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? "

Comments

How bout this!

[DJStealth]

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.

http://www.commservice.net/ItalianBadBoys/Cellul arT&T.htm

Cell Phone Reviews Fine but..

[Carnage4Life]

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.

A good, cheap, fast cell phone.

[IO ERROR]

You didn't say much about what you DID want in a cell phone, but from your posting it sounds like you don't want too many features, just a basic phone.

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.
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Re:Anything except nokia... blech

[h_jurvanen]

gotta love phones that sell based on pretty colours and inline games.... talk about quality. plus there is the added bonus of 40 second long tunes for the phone rings... i hate hearing those god-damned rings

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.

Here's how to get cell-phone recommendations:

[Anonymous Coward]

Three easy steps:

1. Stop at a red light and start yapping on your fucking cell phone;
   
2. When the light turns green, ignore it and continue yapping on your fucking cell phone;
   
3. Hang up when the light turns red again.
   

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!).

Each Vendor makes good ones and bad ones

[labiche]

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.