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insane_alien
November 1st, 2009, 06:26 PM
i need a new phone, i'm not upto date on what phones are good (my knowledge is from circa 2001#)

any suggestions. if its somewhat linux compatible that would be a bonus but i'm not expecting miracles.

edit: oh yeah, away and boil yer heid to anybody who suggests an iphone.

steev182
November 1st, 2009, 10:54 PM
On a contract? Look at HTC Hero, Motorola DEXT, Samsung Galaxy, HTC Magic, Palm Pre, Motorola DROID (if it comes out over here).

All Linux compatible, all running a Linux Kernel.

iPhones are good, and for once, an apple product has spawned competition that is ACTUALLY shaping up to be better than their own product.

Johnsie
November 1st, 2009, 10:54 PM
Windows Mobile is pretty good and surprisingly works well with Linux. I'd wait or version 7 though, it's going to be awesome :-)

NCLI
November 1st, 2009, 11:07 PM
Don't get Windows Mobile, it's currently very outdated....

Anyway, an HTC Hero or Magic is your best bet :)

johnboy1313
November 1st, 2009, 11:47 PM
the mytouch and g1 have some fun stuff you can do with them, i ran damn small linux on my g1 untill i traded it for my blackberry i have now

PhoenixMaster00
November 1st, 2009, 11:50 PM
I have a HTC Hero and it is very good. Plus HTC just released a bunch of source code (forgot the details) so you can expect a lot of community driven improvements and customisation.

If you want to wait there is also the Motorola Droid, Acer Liquid, Sony Ericsson Rachael and i believe LG are soon to release one.

I highly recommend an Android phone

whoop
November 1st, 2009, 11:55 PM
I'm totally unfamiliar with the whole mobile phone thing, but I heard the Nokia N900 was quite cool as it runs linux.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900

pwnst*r
November 2nd, 2009, 12:01 AM
n900 or Droid (con = droid no multitouch)

pwnst*r
November 2nd, 2009, 12:09 AM
http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_droid

insane_alien
November 2nd, 2009, 08:37 AM
right well, i'll have a look when i'm out shopping for one today. but now off to uni.

HappinessNow
November 2nd, 2009, 08:55 AM
i need a new phone, i'm not upto date on what phones are good (my knowledge is from circa 2001#)

any suggestions. if its somewhat linux compatible that would be a bonus but i'm not expecting miracles.

edit: oh yeah, away and boil yer heid to anybody who suggests an iphone.HTC Hero uses Linux as it's OS specifically the Google Android OS, it is completely Linux compatible and not the horrid iPhone!

Colonel Kilkenny
November 2nd, 2009, 10:56 AM
n900 or Droid (con = droid no multitouch)

Droid isn't available anywhere outside US (or at least not in Europe because there are no CDMA-networks here, probably not anywhere else either as US is pretty much the only place with CDMA-networks...) because it is a CDMA-phone. GSM-version of the Droid is called Milestone and it has multitouch. I would still choose N900. Android might be "sexy" thing (especially in the US) atm. but it really doesn't have any features that would make it better platform than Maemo (unless you're a Google fan and want to have Google all over your phone).

And Android has Linux kernel yes, but even the kernel developers have apparently said that from the kernel point of view it'd totally same if Android would have Windows kernel i.e. it doesn't benefit the kernel in any way. Maemo on the other hand is basically normal Linux distribution and ~all work in Maemo can go upstream. So basically by buying Maemo phone you're also giving money to Linux/Gnome/KDE/PulseAudio/GStreamer/X.org/etc. development.

ssam
November 2nd, 2009, 11:02 AM
if you want it to run linux so that you can have complete control of the phone, and install anything you want on it, then it should probably be an openmoko.

make sure you get an A7 revision, and the older ones had some hardware issues. when you get it you will probably want to flash a newer firmware onto it, eg SHR.

3rdalbum
November 2nd, 2009, 12:26 PM
If price is a concern, then look at the Nokia E63. It runs Symbian which is now open-source I believe, and although the interface is clunky the phone is cheap, has an excellent keyboard and a lot of features that you otherwise don't get for the price (3G, Wifi, Opera Mini available, Bluetooth, push e-mail, 3.5mm headphone jack, audio/video playback and applications store).

I paid $249 (Australian money) for mine, including a 1 gig Micro-SD card. It's locked to the carrier I use, but unlocked versions are available for less than $50 more.

The E71 is the same phone but thinner, lighter, has a video conferencing camera and GPS; a bit more expensive though and not as easy to come by. By many accounts it's a Blackberry-killer.

renzokuken
November 2nd, 2009, 12:34 PM
i've had my HTC Magic for a few weeks now and i'm in love with it......sexy white and Android is brilliant

treesurf
November 2nd, 2009, 12:56 PM
I'm very happy with my HTC Hero. I recommend it.

PhoenixMaster00
November 2nd, 2009, 03:51 PM
n900 or Droid (con = droid no multitouch)

Apparently the European version will have multi-touch and be called the Milestone

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/11/02/moto_milestone_near/

insane_alien
November 2nd, 2009, 09:04 PM
so i ended up with a samsung s something or other. the ones suggested either required a contract or were pretty pricy.

seems to work fine anyway.

t0p
November 2nd, 2009, 10:14 PM
so i ended up with a samsung s something or other. the ones suggested either required a contract or were pretty pricy.

seems to work fine anyway.

Probably the best bet at the moment. To anyone else who'd like advice: I'd advise buying a "dumbphone" for now, and wait for the good smartphones to come down in price.

Right now I'm using a 3G "dumbphone" - the Sony Ericsson K800i. I can use it as a modem at 3G speeds, I can transfer files to/from Ubuntu just fine. So it's an excellent short term solution.

In the long term, I'm going to wait for the current HTC Android phones to come down in price. I think the Hero is massively overpriced at the moment. But next year it will be available for less than half its current price; at which point it will represent good value.

gn2
November 2nd, 2009, 10:25 PM
Samsung E1100, £5 at Carphonewarehouse.

ShaneR
November 2nd, 2009, 10:38 PM
Ahhhh...Thankfully I've avoided a cell phone purchase so far. Worst technology ever! Hate the danged things and have refused to carry one, and gotten away with it, up to this point.

Leave me a message, I'll get back to you when I feel like it...

Yep, pointless post, but there ya go...