Modern Cell Phones that aren't iPhones/Androids/Blackberries?

[Rade K]

I'm in the mood for a new cell phone again, and as much as I like Android and iPhones (and there OS's) I'm also a sucker for the more niche feature and symbian phones.

So, I did a little search and I noticed how hard it was to find interesting phones.

So, any suggestions?

 

[RabbitTroop]

Depends on what you want. Most companies have gone the touchscreen candy-bar form factor, and pound for pound they're pretty much indistinguishable from each other. Nokia just released the N8. It's one of the first to run Symbian^3 and with the cancellation and restructuring of the Symbian^4 OS, that's no longer such a bad thing. Everyone feared the S^3 phones would be outdated by next year, but Nokia says S^3 is where it's at, S^4 is no longer under development, and all future enhancements will be released to the S^3 devices as they become ready. In other words, lots of update potential and new things down the road. Sadly, it looks like an iPhone as it is that solid, uni-body design, but it does have a fantastic 12mp camera on the back with a xenon flash. It also does the soon to be requisite HDMI out and etc, etc. Pretty sleek device for the cash.

If that's too iPhone for you, though, there are a ton of oddballs out there now in the more feature phone arena. On one end of that is something like the Sony Xperia X5/Pureness. I had to pick up one of these just because it was such an odd ball device. It's a great little phone, does pretty much all you could want, but it's claim to fame is a 1.8inch transparent monochrome screen that is edge lit. Basically, it looks like nothing else, and although it is just a really nice, simple phone after all that (though, great web browser for such a tiny screen) everyone who sees the thing ohs and ahs over it.

LG also has the GD910 if you're feeling like James Bond/Dick Tracy and want a really sleek watch phone. No web, and sometimes clunky Outlook support (I have to wipe everything off of mine every once in a while because a bad sync messes up the phone data, but that's all of about a minutes worth of reseting and re-syncing user data), but it is still an incredibly small capacitive touch screen phone that just works so brilliantly. Really, the practicality of the device far outweighs any of its shortcomings... If you do choose to go the Android route again, any Android 2.1 and higher device can also run Sony's new Live View which is a tiny interface/controller for Android devices. It can also be worn as a watch and give you notifications over BT for calls, SMS, Facebook updates, and... well anything people want to program Live View support for. Cool idea, and pretty cheap (around $100). Definitely nice if you do a lot of driving or outdoor activities as you can control everything on your phone via your wrist. The only reason I think it is a step behind the GD910 is that you'll also have to drag along an Android device. I like the one and done mentality LG brought to the table.

I've also had my eye on the Modu T-Phone and may pick up one of those when they finally come out. The genius behind the Modu is you're buying a tiny capacitive touchscreen phone. It's nothing special on its own, but the gimmick comes from interchangeable skins that give the phone advanced functionality. Their website gives a good idea of what is possible: http://www.modumobile.com/

I'm just throwing oddballs out there, again I don't know what you're really after. Let me know what you want in your next device and I'm sure I could give you some suggestions.

 

[RabbitTroop]

Oh, and I feel I really overlooked something in that post. I've not seen it in person, and I can't believe I'm about to recommend this, but... Windows Phone 7 is looking mighty hot. It has a lot of growing to do, but I'm really digging it.

Here's a general overview and I have to admit, it's looking very nice...


The first phones started shipping last week, so expect it to be a little bit pricey right now, but they'll come down in price fast.

 

[J. Max]

Oh, and I feel I really overlooked something in that post. I've not seen it in person, and I can't believe I'm about to recommend this, but... Windows Phone 7 is looking mighty hot. It has a lot of growing to do, but I'm really digging it.

Here's a general overview and I have to admit, it's looking very nice...


The first phones started shipping last week, so expect it to be a little bit pricey right now, but they'll come down in price fast.

I've seen it in person, and it's great. The live tiles are really cool and the interface is super slick. The browser could be a bit better, and there's no Flash support (or Silverlight on the one that I saw). The Facebook integration in really good, but I question the stability of the OS right now...it's an MS product, and they are notorious for being unstable at first.

Oh, the Xbox Live stuff is cool but I couldn't really test it, since the device I tried wasn't mine. (BTW, I own two iPhones, a Palm Pre plus, a Nexus One, a Verizon Droid, and a Blackberry Bold 9700. I deal with phones for a living, so I havevsome perspective on them...)

The other option for the OP is, of course, WebOS. Palm's hardware isn't the best but the software is great. I think with better marketing, it would have been a much stronger contender. The Pre is extremely overclockable; mine's stable at 1 Ghz, which is what the Pre 2 will run at, and the hardware is pretty inexpensive. The OS in awesome, much better than Symbian, and more polished than Android in a lot of ways. The only disadvantage is the limited app catalog, but because it's a Linux device, more stuff is ported everyday. No jailbreak is required to get to the good stuff.

 

[Rade K]

What do you guys thing is cool in the Sony Ericsson line that isn't the X10??

I always liked the look of walkman/cybershot phones...even though the software is limited.

 

[J. Max]

What do you guys thing is cool in the Sony Ericsson line that isn't the X10??

I always liked the look of walkman/cybershot phones...even though the software is limited.

Nothing. The X10 isn't very good, and the Vivaz is worse.

The X10 could have been incredible, but they hamstrung it with Android 1.6, a screen that lacks multitouch, and a one way accelerometer. The media functions are really cool, the camera is GREAT, and the skin is even pretty good.

I think that these are stopgaps until Sony gets the PSP phone out.

Oh, and the N8 is one of the worst phone-shaped objects I've ever seen. Symbian^3 feels straight out of 2005, and the Ovi store is a joke. Symbian is the number one OS in the world because it's been out since 2001, Europeans use it (but that number is shrinking), and it's popular in countries like India, where smart phones are just becoming affordable and they use older devices. It also doesn't work well in the US since the 3G support is severely lacking. It's slow, the interface sucks, and it's way too expensive for what it is. An off-contract, say, Samsung Galaxy S is $499, and it's a better phone.

 

[RabbitTroop]

Nothing. The X10 isn't very good, and the Vivaz is worse.

The X10 could have been incredible, but they hamstrung it with Android 1.6, a screen that lacks multitouch, and a one way accelerometer. The media functions are really cool, the camera is GREAT, and the skin is even pretty good.

I think that these are stopgaps until Sony gets the PSP phone out.

Oh, and the N8 is one of the worst phone-shaped objects I've ever seen. Symbian^3 feels straight out of 2005, and the Ovi store is a joke. Symbian is the number one OS in the world because it's been out since 2001, Europeans use it (but that number is shrinking), and it's popular in countries like India, where smart phones are just becoming affordable and they use older devices. It also doesn't work well in the US since the 3G support is severely lacking. It's slow, the interface sucks, and it's way too expensive for what it is. An off-contract, say, Samsung Galaxy S is $499, and it's a better phone.

Two things I'll say/ask:

1. What is Symbian lacking, as in functionality-wise... I know it doesn't have the eye-candy of some of the other OSs today, but what is it lacking functionality-wise that any other OS has?

Think about it... cause... the answer is nothing. It may not have a very well integrated app store, but that's because Symbian never needed one. There are hundreds of thousands of Symbian apps. Symbian^3 was just launched, and it is anything but a joke. I take it you've never really used a Symbian device and you've generated your hate-speak from the Internets. It's cool... but you sound like an idiot.

2. How does the N8 have bad 3G support? That's got to be a joke, right? It's the only pent-band 3G phone in existence, supporting 850/900/1700/1900/2100 3G frequencies. No other phone out there has the support it does on 3G, and yes that means it has support for AT&T, T-Mobile, Rogers and every 3G carrier in North America as well as supporting world 3G. I'm guessing, again, you just don't know what you're talking about, but, again, it makes you sound like an idiot.

Bonus: While I won't say the Sony Xperia X10 hasn't disappointed many, it is seeing a 2.1 Android update by the end of the month. Samsung has already pulled their 2.2 update off their European servers after many customers said it made the Galaxy run like shit. That doesn't surprise me. I had an Omnia HD and Samsung fucked us owners over horribly and promised the world but never delivered. Samsung makes a good product, but they don't support it once it's out in the wild. I avoid Samsung like the plague.

 

[Rade K]

What do you think about the Sony Satio, Nick?

I think it would be a good companion to a smart phone. I like taking pictures with my cell phone and the android phone just...takes...horrible pics.

I'd like to have something simple as well as something complex, and I can just change my sim depending on my mood.

 

[smokehouse]

I'm looking for something even farther down the food chain...

We want another "phone" and by phones I mean.......a phone. Not a PDA, GPS, NAV, MP3, LOL, WEB, EMAIL, super browser/dorm fridge/coffee maker/wheelbarrow chunk of electronics that runs us $125/mo and weighs as much as a brick.

A phone.

Why is it harder and harder to find something that is a simple device for placing calls? is this not what a phone is for in the first place?

 

[GregN]

People spend way too much on cell phones.

I have one, but only because it costs about the same as a land-line. But it is very basic. No texting, no web surfing, just plain old calls. It's a samsung, it's small and compact, and it's only $30/month.

Honestly, I think the only time you need a cell phone is two situations:

1.) Your car breaks down (especially in the winter)
2.) You're out somewhere and want to meet your friends and missed connections.

Other than that, there's no real reason you can't wait until you get home to get your messages.

And smart phones? Sheesh. My friend is a music teacher, and it is very handy for him. He can bring up student's info, review a song a kid forgot to bring on youtube. And maybe it's good for executives or something, but smartphones are like huge trucks - most people have them, but don't need them. Seriously - Do you really need Internet connectivity EVERYWHERE you go? 90% of the time, I'm either near a computer at home, work, or a friend's house. I don't need it EVERYWHERE I go. Maybe if you travel a lot, it's useful to have, but most people don't travel that much.

But people will continue to buy shit they don't need because cell phones advertise more than anybody on TV. The media has you all bullshitted.

 

[Dr Shroom]

I'm looking for something even farther down the food chain...

We want another "phone" and by phones I mean.......a phone. Not a PDA, GPS, NAV, MP3, LOL, WEB, EMAIL, super browser/dorm fridge/coffee maker/wheelbarrow chunk of electronics that runs us $125/mo and weighs as much as a brick.

A phone.

Why is it harder and harder to find something that is a simple device for placing calls? is this not what a phone is for in the first place?

Nokia 6300 reporting in, all the phone you'll ever need without all this other nonsense like GPS and touchscreen and whatnot.

 

[RabbitTroop]

What do you think about the Sony Satio, Nick?

I think it would be a good companion to a smart phone. I like taking pictures with my cell phone and the android phone just...takes...horrible pics.

I'd like to have something simple as well as something complex, and I can just change my sim depending on my mood.

The Satio is a good S60v5 phone, but S60v5 really was half baked. Actually, I think it's probably the best of class for the older Symbian architecture. It, along with the Samsung Omnia HD, where the first to give S60v5 the 256mb of memory it needed to function correctly. So, unlike the 5800 or N97 which struggled to run more than a few applications at once, the Satio is a very comfortable device to use. Once you hack it, you can also run 80% of the proprietary Nokia apps like SportsTracker and Nokia Maps (I even had the Ovi suite of apps, including the Ovi Store, running on my i8910 after it was hacked).

That helps a lot, but there are two problems: One, S60v5 is dying. There will still be Nokia phones released with the older OS for a little while, but it really is on its way out. The plus is you can run many S60v3 applications just fine and that takes some of the sting out of it. The other is that Sony has said they're completely done with Symbian. That means support on the company's side is completely gone and you'll likely not see any updates from here on out for it. Of course that's not the end of the world either. The only real world gripe I ever had with the Satio (and most Sony devices) is it doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack and uses a pop-port instead.

I think if you're looking at the Satio you would definitely need to look at the N8 as well. Here's a side by side comparison, but as you can see the N8 basically has the same internals as the Satio, but improves on many of the specs. It also has the newer version of Symbian that is sure to be around a lot longer than S60v5. If they both cost the same, I'd get the N8... Honestly, though, I prefer Sony to Nokia just due to build quality and how much better the desktop experience is. Nokia PC Suite is still way too bloated. Sony's desktop software is pretty damn nice. It's funny how much that matters, but when you're constantly syncing data and etc, you'll want a good desktop package.

Anyway... yeah... the Satio is probably the best of the S60v5 crowd, has a great camera, and I'm sure would make a really good pocket companion.

 

[RabbitTroop]

People spend way too much on cell phones.

I have one, but only because it costs about the same as a land-line. But it is very basic. No texting, no web surfing, just plain old calls. It's a samsung, it's small and compact, and it's only $30/month.

Honestly, I think the only time you need a cell phone is two situations:

1.) Your car breaks down (especially in the winter)
2.) You're out somewhere and want to meet your friends and missed connections.

Other than that, there's no real reason you can't wait until you get home to get your messages.

And smart phones? Sheesh. My friend is a music teacher, and it is very handy for him. He can bring up student's info, review a song a kid forgot to bring on youtube. And maybe it's good for executives or something, but smartphones are like huge trucks - most people have them, but don't need them. Seriously - Do you really need Internet connectivity EVERYWHERE you go? 90% of the time, I'm either near a computer at home, work, or a friend's house. I don't need it EVERYWHERE I go. Maybe if you travel a lot, it's useful to have, but most people don't travel that much.

But people will continue to buy shit they don't need because cell phones advertise more than anybody on TV. The media has you all bullshitted.

LOL, whatever Greg. Since when does the world operate on need?

 

[dullbuoy]

this was my phone for 2 years prior to getting the HTC Incredible. I've only had 6 cellphones since the late '90s, and if i had to go back to just a regular mobile phone, i'd most likely just use this again (it had the best battery life out of all my phones...never had to buy an extra battery for it etc).

 

[Rade K]

The Satio is a good S60v5 phone, but S60v5 really was half baked. Actually, I think it's probably the best of class for the older Symbian architecture. It, along with the Samsung Omnia HD, where the first to give S60v5 the 256mb of memory it needed to function correctly. So, unlike the 5800 or N97 which struggled to run more than a few applications at once, the Satio is a very comfortable device to use. Once you hack it, you can also run 80% of the proprietary Nokia apps like SportsTracker and Nokia Maps (I even had the Ovi suite of apps, including the Ovi Store, running on my i8910 after it was hacked).

That helps a lot, but there are two problems: One, S60v5 is dying. There will still be Nokia phones released with the older OS for a little while, but it really is on its way out. The plus is you can run many S60v3 applications just fine and that takes some of the sting out of it. The other is that Sony has said they're completely done with Symbian. That means support on the company's side is completely gone and you'll likely not see any updates from here on out for it. Of course that's not the end of the world either. The only real world gripe I ever had with the Satio (and most Sony devices) is it doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack and uses a pop-port instead.

I think if you're looking at the Satio you would definitely need to look at the N8 as well. Here's a side by side comparison, but as you can see the N8 basically has the same internals as the Satio, but improves on many of the specs. It also has the newer version of Symbian that is sure to be around a lot longer than S60v5. If they both cost the same, I'd get the N8... Honestly, though, I prefer Sony to Nokia just due to build quality and how much better the desktop experience is. Nokia PC Suite is still way too bloated. Sony's desktop software is pretty damn nice. It's funny how much that matters, but when you're constantly syncing data and etc, you'll want a good desktop package.

Anyway... yeah... the Satio is probably the best of the S60v5 crowd, has a great camera, and I'm sure would make a really good pocket companion.

N8 looks interesting. Whats the best way to buy these phones outside of a carrier? It always seems like its impossible...

 

[BigTinz]

Be a baller....go for the HTC HD2/7.

 

[J. Max]

I'm looking for something even farther down the food chain...

We want another "phone" and by phones I mean.......a phone. Not a PDA, GPS, NAV, MP3, LOL, WEB, EMAIL, super browser/dorm fridge/coffee maker/wheelbarrow chunk of electronics that runs us $125/mo and weighs as much as a brick.

A phone.

Why is it harder and harder to find something that is a simple device for placing calls? is this not what a phone is for in the first place?

Samsung Rugby 2 or Motorola Tundra

 

[J. Max]

N8 looks interesting. Whats the best way to buy these phones outside of a carrier? It always seems like its impossible...

Nokia store. They aren't available from aa US carrier.

 

[smokehouse]

I guess I should state I need a US phone and one that is available on Verizon...AT&T is horrible here...

 

[T.A.P.]

People I know seem to like EVOs. I don't know anything about them though.

I've just been using the same one for 6+ years.

 

[RabbitTroop]

Best place to pick them up is going to be online either through a retailer like Amazon, or one of the little guys like MobileCityOnline.com or something like that. Honestly, prices vary a lot per product, per seller. Sometimes you'll find one guy will have a device really cheap, but will be incredibly expensive for others (expansys is like that a lot). Regardless of all of that, I buy from Amazon a lot because of their return policy. You can return any phone to them, no questions asked, within a month of buying it. Just go to your account online, say you want to return it, and they schedule it to be picked up. Simple, painless, and you're not out a ton of cash if you get a phone you don't like or if there is a problem with it. That promise of an easy return is easily worth a few extra bucks to me when I buy the thing.

 

[Rade K]

What do you think aboot the n900, Nick?

 

[Xavier]

Oh, and I feel I really overlooked something in that post. I've not seen it in person, and I can't believe I'm about to recommend this, but... Windows Phone 7 is looking mighty hot. It has a lot of growing to do, but I'm really digging it.

Here's a general overview and I have to admit, it's looking very nice...


The first phones started shipping last week, so expect it to be a little bit pricey right now, but they'll come down in price fast.

Windows mobile is in its death throws and I think 7 will be the final nail in the coffin. Imo every new version of mobile is worse than the last and has less utility. 6.1 kinda felt like windows 98 to me, then 6.5 did away with the drop down menu and just used large icons instead gave it more of a windows 3.1 feel.

From what Ive seen in videos, 7 has a large fancy sharp looking gui.. but not much else. Ive read multitasking features , cut copy paste and flash have been removed. It not supposed to support removeable media and is supposed to be more of a whole new OS. This means its likely not compatible with older CE/pocket pc software and windows mobile apps. Also rumors say it wont run unsigned software.

Instead of Media Player, Windows Phone 7 will use Zune. I cant get this program to run right on my computer hows it going to run on a cellphone? I hate Zune and I hate Zunes interface.

That was the nice thing imo about the 6.1/6.5. Marketplace is kinda weak but if you use a search engine you can find decades worth of programs numbering in the tens of thousands that may work on your phone.

I just now visited marketplace and it looks like they're rounding up the big names like EA and Gameloft that were just selling the games through thier own sights but by and large on the net company after company are dropping support for WM.

An indicator to me that Windows Phone 7 will fail is a phone series called Kin. It was kind of a 7 beta, it was sold under a couple different phones and providers for cheap and it failed in only a couple months, nobody bought it.

I think Microsoft should have gone after the business market, currently it looks like blackberry owns it to me. Instead this is attempt to go after Apple and people who like stuff that looks cool but doesnt actually do anything.

Me id like a computer in the palm of my hands, cellphones these days are getting to be very powerfull but...

 

[lithy]

There's a craiglist for that...

missed connections.

Holy fuck Greg, you talk like a fag, and your shit's all retarded.

That said, the part of your post I highlighted is pretty hilarious.

 

[Rade K]

I've realized that I'll never be satisfied...

Nick, is this why you own so many phones? not one phone is a complete dynamo?

Have you said what your absolute fav modern phone gui/hardware combo is?