A good mobile phone?

Liz · #1 05-05-2011, 10:22 AM

Am planning on getting a new mobile phone to take overseas with me, but want one that can get astronomy apps and a navman similiar app.
My present phone doesnt do any of this, but suited me well on my $20 a month (1hr free time).

I know my monthly $ will have to increase too, thats Ok.
Dont want to spend big $$ as dont use my phone a lot, so am looking at $150 and under.
Had a look on eBay - geeze, 1000s of gorg looking phones - this one for starters http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-EZIO-A3-A...item2c5c73cd78

What do yas think?

TheDecepticon · #2 05-05-2011, 11:11 AM

iPhone 4. There is nothing else to say.

Terry B · #3 05-05-2011, 11:27 AM

I have an iphone4 but the android seems good also. My iphone is crap at handling documents compared to my old palm pilot but as a phone and a web browser it is good. All the apps (toys) are fun but mostly unnecessary.

AdrianF (Adrian) · #4 05-05-2011, 11:46 AM

I have an iPhone 3 on a $49 plan this includes $400 worth of calls and 200Mb data. I run a lot of apps including astronomy and also 3rd party GPS program. I have 189 apps I think I had better cull some out.

Adrian

Octane (Humayun) · #5 05-05-2011, 11:54 AM

+1 for iPhone.

See if you can use one for 20-30 minutes and make a call or two as well. Sold.

H

Liz · #6 05-05-2011, 12:47 PM

Thanks guys ... everyone loves iPhones

They are quite a bit dearer than I wanted to pay though.

DaveR · #7 05-05-2011, 01:00 PM

Liz,
I have a Samsung Wave Android on a $19 plan from Virgin. Suits me as wife & son are on V and the calls to them are free. Runs GPS and Norbsoft Skymap which are ok though GPS is slow. Had it a year and still happy...
Virgins coverage is not as good as Telstra so may not suit if you are rural
Dave

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #8 08-05-2011, 08:59 AM

HTC Desire, not the HD (it came out just as we had settled on the non HD). Had it for a few months now and loving it! We both bought the same phone at the same time so we could trade tips. On a $49 plan with $400 of calls and 1Gb of data each. Had to stay at the in laws for a week over Easter, they have no internet, not even dialup, so we used my phone as a hot point....so easy! Didn't even get to 20% of usage during that week. When I look at my daughter's iPhone 3...it looks a bit "simple", she has dropped it twice, and it cracked the screen each time. My wife dropped hers once and it bounced (admitedly it is in a silicon surround).

Kal (Andrew) · #9 08-05-2011, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liz

My present phone doesnt do any of this, but suited me well on my $20 a month (1hr free time).

I know my monthly $ will have to increase too,

I can't offer advice on the hardware, since I use a 5 year old phone, but I thought that I would point out that for a 'light' user these cap plans are all a huge waste of money. You might get 1 hour free talk time to selected phones, but generally calls will be charged at 40c/30 seconds. I recently switched to a pay as you go plan, $1/month charge, calls @ 9.9c/min, texts 9.9c, and you even get 50MB free data, which isn't enough for a smart phone, but is plenty for a simple phone like mine.

Comparing 1hr free time + $20 @ 80c/min (25 minutes), you get 1 hr 25 minutes for your $20. On the pay as you go you get 3 hr 10 minutes for the same investment, and you spend less if go under, and spend less if you go over.

I won't say who I am with since this isn't an ad, but my advice is to shop around and work out if these so called 'caps' are really saving you any money!

Kal (Andrew) · #10 08-05-2011, 12:02 PM

Actualy, I messed all of that up because I forgot to factor in a cap will give you more than $20 of calls, usually $100 of calls or something, so you get 5 times as much calls (125 minutes) so if you use up all the cap each month the costs is about the same. If you don't use up the cap you are forced to pay more in comparison because if the high monthly charge though, and if you go over the cap the costs can skyrocket because of the high call rates.

gman (Grant) · #11 08-05-2011, 12:59 PM

Be careful, had a freind who visited the US and used their smartphone as a GPS unit to travel but still used their Oz account
Ended up with a bill in excess of $2600

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #12 08-05-2011, 07:41 PM

Liz, that phone you have selected doesn't connect to 3g or NextG.
Makes it pretty useless in Oz.

I have the HTC Desire and it is far better than all the iPhones in many ways, but the diehard 'i' fanatics will argue.

Even though I have the HTC Desire, may I suggest getting the HTC Wildfire with Telstra NextG comaptible access.

They have now been reduced to $249 at Officeworks and many other places: http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail...ones/TEHTCWFBK

HTC's are excellent phones, and the Android system is fantastic.
Has 'Flash', sideloading etc etc

Liz · #13 09-05-2011, 08:32 AM

Thankyou for those comments guys, will check out the HTC Desire, as well as iphone and others.
Thanks Ken re the one I put up .. there were so many on eBay that appeared to do everything, but not connect in Oz

oh well.
ta Gman re overseas surprise bills - I have heard that too.

zeb00 · #14 09-05-2011, 09:47 AM

I have the samsung galexy s which i love.
as someone mentioned above be carefull about which bands it supports as telstra use 850mhz for there next g and most other telcos in au and us use 900mhz for 3g. All shoul also work on 2100/1900 but that will only help in bult up areas near a tower. iphone 4 is one of the only phones to support both 900/850. if you are not using telstra just buy a phone that supports 900mhz.

AdamJL · #15 09-05-2011, 12:21 PM

HTC 7 Mozart on Telstra, or HD7.
Both Windows Phone 7 devices... what an awesome operating system

Built-in Xbox live to boot

And free MS Office.

Astronomy apps aren't really supported though...if you like astronomy apps. I'm hoping this changes as the marketplace grows.. which by the way, is growing faster then the Apple App Store and Google App Store grew in their infancies

If you're not on Telstra, the Omnia 7 on Optus is probably the best WP7 phone out there. Just a shame it's not quad-band so doesn't support NextG.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #16 09-05-2011, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liz

Thankyou for those comments guys, will check out the HTC Desire, as well as iphone and others.
Thanks Ken re the one I put up .. there were so many on eBay that appeared to do everything, but not connect in Oz

oh well.
ta Gman re overseas surprise bills - I have heard that too.

Liz, I didn't suggest the HTC Desire. It is about $700+
I suggested the HTC Wildfire. It is $245

And the Android operating system has tons of Asto Apps.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #17 09-05-2011, 03:46 PM

Irrespective of what Ken says (I'll completely ignore his indefensible "and it is far better than all the iPhones" comment with the comedic grain of salt it so richly deserves)

, another very solid vote here for the iPhone. I'd go with Ken's recommendation though, and head for one of the two Android HTCs as it will more fall in line with your budgetary requirements. It will still make calls and it runs apps.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #18 09-05-2011, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Irrespective of what Ken says (I'll completely ignore his indefensible "and it is far better than all the iPhones" comment with the comedic grain of salt it so richly deserves)

, another very solid vote here for the iPhone. I'd go with Ken's recommendation though, and head for one of the two Android HTCs as it will more fall in line with your budgetary requirements. It will still make calls and it runs apps.

Yeah true, regardless of loyalties, bias', and advanced technical capabilities, the HTC Wildfire really appears to be the buy of the century in the 'Bang for Buck' category.

My daughter works at Optus and she wishes they sold Wildfire. She reckons she could sell 30 a day they are so much requested.

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #19 12-05-2011, 08:45 AM

Sorry for the pun, but the Desires my wife and I have are free!

No repayment on the handset, just the $49 per month provided we don't go over. They did a deal because we have the home line, internet and the two mobiles (no Foxtel).

Crash Nebula · #20 12-05-2011, 10:52 AM

Don't get an iPhone, it is not worth it. Have a look at Dick Smiths, you can get outright Android smartphones for under $500. I am using a Samsung Wave 723, it was $200 and runs the Samsung Bada OS. It's alright, but nothing amazing, I suggest the Huawei Ideos X5, it's only $350 outright, bigger than an iPhone and runs the stock Google Android. Really nice phone, wish I had bought one.