Mobile Phone Chat

[Ten10]

That include BBIM? As far as I'm aware its just an inbuilt client for blackberries which makes it free. Its not like I need IMming on the go, but the people I text the most have blackberries so it could work out cheaper.

 

Ah no, no blackberry IM, I've seen it being used but outside the office I only know 2 people with BB's so I've never had a use for it myself.

[Ashley]

Had a look around myself and there's a few work arounds (e.g. GTalk) but nothing specifically BBM. The person who I speak to most (pretty much the only person I speak to...) is on a Blackberry, as is my brother (not that I text him often), his girlfriend, and a few other friends.

 

Been looking around. There's no phone that I really want, but several that seem okay. Motorola DEXT, Nokia N97 Mini (that any good? I hear the N97 had lots of problems). In Touch 2. HTC HD2 etc etc.

[nightwolf]

Haha oh don't worry I'm not pointing the finger, it was a trait I noticed that I decided to make a joke out of :P

 

I do like that phone, my friend has a version of it, in white, its very snazzy etc. The boyfriend does too although his is a more expensive version.

 

I think £20 is reasonable, mostly because its 18month, I mostly say this because I don't want to have the same phone when I'm out of uni which is about the same time .

[Raining_again]

htc hd2 <3333333

 

Buy eet naow!!!

 

Serious props though, roadkill recommended it to me, and i haven't regretted getting it at all. Huuuuuuuuuuuge resolution, I'd imagine not too many phones could top it. 480 x 800!! And its got a really good capacitive screen, which means you don't have to squish the thing to death for it to react (very different to my 5800xm!!) It's amazingly dirt/grease resistant. That was the part I was so impressed with. And all the twitter (ace twitter app real slick), msn (proper "computer" msn rather than the awful mobile ones), and browsers preinstalled (opera and ie both of which are pretty decent)

 

One bad thing (which can be remedied easily) is that its kinda awkward to press links (much like my 5800xm was). Have to zoom in to make it bigger (pinch motion) or get one of those capacitive stylus' (styli??) as it wont work with a bog standard plastic one.

 

Oh and windows 6.5 isn't one of the easiest phone o.s' I've worked with, but it does work out (sometimes with a bit of consultation to ze manual)

Edited April 2, 2010 by Raining_again

[Ashley]

Yo peeps. What's the difference between the HTC Desire and HD2? Other than the one has the more sexual name.

[Ten10]

Yo peeps. What's the difference between the HTC Desire and HD2? Other than the one has the more sexual name.

 

Android and windows mobile. Android on the desire, winmo on the HD2. Either way you'll have more fun on either platform than you would iphone OS

[Ashley]

lol. Don't have to tell me :p

 

Contemplating switching to Orange due to the "magic number" (or whatever they call it) thing but they charge for voicemail and their "unlimited internet" seems quite limited.

 

Grr, someone want to make this decision for me?

[Ten10]

Well T-mobile and orange are merging soon. The package I got on t-mobile was £129 for the handset and then a £20 a month contract. Includes 300 minutes and unlimited texts. Unlimited internet (3GB a month fair usage) on an 18 Months contract.

 

I was contemplating leaving t-mobile especially since they were being difficult when I was trying to get the phone. But I did check out what all the other networks were doing and the only provider that came close to this deal was virgin but that would only be if you were currently a virgin media customer.

 

The only reason I would choose orange would be for the Exclusive black HTC desire. Not to say the grey/purple one isn't nice. Whatever you decide you can easily get your PAC code and take your number with you so you don't need to mess around with "this is my new number please update your phone book" messages. Because if your friends are like me, they probably won't ever get round to doing that.

[Ashley]

Hmm not bad. Although can't find the Desire or HD2 on the Orange website. Just the Hero and Tattoo.

 

Not that I plan to buy it right now.

 

Cheers for your help

[nightwolf]

I'd use the carphone warhouse to get orange contracts, the orange website itself is very limited!

[Cube]

It's amazingly dirt/grease resistant

 

I think most HTC phones aren't. I'm amazed that my Hero hasn't got any marks on it. Most other phones a filthy within a day. It's like HTC cover their phones in magic.

 

My workmate also has a HTC HD2 which seems pretty good. A lot of the HTC apps/widgets are shared with their Android phones (mail/people/twitter/facebook/keyboard/etc). Although the Android Marketplace seems to have much bigger support compared to the Windows one (if there is one) - and everything on it can be tried for 24 hours for free.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Cube

[Ashley]

So...I have a new phone on route.

 

Phoned up Phones4U (who I got my last phone with) to see if they could offer me anything. Phoned the upgrade line but they never mentioned my previous contract, I'm sure its just the same sales line.

 

HTC Legend, 18 month, £30/month for 600 mins 3000 text and "unlimited" (500mb) internet. I wish I could trade in about 300 mins and 1500 texts for a cheaper deal Which isn't too bad but...kinda felt pressured into it. They did say (and I did keep checking) I can send it back within 7 days for no fee or anything. However they were saying "I'll post it tomorrow and it'll be with you on Monday" and I reminded them it was Easter Weekend and they said "oh yeah Tuesday" but even so, I doubt it'll be here that quickly.

 

Plus they said I can't transfer my number over to Vodaphone. Is this true? Because my business cards have my current number. Didn't think of that when he was haggling me.

 

Looking at gsmarena it says that the Legend has a document viewer, photo editor and organizer but the Desire doesn't. Is that true, or is it just they haven't listed them for the Desire?

Edited April 3, 2010 by Ashley

[Ten10]

Nah Ash, I think you should cancel it and wait a week to get the desire instead. As for the desire it came with a PDF viewer, and then it either came with or I downloaded some office document viewing software. As for photo editor I haven't looked but there is a photoshop app in the market place. You can pretty much get anything in the market place.

 

I know specs aren't everything but you will have a better time with the desire than the legend, especially if your on a similar contract.

 

As for porting to vodaphone:

 

If you are currently on another network and have decided to move to Vodafone, then you can bring your existing number with you onto the Vodafone network without any fuss. This applies to all customers regardless of whether they are on a contract or 'pay-as-you-go' phone. In fact anybody can do it apart from existing Vodafone customers.

 

If your already a customer they should just upgrade your account with them.

[Ashley]

Why do you say wait a week? What's happening in a week? Unless you mean give it a try for that week anyway...

 

Having a look around and it is a decent deal. In total is £540. Found nothing of that price for the Desire. Oh wait, found 18 months, £30/month 600 mins 500 texts which is less but I don't need 3000 texts. I'm not that popular. Works out the same. Plus "unlimited" internet too (on T-Mobile so what is that, 500mb still?).

 

Cheers for the vodaphone info, was planning on popping in store and asking.

[Ten10]

Oh right sorry. I think the other networks will be getting the desire from the middle of April, so will be taking pre orders on the handset shortly. Normally if you're persistent you and force your current network provider to give you a good deal to stay, or you'll get a good deal to join a different one. Whatever you do it's best to call the providers to get the best deal, because at the end of the day you're stuck with these people for at least a year and a half.

 

As for T-mobile's unlimited internet they have a special android data plan (which is the one that comes with the phone) which is 3GB fair usage. That 500MB that you got with phones 4u. I've had the desire for 2 days now and I've used 30MB of my allowance. I suppose 500MB will do but my usage would probably be a lot high if I had done most of my downloading over 3g instead of wifi.

 

But if you consider everything you can do over 3g: email, youtube, flash games and video, social networking, web browsing, market place downloads, you can quite quickly expire that "unlimited internet." Even t-mobile's basic unlimited internet plan is 1GB.

[Ashley]

Ah okay. Its no rush to do it, its just as I have a bit of time off I can now explore which is why I have started looking now.

 

I might try ringing up O2 but they've become so cocky lately. My mom tried to get them to give her a better deal when her contract was up and they basically said "we don't care, move if you want."

 

I'd only really be using the internet for email and social networking, with the occasional bit of web browsing. I don't really play flash games or watch videos and can download market place stuff via a computer and transfer (yes?). And I have Wi-Fi at work, home and any friends I visit. 3G would only be used when I'm on the move, and even then it'll probably just be tweeting my annoyance at National Rail :p

 

T-Mobile, as you say, claims the unlimited internet flexbooster is 1GB fair usage, but for Android its 3GB, does it automatically know or do I have to somehow select?

 

Sorry to keep asking questions but I appreciate the help

[Cube]

can download market place stuff via a computer and transfer (yes?).

 

Officially, no. However if you've got WiFi at home/work then you can just download them there.

 

There's a widget that allows you to turn off 3G Network manually and loads of data allowance tracking apps if you're worried about usage.

 

The fair use policy lets them slow down/disable your connection for the rest of the month if you use too much - they can't charge you for it if it's a limited "unlimited" offer. Although you really shouldn't need to worry about it.

 

Anyway, the phone will likely get to you on Wednesday. As they're "posting" it tomorrow it won't be picked up until Tuesday.

 

I'm with 3 and have gone over the 1GB "fair usage" policy a few times. I got a text one month saying that they could cut me off for the remainder of that month, but didn't. They other times they mentioned nothing.

[Ten10]

I don't know if they've changed it since I've ordered but the way that t-mobile has it set up is that they have a specific internet plan for android devices. I will try and get some clarification though.

 

Clarification found in the Fair usage policy:

 

Pay monthly plans which include internet on your phone on an Android phone

*Internet on your phone comes with a fair use policy of 3GB a month. We'll monitor how much you send and receive each calendar month so that we can protect our network for all our internet on your customers. If you use more than your fair use policy amount, we won't charge you any more, but we may restrict how you can use your plan, depending on how often you go over your amount and by how much. As your phone is always connected to the internet, if you remove your internet on your phone Plus Booster from your account you'll automatically be charged up to £1 every day. That £1 a day rate has its own fair use policy and other legal stuff,

 

The standard internet booster is 1GB data cap. This is what you would get with blackberry and, nokia and samsung phones. The internet for android booster has a 3GB data cap which is included in the plan when you order the phone. Applies to any android OS phone as the OS relies on data quite heavily.

 

You can't change this plan but for some reason you can remove it The data plan is in the cost of the contract. If you remove it you end up on the crappy 1GB plan as an option. Doubt you could go back as it wouldn't be in t-mobiles best interest to give you back your extra 2GB data. This frees up the additional booster to be used for something else such as unlimited texts or unlimited landline calls.

 

You can't download market place apps and then put them on your phone. You can download non market place apps and put them on SD card if you've rooted (jail broken) your handset. If you're worried about going over your data limit you can disable 3g and enable wifi and switch them around when your away from an access point. (wifi off 3g on)

Edited April 3, 2010 by Ten10
School boy error grammar

[nightwolf]

You should be able to transfer your old number Ashley, every phone service does this! I personally would send it back as soon as you get it, sounds like a rip off to me!

[McPhee]

http://www.onecompare.com

 

Personally I'd pick the Legend over the Desire. I've had a go of both now and the Desire definitely runs smoother, but the Legend just feels amazing in the hand. Cold, solid and beautiful. Battery life is a bit poor on both devices, with the Desire being a few hours worse than the Legend (which has an oddly low battery life considering the battery capacity and lower spec hardware).

 

As for internet bundle, I've never gone over the 512MB Vodafone one in the 18-months I've been with them. I've only used 985MB in the three months I've had the iPhone. That's with a lot of web surfing, RSS feeds, email, music streaming through Spotify, and a few videos on YouTube.

Edited April 3, 2010 by McPhee

[SPAMBOT4000]

iPhone OS 4.0: Folders, Multitasking, Unified Inbox, an Xbox Live style social network for games with achievements and matchmaking, CHANGE YOUR FUCKING WALLPAPER and lots more. YES. Finally! Roll on Summer.

[Mike]

Yeah, iPhone OS4 looks great (though I could do without iAd..). I'm definitely most looking forward to the multitasking, folders and Game Centre.

[Cube]

Have they announced anything that other phones don't already do?

 

Edit: Still, at least they've finally finished the software that should have been included with the phone in 2007.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Cube

[Raining_again]

Have they announced anything that other phones don't already do?

 

Edit: Still, at least they've finally finished the software that should have been included with the phone in 2007.

 

Agreed. Hey im not a complete Apple hater by any means, but this phone is LUDICROUSLY expensive. Can they at least make it awesome beyond words? Basic things like multi tasking... Dear god... So let me get this straight; you couldn't change the wallpaper? That was news 10 years ago.. No?

 

This is probably why i'll never be an iphone fan. Sure if you get it free with a contract maybe.. But that'll never happen.

 

(i'm sure its got some good qualities but the poor ones outweigh anything you could try and convince me with)

 

Anyhooooooooooo. Less beating, more love. My HTC HD2 is awesome. I was mucking around with the camera today, it like saves images instantly. Even with my old phone (5800) it did all the zoomy shizzle when it was taking the picture, making it take a good few seconds to complete/save the picture and sometimes making it fuzzy if i moved by accident during the save. The HTC zooms every time you move the camera angle (sure its a bit epic on the battery but its epic fast in saving images)

[That Guy]

Yeah, iPhone OS4 looks great (though I could do without iAd..). I'm definitely most looking forward to the multitasking, folders and Game Centre.

 

Yes I'm glad they've implemented the folders feature. I'll be glad to stick all games on one icon rather than having the mess I currently have. I'm also glad I can fiiinally change the black background. I always wondered why wallpaper was limited to the lock screen.

 

Multi-tasking isn't true multi-tasking (freezing apps for the most part rather than them still running) but I think they've solved most of the issues anyone would have ever had. I'm sorry but how many things to people really need to do on a phone at one time? I'm not going to read Facebook and The Guardian at the same time am I? App switching should help this a lot.

 

Skype and music apps being able to run is exactly what I said they needed whe the iPad came out. So I'm glad to see they've implemented that too.

 

I can't think of much else missing really. They've implemented everything I wanted to see anyway.

 

And I'm not fussed about the ads as long as developers don't take the piss. Ads are shit as they are now, crap looking, blatant, and usually about a ringtone or some utter shite. Hopefully with this new feature they'll fit in a little more. If it means more free apps are actually worth while then it can't be too bad.