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Bluetooth cell phone?

S

synergy

macrumors regular
Original poster
I had just bought a Sony Ericsson T616 cell phone that I use with Cingular wireless. Its a pretty nice phone with Bluetooth and a decent digital camera built in.
Well I just got wind of a new workplace policy banning camera cell phones in areas where we have sensitive info. I happen to work in such an area.
Kinda sucks I have to give it up, but I was thinking of giving this phone to my wife and getting another phone that has bluetooth but no camera and can be used with Cingular wireless.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
synergy said:
I had just bought a Sony Ericsson T616 cell phone that I use with Cingular wireless. Its a pretty nice phone with Bluetooth and a decent digital camera built in.
Well I just got wind of a new workplace policy banning camera cell phones in areas where we have sensitive info. I happen to work in such an area.
Kinda sucks I have to give it up, but I was thinking of giving this phone to my wife and getting another phone that has bluetooth but no camera and can be used with Cingular wireless.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If the T68i is still available (also Sony-Ericsson), I heard good things about it. It used to be available for near-free. I have a Nokia 3650. I guess officially I shouldn 't be taking it into General Motors plants when I go there for work, but so far I've left it in my pocket and don't use it. Anyway, I'm usually too busy to be hunting for classified info. 😉 I'm personally waiting for the Nokia 7610, or for one of the Samsung palm phones to get BT.... 🙁
 
mkrishnan said:
If the T68i is still available (also Sony-Ericsson), I heard good things about it. It used to be available for near-free. I have a Nokia 3650. I guess officially I shouldn 't be taking it into General Motors plants when I go there for work, but so far I've left it in my pocket and don't use it. Anyway, I'm usually too busy to be hunting for classified info. 😉 I'm personally waiting for the Nokia 7610, or for one of the Samsung palm phones to get BT.... 🙁
Click to expand...

I've been put on notice in a friendly way from my manager. I plan on swapping it prior to it becoming something people keep pointing at me for as some sort of rebel.
 
i will reccommend the Moto V600, SE Z600, and the newly coming SE K700 (May 17).
they are probably the best Bluetooth phones out there and you will not be disaapointed with them. SE is actually more experienced with BT and is much more friendly with Macs. in fact the latest CEBIT SE floor sports Macs all over, with only one PC in sight. 😀

i totally reccommend the K700 is you can wait a month. it has 32 MB< video playback and record, VGA camera, MP3 ringtones, and a larger better screen.


however, since you say no camera, i'll have to say good luck to you. the problem is, many manufacturers consider a camera to be a high-end feature; as is Bluetooth. so you can be sure that any phone that is high-end enough to have BT, will definitely have a camera in it.

however, there is one that i currently also use, the T39m. it's basically a T68i with no color screen and much better RF and faster Interface. the rest is pretty much the same. it will also allow you to connect to internet via BT, etc... the T39m, although old, was way ahead of its time, so you can be sure it can still kick many of today's phones asses. its BT and GPRS implementation is solid, as well as most of its other features. it's also thin and light. one of the thinnes phones i've seen and used.
 
Siemens S56

I have a 12" Powerbook and a Siemens S56 from Cingular. All of the bluetooth features work very well, I haven't gotten Cingular to set up my GPRS so I can surf the web through it but it seems to work otherwise. Address Book and file transfers work very well. The phone is small, light and has no camera but the screen is only 256 colors and I find that some of the features are more annoying than useful and are turned off. Overall I like the phone and the wireless connectivity is great! I got mine for free from Best Buy when I started my service, and I have the bluetooth headset... I was disappointed that there is no clicker program for this phone and I cannot use the Headset and computer bluetooth connections simultaneously.
 
I've been very happy with Nokia phones and their Bluetooth implementation, but the only non-camera one they offer here is the 6310i, which is non-color.

Good luck getting Bluetooth but no camera on a phone you like. Alternately, get a camera phone where the phone's camera is easily hidden by a case (like, say, the Nokia 3650/3620/3600); if people don't know there's a camera - which you couldn't use without removing it from the case - maybe you'd be OK.

The Nokia 6820 (see here) has a camera, but it'd be easy to hide, and it looks identical to the 6800, which has no camera (and, sadly, no Bluetooth). The 6820 has a keypad - nice for text messaging.

*edited to convert "nie" to "nice" *
 
jsw said:
I've been very happy with Nokia phones and their Bluetooth implementation, but the only non-camera one they offer here is the 6310i, which is non-color.

Good luck getting Bluetooth but no camera on a phone you like. Alternately, get a camera phone where the phone's camera is easily hidden by a case (like, say, the Nokia 3650/3620/3600); if people don't know there's a camera - which you couldn't use without removing it from the case - maybe you'd be OK.

The Nokia 6820 (see here) has a camera, but it'd be easy to hide, and it looks identical to the 6800, which has no camera (and, sadly, no Bluetooth). The 6820 has a keypad - nie for text messaging.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree about the Nokia 6310i - it is a great phone.

Admittedly, I have given it up for a SE P900, but if you're looking for a good BT phone-phone, with no fancy stuff like camera then it's the one I'd choose every time... I know there were a few problems initially with the BT implementation, but just make sure you get one with the newest FW version, or get it flashed... either way, it'll suit you down to the ground I'd think.

Cheers!
 
Not to get off topic, but...

Not to get off topic, but does anyone know if there are any verizon-compatible bluetooth phone on the market right now?
 
m-dogg said:
Not to get off topic, but does anyone know if there are any verizon-compatible bluetooth phone on the market right now?
Click to expand...

I second that request. I know there is nothing out today.. but when is that going to change?

- Doc
 
m-dogg said:
Not to get off topic, but does anyone know if there are any verizon-compatible bluetooth phone on the market right now?
Click to expand...
I asked for a bluetooth phone (my grandfather buys everyone a cellphone plan every christmas as his gift, quite nice) -- but since he gets a deal for buying so many at once from Verizon thats who the plans are from. He went to Verizon and asked; they gave him a run around (namely told him SonyEricsson phones were giant problem phones, and that bluetooth wasn't out yet anywhere) *rollseyes* -- we had a good laugh at that.
 
Sprint is my service provider, and I had to search high and low for a BT phone, but I finally found one. It's a Sony Ericsson T608, if you call sprintpcs number and get transferred to sales, you can order one. I've had ZERO problems with this phone working with iSync,Address book, or any other programs that apple provides. But popular 3rd party applications(salling clicker,Romeo) don't support this phone. But if you are looking for a phone that works great with your Mac, this one is the way to go with Sprint (and it's the only BT phone sprint offers).
mikeyredk said:
any sprint ones? looking for a new cheap phone
Click to expand...
 
I would suggest...

I would recommend the Siemens S56 as well. The screen is not half as nice as the T616, but it does have bluetooth and is a Cingular GSM phone. It has a camera attachment, but no built in camera.

If you can wait a few months, Nokia will be releasing a few new models to Cingular with bluetooth, but if you need it now, go with the S56.

One of the previous posts recommended a T68, I would strongly advise against that. It was a full featured phone, but with poor signal quality. You will also want a phone with 850/1900mhz depending on your location in the US. Cingular uses both but some areas only have one and some have the other. If you travel or live in an area with only one band, you will want the S56 which has 850/1900 rather than the T68 which has 900/1800/1900.
 
i'm very excited to hear about the poster above who said that they found a good BT phone to work with sprint. I would LOVE to have that as a replacement to my Samsung A460. Thanks!

Note: Have you been able to use your phone as a modem without Vision and with just the cable and a non-vision plan?
 
I've never tried to use my phone as a modem yet. I haven't had the need for it yet.
michaelrjohnson said:
i'm very excited to hear about the poster above who said that they found a good BT phone to work with sprint. I would LOVE to have that as a replacement to my Samsung A460. Thanks!

Note: Have you been able to use your phone as a modem without Vision and with just the cable and a non-vision plan?
Click to expand...

🙂I replaced my A460 with my BT phone. It was a nice phone, but i wanted BT
 
Why is the USA so far behind in mobile phones? We've had the k700 out or months now (at least 3). And the notion that carrier doesn't have any bluetooth compatible phones is ridiculous. Not baiting or anything here but just curious as to why you guys get a rough deal on mobiles when you seem to get everything else before us.
 
amnesiac1984 said:
Why is the USA so far behind in mobile phones? We've had the k700 out or months now (at least 3). And the notion that carrier doesn't have any bluetooth compatible phones is ridiculous. Not baiting or anything here but just curious as to why you guys get a rough deal on mobiles when you seem to get everything else before us.
Click to expand...

A lot of Americans are just tech-phobic when it comes to phones...they're evaluated by a lot of customers almost exclusively on size and style. The strange thing in my experience is that even tech-savvy people become phobic with cell phones here. I have friends in IT consulting who've never used wireless web or SMS, and I even have a friend in programming who doesn't even own a cell... So as far as not offering BT, I don't think that many consumers push for it. As for disabling it.... Meh... That part I don't get. 🙁
 
amnesiac1984 said:
Why is the USA so far behind in mobile phones? We've had the k700 out or months now (at least 3).
Click to expand...
Note the post you're referring to:
03-27-2004
Click to expand...
And he gives a date as: May 17
That'd be...9 months ago and 7 months ago, respectively. 🙂

And I think part of it is the utility factor. Americans (at least in my experience) do tend to be driven by utility, even in entertainment (or by a "keeping up with the Jonses" for some). A phone's job is to make phone calls -- a mobile phone's job is to do it with a battery and be light.
So what sells cellular in America? Long battery life light-weight phones. At least in my observance. I know that "wireless web serfing" on a cellphone has absolutely no appeal to me.
Services plans are another matter (8 way calling and such), which I can't really comment on as I know the offerings neither here nor in other nations.
 
Ryan1524 said:
i will reccommend the Moto V600, SE Z600, and the newly coming SE K700 (May 17).
they are probably the best Bluetooth phones out there and you will not be disaapointed with them. SE is actually more experienced with BT and is much more friendly with Macs. in fact the latest CEBIT SE floor sports Macs all over, with only one PC in sight. 😀

i totally reccommend the K700 is you can wait a month. it has 32 MB< video playback and record, VGA camera, MP3 ringtones, and a larger better screen.


however, since you say no camera, i'll have to say good luck to you. the problem is, many manufacturers consider a camera to be a high-end feature; as is Bluetooth. so you can be sure that any phone that is high-end enough to have BT, will definitely have a camera in it.
Click to expand...

Firstly, the Moto V620 already exists, and Moto's even with Bluetooth are a pain in the ass because Moto BT phones are famous in the Mac world for not working because of a different BT standard or something that's used. It's too bad, because my first choice for a phone was the Moto e398 (nicest looking/feeling phone ever?), but the famously poor menu system and BT pairing with Apple computers made it a bad idea.
Secondly, I ended up getting a Sony Ericsson K700i, live in the same city as you (Toronto), and all I can say to synergy about the K700i is to show your boss your SE phone and camera in action. SE has such horrid cameras in their phones that surely it won't be able to take a picture of anything clearly. 😉 I knew that already before I bought the phone, so I'm not complaining, but you really won't be able to take a picture of anything clearly.

However, you're right about it being difficult to find a BT phone without a camera. BT is a higher end option than the camera, so if you're paying enough for a phone to get BT, then it usually just comes with the camera. You won't have a lot of choice.

Not too sure, but the SE K500 doesn't come with a camera. Check to see if it comes with BT.
 
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