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What cellphone should I get???

Lacero

Lacero

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jan 20, 2005
6,637
3
Well I just received this letter from my wireless carrier.
It appears I can get a new mobile phone to replace my old one.

rogers.jpg


So I will go get one, but first want to know which phone I should get? I have no idea what GSM stands for but will google it. Should I wait and buy an iTunes phone instead? I'm out of the loop on cell phones, so which models I should look into? I'd like long battery life most importantly, and a camera model would be nice but not necessary.
 
Your name is really Lacero!? :eek: That's awesome! :cool:

If your company has upgraded to GSM...hmmm...what are *you* using? You don't have an analog phone do you? :eek:

It looks like Roger has some pretty good phones, like the RAZR and the S-E S710.... the Moto V635 doesn't look too bad either, I guess....

EDIT#1: I'm not sure that when they say they will give you a free phone, they quite mean any they have.... :(

EDIT#2: I don't know what GSM stands for either! :eek: :(
 
Be the first to get one of these.
 

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Lacero, if this letter is legit (hard to be sure with you, my man ;) ), odds are they are offering an upgrade. I know with many carriers, they'll offer you a free phone, but only valued at $100 or less. If you want a real phone, you pay the difference. They may also require you tto re-up for another year or two.

I hear good things about SE. I've used Moto, Nokia, Ericsson, and LG, and the only one I've really liked is the LG.

btw, welcome back.
 
Don't get a Razr, I just had one for a year it's has numerous problems:

-The antenna is built into the top or hinge of the phone and so reception is not nearly as good as most phones that have top style antenna. When I switched from the Razr using the same provider and network my reception is much better.

-This phone is uninsurable, no provider offers insurance because they say it costs them too much to insure the Razr, so if anything happens to your phone you have to do a complete re-purchase (happened to me).

-Because of the standard pic size you can't send pics to most other pic/camera phones besides the Razr, with my new V551 I can even send picks to my brothers who have LG phones and a different provider (Verizon).

-The Motorola V551 is IMO a better phone that has all the features of the Razr and it is insurable. According to my friend that works at Cingular Wireless this is the best phone out there, I replaced my Razr with this phone and it performs much better.
 
Waaa, Stuuubeef, more than 200MB of memory standard....I think I'm in love. Every time I think I'm ready to get a Moto phone, I remember that memory issue....my phone still has more RAM than the latest Motos.... And I do use it... I need a few megs for contacts and calendar info and ringtones, but then I also use the voice recorder, and I'd much rather have more RAM than I have now, as opposed to less....

Hopefully the iTunes phone will change those dynamics. :D
 
highres said:
Don't get a Razr, I just had one for a year it's has numerous problems:

The antenna is built into the top or hinge of the phone and so reception is not nearly as good as most phones that have top style antenna. When I switched from the Razr using the same provider and network my reception is much better.
Click to expand...

The reception on my V3 is much, much better than the reception on my Sony Ericsson T610. Out of all the phones I've had I would say its above average on that front.

highres said:
This phone is uninsurable, no provider offers insurance because they say it costs them too much to insure the Razr, so if anything happens to your phone you have to do a complete re-purchase (happened to me).
Click to expand...

It's easy to get insurance in the UK at least, might be worth checking more than one company. If insurance companies let you insure houses, cars, computers, fine art etc I'm sure a V3 isn't too hard to sort out.

highres said:
Because of the standard pic size you can't send pics to most other pic/camera phones besides the Razr, with my new V551 I can even send picks to my brothers who have LG phones and a different provider (Verizon).
Click to expand...

You can adjust the photo size, which comes in at MMS 160 x 120, Medium 320 x 240 and High which is 640 x 480. I've sent photos to Nokias, LGs, SonyEricssons and no one has ever complained of a problem.

highres said:
The Motorola V551 is IMO a better phone that has all the features of the Razr and it is insurable. According to my friend that works at Cingular Wireless this is the best phone out there, I replaced my Razr with this phone and it performs much better.
Click to expand...

I'm really pleased with my V3, it has good battery life, good reception, has been dropped a few times and still works fine and without even one scratch. The UI isn't the greatest, but its the same on the V551.

In the (very cool, aluminium/aluminum box) they include a usb data cable and a case for the phone (if anyone actually uses one) plus all the usual - charger, screen wipe keyring, software (PC only unfortunately) and the manual.

I'm talking about the UK one, so I guess your mileage could vary, but it's been a pretty good phone so far and I would definitely recommend it.
 
The RAZR looks pretty nice, however I'm not a big fan of flip phones, or phones that are too small.

I believe the letter is for a free upgrade of my phone, although it doesn't explicitly state that. It probably means they have some low-end phones for free, but to get the really good ones, like with color screens, it will cost me to upgrade.
 
Lacero said:
to get the really good ones, like with color screens, it will cost me to upgrade.
Click to expand...

They sell phones without colour screens these days? :p

They might try and tie you into extending your contract if you accept an upgrade, so check the small print just to double check.
 
Hmm.. well it has been 4 years since my last cellphone upgrade. What goodies are in store for me. :D
 
Personally I hate Motorola's, their user interface is hideous. I recently got the SE S710a from Cingular and I love it. A little bigger than my t637 but it has a gorgeous screen and a camera actually worth using with a flash.

jon
 
iJon said:
their user interface is hideous
Click to expand...

I agree pretty much, they really need to work on the UI as it lets down everything else.

The only other issue I've thought of with it is sometimes if I use WAP, the phone will randomly restart itself - but only when using WAP, never happened any other time. (and I have to put my pin in when it comes back on, so yes I would notice if it did it when I wasn't using it!)
 
After playing with my new SE i've realized that the iTunes thing doesn't matter much to me since my phone has a media player that plays MP3's. The syncing feature is somewhat nice but for me it's just as easy to drop the files from iTunes the phone using the Bluetooth File Exchange program.

jon
 
Lacero said:
I have no idea what GSM stands for but will google it.
Click to expand...

Global System for Mobile. It's the "standard" phone system, and is probably about 10 years old. Over the next few years it'll be replaced with 3G systems in most countries - although judging by your letter, it's only just been added where you are :confused:

If you don't need data transfer, then GSM should be fine. I've been using it for about 5 years now and it doesn't seem to have any problems, other than data speed.
 
I guess my phone is not GSM-capable??? I think the letter means GSM has been around, just that I haven't been. I'm not too familiar with all the latest cell phone technology, so I am really learning all this now.
 
Lacero. A fellow Canadian.

Some Rogers GSM/GPRS/EDGE History. NOTE: I did used to work for Rogers back in 2001 for the customer service department on 333 Bloor Street East, which is connected to 1 Mount Pleasant RD. I did have the honor & pleasure - free - of testing out the GSM network in the summer of 2001 before official launch Nov 1/2, 2001 (1st was official but highly problematic, 2nd was a relaunch).

Looks like your phone is a TDMA standard which their probably phasing out soon enough. WHy? Because national coverage is the same or greater than TDMA. Back in 2001 Rogers only had the 1900Mhz band which limited their voice quality in remote locations, or in the basement of your house. Now with 850mhz band the quality of voice is astounding as well as the coverage! Another major reason for phasing out TDMA is most likely their currently testing WCDMA/UMTS/3G in the wild. In Vancouver & also in Toronto with engineers. When they role this out, the network may not support TDMA any longer. Thats my educated guess though.

Many phones are available, but ask yourself what do you need in a phone? Voice coverage? If so then do not get the Nokia 9300 as it only supports 1900Mhz for use in North America & I can gaurantee that when you need the coverage it'll fail. Make sure your phone selection has 850Mhz, even if coverage isnt a concern, as EDGE data speeds is only offered in Canada by Rogers on this band, not the 1900Mhz. Most of their phones have it anyway.

Do you need a phone that takes good photos for those spontaneous funny's or to bribe the beer goggled friend getting a date? The SE s710a is incredible for that as its the only phone offered with a CCD chip, at least officially supported in Canada. Is a swivel phone though. Also, the Moto V635 is a great phone with bluetooth & 1.3MP Camera and is memory expandable currently to 256MB TransFlash memory card format. Theres the Treo 650 with incredible performance and data management.

My honest suggestion, no matter what you need is to first go into a Rogers Cellular Store. DONT mention your hardware upgrade, just ask for them to explain you the pros & cons of all phones your curious about, and thank them for their time. Then you will have a better idea of a phones features & most importantly how it feels in your hands. There's nothing more sad then getting an awesome phone for free just to have it fall outta your hands to break in less than a week. In any case go for an expensive phone if you can, if you dont like it then you can sell it and get a phone thats more reasonable.

PS going to howardforums.com in the Rogers section gives you a better lookout of things like network issues, new phone announcements, and well a community by cellular phone users around the world, but in the Rogers' forum its Canadians. Cheers.

OH YEAH ALMOST FORGOT>>>>>>>IMPORTANT. Ask if anything regarding your voice plan will be changed or cause problems during your changeover. will your local coverage be the same! You dont want surprises here, and if not asked, then the rep may not tell you!!!!!

Cheers.
 
to be honest.. if all your looking for is a basic phone with caller id/picture capability and excellent battery life... then the samsung e-317 fits the bill.. for me anyway :eek:
 
All these reasons are all from personal experience, I owned the Razr for over a year and IMO the Razr is merely a decent phone not a great phone, my V551 is a better phone for the reasons outlined below.

highres said:
-The antenna is built into the top or hinge of the phone and so reception is not nearly as good as most phones that have top style antenna. When I switched from the Razr using the same provider and network my reception is much better.

-This phone is uninsurable, no provider offers insurance because they say it costs them too much to insure the Razr (sure I could go out and get insurance from a private carrier but who wants to do that, it is much more convenient to get from the retailer you buy your phone from) so if anything happens to your phone you have to do a complete re-purchase (happened to me).

-Because of the standard pic size or different providers or networks you can't send pics to a lot of other pic/camera phones besides the Razr, with my new V551 I can send picks to my brothers who all have LG phones and a different provider (Verizon).

-The Motorola V551 is IMO a better phone that has all the features of the Razr and it is insurable. According to my friend that works at Cingular Wireless this is the best phone out there, I replaced my Razr with this phone and it performs much better.
Click to expand...
 
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