Cell Phone Madness I’m in
Cell Phone Madness
I’m in Hong Kong now and I’m looking to buy a new cell phone. My motivations for doing so:
- I need to pinch my current US phone a certain way to see the display
- I’m in HK every year
- I may be in London more often for BA and if not, I may be there for an extended period for school in the future
- The triband phones here work globally on GSM networks and aren’t locked to a service provider like the ones sold in the US
- I’m also considering a PDA like the Sony Clie N70
- I’m also ALSO considering a portable MP3 player
- While they seem silly, I’m a fan of SMS/MMS and think having a “fun” camera (not one for real pictures) to take quickie pics of “oh my god, i want someone else to see this” is good as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my pocket space and battery life
- The phones here are cool
SO. I’ve done a fair bit of research and here’s what I’ve come up with. Prepare to be bored out of your cellularly irradiated mind.
The Nokia 6610 and Nokia 7210 are essentially the same phone with different bodies. They boast color. Lots of color. And they can show pictures of toilet bowls as the Nokia TV ads illustrate (couldn’t the guy just pretend to piss in a corner to prove his point?) Anywho, the 7210 is out because its form factor is clumsy (tho initially slick looking). The 6610 is better, but I’ve read problems with manufacturing consistencies. It also lacks GPRS, Bluetooth, a built in camera, and it doesn’t support custom phone rings attached to caller groups. WTF on the last one. I currently use that feature on my 8650, and I like knowing that when the Muppets theme rings, I have a good idea of who’s calling. The pros are the color, MMS, and it’s Nokia so I can use some of my accessories (altho not my handsfree cuz they changed that). Oh, it has a built in FM radio and a good speaker phone. My thoughts on the former: uh … radio stations in austin suck.
I considered the Nokia 7650, which looks like a PDA, but really is nothing like one and has a shite camera.
Sony Ericsson T68i and Sony Ericsson T300 are similar. They boast a good quality camera attachment, bluetooth, light phones and a color display. The T68i had some response time and form factor issues in the reviews and while the T300 fixes those, the 256 color screen on both looks shite. Really so shite that I’m thinking I’ll axe them from the list.
Panasonic GD88 has almost everything. Except a good price tag. It looks like ~USD$500-550. It has a small form factor, built in camera with decent quality, a GORGEOUS TFT 65k color screen. It lacks bluetooth and the speakerphone is said to be a tad quiet. If it wasn’t for the price, I think this is a no brainer.
The other extreme is Sony Ericsson T600 which has pretty much zero features. It’s basically a tri-band phone that is really really light and really really small. Not to mention a fraction of the Panasonic’s cost. Hm. Coolness or practicality …
Finally, Mobile Burn reports that the Sony Ericsson P800 has been released here in HK. I think I mentioned this baby in an earlier blog. It’s got a PDA, mp3 player, built in camera, bluetooth, etc etc. It’s only draw back is that it’s big (for a phone) but it’s smaler than the 7650 and any real PDA out there. If I see it (which I haven’t), I will seriously consider making the leap. It saves me from buying two other gadgets.
Alright. I’ll hang up the phone now.
