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Until recently it has taken me no time to get up and running with a new phone-- this has all changed. The samsung SCH-a310, for example, has a normal key layout but the tactile response is poor and its hard to feel the difference between keys when scanning with your fingers.

Nokia has been making some terrible design choices with their key layouts lately.. the first one I remember trying was the 3600 and the 3650. Recently they've been marketing the 3200's like crazy, which look like 1993 pager technology, albeit with a camera. I tried this one out thinking it might be easy to use, but its neigh on impossible to know what key you're hitting, then you have to make sure you hit the right SIDE of the key to get the correct number.

Now I know, after awhile you get used to it, and then when you get a new phone you need to unlearn what you have learned. But shouldn't the interface technology we use strive for ease of use and ergonomics instead of visual acceptance and clever button placement? I mean we could all be using Datahand ergonomic keyboards in the future, but somehow I doubt these new cell key layouts are for anything other than aesthetics.

I've had my TiVo for about 4 years or so now, and I use the remote as little as possible. I feed my DirecTV box into it and use the remote for that to change the channels, view the DTV guide, etc. Aside from the fact that the remote sucks, I never liked the fact that changing the TiVo channel erases the 30 minute buffer (I don't keep up on TiVo hacks, so maybe there's a way around that one by now). The curvy design is annoying, and it's fallen on the ground so much because of the odd shape that it now makes the old broken-plastic-pieces-inside rattle noise.

My dad has a TiVo (a gift for my mom...) and he actually made a cradle for his so it rests flat on the table next to the couch. He likes to be able to press buttons while it's still on the table, which is all but impossible given the curviness.

For what it's worth, I think the Nokia 6190 (or the non-gsm variants) is one of my all-time favorite designs in this category. I almost wish I could turn that thing into a remote control, as the buttons, display, feel in the hand, weight, and size were just about perfect. IMHO.

The fact that most of the Ngage's library were ported PS1 games is something of a weakness. Why? Many gamers have PS1s, and have played the most popular games on that platform. Why would they want to replay those games on their portable system? While there is a decent market for ports of older games (look at Nintendo's success with the ports of the NES and SNES Mario games on the GBA), it is a Bad Idea to offer nothing but old games on your new system.

As for the price argument, it's a lot harder for most people to justify a $300 purchase to themselves (or their SO) than it is to justify two $150 purchases (which would get you a GBA SP and a couple games, and a nice mobile phone). Stupid, maybe, but it was also stupid for Nokia to not take note of this. If I were in charge of selling the Ngage, I would either bring the price point down, or market it exclusively as a gaming device and remove the phone capabilities entirely. The gaming community still hasn't gotten over the "$300, OMG that's so expensive!" attitude about the Ngage. I doubt they will for a long time to come.

The sidetalking/bizarre Frisbee accident thing? BAD IDEA when you're trying to sell this as the phone/game system of choice for the "hip" kids. Nobody wants to feel like an idiot after they spent a lot of money on a new phone or game system. I would think that a design like the 6800 model would have been more attractive (and would have gotten rid of the weird vertical-letterbox screen as well). Even if that's too expensive, there are plenty of other options, too. It wouldn't be too hard to simply put the mic and speaker on the top of the phone, like pretty much every other phone since Alexander Grahm Bell invented the damned thing.

Finally, requiring people to remove the battery to change games was another really bad idea. Even if the system does need to be off (unlike most devices using the SD/MMC card format), it could use a physical interlock like the old Game Boy (just a little plastic tab connected to the power switch that holds the game in).

The Ngage ultimatly seems like a system designed by Marketing and sold by Engineering - while there are a few good features, they're encumbered by weird and pointless design decisions.

I'm not sure what your point is. Everybody I know has camera phones with java and games. Also, Nokia phones are the same here in the US as in Europe and the rest of the world. We're not as far back as we were 10 years ago.

Nokia USA
There is the nokia USA site... look at all the phones available here... even the Nokia 9290 Communicator. Heck, the link in your post is going to the nokia usa site. Why do you think it isn't available here?

Why can't we just accept a better product when it is already out there instead of having to wait for Microsoft to develop a 'new software tedchnology' and wait still longer for hardware vendors to use it and still end up with an inferior product.

The 3650 does, anyway ..

The PC Suite provides "Syncronize", and SyncML "enables you to synchronize your calendar or contacts using a data connection to a remote server"

Apparently, in America it's still like the olden days where somebody using a laptop was seen as "showing off". That will wear off with time, though.

i don't know what universe you're posting from, but when ever i take my laptop out, it get a bunch of attention that i can't stand having. can't people just leave me along to post to ./?!

as far as ring tones go, people tend to shut up their phones quickly unless they just changed ring tones. when the ringtone is new, they'll play it all the way through, when they've heard it more than 3 times, the novelty wears off and they go back to answering quickly. i know i have some ringtones that are longer than the interval that it takes for voicemail to get it. it's quite annoying actually.

now for the phone that i want:
i want a small phone like the Nokia 8260 (my current phone) with the addition of BlueTooth and GSM. i could care less about crap like a color screen or keys that are laid out in an apparently random order.

Apparently, in America it's still like the olden days where somebody using a laptop was seen as "showing off". That will wear off with time, though.

i don't know what universe you're posting from, but when ever i take my laptop out, it get a bunch of attention that i can't stand having. can't people just leave me along to post to ./?!

as far as ring tones go, people tend to shut up their phones quickly unless they just changed ring tones. when the ringtone is new, they'll play it all the way through, when they've heard it more than 3 times, the novelty wears off and they go back to answering quickly. i know i have some ringtones that are longer than the interval that it takes for voicemail to get it. it's quite annoying actually.

now for the phone that i want:
i want a small phone like the Nokia 8260 (my current phone) with the addition of BlueTooth and GSM. i could care less about crap like a color screen or keys that are laid out in an apparently random order.

Apparently, in America it's still like the olden days where somebody using a laptop was seen as "showing off". That will wear off with time, though.

i don't know what universe you're posting from, but when ever i take my laptop out, it get a bunch of attention that i can't stand having. can't people just leave me along to post to ./?!

as far as ring tones go, people tend to shut up their phones quickly unless they just changed ring tones. when the ringtone is new, they'll play it all the way through, when they've heard it more than 3 times, the novelty wears off and they go back to answering quickly. i know i have some ringtones that are longer than the interval that it takes for voicemail to get it. it's quite annoying actually.

now for the phone that i want:
i want a small phone like the Nokia 8260 (my current phone) with the addition of BlueTooth and GSM. i could care less about crap like a color screen or keys that are laid out in an apparently random order.

I love my Nokia 6360. Yes, it is plain and it isn't sexy but it gets the job done and is durable. I've dropped more time than can be imagined and it is still alive and kicking.

I'm not sure about the GPS side of things, but the most hacker-friendly phones I've found are the Nokias from AT&T wireless. They don't place any restrictions on the phones, and the development kits as well as software to transfer the applications are freely available for download from Nokia's website. Mine is a J2ME environment and has been fun to play with so far. AFAICT, they are the only ones in the US who have not restricted their phones.

Lots of good developer info is available on forum.nokia.com, and some basic win32 tools are available here.

Hint for buying one: Shop Amazon for the best price, then go to the AT&T wireless store near you to purchase. Show them Amazon's price, and they will often get close or even match it without requiring you to mail something in for a rebate.

Sure, what's the model and price. Is it a GSM phone? Unlocked? :)

Its a Nokia 3390.

I asked for the unlock code on this forum and a dude says he'll get unlock code for USD$10

I must admit I love the phone and would be cool if I could get Telus on this by simply unlocking it, but does anyone know if this is legal?

Who you callin' with that cell phone, the 80's?

Maybe I'm a bad shopper, but my cell phone batteries have always cost a bit more than 10 bones.

(Granted, a link to Nokia is about the worst prices you can find, but all the lower price places I tried to Google tried to sell me some porn or a mortgage with my $15 battery.)

I use a T-Mobile with a Nokia 6310, a triband GSM phone that supports Bluetooth and GPRS. I have an older 15" TiBook that doesn't have built-in Bluetooth, so I picked up the D-Link USB Bluetooth Adapter.

OS X recognizes the D-Link device and the phone, and I use it quite regularly to do email, ssh, and /. as I travel around various cities. It's a little pokey, but it works well enough to recommend: I've used it to do emergency service on a Linux box from the back of a cab that was driving through Seattle, and it saved my bacon.

I believe you would have similar success with the Nokia 3650, which appears to retail for $50 with contract.

I think you should take a look at something like this. Simply beautiful

Try this phone on for size. It looks sharp. Has enough features to be useful(SMS,voice dialing,infrared) but doesn't do anything that phones shouldn't be doing(like playing music). The battery lasts as much as 10 days for me(light but daily usage). It is very small and weighs only 2.9 ounces. It doesn't have gawdawful ring tones, no flashing lights, no mind-numbing blue backlights.

It's GPRS enabled and includes a WAP browser too! I love my phone.

• have information like appointments and addresses synched automatically when I bring my pda near my computer

I've got several SprintPCS phones on a family plan (yes, even geeks sometimes procreate), and the two most-recently manufactured (a Nokia 3585i and a Samsung A460) both have options to disable the GPS locator for everything except 911 usage. That's good enough for me - if I call 911, I want the cops to find me!

Of course, the more paranoid among you might claim that disabling the "location-based services" on these phones doesn't actually do anything. So just wrap your cell phone in 1/8" lead sheeting and you'll be fine.

Nokia 9290 looks better for that purpose - it could probably even do (small) 80x25!

I've just given up the chance to mod down both of your comments, choosing instead to post a rebuttal to your FUD.

Are you ready? Here we go:

I've got one friend who has been through 7 (count 'em) VTech phones

That's your buddy's first mistake. If I want to buy today's equivalent of the Speak and Spell, I'll buy Vtech. Otherwise, I'll give my money to a company that's been making cellphones for more than two or three years.

We've tested half-a-dozen (actually, more) different phones from 6 people who use Fido - none of them can send or receive calls from my home,

Oh my God! Do you mean that your house actually sits in a dead spot for Fido's coverage? That couldn't possibly be the case!

Give me a moment to extract my tongue from my cheek... Okay, thanks.

Back in 2000 or so, I had a problem along McLaughlin Avenue in Mississauga, a road I frequently drove along when living there. Every single time I was on a call, there was a one-block area (without tall buildings, even -- just south of Matheson, if you know the area) that the call would get dropped due to a tiny, but very much dead, dead spot. I called them and told them about it. Two weeks later, it was gone, never to return -- my calls were never dropped there again.

Did you or your friends bother calling Fido to let them know? I didn't think so.

and most of them have to go outside when they're calling from their own homes if they want to get a clear signal. I go to their place, and it's "no problemo" for me.

Then their places are apparently better served by Rogers' cell layout than Fido's. In this case, perhaps Rogers would be the better choice for them. (However, Rogers TDMA and GSM coverage are not equal, even though the antennae for both are usually on the same towers. They'd want to make sure of their choice before switching.)

They don't want to loose their phone number and have to call up everyone and give out their new number

Indeed, probably one of the most common reasons for not changing your local loop provider or cell phone provider, period. Local number portability would cure this, but it's not here... yet...

They don't want to have to buy a new phone (the SIM cards aren't compatible between Fido and Rogers, but they CAN sometimes be swapped between Fido and Telus)

The whole point of GSM is that the subscription is held in the SIM, not the phone. Simlocking aside, if you take a GSM1900 phone that's being used by a Fido (Microcell) subscriber, pop out the Fido SIM and pop in a Rogers SIM, the phone will work on the Rogers network, period. I have a Nokia 6310i GSM900/1800/1900 handset, and switch between my Fido and Rogers SIM cards regularly. Even though the sticker on the faceplate says Rogers, the phone is not simlocked and therefore will accept any SIM, period.

Indeed, if your friend moves from Fido to Rogers, they'll have to get a new Rogers SIM for something like $25. As for the phone, if your friend has been with Fido for more than 12 months, they will provide the two 10-digit (for Nokia, in this example) SIM unlocking codes at no charge -- or even after 6 months if his bill is consistently more than $100/month before tax. How do I know this? Because I've done exactly that.

Last I heard, Bell and Telus, the two big CDMA carriers in Canada, were thinking of going GSM, but hadn't launched their GSM service yet. Even if they had, a Fido SIM absolutely CAN NOT be used to activate another provider's service on, just like you couldn't activate Rogers GSM service on a VoiceStream/T-Mobile SIM -- the first ten digits of the SIM card number tell you, and the network, what your home network is (for authentication and billing purposes). Every Fido SIM card number starts with the digits 89302 37010 -- 302 is the MCC (country code) for Canada, and 37 (or 370, depending on who you ask) is the MNC (network code) for Fido. (Rogers is 302 720.)

...which in my case is running on my Nokia 3650 cell phone.

...which (upgraded like mine) has 2,000 times the RAM of a Commodore 64, anyway. Lots of room for games! :)

If you want AMPS, GSM1900, and TDMA800/1900 in the same phone, you want the Nokia 6340.

The first thing I did when I got mine was uninstall all the bundled demo-ware games and apps. Oh yeah, and make sure you go to Nokia and patch the video recorder so it records audio correctly.

-Pat

I had the chance to try out this phone this weekend, using T-Mobile service. It got much better reception in my part of town than my Sprint phone does. I was impressed with its camera features (found myself wanting a zoom feature) and played with the video recording feature a bit too. Found that I adapted to the circular key pad without much trouble. It had more than I expected from a phone, and was actually lighter and smaller than I expected. The camera was much less cumbersome than most of the other camera phone I have seen. This is the phone I will be upgrading to. I also saw that Nokia is giving away 10 of the 3650 camera phones in a sweepstakes running through April 29th. The contest URL is: http://www.nokiausa.com/registration?sweepstakes=1

I used the 3650 for a day and loved it, but it's just too big. I picked up the 7210 instead and it's great. WAP, color screen, polyphonic ringtones, Java, speakerphone (works better than I thought), and an FM radio (which I don't think the 3650 has). Best of all it's only 2.9 ounces!

If your service provider is AT&T, you need to pick one up fast because they aren't going to be offering it any more. I had to call around to find a store that still had some.

The Nokia Ringtone Composer (part of this package here for the 3360) allows you to compose ringtones and send them via IR. You can also import MIDI songs and play with them from there... I'm sure there are more tools on Nokia's site, but these are the only ones I have experience with. These are great, though. Ringtones, sync with Outlook, full phone backup, etc, all over IR.

From the back my Nokia 3360 looks suprisingly similar to a type 1 phaser from TNG. Now if i could only find a double chirp ring tone...

This is the kind of gear I consider essential. Except I don't go for the pda thing - I would rather use a dead tree pad and use the laptop when I want (full) computer functionality.

I work during the day and go to school at night, so I have reverted to using a backpack for my textbooks. In it, I also carry:

checkbook, pens, mechanical pencils, eraser, stamps, toothpaste, toothbrush, miniature philips screwdriver, business card holder, notepad, hand towel, batteries, Olympus digital voice recorder, cell phone, pager and the laptop is in my trunk if I need it :)

You're just a bit behind the times.

You're better off with a Nokia 9290 Communicator. Not only is there ssh software, RSA makes a SecurID client for it.

Of course, the Communicators are friggin' shoe phones that cost a bit more than $200 (more like $600).

You're better off with a Nokia 9290 Communicator. Not only is there ssh software, RSA makes a SecurID client for it.

Of course, the Communicators are friggin' shoe phones that cost a bit more than $200 (more like $600).

I'll buy one when it has a real keyboard. Ever try sending a message on a keypad? MAJOR pain in the ass. You can use chat-shorthand to send message to friends, but replying to business email? Where is the spll chker?

In countries where SMS is popular, many people can type quite fast using a phone keypad. It's just a matter of practice.

Incompatable formats.
TDMA and GSM are incompatable formats. My phone, the Nokia 3360 works just fine with Cingular, which uses TDMA. Sprint dosn't, and so my phone dosn't work with Sprint.
Also, the Cingular sales rep was open about the fact that phones besides the ones in store worked, just to make sure that it supported TDMA.

You can always try the Nokia 9290. It's probably not quite what you're looking for, but it has a lot to it. I saw a friend with one of these recently, and while the thing is a little big, if you consider that you can replace your cell and your PDA with it, I guess it's not too bad. I didn't get to play with it for too long, but it had a ton of features, nice big color screen, full qwerty keyboard, MS Office file compatibility, Internet browser, multimedia, and a pretty good amount of memory from what I was told. Maybe it would hold you over until your super gadget came out...

You are mistaken. The 7160 is the US model:

http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/series/7160/1,4511, ,00.html

It supports TDMA and analog.

I don't think you use a cell phone in the US,
OK, I can't give you my phone numbers here, sorry, but if you are curious, I have 2 cellphones which I can use here - a 3-band 7389P with a sim@ctiva prepaid - which has 0 monthly fee and allows me to send/receive email through SMS gateways, only what I use on it gets charged on a credit card - no bills etc. And the cheapest GSM combo in the USA - A VoiceStream $20 plan with the Nokia 5190, for local calls etc. So I know what I am talking about: I travel quite a bit around the world ...and about GSM in the USA, I can tell you all you want to know about the annoying unusable AT&T GSM signal which is interfering with VoiceStream's one, problem about which neither company claims to be able to do much at the moment, and is extremely annoying expecially for people who'd roam on either network anyway.

but rather are just spouting BS you read in some European paper (especially when you spell "Myths" as "Mythes."
Sorry, I am not a native English speaker, and I had posted that msg from my PBG4 using Omniweb, which gives me spell checking for free, and it suggested it that way - try it out for yourself if you don't believe me. BTW, how much do you know about cellphone access/prices/plans/coverage etc. outside the USA, kid?

Damn near everyone in the country already has a land line and most people have access to a computer online (if they don't already one at least one or two.)

Damn or not, I don't see what this has to do with the cellphone use. I have landline, home and work fast internet access, and GSM, in both countries/continents. So?

I forgot the 4th reason (IMHO again) why the cellphone market is so much behind here (USA is my here at the moment): in the USA people tend to be either indoors or in a car most of the time: and much less time spent outdoors/socializing/etc than in other countries (in my own personal statistic which includes only about 30 countries in the 4 continents where I've been sofar).

Also, VoiceStream here in the USA is using a GSM network, but unfortunately it resides on the 1900MHz band, so we all have to have tri-mode phones just to be able to use one handset worldwide. If I have heard correctly, AT&T and Cingular are switching from their TDMA based networks to GSM (part of AT&T's $5 billion dollar budget this year) because TDMA didn't have the capacity they were hoping for. (Cingular is already GSM in California and Nevada because of their acquisition of PacBell.)

Despite what the article says, I like to think that my phone is pretty cool.

Just my $0.02.

So a portable device has to be a phone. It also has to be (across the same cellphone link) a web browser - a web browser complying with normal Web standards, not a WAP device. And it has to be able to run something equivalent to VNC over SSH across the same link.

What does it look like? It needs to be small, to fit comfortably in a pocket. But at the same time to have the largest possible display. Provided the display is touch sensitive, it doesn't need any keyboard, jog-wheel, cursor keys or whatever implemented in hardware - all these can be soft. Handwriting recognition would be good, but isn't critical. It may be a one-piece unit with a flip-over keypad like the Sony/Ericsson P800; it could even be a clamshell like the Nokia 9120; but frankly it doesn't need either.

And the good news is that thanks to those very clever people in Scandinavia, it's all available now.

specs.

The full specifications page for the 9290 mentions that the phone has "GSM phase 2 signaling," but this doesn't tell me much. It must work on 1900 MHz because VoiceStream is selling it, but will it work on 900/1800 MHz too?

I currently use a Nokia 8890 in combination with a Palm V. They look great and cost about the same as the 9290. (My 8890 weights a lot less and gets "compliments" from chicks, but that's OT.)

Is the browsing experience better for the 9290 than it is on a Palm V using my 8890 as a wireless modem ? (Enough to justify spending $600?)

it fits in my pocket

So does my Nokia

This link has the feature list as well.

The page you requested has moved. Click one of the links below to go to the new NokiaUSA Web site.

Go here: http://www.nokiausa.com/communicator/features/1,49 83,|SRC-P,00.html - if it doesn't work they are detecting via javascript that you came from slashdot or something.

The actual URL is http://www.nokiausa.com/communicator/features/1,49 83,,00.html. I hope.

Symbian rocks.

http://www.nokiausa.com/communicator/features/1,49 83,,00.html

Here is a link to the phone that works.

the Nokia 9290. It does pretty much everything - Wireless Web / Wireless E-Mail / Office Use / Organizer / Mobile Multimedia and of course its a phone too. It states that it hasn't been authorized by the FCC yet, but when it is, I think this will be one of their best ones out there.

I wonder if this was the charity that they were referring to when telling me where my two old Nokii were going. Of course, they did say something about battered women...maybe they misunderstood what was meant by "Hop On"... oh well...

It features simple two-button (CALL / END) operation and employs the very latest automated voice-recognition technology, making number entry both easy and mistake proof.

Why? Well, most phones I've ever tried have been poor. Poor build quality ...

I don't know which phones you've used, but I've found Nokia's industrial design to be absolutely top-notch. I've dropped one of their ubiquitous 5100 series from great heights, and the thing bounces back like a tennis ball ready for more torture. They're built like tanks--I've opened them up and marveled at the strength of the guts inside.

particularly in regard to securing the battery connection.

Tape it if it's broken. How often do you swap batteries? Lithium ion batteries last for hours and I used to carry around a charger in my pack and charge it where I found it convenient.

OK, so the 'lock keypad' function is used to get round one of those moans.

Which would you rather have? A flip-phone? Ever seen the ear part of the flip after it's been caught in a car door and bent 45-degrees backward? Phone engineers have to deal with the rigors of the environments in which their phones will be used. I'd much rather have to key in Menu Button, * than deal with a flimsy piece of plastic that could just easily break off.

... and the PC Suite [nokia.com] for it is hopelessly out of date and utterly useless.

I've never used PC Suite, but I assume anything that comes on 3.5" disks fits your description, and nor would it surprise me. My solution: Don't use it. Gnokii is an incredibly done application and served me quite well for the few months I had my 5190.

I'd sacrifice the entire lot for an industrial design that works as a basic phone without falling apart.

I think it's a tad premature to discount next-generation technology phones based on inexperiences with the myopic designs of the first generation series phones. Nokia, et. al. designed the 5190 and the 8850 to be talked on first, SMS'd with second. I would hope Nokia has overcome these interface issues with their more advanced phones as they come out.

It's totally moot to me--I won't see any of these phones for a long, long time as Nokia barely caters to the US market outside of AT&T Wireless's desires--a company I'd rather not deal with again.