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Where Can I Find Cell Phone Recommendations?
Alex Bischoff asks: "I will likely be buying a cell phone within the next six months. And, while there seem to be half a million sites reviewing hardware, I can't find even one that does reviews of cell phones! Now, I've tried Google, of course, but all I can find are cell phone service providers and reviews on "super cell phones" -- that is, cell phones with built-in PDAs and such. I already have a Palm Pilot, so all I want is a "regular" cell phone. Can anyone recommend any sites that review cell phones, or offer his/her opinions on brands to buy and features to look for? "
Posted by Nr9:
Nokia's the best. All the motorola phones ive seen are so unreliable. Star TAC especially sucks with a problem with the SIM card. Any star tac owner who's used it more than a month will know of the check card problems. Ive owned a nokia 5130 and have dropped the phone lots of times. its pretty reliable. i recently got a 7110 and its bestest. The games are good and the way the cover comes off is like mankit. I dont like long tunes but it might be useful because here in taiwan, almost everyone has a cell phone in public areas and its hard to see which phone is ringing. Nokia is best quality and also best style. the 88x0 series look very good.
Reference?
-Doug
Wrong. I've had a digital StarTAC for about a year now, and your post is the first time I've ever heard about the "check card problem." I have nothing but good things to say about this phone. Reception is excellent, voice quality is far superior to the Nokia's that several of my friends have. And the size is excellent. Folded up and clipped to my belt, it's actually smaller than the pager I used to have to carry. My friends with larger phones are constantly feeling the need to set them down, and consequently lose them from time to time. My phone never leaves my belt unless I'm talking on it.
As far as durability, I've dropped this thing more times than I can count. Never a problem. Last summer I got careless and jumped into a lake with it clipped to my belt. I let it dry out overnight, and haven't had a problem since.
Having said that, it's important to keep in mind that there are many different models of the StarTAC. Mine happens to be the 800(?) Mhz TDMA model. Other models may provide a completely different experience.
This is definitely true in my area. I haven't checked analog rates recently, but about a year ago when I upgraded from analog to digital I more than doubled my airtime and my monthly bill dropped by about $10.
In addition, I got caller-id, voice-mail and several other goodies thrown in for free that aren't even available on analog (at least with my provider).
I understand your point, that a buyer needs to concentrate at the services in your area and not the actual phone.
Well, that's a good point, but what do you do once you've already selected the provider? Just take any random phone the salesman happens to be trying to unload that day?
Choice of service provider is very important, but now that I've made that choice, I for one would be very interested in reviews of the actual equipment since I'm planning to upgrade my phone again soon.
I have used half a dozen models of cellphones. My favourites are the Nokia 6162 and the Sony D-Wave Zuma CM-Z100.
Nokia 6162
Excellent phone. Dual-mode TDMA and AMPS. (SunCom, perhaps the worst provider ever, tried to convince me that it was tri-mode: "PCS, TDMA, and cellular." No amount of arguing would convince them that there's no such thing as PCS.) It's small, durable, and easy-to-use. Good OS that's easy to hack. (Type in *3001#12345#). I abused it pretty badly, and it held up really nicely. It was a bit big for me, though most would consider it to be small. The battery life was really good, and I very seldom had trouble with low battery life. It holds 200 names and numbers, and the flip cover on the 6162 is really nice. (The junior versions, the 6160 and the 5160, are good, too. But the 6162 is worth it, just for the keypad cover.) It's got a million stupid rings and two vaguely reasonable ones. It's embarassing having other hear some of the lame little tunes that chirp out of this phone.
Sony D-Wave Zuma
I love this phone. It long held the title of Smallest CDMA Phone. (I think the Nokia 8860 or the Motorola StarTac gets that title now.) It's just right in size -- I can sit down with it in my jeans pocket, and not have to adjust my pants. The signal isn't as good as the Nokia, largely due to its smaller size. It's a single-mode phone, though having CDMA instead of TDMA is great. This holds 99 numbers, and spares you from the games and other weird shit in the Nokia. I'm won over by this phone's cuteness, unusual look, and solid OS. (The jog dial is great, too.) The only downside is that the mic arm tends to get wobby and need to be replaced every 6 months or so. Gotta love that warranty. It's got just a few rings that are perfect for reasonable human beings that aren't interested in hearing the 1812 Overture when somebody calls. For those of you that need AMPS and CDMA, give it a few weeks and the dual-mode Zuma will be released.
You'd do well with either of these phones.
-Waldo
try epinions.com they offer user-based opinions of a lot of products and services
I had a Nokia 6160 and now I have a Motorola
StarTac Digital.
Both good phones, but for different reasons.
The Nokia has really good battery life, great features, was easy to use, and has good sound quality. However, it is sort of bulky (it doesn't fit into a pocket well) and lacks a vibrate feature so you can wear the thing in a meeting. This can be corrected by buying a battery with a vibrator in it, but still...
I bought the StarTac because I wanted something smaller, and my brothers really love it. It's a good phone; and it can be easily tucked into a pocket. The battery life is pretty good (but not as good as the Nokia), and the vibrate feature is built in. However, this phone has less features that the Nokia. Ths sound quality is pretty good, but the phone is not as comfortable to hold. It also feels more flimsy.
Both phones work on TDMA digital systems and do analog as well. Both cost about $200. Both have plenty of after-market "hands-free" kits, batteries, and other accessories. Get the Nokia if you want features and battery life, get the StarTac if you want to put it into a pocket.
Steve Punter has a good site for Canadian cell users. Non-Canadians might want to have a look too since it has a great deal of information about different kinds of phones.
:-)
What makes it a Canadian site is that he's ridden around on his bike and MAPPED all the cells in the Toronto area. He documents how to do this, so maybe someone in another city wants to copy the technique and map their area too
It looks to me like this varies dramatically by geography. I know people who got and dumped Sprint PCS service because the quality was so crummy. They have the best advertising, but (as far as I can tell) the worst service.
But it looks like this varies dramatically depending on where you live, so get a local recommendation. My guess is that their service is going to be worst in lage and expensive cities where ramping up service is pricy.
I'm in Los Angeles, and here I would under no circumstances get Sprint PCS again - service was horrid.
I have a Noika 6100 series flip phone and it's a very cool piece of technology. My AT&T service is pretty good, too, but like all cell phones I'm aware of, it's not perfect.
D
----
In Japan you can program the ringer with the latest pop tunes. Pretty cool, but I think I would go insane if I heard Ricky Martin every time someone's phone rang.
Scuttlemonkey is a troll
It's got a tiny text window and a minimal set of features, but it's terminally cute and rugged as heck. I've splattered it across the pavement about 5 times by having it fall out of my pocket when I'm riding my bike... and no damage. I had to clean the battery contacts once. I will definitely buy one again - one that's even smaller (although the 768 is *still* one of the smallest after being out almost 2 years). I just which I could program it myself though, because I know I could do a better job. *sigh*. Will hardware makers ever get it? All they have to do is open the specs, and we'll make their phone twice as good as it already is.
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
Yeah, but you can get like an additional 200 minutes of nights/weekends for $9.95 or something, which about half price. you can buy as many 200 minute blocks as you need.
Plus they got 1000 minute plan for $75 through to the middle of next month...
Instead of looking at your nights and weekends being free, you have to look at what you are paying for that...break it down to a per-minute
charge for the time your using, because just because you have unlimited nights/weekends, that doesn't mean that you're paying any less for them.
My journal has hot
Which is a bunch of nonsense. Basically it all depends on the cell size. If you are in an urban area, say Western Europe people often won't notice that you are using a cellular phone instead of a analog fixed one. And that phone is operating at probably 0.5 Watt, because any more is a waste of power in microcells anyway.
-- Spelling and grammar errors tend to be a sign of erroneous thinking.
I too have a Nokia 6150. It was a great phone when it came out, and had some really nifty features.
I agree, some of the ring tones are quite long, and i guess were ONLY put in because of marketing reasons ("hey this phone has 26 ring tones"). Considering the UK mobile phone consumers seem to LOVE these sort of things, it does tend to get many sales.
But lets look at the phone without any of the gimmicks. You still have a good phone that is rugged, has EXCELLENT call quality (using EFR, most poeple I call still cannot believe I am on a cell, rather than a fixed line). Also its menu system is rather sane, and logical.
However, this phone is now quite old, and has been surpased by newer models
Those wishing to buy a phone now should look instead at the 8250. The 8250 is the 6150 equivelent, with voice dialing, predictive text input (absolutely essential for people who use SMS a lot), and is small, with a hidden antenna.
I wouldnt go for the Nokia 7110 unless you REALLY need WAP.
I dont like Ericssons much, because their user interface are not that intiutive.
Moterolas are known for their ruggedness.. however, thier phones are quite basic in features.
Nokia is certainly the best provider of mobiles, and i used to work in a cellphone shop, and that is the comments from our customers too.
my two cents.
I understand your point, that a buyer needs to concentrate at the services in your area and not the actual phone.
But, I really feel the need to defend my Sprint PCS phone. I concede that they don't have a unlimited off-peak plan, almost. They do have an off-peak option that for $10 gives you 200 minutes for free and clear plans and 500 minutes for standard plans. While not optimal, remember that free and clear plans have free long distance, this is 5 cents/min long distance on a cell!
Now, about using it... absolutely wonderful. Since most of my calls are long distance, free and clear is perfect. Their coverage area is most of the urban US. I'm covered in NJ where I live and work, NY when I have to go there, OH where my folks live, and most of the other places I find myself traveling. All for the same price. Does anyone else beat them in coverage area (without roaming fees)? If so, you might get me to switch.
All of the extras are included, caller ID, voice mail, 3-way, call waiting, numeric paging. But these are a given when talking digital phones.
Finally, my favorite part, no contracts! When they come up with better plans, you can switch. You have to buy the phone, but when their phones start at $100, this isn't too bad.
So, yes it comes down to who you are and what is available in your area. For me, no contract was first and foremost, followed closely by coverage area and cheap long distance. Sprint PCS fits this bill nicely.
Try Deja
Go get yourself a Motorola whatever, from whatever service providers. Unlike the Nokia phones, these things really are indestructible.
:)
:)
This is sort of true. I've had both Nokia and Motorola Phones. The first Nokia phone's display would keep fading out, even though the batteries were completely charged. If you smacked the phone against the palm of your hand it would come back for a while then fade away again.
My second and third Nokia phones were rendered completely inoperable by simply falling out of my jacket onto the street when I got out of my car. All of these Nokias had that fancy padded leather case too.
Once I dumped AT&T as a provider and went to Omnipoint, I got a cheap Motorola (g520) which has been indestructable. It doesn't have a leather case, and has survived a few really hard drops.
One time I was carrying a bunch of things, and the phone slipped out of my hand. I used to play "Hackey-Sack" when I was a kid, and I tried to kick the phone back up and try to catch it. All I wound up doing was kicking the phone about 10 feet away onto a set of brick steps, and it bounced back down. It got scratched up pretty good, but it still works.
A service provider is just as important as a phone too. I've used Sprint, AT&T (local NYC and One Rate), and Omnipoint.
Hands down AT&T is the worst provider out there, I think about 2 out of 10 calls would go through in the NY Metro Area. I had their One Rate, as I travelled a lot, and most cities would have bad connects or no coverage at all. The only city I think AT&T worked well was Atlanta, where our Engineering HQ was who made the decision to go with AT&T. Whenever the Atlanta guys came up here they always bitched about AT&T not working.
Sprint was pretty bad too, unless you were far away from New York, Jersey City, Newark, or another built-up area. The only place my Sprint phone seemed to work was at the shore
Omnipoint so far has been great. I've had them since August, and use the phone a few times a day usually. I only had two bad connects, and one was during Hurricane Floyd, so that probably doesn't count.
For those of you who have never had a 3W phone installed ina car with a great antenee, you don't know what you're missing. There's nothing clear about digital phones except the money it makes for the provider.
I see comercials on TV using word like "Crystal Clear" and "Digital Clarity" and I just have to laugh. They all use less than 3W of power, and the quality suffers as a result.
So get whatever phone you want, but take a trial period, carry it around for a week or 2 and make sure the coverage is good. As a previous poster said, it's all about coverage, if they ain't got it, you ain't dialin'.
_______________
Er, no.
I've been through three cell phones in the last year and the Motorola StarTAC was the worst. Hard to use, flimsy case, poor sound quality, shitty battery life, awfull.
I got rid of it after 6 months. I now have an ericcsson. Much better. The Nokia was even better, with battery life of upto a week.
Chris.
-- I don't have a cool sig.
Actually, it only costs more if you go with a local plan. As to Motorola signal receiving, and dual-mode phones, the newer ones actually choose the strongest signal strength, regardless of whether it's analog or digital, providing the person with the clearest call support for that particular area. And while analog signals do use up more battery life, isn't that an argument to get a phone that supports digital signals, and EXTEND your battery life?
My key consideration in picking my cellphone, after having used several brand of cellphones (Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola), was the ability of the phone to pick up a usuable signal in different areas. Of all the phones I've tried, the BEST one at doing this was the Motorola StarTac Digital (model 7797 - AT&T's version). While the Nokia 6100 series (with extra life vibrating battery) does have the longest battery life of all the dual mode phones I've used, the signal pickup isn't as good as the StarTac Digital.
I researched cellphones for a year and a half before I bought my first one (Nokia 6160), and it was great for what I wanted to do then.... The main question you have to ask yourself is how you're going to use the phone - are you going to want to use it outside your area/for calling outside your area? Different providers use different phones - not all have the phone you may want. And depending on what kind of coverage you want (local vs. larger area), you'll need to pick a certain kind of provider (local vs. large area).
IMHO (assuming you live in the US), if Sprint covers the areas you want covered, then I'd do their $50/500 minutes package, and just be happy with that. You can go most places in the US, and use the phone w/out roaming charges, as well as call long distance on it. I chose AT&T because they're the only large-area provider that covers my hometown digitally (in NY), and they have the largest coverage (analog + digital) of all the providers.
Twykr -The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Worrying works!! 99% of all the stuff I worry about never happens
I recommend Steve Romaine's cellular information site. If you're Canadian, this is really all you need to know. A lot of the discussion of plans will be immaterial for yanks, but he also has detailed reviews of the various handsets. I found this really helpful. -Tim
My father bought a cell phone recently for his trip to LA. My father isn't a Luddite, but he's not technologically crazy; he prefers writing on yellow legal pads to Word (but can you blame him?) and his laptop still runs Win 3.1. So when he bought a cell phone, he wanted it as simple as possible.
And the damn thing still has Internet access.
Expect to have trouble going for "simple" when you buy a cell phone. They're getting to be like computers these days: if you buy them from an outlet or company, they tend to be loaded with stuff you don't want.
But if you can just grab a soldering iron, you can fix it up before you can say "Netpliance".
------------
"Okay, who taught the cat how to type ctrl alt delete?"
Would a motorola with it's flip and antenna hanging off it (moving parts) really do better than an all in one "chunky" nokia? (no/fewer moving parts)
For the record, my nokia 5190 fell out of my shirt pocket (I'm 6'3", so that's a fair height) on to the pavement, where it was promptly run over by the pedal-cab (with three people in it) I was jogging in front of. It survived with only scratches to my Ginger & Sporty stickers :)
As others have said, the phone is your last concern, check out the service first.
good luck.
I paid $14.95 for unlimited nights and weekends and used up approximately 2000 minutes of offpeak minutes. This is way cheaper than $10.00 for a 200 minute block.
Sometimes the same series of phones has different features. The 6185 has a built-in vibrator; the 6190 requires a battery with a vibrator.
The first digit is the series number; the third digit usually indicates the technology:
xx1x GSM 900/1800 (europe)
xx2x TDMA 800
xx3x GSM 900/1800 (europe)
xx5x GSM 900/1800 (europe)
xx6x TDMA 800/1900
xx7x CDMA 1900
xx8x CDMA 800/1900
xx9x GSM 1900
2160, 2170, 2180, 2190
5110+, 5120, 5130+, 5160, 5170, 5180**, 5190
6110+, 6120, 6150+, 6160, 6161, 6162, 6185, 6188*, 6190
* = Canada only, + = European, **5180= CDMA 800 only
Two great sites are Steve Punter's PCS guide (lots of Canadian info) and Steve Romaine's west coast site (also has Canada-specific info). Even if you're not Canadian, there's tons of info on various phones and technologies.
and don't get a single ban phone :)
I'm one of the unfortunate ones that has to deal with tech support with cell phones...here's what phones I recommend, etc..Analog Motorola- Motorola phones (excluding the startac) seem to be able to take alot of abuse...although face it...they just aren't all that cool... The Analog Startacs (the 3000 at least) seem to have signal issues.... Nokia - 252, 918 - good all around phones..stay away from 638s.. Stay away from Ericssons..Pansonics, Necs..etc (luckly most, aside from Ericsson, have gone out of the cell business) Tdma, Pcs- Nokia 5100/6100 series are good all around phones....with decent features...stay away from the 8860(at&t), it looks bad ass, but seems to have poor reception. The qualcomm 860-890 seems to be a good all around phone. Cdma- The new Samsung 850 is great and packed with features...battery life sucks on it though... Don't bother with the Samsung 211, you can get a smaller 411 for the same price...these have the same features. Startac 7760- Good Cdma phone...easy to break... really easy to ruin the antenna on this phone.. Audiovox 4000s and up seem to be pretty durable, and look pretty damn cool... Stay away from qualcomm 820's...the jack on the bottom of the phone for charging is very prone to breaking... Have fun choosing... but do yourself a favor..stay away from ericsson some fun- some codes to get into cell phones programming moto- fcn 0(x13) rcl..use the * to scroll.. nokia..252 and up... *#639# ericsson.. 987 menu menu or fcn fcn..the # to scroll.. Audiovox... lock code + function the #1 or #81... fnc #941273#..send to scroll... or 289 fcn#1.. Have fun...
Have to disagree. I have a Nokia 6150 and the damn thing's practically indestructible (and I'm hard on phones), has a great UI, and excellent reception and sound quality (depending on cell of course). Plus I love the way the keypad feels--really positive and firm.
plus there is the added bonus of 40 second long tunes for the phone rings... i hate hearing those god-damned rings
They are annoying, but blame the user for picking the annoying ring--the phone has several subtle ones (or you can buy the vibrating battery).
I've owned Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia phones and Nokia is by far my favorite.
-Doug
IMHO, *all* the cell phone services fail to provide useful maps of usable coverage or realistic measures of what performance to expect.
I have AT&T's Digital One Rate and a Nokkia 6160 phone. Nice phone, more features than I can keep in my head, and the service has interesting quirks.
A few other points to remember:
Anyone have 1st-hand experience with the situation in europe (GSM phones)? Are they really better, or is it more hype?
The phone itself is secondary to the service provider, though. A lot depends on how you plan to use the phone. There are 850Mhz cell providers like your Cell One's and Baby Bell's that offer either TDMA or CDMA digital in addition to AMPS Analog. The call quality of these technologies is inferior in my opinion to 1900 MHZ PCS service. Depending on where you live, you might have a choice of different providers using different technology. The difference will be one of national coverage. If you don't "roam" outside your local area, then just go with whoever has the best local coverage, rates and phones. If you plan on using the phone in other cities, you want to make sure your provider has coverage agreements. AT&T wireless has a pretty well-established national coverage, they sell phones that operate on 1900Mhz IS-136 air interface, plus they have multi-mode capability so they can step down to 850 Mhz TDMA or even AMPS if you roam in a city that doesn't have decent PCS coverage.
Look at this site. It is possibly the best out there.
http://www.point.com
I like point.com fot comparison shopping cellphones. They let you pick the phone and the service providers or choose a service provider and then a suitable phone. I also go a real neat discount around Xmas. As for phones, my personal favorite is the Samsung SCH-3500. Net capable (SPRINT) and voice commands.
You can also check out simplexity.com . I tried the web site when it used to be talkingonair.com . Also check out CNETs gadget section for comparison shopping.
Now git and don't complain about the lack of options.
Well, I happened to come accross this site, which lists a bunch of codes for 'hidden' features of a variety of cell phones including ericcson, motorola, nokia, sony, samsung, etc.
l arT&T.htm
http://www.commservice.net/ItalianBadBoys/Cellu
It's more important to find a review of cell phone services or at least get a good opinion of the service providers in your area before getting a phone. For instance, my girlfriend got one of those cool Sprint PCS phones with internet browsing capability and I was smitten and decided to go get myself one. On arriving at Best Buy the Sprint attendant informed me that they had no unlimited nights & weekends plan which my current provider Bellsouth provides. Considering that I average about 3000 minutes a month on my current Nokia 5100 phone (which was cool 1 year ago but seems so clunky and sucky now) it would have been a financial nightmare for me to switch to a cooler phone with Sprint without my unlimited nights and weekend plan as a financial cushion. Secondly I also didn't go with Sprint after fining out that complaints about it's service had a category in Yahoo!
PS: Try Phone Choice or Mobile World for phone reviews.
Go get yourself a Motorola whatever, from whatever service providers. Unlike the Nokia phones, these things really are indestructible. To prove the point, I threw mine out my car window while cruising around town. Unfortunately, my timing was off, and it almost went down a sewer drain. I saw the drain and I was really worried it would fall in! But I wasn't worried at all about whether the phone would work. I went back to get it, and of course it still worked perfectly.
I contrast this to the typical Nokia phone. Sometimes I go out on Friday nights and get into cell-phone-smashing contests with drunk people. I throw my Motorola down on the sidewalk, and I challenge them to do the same with their whatever they have. One guy's Nokia phone didn't survive the encounter. He said it's the fourth time he had to replace it. I've caused quite a few drunks to break their cell phones this way... and the Motorola is still going, even after hitting the pavement dozens of times.
---
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
There's a reason why Nokia phones have so many ring tones. Here in Finland, home of Nokia's HQ and where there are more cell phones than land lines, each phone needs to be distinctive as possible so that when someone's phone rings on the subway, not everyone will reach for their phone all at once. The newer Nokia phones even allow you to build your own arbitrary ring tone, but I don't know if such phones are available yet in the US.
Plus, the games are great for running down the battery when you need to give the battery its occasional "deep recharge" or whatever it's called.
Herbie J.
Three easy steps:
This proceedure is guaranteed to get you a number of very strong and detailed recommendations about what to do with your fucking cell phone. Some helpful motorists may even be kind enough to help you implement some of these recommendations (which leads to Step 4, wherein you will say to the ER surgeon "I swear to God, doctor, that's really how it got in there!).
Try Deja.com, Usenet alt.cellular, alt.cellular.*
There are alot of people selling/repairing mobile phones discussing things in the alt.cellular.tech newsgroups(it's also a good place to ask questions)
I've been in the mobile phone R&D business for over 4 years now. I've learned that you can't just rely on the brand name of any one individual manufacturer to help you make a good choice. These are tricky devices to make and one model by one manufacturer may be Excellent while another really sucks.
There are also Software Recalls and Just plain bad hardware. Anytime cheaper phones are built the cost savings can come from economizing on various critical parts(like say in the RF area) that will cause the platform to underperform(ok just plain suck).
Whatever phone you buy here's a few things I feel are important.
---- Digital is a must, longer battery life
- Coverage may be an issue depending on the network tech. you choose(CDMA,TDMA,GSM,AMPS....)
---- RF Performance
- it it can't acquire the network and stay on it this handset is not for you.
- Some models perform much better in fringe coverage areas than others. so check out the coverage plans for the service provider you will sign up with.
---- Audio Quality
- hey its a phone. If we can't hear each other why are we talking.
---- Accessory availability
- Car Power Adapter
- Data Connectors - if you wish to use a Laptop or PDA with it(InfraRed or Serial)
- Headset/Carkit - I like the portable headsets. ("mic on a rope")
---- Nice display
- nice font size which is quickly read
- something readable in the dark
----- Good Keypad
- size - good for your fingers
- Tactile feedback - responds well to your touch
- layout - some of these suck when you try to use them for basic functions
------ Form factor/Manufacturing Quality
- if it doesn't feel good in your hand keep looking.
- Materials Quality, if if feels cheap it probably is and will break easily. It will be dropped.
- Balance, don't want it to feel like it will fall out of your hand when pressing keys(especially if using SMS or browser services)
Just a small list of things to look for when browsing peoples opinions.
BTW, Don't forget to check up on software updates for your handset. There will usually be one or two additional software releases once a particular model is put on the market.