks good on paper - thats why I was after advice, like you (it seems) I don't trust what it says on the paper and what it actually does

 

[Mekrel]

Didn't know it ran S60, if it does - avoid.

Past N95 user here, great hardware for a phone of it's time, let down by slow, ugly and inefficient Symbian software.

The reason I like my iPhone so much is that it just works and is so refined. The amount of times my N95 battery would run out because an application hadn't closed properly.

I had a go on an N900 the other day, it was a horrible experience. The phone itself was awkward to hold, the software UI just didn't make any sort of logical sense. I picked up the live demo HD2 next to it and found everything on it straight away.

Nokia really need to sort out their phone software in my opinion.

 

[malef!c]

See, now you have said about S60 being that bad (I haven't had a Nokia for ages!) I thought I would look at the Android offerings and it looks like HTC phones only in the Orange store (HTC Hero Graphite) which takes me back to my original gripe against HTC.

I remember years ago when the choice was a Nokia (that worked well) and a Ericsson - think my best 2 phones were the Nokia 6300 and T28 !!

 

[PermaBanned]

See, now you have said about S60 being that bad (I haven't had a Nokia for ages!) I thought I would look at the Android offerings and it looks like HTC phones only in the Orange store (HTC Hero Graphite) which takes me back to my original gripe against HTC.

I remember years ago when the choice was a Nokia (that worked well) and a Ericsson - think my best 2 phones were the Nokia 6300 and T28 !!

What gripe against HTC? They make what are probably the best phones on the market at the minute. Sure, the Diamond was a bit hit and miss but don't mistake that for the mark of a bad company.

The Hero is getting a bit old though and the Legend/Desire should be available soon, depends how long you can wait.

 

[Columbo]

Absolutely nothing wrong with S60 on the X6. Get Opera whacked on it and you've got a very capable web browsing phone.

You've then got the added bonus of free voice guided turn by turn GPS navigation in the form of Ovi Maps which is excellent even when compared to TomTom & Garmin.

On top of that you've got Nokia Messaging which I use & provides free push mail for up to 10 mail addresses and its great.

Its not pretty to look at but I'm more for functionality over appearance and the Nokia's are the only ones that offer it in full to me.

ie Bluetooth isn't crippled so you cant use PC sync via it.

 

[malef!c]

ManCuBuS, do I take it you are using the X6?

Superewza - the gripe was that the phone touchscreen wouldn't calibrate after about 9 months, seemed to have slipped to the left. I went to the shop I got it from who flashed it to the latest HTC ROM but it didn't fix the problem.

Sent it back to HTC to get it sorted under warranty but they ended up saying they wanted 216 quid to replace something inside (sounded like the whole circuit board!). When I asked why I would have to pay it was because the ROM had been updated which, somehow, invalidated the warranty! Lots of to and fro via email and the phone to no avail.

Slightly chuffed off was an understatement

 

[admoo]

I wouldn't bother with the X6. I had an N97 for a few months, which had the same CPU and RAM, and browsing the web was dreadful. It was slow, and sluggish, and often crashed because the phone was out of memory. That and s60v5 is generally a really bad OS for touch phones.

iPhone and BB's are both pretty good, but I guess it depends on what is more important to you. The iPhone browser is one of the best, if not THE best on the market at the moment, but obviously the physical keyboard of the BB's might sway you if you write a lot of texts/emails.

 

[Caged]

If the only sticking point for the BlackBerry is the web browser, then there is a new Webkit-based one being released in the next couple of months. There's various preview videos floating around the net and it looks very capable.

 

[Yas786]

If the only sticking point for the BlackBerry is the web browser, then there is a new Webkit-based one being released in the next couple of months. There's various preview videos floating around the net and it looks very capable.

Yep was going to say that but no one really knows when it will be out...rumours are that it will be in the next OS ie OS6 which should make the BB look much better and perform even better with the new OS...think widgets.

For me the web browser isnt an issue...i dont do much browsing and when i do...i dont go to heavy image sites or try to avoid them.

Also remember Flash is coming to the BB along with other devices but iphone wont have flash...thats apple thinking they know whats best for their customers and locking their OS right down. Id suggest having a look at Android for a better more open source OS than the iphone in all honesty....some great android handsets with amazing hardware coming out soon ie 1ghz cpu's

 

[Columbo]

ManCuBuS, do I take it you are using the X6?

Yep using the X6 here buddy but only because Voda have given one to me as loan phone while my 5800 is being fixed.

I honestly do-not have a problem with it.

It all depends on what you want your phone to be. If you want it to be a phone 1st then deffo have a look at one.

I've had a lot of phones which includes both an Iphone & Android based Magic and just found them to offer nothing that phones I was using 3 years ago didnt offer.

I dont care about how pretty the software looks or how smooth the scrolling is blah blah. I want to know that my phone just works.

Example: I use speakerphone quite a bit. I found both the Iphone and HTC Magic to be un-usable in this area as you had to virtually have the mic at your mouth anyway for people to hear you.

I can stand around 6 feet away with the X6 (same for my Nokia 5800).

Another one as Ive said before is Bluetooth, I love the ability to sync and send files between my work laptop over bluetooth.

Iphone and Android's bluetooth options are crippled so the only option you have is BT headset pairing. No good to me.

Some folks will harp on about it not be able to multi-task. Why people want their phone to multi task is a missed point to me.

What I dont know about is Blackberry's. Wife had the 8520 and it was a cheap piece of plastic. So it got sold.

However the higher spec BB's I'm sure are of a better quality.

Then again fella, my work phone is a Touch HD running Winmo 6.5 which I also love to bits so what do I know.

Just remember its fashionable to hate Symbian and Winmo these days. So if fashion is ya thing its Android or an Iphone.

 

[malef!c]

Well thanks for the advice guys, after spending way too long in the phone shop I ended up going with a BB8520.

Browsing, email etc works a treat and its quite easy to get used to - even for a fat fingered old chimp like me!

Again, cheers for taking the time to voice your experiences chaps - appreciated.

M.

 

[Yas786]

Well thanks for the advice guys, after spending way too long in the phone shop I ended up going with a BB8520.

Browsing, email etc works a treat and its quite easy to get used to - even for a fat fingered old chimp like me!

Again, cheers for taking the time to voice your experiences chaps - appreciated.

M.

Good choice...looks like BB is definitely taking over a lot of peoples choice for mobile phones.

Head over to the link in my sig for all things BB...great site and forums for any questions/advice about BB's in general.

 

[Rajveer]

I got a free X6 from TMobile 2 days ago and I love it. With my older N82 push email felt like a separate app tacked on, with this it integrates really nicely with the home screen and everything is easy to use. I'm not familiar with Blackberry push though - I thought if you weren't using it in a corporate environment with a dedicated exchange server, and instead used Blackberry's email server, than emails were only synced every 15 minutes?