Cell phone choices narrowed down:

ace · Post by **ace** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:27 pm

Yeah, I pretty much have it all narrowed down to these three choices.

i-mate SP3i Grey Black - $500 CAD.
Obviously the biggest grab of this phone (aside from asthetics) is the Windows mobile, which is not the most important feature in a phone for me, but it would be pretty cool.

Sony Ericsson K750i Silver - $379 CAD.
This is just a good all-around phone. It's got some great media functions, and an awesome (for a phone) 2.0 megapixel camera.

Sony Ericsson w800i Smooth White - $429 CAD.
This one is the creme de la creme for me. It's basically the same as the above phone, except with 512MB ram included, and walkman branding. I prefer the look of this one to all the others, though I appreciate the professional stylings of the K750i and the i-mate.

What I like best about the K750i and the w800i is that the back of the phone looks like a normal digital camera:

I've got about a month or two left of my current contract and when it is up I hope to be able to find at least one of these on a provider. If not, I suppose I'm willing to pay full price

.

Anyways, I've read reviews for all three phones, and I know a number of you have already posted about the w800i in another topic I started, but I just want to get some final opinions on these phones.

Thanks!

MulletMan13 · Post by **MulletMan13** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:10 pm

I have two friends with the Windows Mobile phone... one swears by it and updates it regularly, one couldn't care less. The one that doesnt care for it thought he would, but he really didnt.

I'd go for the bottom one, as the RAM is nice to have if you're going to be storing things on it. I'm not one for integrating devices, but that seems to be what you're a fan of-- so that looks like a solid choice.

Wagh · Post by **Wagh** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:11 pm

Im looking at getting that same sony ericson walkman one aswell. It sure is damn sexy.

Post by **Specially Cork** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:15 pm

The Sony Ericsson Walkman phones are all excellent pieces of kit and you cant go wrong with any of them. The "Walkman" isnt just branding. Its telling you the phones has proper quality Sony portable audio technology in there, rather than Sony Ericsson's own crap. Plus you only have to do quick search on google to see that the camera is actually usable.

sixteen-bit · Post by **sixteen-bit** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:54 pm

Ace, I had the precursor to that windows phone and initially I loved it -Tons of software: web browsers, games, emulators and media players that could play everything from ogg vorbis to XviD. Then reality started to sink in - The phone just plain felt slow. The UI is clunky and response times were generally horrible. Did I mention it was slow even with a 200MHz CPU? As well as lethargy, it shared many other traits with full-blown windows computers. How does diving into task manager just to free up enough RAM to place a call sound to ya? Random crashes and lockups? Also, how about that subtle but very irritating hiss noise this class of Smartphone are infamous for?

All things considered, it was probably the most versatile device I'd every owned. It made an awful cellphone, though.

And as you probably know, I upgraded to that walkman phone and couldn't be happier with it. ;P

Disclaimer: The SP3i may actually be a better phone but all signs point to it having the same old guts in a newer shell.

ace · Post by **ace** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:14 pm

Looking carefully at Canada's providers, it seems like none of those may be a good option for me. They all support 900/1800/1900 and the only GSM provider in Canada right now is Rogers. Rogers only supports 850/1800/1900, which means I'd be cut off from the 850 band :S

NiGHTSFTP · Post by **NiGHTSFTP** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:05 am

ace wrote:Looking carefully at Canada's providers, it seems like none of those may be a good option for me. They all support 900/1800/1900 and the only GSM provider in Canada right now is Rogers. Rogers only supports 850/1800/1900, which means I'd be cut off from the 850 band :S

Rogers is 850/1900. No 1800 at all in america. See my post in your other thread.

What you'd be cutting off is the 850 support, and that sucks. You have to weigh signal vs. features.

Post by **Specially Cork** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:29 am

This is all confusing. You have every provider use the exact same technology, and everything is much simpler!

Post by **melancholy** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:08 am

BoneyCork wrote:This is all confusing. You have every provider use the exact same technology, and everything is much simpler!

I'm confused too. I never knew there was so much you had to know about signals and stuff. I just assumed you could buy any phone made within the last two years and expect it to work no matter who you have as a provider. But of course, I always just buy my phones from the provider, so I don't really research it much.

ace · Post by **ace** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:15 am

melancholy, a lot of providers offer different types of services. In canada you can get CDMA or GSM. I really don't know a lot about either, but I do know that not every phone will support the type of service you need from a particular provider. This never used to be a problem in Canada when there were two GSM providers, but since Rogers bought Fido, there is only one - thus limiting GSM possibilities.

GratefulDead · Post by **GratefulDead** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:58 pm

Let's break it down guys... is there coverage where you live, work and play? If not, then don't bother worrying about the technology, worry about what works!

Hopefully 3G starts becoming more popular in North America... then we can play catch-up with the East!

And ace, call Rogers and say that you're thinking about switching to bell or fido... let them transfer you to the retention/saves department.. I think they're out of Burnaby. Well, never the less they've just received more revenue and training, so their retention tools should be notably better. Be honest, casual and act like yourself. Just tell them that your contact's almost up and another provider's taking off the activation fee and giving you a great deal on XXX phone with only a 1 year extension rather than 2!!!

They'll freak out, recognize your tenure (and hopefully you don't have too many adjustments and escalated calls), and probably cut you a deal. All providers have prices for their phones, prices with contract extensions, and then they have the retention prices. They'll want to hook you on at least a 1 or 2 year agreement, so be prepared for good prices with an extension of your loyalty.

Be aware that most upgrade programs are crappy. Some providers don't let you upgrade, straight up for a year or maybe even 2 (Some are 18 months as well)! So ask yourself, is this a phone that you want for that long? Are you going to like this provider for that long?? Remember though, worst case scenario you can do a change of responsibilty and transfer your account in it's entirety to a new billing responsibility party. And if not, wait for them to jack up the price of your features because when they do this most providers allow you 14-30 calendar days to cancel your service without an early termination penalty.

Hope these tips help. They may be shady, but when providers are spending millions to retain some jack ass redneck who screams, askes for supervisors and makes empty threats, are you going to turn down a good deal? You're a smart kid, take advantage of this! Rogers just spent hundreds of thousands on EBITA and trying to stop customers from "churning" or leaving. Hope you get a good phone for a good price. Amazingly I only have the Nokia 6101 but I don't have too much money right now, nor do I really have time to play with a good phone atm.

ccb_v2 · Post by **ccb_v2** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:31 pm

GratefulDead wrote:Let's break it down guys... is there coverage where you live, work and play? If not, then don't bother worrying about the technology, worry about what works!

Yeah out here in the boonies there a lot of areas don't have broadband, let alone cellular service. I'm stuck with tracfone and a motorola v170, either that or a contract with verizon for a phone I hardly use... No service where i live but there is some in the town where i work....

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:34 pm

How about something like this...

Extremely simple. Monochrome display, no camera, no Java apps, no mp3 ringtones... on the other hand: long battery life, light, small, sturdy, reliable, easy to use, and dirt cheap.

ace · Post by **ace** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:36 pm

delete please

ace · Post by **ace** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:54 pm

Obviously not what I'm looking for. Not to mention that it's not even usable in North America

theultimatechuff · Post by **theultimatechuff** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:21 pm

Sony ericcson have either just or are just about to release the W810i, unsure if the tech involved is relavent to Canada though.

ace · Post by **ace** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:40 pm

It's absolutely relevant to canada, but unfortunately the w800i hasn't even been "officially" released in Canada, so I highly doubt the w810i will be released anytime soon

.

It's a shame, in most respects (other than style) it's a much better phone. It doesn't have a cover for the camera lens though :S

Vchat20 · Post by **Vchat20** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:46 pm

Stormwatch wrote:How about something like this...

Extremely simple. Monochrome display, no camera, no Java apps, no mp3 ringtones... on the other hand: long battery life, light, small, sturdy, reliable, easy to use, and dirt cheap.

yeah. my aunt has one of those through tracfone. perfectly reliable, but I have noticed it seems to get somewhat less signal than my moms motorola i450 (boost mobile on the nextel iden network). But otherwise it has been pretty reliable phone from what ive seen.

ace · Post by **ace** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:19 pm

mostly for Wagh.

Wagh · Post by **Wagh** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:09 am

Damn you ace lol

I'm waiting for my contract to end with sprint before switching services. Bah a couple months of wait. ... A couple months for the price to fall I guess.