New phone some day ....

[tamaranth]

Should my flat-selling ever come to fruition, I have Plans to acquire a new mobile. I quite fancy T-mobile's web'n'walk, but I'm also strangely tempted by BT Fusion. Any suggestions, anecdotes, recommendations, dire warnings?

The small print: In an ideal world I'd be able to use my mobile as handy camera, backup MP3 player, portable email/LJ/google ... and for texts and even calls <g> International roaming vital (and I do not expect any of the hassle I had with Virgin last year); can take or leave games; no great desire for bluetooth or connection to laptop. Oh, and ideally I wouldn't be paying much more than the ~£25pcm I'm paying Virgin now.

Comments

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I switched network from Orange to T-Mobile for the web'n'walk. I didn't get on that well with the phone I picked, so reverted to my Treo. Because I'm subsidising the phone I'm on 30 quid a month, but that includes lots of credit (60 quid per month - it doesn't come in the form of X minutes and Y texts, it just depletes as you spend) and all you can eat data. I had to shell out about 60 quid up front for the phone as well. Works well for me although I *never* use all that credit, rarely even half of it and I found that some texts were excluded from coming out of the credit for some reason (texts to Twitter rather than 'real' contacts).

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

Almost exactly what hawkida said, except my bill is only around £23, and I'm very happy with my phone (a Sony Ericsson M600i, which doesn't have a camera, though it meets all your other requirements).

I assume that "having a special kind of text number" is how Twitter actually makes money.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

T-Mobile's data coverage is appalling. Don't use it.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I *think* my Nokia N95 meets most that bill - I'm not totally sure of the tariff as I took extra MG data but it has a wonderful camera, does LJ Lifeblog, can play MP3s (tho i admit I've never used that fnality) and does all the web/email stuff you'd expect.And I got it free as an upgrade as I'm a longtime Orange contract customer. Oh and it has GPS! Which I never use due to data costs right, but it tickles me:) It does crash a bit for the amount of stuff packed in it's amazing.

Oh the best bit - wi fi! Which is so prevalent now it really can save $$$$.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

T-Mobile's data connection is the best thing about web'n'walk. The phone service itself sucks -- I've never had so many dropped or missed calls, texts that turned up 48 hours late, or so on. And the overseas roaming fees are eye-watering.

I am seriously considering switching to vodafone when my contract's up, due to the overseas thing -- vodafone have a scheme whereby for an extra fiver a month, you get to pay your local vodafone charges when using an overseas vodafone network, and they're present in most of the places I travel to. Given that they do a data tarriff with 120Mb/month for £s;7.50, plus a cap of 1 quid per day if you go over that, that'd cover my roaming email use nicely (I probably use about 2-3Mb per day when doing roaming email) and I could pay extra if I really, really need web access and can't find a wifi hotspot. And they sell themselves on call and connection quality, which after switching to T-mobile from Orange I no longer consider to be an optional extra.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

see next post about BT Fusion. I was favourably impressed. Might not suit your international needs though -- they're less of a priority for me.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I'm currently in my third year of spending 10-12 weeks out of the UK, so obviously YMMV.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

might still be worth you taking a look, though: international roaming is definitely possible, but it's not something I'd use enough (this year, anyway) for the costs / restrictions to be a factor in my choice.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

that's the problem with bundled credit -- I never use all of mine on Virgin, either, and there doesn't seem to be an option to switch call time for txt / picture messaging.
T-mobile do a nice range of shiny phones (I am very fond of my Sony Ericsson) but BT win on price despite clunkier Nokia.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I do use the camera quite a bit, so I'd rather have the option. Mind you, T-Mobile are offering all sorts of fab freebies. But BT win on price and general whizziness.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

hadn't noticed K having any problems -- even in Foreign Parts!

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

coo, it does everything! Am amazed you venture outside with it ... (memo to self: not everywhere is as rough and mugger-haunted as Lewisham, where I waved goodbye to plenty of superfluous technology.)
The BT thing gives cheaper calls and web whenever one's near a BT hotspot -- and even after de-duping, there seem to be many thousands around.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

hmm that's of a LOT of intereest to me.
But isn't the EU about to cap int'l roaming charges anyway?

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Well, my new phone does all that. Or would do if I had taken the time to sit and figure out how it works. I'm only on pay as you go so far because I don't use it much but the phone cost 80 quid with 70 quid of Virgin vouchers thrown in. They're time-limited and there's no way I'll get 70 quids worth out of them, but you might want to look. Carphone Warehouse seemed to have the best deals. Can't remember the model but it's a Samsung and the only 3 megapixel camera anywhere near my price range.

If you get one, maybe you'll teach me how they work...