Help me choose a mobile phone.

[Roger_Melly]

Hello folks,
I have a Nokia 6320. It's been a great phone and I use the calendar as a diary. I have also additionally purchased a card reader and 512mb card for MP3 and would drag and drop files and listen to them on shuffle.

Thing is I bought the wife a 4Gb Nano for Chrimbo and it's fab. Holds nearly all our albums and has a great menu. This is where the Nokia falls down. It wasn't really for MP3 playing.

I want a decent phone with the MP3 playability of the Nano that swaps files with Linux easily. I have seen some stuff about the Sony Ericsson W810i that claims it's a bit poor on file management.

What do you guys recommend?

[ComplexNumber]

you could try one of the walkmans(as you've already mentioned). i find sony ericssons to be rather unreliable. many people like the UI, but their build quality is somewhat suspect and their reception, call quality, and volume isn't exactly top notch.
the motorola E2 has a better sound than the walkmans, but it isn't available everywhere (mostly china and other parts of asia). the motorola actually runs on the linux kernel.

there is also the nokia n73.

btw be aware that many manufacturers take different types of memory. the standard is microSD(transflash) which motorola, samsung, and a few more modern nokias take. some nokias have the miniSD xpansion slots. sony ericsson have their own (expensive) memory sticks such as duo and pro duo.

[H.E. Pennypacker]

You are spot on when it comes to the Sony Ericsson w300i. As soon as you plug the USB cable in, Ubuntu picks up on the connection, opens up Nautilus, and allows for transfers immediately. I don't know of delay in transfers or that transfers take a long time, but then again, I've only done a few mp3s at once.

Do not expect the w300i to play OGG. It won't.

But if you're worried about file transfer, it's great. I was surprised it'd be as easy as it is. You can transfer the mp3s to any folder on the cell phone, but it would make sense to save them to the audio folder.

Know what's great? You can have the alarm set to an mp3. You can do a whole bunch of things, but you're probably not looking for a review.

Do a forum search on the w300i. You'll find a thing or two.

PS: You'll definitely need an additional memory card if you wish to use this phone for mp3s. The battery life is not all that great, especially if you are going to be playing music all the time.

[ComplexNumber]

You are spot on when it comes to the Sony Ericsson w300i. As soon as you plug the USB cable in, Ubuntu picks up on the connection, opens up Nautilus, and allows for transfers immediately. I don't know of delay in transfers or that transfers take a long time, but then again, I've only done a few mp3s at once.

Do not expect the w300i to play OGG. It won't.

But if you're worried about file transfer, it's great. I was surprised it'd be as easy as it is. You can transfer the mp3s to any folder on the cell phone, but it would make sense to save them to the audio folder.

Know what's great? You can have the alarm set to an mp3. You can do a whole bunch of things, but you're probably not looking for a review.

Do a forum search on the w300i. You'll find a thing or two.

PS: You'll definitely need an additional memory card if you wish to use this phone for mp3s. The battery life is not all that great, especially if you are going to be playing music all the time.
it works that way for ALL mobile phones with external memory.

you can set an mp3 for alarms, calls, and sms on most phones, although many samsungs don't allow this for sms and alarms. i find samsungs to be the most restricted when it comes to UI features and customising.

sony ericssons, in general, tend to have the best battery life.....although its not a good idea to take the manufacturers specification regarding battery life as being gospel. they're usually slightly overstated by the manufacturer.

[Roger_Melly]

Hey thanks for the replies guys,
I have been looking on the web for the Motorola Rokr E2. It sounds fantastic:

no i-tunes, a proper jack socket, Linux based, made to play music, not a bad camera.

On the downside I can't seem to find anywhere in the UK that can supply it, not sure I like the roundy style(hey-ho, no big deal) sounds like some are put off by the lack of i-tunes so will Motorola pull it before it arrives.

I have read that the Walkman W8-- series are a benchmark and there are loads about. I know that the more of us that use it the more likely some Linux hacker will find a way to make it work.

On the other hand I have had Nokia's which I like. I'm running an old OS on my 6320 which is pants as a music manager. Have the new Nokias improved.

The downside for the Nokias for me is the flimsy headset plug-in, I've had several that wibble about and ruin my "listening pleasure". I expect the Walkman is the same?

[ComplexNumber]

Roger_Melly
its already been hacked. motorolas are the most hackable of all and there are lots of sites dedicated entirely to hacking motos. to some people, that term "hacking" may sound somewhat dubious, but it isn't. its 100% legal. i know where the sites are and i've done a lot of motorola hacking in the past.


i doubt you could easily get the E2 here except from some dodgy websites which are best avoided.

the new nokias have improved. gone are the days when they only made candybars that all looked the same, gone are the days when all their phones had low resolution and tiny screens. however, gone are the days when nokias were amongst the most reliable.

[Roger_Melly]

Complex,
Thanks, I was using the term in the correct manner. I have Keir Thomas' book and believe in the whole Linux philosophy thing.

I'm with Orange and my choice will probably be limited. The various Razrs are the most popular.

Whatever I go for do any have any decent software for synching and whatnot? I used to use the Nokia software which was a bit rubbish but it was easy enough.

You seem to favour the motorola. They used to make our old job radios and they were very well made. Whats the headphone connectivity option and which would you recommend other than the E2?

[ComplexNumber]

i like samsung and motorola the best. the reason why is that i find motorola has the best signal, best overall quality, they're the most customisable(they are the linux of the mobile phone world :D), and most innovative.
i like samsung because they tend to be very well made and they're the most stylish.
i don't care much for sony ericsson because, apart from their nice UI and good cameras, they fall down in virtually every department. they seem to lack quality and are quite poor performers in the phone department (eg voice quality, signal strength, etc).
i don't care much for nokia either because their recent phones are not really that sturdy and seem to suffer a lot of problems.

as it happens, i'm on orange too. my motorola came with 512MB of expandable memory, a pair of headphones, and a copy of motorola phone tools which is used for synching the calendar and contacts, and transferring media to and from the phone.




besides mp3 playing, what else do you want from the phone? eg any particular form factor(eg clamshell, candybar, slider)? how much extra are you wishing to pay? contract(if so, what are you paying because this will determine how much extra you apy) or PAYG? other features?

[Roger_Melly]

Complex,
I use my phone as a diary, with reminders. I like having contact groups with different ringtones. I have a Nokia bluetooth hands-free in my car so voice dialling is good. If I walk I like to listen to music via the phone and I would like to somehow connect it to my car stereo directly if possible at some point. To this end I would like about 4Gb of memory.

I tend to like rectangular flat phones, although I'm not too fussed about this. I would like it to sit in a suit pocket without being too bulky.

I plan to spend about £150. I make that £100 for a 4Gb MP3 player (about the price of a Nano) and £50 for the phone.

What are your views on the many Razors out there. The wife has a new basic model, very "beam me up Mr Scott".

I really like the Motorola Diary. I'm not sure about the UI for Music though as we haven't managed to connect her phone up to the PC yet to get MP3's on it.

How do you find the Motorola software works with Linux/Ubuntu?

[dbbolton]

http://images.google.com/url?q=http://igargoyle.com/archives/frame13.jpg&usg=__L3D19TNdISDH_jqjZ4RkF8P5UzI=

^ the phone i use, complete with E-ano (electronic piano)

[ComplexNumber]

Complex,
I use my phone as a diary, with reminders. I like having contact groups with different ringtones. I have a Nokia bluetooth hands-free in my car so voice dialling is good. If I walk I like to listen to music via the phone and I would like to somehow connect it to my car stereo directly if possible at some point. To this end I would like about 4Gb of memory. at the moment,

I tend to like rectangular flat phones, although I'm not too fussed about this. I would like it to sit in a suit pocket without being too bulky. a razr would be good in that respect. they are very slim,but quite wide.

I plan to spend about £150. I make that £100 for a 4Gb MP3 player (about the price of a Nano) and £50 for the phone. i'm not too sure what that means regarding the extra amount that you can spend. it depends if you're PAYG or if you're on a low or high paying contract.

What are your views on the many Razors out there. The wife has a new basic model, very "beam me up Mr Scott". i quite like the razrs. their reception and call quality is superb.

I really like the Motorola Diary. I'm not sure about the UI for Music though as we haven't managed to connect her phone up to the PC yet to get MP3's on it.

How do you find the Motorola software works with Linux/Ubuntu? motorola phones tools isn't available for linux, but i never use it anyway. to transfer media to and from the phone, just either use bluetooth or plug your usb into the phone and the contents of memory card will show up in nautilus. you can then write to and copy games and other media. there is some bluetooth software to sync with mobiles on linux, but i haven't used them
i've written my answers above in bold to differentiate from yours.

NOTE: because there is such hot competition between the networks, they are always trying to grab other networks customers. loyalty means little to them unless you're going to leave their network, then they have a look at approximately how much you spend per month and see if its worth the risk of letting you go. if you're a high paying customer, then they usually bend over backwards to try to hold onto you. therefore, it may be worth your while changing networks every year(or however long your contract lasts) jsut to get the best deals. have a look at every single network and notice that the best deals are ALWAYS reserved for new customers. i wonder why that is :rolleyes:. loyalty doesn't count for much.