Looking for a Smartphone

[Che Roriniho]

Hey, I've had my current phone, a Sony Ericsson W710i, for about a year now, but while it is very good, it just doesn't quite do what I want it to do.
Basically, I look to you to suggest phones that will suit my needs. Here's basically what I need, bearing in mind I live in the UK:


Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Windows Mobile, preferably
QWERTY Keyboard
Skype
MSN/AIM
Cheapish contract, with unlimited data and decent texts (I rarely use my phone for calling, but obviously I need some)


I have about £15 a month to spend a month, so about that sort of price range if poss.

[Lemur]

Question: do you need to sync to an Exchange server?

[Che Roriniho]

Would be nice, but not vital.

[Che Roriniho]

Anyone? No?

[Lemur]

Sorry I'm not more help, Che. All I know about smartphones is that some can sync to Exchange servers and some can't, and if yiour company uses Exchange to push mail to your device, it had damn well better be compatible.

Here endeth my knowledge. Oh, and the iPhone and Google's Android are kinda cool. Not that I've used either one.

Anything else I could lay down would be the result of frantic Googling, nothing more. Do any of our patrons have hands-on knowledge of smartphones?

[Che Roriniho]

I don't work for a company. tis a students life for me! But thanks anyway Lemur.

[Whacker]

I loves me Tilt, but it's a full fledged PDA phone. I managed to get one for $150 after discounts, rebates, and a 2 year contract. Contract doesn't bug me, because I'm not moving anywhere anytime soon.

[Husar]

I wouldn't know of any decent data flat for the monthly price you mention here, much less in the UK. And Smartphones are so many, choosing one is about as hard as getting a good 24" gaming monitor that won't cost a fortune. I've had my T-Mobile SDA music for almost 4 years now and I'm not aware of any smartphones that are much better in a useful way so I may even keep it for the next two years.
I mean yes they all have WLAN and internet features but you pay a fortune for data flats and even then they're limited to a certain amount of GB/month(after that it's only 56k :wall:) and cover only browsing and emails, whatever that means exactly(downloading from ftp costs money I guess or isn't possible at all, whatever). Basically it would only make sense to surf with them at home via WLAN but I already have two PCs here so forget that.

Now that is the situation here, afaik, could be different in the UK but all in all those phones all have a drawbacks if you ask different people, it's even worse than those 24" monitors I mentioned earlier.
IIRC someone posted a list about what the new iPhone cannot do and it mentioned serving your notebook as a modem IIRC, even my 4 years old thing can do that...
about other similar phones I read that the touchscreens were bad a while ago, then you have a lot that do not use Windows Mobile, which I actually like, even with the 4 years old start menu folder structure instead of bonbon buttons.
And that's where I stopped bothering and decided to save a lot of money for other things. :shrug:

[Che Roriniho]

Yeh, I'll be using it at home a fair bit, so I can MSN without being a social retard. Also, web browsing and things. Other than that, a normal phone, only with 3.5 mm head socket and a QWERTY board. PDF viewability would be nice, but I guess that might be available seperately.

Skype, I might not use, buit Basically I'm lokoing for a fairly average Smartphone with WiFi, QWERTY, and MSN and Browsing.

[Lemur]

So in other words, you have absolutely no need to sync with an Exchange server. Just so's we're clear on that.

I would take a hard look at the new phones coming from Google (http://www.blogs.com/2008/09/25/google-android-g1-no-iphone-but-its-close.html).

[Che Roriniho]

No, not really. I am keeping an eye out on the G1, it looks smashing, and android is definately the way forward, but not yet, I don't think. Possibility though, but quite expencive contract.

[Husar]

If you surf primarily at home I have two things:

1. why not use that nice computer with a decent keyboard and a decent screen?

2. why not save some money and skip the expensive data plan if you can log onto your normal phone line via WLAN at home where you should have a flatrate anyway?

And skype is usually not covered by data flatrates anyway(would circumvent paying for actually calling someone) as are messengers, here anyway, usually them flatrates cover surfing and email and the rest costs extra or whatever(guess they find out by the protocolls used) so if I were you I'd check that with the provider before taking some expensive data flatrate contract only to find out that all your activities cost you a lot extra after the first month.

Concerning the actual phone, like I said there are many and I have no idea, maybe once you've found a good contract you can ask your provider which phone would go well with it, mention what you have and see if you can try it. Cellphone contracts are one of the few things I like to actually talk to some salesman about, doesn't mean you should disable your brain though. ~;)