New cell phone: RAZR V3x vs. K800i vs. ?iPhone? vs. ???

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I current have a Motorola V710 through Verizon. I also have an unlocked Sony Ericsson K750i -- a very expensive impulse buy I made during a layover at Heathrow on my way to Egypt so I'd have a GSM phone I could use there (unlike my US-centric CDMA Motorola). I plan to unload the K750i on eBay soon, and if I get about $200 for it (seems to be around the going used price), it will have only cost me about $50 per phone call I made, and let's say another $80 for some e-mail and internet use. \



At any rate, even though I'm not keeping the K750i, I've decided I'd like my next phone to be a world-capable GSM phone. GSM signal coverage in my area isn't quite a good as CDMA, but it's slowly improving. I figure I can keep my old CDMA phone and a 12V adapter stowed in my car in case an emergency and a lack of GSM signal coincide -- even unpaid, it'll work for 911 calls.



One reason I'm not sticking with the K750i is that, as a Bluetooth modem, the GPRS max data rate (typically only 40 kbps) is even slower than what I currently get using my V710. I want a GSM phone that has high-speed 3G data capability -- I won't be able to get full 3G speeds in many places currently, but at least I'll be ready as support becomes more available, and at least I should have EDGE in whatever I get, which is more commonly supported and a whole lot better than plain old GPRS.



Here's what I've decided I want out of my next cell phone:
  • Tri- or quad-band GSM.

  • Unlocked - I don't want to be tied to any specific carrier, and I don't like having my phone's features deliberately crippled so that my carrier can try to squeeze me for a few bucks and/or simplify customer support.

  • High-speed 3G data capability -- I suppose I'd settle for EDGE, if there are phones that do EDGE but which aren't fully ready for 3G.

  • E-mail and web features. Hopefully, unlike my K750i, the e-mail set-up won't make the stupid assumption that my POP and SMTP passwords have to be the same.

  • Data transfer and modem use via Bluetooth or USB.

  • A serviceable camera -- doesn't need to be anything terribly special. (the K800i is overkill in this regard).

  • MP3 player? Meh... not terribly important unless it's sooooo good as an MP3 player I'd be willing to do without my 60 GB iPod, and that's highly unlikely.

  • Fairly small and light -- it doesn't have to be the tiniest, slimmest phone around, but, as tempting as the extra power and capabilities would be, I don't think I want to go with a PDA phone.

My two current contenders:



Motorola RAZR V3x

Sony Ericsson K800i



As it stands, I'm sort of leaning towards the V3x, because I slightly prefer the UI of my current Motorola over the that of my current Sony Ericsson. I'd also rather use the more common TransFlash to expand memory instead of Sony's proprietary Memory Sticks.



Of course, I'm sure some people will suggest waiting for the long-anticipated iPhone. But who knows if unlocked iPhones will exist? If they'll be GSM (probably, but who knows?). They'll probably be good iPods, but more like Nanos in capacity I'd guess. They'll probably be elegant and easy to use, but not feature-laden.



Any other suggestions and recommendations? Experience with the models I've suggested?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?



    I thought there were more cell phone fanatics out there than this. <-- And why do emoticons sit so low on the text line now? Vertical alignment should be baseline or center, not bottom! \



    At any rate, perhaps it's the K790a and not the K800i that I need to think about... I'm getting confused about EDGE vs. 3G, I'd thought a 3G phone would also do EDGE too, but I guess that's not the case. EDGE gets me up to 236.8 kbps, 3G 384 kbps. EDGE looks like it's far more available in the US, however, even if it is slower. Now I'm thinking if I get a 3G-capable phone, I'll be stuck at crappy GPRS data rates until T-Mobile gets around to implementing 3G in the US, and who knows how long a wait that could be?
  • Reply 2 of 5
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Not that anyone else is following this thread, but...



    Nokia N73



    This, and the N93 and N80 are the first phones I've seen that are both quad band (850/900/1800/1900) and in capable of anything faster than plain old GPRS. The N73 and N93 do EDGE and WCDMA, another combination I haven't seem elsewhere, so I could get good use out of these now with the EDGE capability widely available in T-mobile's US network, and be ready for even higher 3G data speeds later. You might even call it a "quint" band phone, since it does WCDMA at 2100 MHz. (Since it doesn't look like these phones will do WCDMA at 1900 or 850, as WCDMA will likely be deployed in the US, I'd only get the highest data speeds outside the US -- there's always something not quite right!)



    The N93 is almost more of a mini video camera than a phone, not something I need or want to deal with the extra bulk for. I'd happily sacrifice some of the photo capability of the N73 or N80 to have a slimmer, cheaper phone, but I don't see quad band with EDGE in anything else.



    I hate choices like this! Spend less, and miss features you really want, spend more and you get more than you want and more bulk to boot, and no matter what you buy everything has some flaw or misfeature you'd rather not deal with.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    meelashmeelash Posts: 1,045member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shetline


    Not that anyone else is following this thread, but...



    Nokia N73



    This, and the N93 and N80 are the first phones I've seen that are both quad band (850/900/1800/1900) and in capable of anything faster than plain old GPRS. The N73 and N93 do EDGE and WCDMA, another combination I haven't seem elsewhere, so I could get good use out of these now with the EDGE capability widely available in T-mobile's US network, and be ready for even higher 3G data speeds later. You might even call it a "quint" band phone, since it does WCDMA at 2100 MHz. (Since it doesn't look like these phones will do WCDMA at 1900 or 850, as WCDMA will likely be deployed in the US, I'd only get the highest data speeds outside the US -- there's always something not quite right!)



    The N93 is almost more of a mini video camera than a phone, not something I need or want to deal with the extra bulk for. I'd happily sacrifice some of the photo capability of the N73 or N80 to have a slimmer, cheaper phone, but I don't seem quad band with EDGE in anything else.



    I hate choices like this! Spend less, and miss features you really want, spend more and you get more than you want and more bulk to boot, and no matter what you buy everything has some flaw or misfeature you'd rather not deal with.



    Yeah, that's what I found sux 'bout buying cell phones these days. I couldn't find *the* perfect one. Everything was a tradeoff...
  • Reply 4 of 5
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Hmmm.... maybe this:



    Qtek 8550



    It's very similar to a RAZR V3 in size and style, but it's quad band EDGE, and seems to have a pretty good feature set (even if it does run Windows (aaecchh!) as an OS).



    I've read mostly good comments so far, but I'd never heard of Qtek before this. This same phone is also sold under the HTC ("Star Trek"), i-Mate ("Smartflip"), and Dopod (S300) brands. I wonder how much difficulty I'll have getting it to work as a Bluetooth modem for Mac OS X?
  • Reply 5 of 5
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Get a pink RAZR to prove that you're man enough to carry a pink RAZR.
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