How old is your mobile?

an old seimens a50. old, but i like it!

besides, i can't be arsed changing it, plus, if i did, i'd have to change me car kit too, not good

 

Got a Samsund D500, just needed decent blutooth signal to use with my in car sytem the sonyerricson t610 before it was sh1te in car, this is much better but no voice dialing which if I had known would have put me off

Oh and I change it every year as my contract expires.

 

Had the current phone, a Sony Ericson K700i since July 2004. Very pleased with it overall although slightly disappointed that the webrowser is next to useless, obviously works for WAP sites but full on "proper" webpages nope, that's something the previous phone, an Orange SPV, worked very well on albeit a bit slow to be useable on some sites. Also would have been nice to have a memory stick slot as this would have made it the ideal walkman as it also has an FM radio and MP3 playback facility. Size is pretty much ideal, wouldn't want a phone any smaller than this though as it'd require matchstick fingers to use.

From past form, I tend to keep a phone on average for about 2.5 years. My very first mobile was a Philips Digia Mk I on BT Cellnet back in 1998, the call quality was awful and eventually I upgraded to a Motorola Timport L7089 on an Orange OVP Virgin tariff (still have the phone and contract as the line rental is free so makes a useful backup in case I need it). The Motorola really annoyed me as it didn't have the intelligence to tell you the name of the person who sent you a text message, even if they had an entry in the phone's address book. The Motorla was then upgraded to an Orange SPV Mk I which annoyed me with it's lack of polyphonic ringtones which then leads us full circle back to the K700i.

 

I have a K700i myself, had it since September 2004. I had an SE T610 before, but when I moved to uni in Aberystwyth I couldn't get any signal without walking 40 yards up the hill from my flat. I would've just changed networks, but the handset was locked and nobody in Aber could unlock it, and I convinced myself a move to contract with a nice new handset would be a good move....not entirely convinced that was a good decision now, since its costing me more!

 

Motorola V525. I use the bluetooth, txting and calling facilities of it. The camera is shite, the sound is shite, the games are shite, the Vodafone service is shite...

i don't give a monkeys about picture or video messaging. Just want a new phone and service provider...looking at the Samsung D500 and anyone other than o2 or Vodacrone.

 

o2 is crap, at least up where I am voda is the best for coverage in Scotand, unfortunately, salesforce is nationwide and we all complain about O2, but apparently voda were the next cheapest but was another £70K, so finance knocked it back.

 

I've been with O2 for over 10 years (through various name changes) without any issues.

Anyway back to the topic, I keep my mobiles for about 2-3 years on average. Current one is about six months old I think.

 

ONE DAY!!!

New one arrived last night - Motorola V545. Quite neat flip phone. Photo + Video, Bluetooth.

Free phone + 12 months free line rental (refunded) with 200 minutes per month on Orange....that's the main reason for buying it - don't use the mobile too often, so a free one for a year is perfect for me..

onestopphoneshop if anyone's interested.

 

To those that don't see the benefits of 3G.

Most of the phones that are used in the UK are used in industry. The consumer side of the market place accounts for less than 20% of market share.

3G's most common application at the moment is in a 3G data card, which allows laptop users to get near broadband internet speeds on their laptop.

There has been a real trend over the last 18 months in the business community, with more and more business users finding a need for mobile data. 3G is becoming the norm for mobile data in this market sector.

In short 3G is used most heavily in commercial applications, and its use is increasing exponentially. If it isnt doing much at a consumer level, I doubt the networks are too concerned.

I'm sure that faster mobile data transmission will become more relevant to all of us as consumers with the passage of time and the proggression of technology, coverage and software applications.

 

I've still got an old 8810 (the original chrome slide phone) and when I've had to use it on occasion (eg when the P800 is having a firmware upgrade done) I've been bloody impressed with it. Small, light and err...works as a phone! Pretty stylish too.

AFAIK it is dual band (900/1800) so I'd be amazed if the others you mentioned aren't dual band also. In fact I think the only one of that lot that won't work with Orange is the 8890 as it's dual band 900/1900 so you can use it in the US. Yep - just checked. The 8850 is dual band 900/1800 so it will work with Orange.

Michael.

 

OK - that is a good thing about 3G. I've used a Vodafone 3G datacard and it's very good. However, I don't see all the consumer applications of 3G really taking off but then most of the consumers for these things are 12yr old kids so what do I know!

Michael.

 

michael,
d'oh. thanks that makes an 8850 a real contender. as i said i used to have one (or maybe it was the 8810 - it was a while ago now) and as you say they just do what they say on the tin. my 5140 is great for a general knockabout but hardly the last word in style especially with the gps shell on.

anyone else interested in older phones.... see here: http://www.retrofone.com/

cheers


julian.

 

Retrofone haven't done their homework (or the just cut and pasted the 8890 description over the 8850 one) as they claim the 8850 is 900/1900 and works in the US which it definitely is not - that's that 8890 . 8850 is a great little phone, it also has a neat little party trick which is that if you stand it on end and turn on the vibrating ring, when the phone rings it rotates around on it's axis. I don't know if that's an intentional feature but it definitely works

Also - those retrofone prices seem a little steep IMO. You could probably do a lot better on eBay. Nice site though.

Michael.

 

My old Nokia started to get a bit unreliable after 4 years. It had some sort of contact problem which would cause the screen to fade or corrupt so I got a new phone just after Xmas.

The new phone is a Samsung X450 and it's fab. I love it! Terrific style, great build quality and a joy to use.

 

I must try that one michael!

The 8850 is great. I would have liked the 8890 for the extending aerial (which the 8850 doesn't have), but it's got everything else I want. Enough features to keep me happy, very small, classily made (METAL!) and yet light (92g). It looks far better than all the plastic fantastics. Downside is that at the best of times the battery life isn't great, especially if you're used to a 6210 or something, and the reception isn't brilliant.

Unfortunately, it's dying on me after many years of use. I'll have to go see what they might give me on my contract as a replacement... Otherwise go payg to cut costs.

 

Siemens A50 on Virgin Pay As You Go. Cheap to run - about £5 a month. All I use it for is texting and the odd phone call. Fits the purpose just fine. Have owned it about 18 months or so and don't plan on replacing it anytime soon.

 

As often as possible (the joys of working in the industry )

Currently Nokia 6230 - about 6 months; and Sony Ericsson T630 - about 2 months.

Hmmm......think it's about time I changed my phone(s)

 

Company phone, Nokia 3510i on Orange. Despite all of my reasonable efforts my company refuses to bollock me for the amount of personal calls i make. I think they know that as soon as they do it will defaulted back to factory settings, boxed up and sent back to HQ with a note for them to ram it. No more out of hours call outs for me...
Having 3 teenage kids who always expect Dad to top-up their phones for them more than eclipses any freebies I gain from not having to pay my own mobile bill though...

 

The thing I hate most about the d500 is bloody polyophonic ring tones, I just want a simple ring sound, from a business point of view it just sounds better than 'nana, nana, na, na, na, na, nana, nana, na, na, na, na, nana, nana, na, na, na, na' which is an actual ring tone on the d500.
Other than that and the lack of voicedialing its a great phone.

 

After having a nokia 7250i with all bells and whistles which was pathetically fragile and died, i went and bought a secondhand 8850 and use orange. Great phone, and i havent looked back. It does everthing a phone should do, ie not take pictures, if i want to that i have a camra thanks. Looks good, is small and functional.