Mobile phone recommendations ?

My age old Nokia 3310 finally gave up yesterday. It seems to reboot every 5 min for no reason.

I am looking to buy a new one, but I have no clue which one to buy. I do not want a camera phone nor anything with fancy Internet/wap/email shit. The phone should be physically durable ( I have the tendency to drop the phone very often or spill water over it), relatively light and small and it should have decent bit of features to work with my laptop (GPRS/IR ?).

Can anyone suggest a good one in 10-15k range?

64 Comments

  1. jace · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Superseded by the T610.

  2. tifosi · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Yep go 4 nokia – 6610. Sexy phone.It has all the features u asked 4..nd much more. Its sleek nd just purrfect! Just cant take my eyes off it… costed me 14.2 K when i bought it…the prices must hv definitely dropped now.

    I spilt curd over my phone once…nd itz still sane…

    http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,1522,,00.html?orig=/phones/6610/

  3. mannu · February 23, 2004 Reply

    My Nokia 3310 takes 5 mins. to reach full charge and 2 mins. to go back to no charge. It’s unusable anyway, which is why I’m able to live without it.

  4. teemus · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Seconded.

    The T610 packs features which *no* Nokia phone does. If do not desire Bluetooth/camera, then the T230/T310 are really good (doubt whether they have IRDi, I think they do…)

    The Motorola C350e is decent for 5.5k – GPRS, Infrared, 4096 colour LCD screen, and quite sturdy as well.

    Buying mobiles is so much fun… 😉

  5. admin · February 23, 2004 Reply

    It feels too delicate for my style 😀

  6. admin · February 23, 2004 Reply

    heh.. this is what I am thinking about. I think it will be the next 3310 😉

  7. teemus · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Nokia 3310/3330/3315 NiCd battery = 250 rupiah.

    Oopsie, I forgot you are off mobiles!!! 😀 😀

  8. teemus · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Awww, your phone comes close to the T610. But, no Bluetooth, and only 4096 colours!

  9. admin · February 23, 2004 Reply

    who needs bluetooth ? I do not have any devices and I do not think I will do in the near future also.

  10. mannu · February 23, 2004 Reply

    I’ve changed the battery once. The problem seems to be with the handset, not with the battery. And I think it’s a common problem seen in old Nokia 3310 handsets.

  11. freegeek · February 23, 2004 Reply

    tip

    Have you tried “Reset to factory settings”, my nokia 8310 starts rebooting due to buggy software after some extent of use. Reset to factory settings manages to get it stable for the next few months before it acts up again.

    Almost dumped the phone due to that.

    For linux on the laptop reliance is probably the best with decent connection speeds. I usually get faster speed then a with a landline dialup.

  12. chetan · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Why don’t you pick up the Moto V70 or the V66 or even better, the Moto that swivels 360 deg?

  13. admin · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    I am planning to get reliance as well. I have an airtel connection which is 3 years old and I cannot afford to change the number now.

    I will try doing the phone reset thingy

  14. bluewhale · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Nokia 3315! (3310 with sucky buttons, but same durability)

  15. jace · February 23, 2004 Reply

    I will not touch a phone/PDA without bluetooth with a ten foot wireless link.

  16. admin · February 23, 2004 Reply

    thats because you have bluetooth enabled devices around. Lets face it, bluetooth is dead and I dont think there will be any public bluetooth hotspot ( though bluetooth is not meant for internet access, I do not see any public service offering bluetooth capability ) nor I will ever buy any device which does bluetooth

  17. jace · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Anyone who thinks Bluetooth is competing with WiFi is getting it wrong. Public Bluetooth hotspots are a very bizarre idea.

    Bluetooth has only one purpose: eliminating cables between personal electronics like phones, PDAs and cameras. I think it does this job very well. If you’ve ever carried a bag stuffed with unnecessary cables, you’ll know what I mean. I’m going to insist on BT or WiFi in all my personal electronics henceforth.

  18. Anonymous · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    I know what you mean. It changed very recently here in the US. You can now change providers while retaining your old number. Wonder when that will happen in India.
    -Harsh

  19. kingsly · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    Avoid reliance for now!

    The whole mobile internet scene is going to change drastically by the end of the year.

  20. kingsly · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    It’s most probably a battery issue… try a new one preferably a Lithium Ion(Li+) one.

    Siemens is going to be launching a rugged phone at CeBit next month… might be worth waiting for.

  21. appaji · February 23, 2004 Reply

    Seconded. 6610 is one of the nice phones made by Nokia. Nokia has the best RF too. But I guess Nokia phones don’t do the VCARD etc. properly as per the RFCs. The inter-phone tranfer of addressbook entries using Infrared doesn’t work well either.

    Sony Ericsson phones have a few software bugs and usability problems. I use a T310 it works fine after a couple of accident (one rather nasty one that bruised it ;-)), I like the phone a lot, but there are a few minor software bugs that are irritating (you can search for the number of a person whenever you have to input a number except in one of the menus – where you want to SMS a phone number of someone, there you need to enter the number manually, painful)

    Check out Siemens phones if you don’t mind their poor looks (Well, atleat I don’t like them), but they are sturdy and work nicely. The GPRS support is good and well tested. Models like the S45 have facility for software update. These guys fix bugs, add features (like GPRS multi-slot class which allows you to get more data rate if your operator supports it) and you can download the fixes and feature enhanced software to your phone and use it after the next reboot.

    Personally, I like the phones with a joystick. YMMV.

  22. appaji · February 23, 2004 Reply

    [Oops … commented at the wrong place eariler I guess]

    Seconded. 6610 is one of the nice phones made by Nokia. Nokia has the best RF too. But I guess Nokia phones don’t do the VCARD etc. properly as per the RFCs. The inter-phone tranfer of addressbook entries using Infrared doesn’t work well either.

    Sony Ericsson phones have a few software bugs and usability problems. I use a T310 it works fine after a couple of accident (one rather nasty one that bruised it ;-)), I like the phone a lot, but there are a few minor software bugs that are irritating (you can search for the number of a person whenever you have to input a number except in one of the menus – where you want to SMS a phone number of someone, there you need to enter the number manually, painful)

    Check out Siemens phones if you don’t mind their poor looks (Well, atleat I don’t like them), but they are sturdy and work nicely. The GPRS support is good and well tested. Models like the S45 have facility for software update. These guys fix bugs, add features (like GPRS multi-slot class which allows you to get more data rate if your operator supports it) and you can download the fixes and feature enhanced software to your phone and use it after the next reboot.

    Personally, I like the phones with a joystick and I wold’ve loved to have a BT enabled phone, it *is* quite useful. YMMV.

  23. ravi · February 24, 2004 Reply

    T-200 is the biggest crock of bullshit I’ve ever encountered. Other folks who have played with SE phones concur on these sentiments. Save your cash, people, go for a Nokia.

  24. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    What’s going to be different ?

  25. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    What happens then?

  26. abiligiri · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Stay away from Nokia color phones

    No doubt Nokia phones are very usable and rugged, but they suck (atleast most of their color models) when it comes to display. If you find some nice pic on the Net and want to set it as wallpaper, it will show up as a 4096 color picture. Not good at all! Check out Sony Ericsson T610 , costs 14k has 16k colors, Bluetooth, IRDA, MIDI ring tones, GPRS. T630 is the successor and has better reception. Don’t know whether that is available in India yet.

  27. tifosi · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    Oh dont go 4 reliance…I call it “The leech”. It just sticks 2 u.Besides, the handset aint all that great. The very fact that it is incompatible with other connections pisses me off.Another authentic(atleast 98%) info about reliance is that…every call u make bloody starts getting charged from the moment u r done with dialing…which means uve gotta pay for missed calls as well!!??!! A friend of mine who uses reliance told me ’bout this thing…

    Nokia phones r the most robust phs of them all……..

  28. shaurya · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Second that!

    Man, what is this, the Encyclopedia Connectica?

  29. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    If bluetooth can replace power cables, I buy it else not. All the cables I carry or power cables. I transfer stuff form camera to laptop via CF pcmcia card, phone to laptop via IR and I do not own a PDA and do not intend to either. So I dont care a shit about bluetooth

    But even for a normal joe, I suspect bluetooth will make life different. Does normal joe own so many devices ? even if he does he has to spend on a bluetooth adapter for each of them

  30. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    those are suppose to be babe magnet or something ?

  31. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    yep. I have been a longtime nokia user and most prob I will stick to that ( unless i buy the T610)

  32. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    hehe nice summery.

    I think I am down to choosing between nokia 6610 and SE T610.

  33. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    I would not mind the 3315 actually.. but I have been with 3310 for this long.. maybe its time to upgrade.

  34. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: Stay away from Nokia color phones

    is the number of colors the only thing that better about T610 ?

  35. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    I don’t believe power will ever be wireless, so we can forget about that. The most “wireless” power can get is by putting device in cradle, and cradle directly in wall socket.

    The Bluetooth people have missed their bus, I agree, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take a taxi to catch up. If you have a non-power cable connecting two devices, there’s hope for Bluetooth.

    Physically moving a CF card between camera and laptop is so outdated, man. It’s like using a CD-ROM drive. Do you use CDs anymore? I don’t. The only discs I use are Audio CDs, and for the first rip only.

  36. shaurya · February 24, 2004 Reply

    The new 3310s and now the 3315 come with the Li batteries by default.

    Really tough (toughest one I’ve had), reliable and long lasting.

    No IR though.

  37. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: Stay away from Nokia color phones

    The Nokia colour phones are like toys. Funky menus and arbitrary restrictions. The only recent Nokia model that I like is the 6600, the partial PDA phone. SE’s T68i and successors set you free. Keep off SE’s P800 and P900. The UI totally sucks there.

  38. premshree · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Given a choice, I’d opt for the SE T610…only because Nokias are everywhere =)

  39. abiligiri · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: Stay away from Nokia color phones

    Recently Teju bought a 17k Nokia phone (don’t remember the model number). It has crippled IRDA, that is phone can’t send , it can only receive over IR. The ringtones in Nokia are not pure/simple MIDI. So you can’t set MIDI files as ringtones. Have to get Nokia specific MIDI files.

    Let me tell you about some of the missing features in SE610

    1. Speaker phone
    2. Can’t set recorded voice as ringtone
    3. Some settings like “Cell info Display” are missing
    4. The keys are closely spaced, so composing SMS is bit of a hassle.

    And yes resolution does matter 🙂

  40. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    If you have a non-power cable connecting two devices, there’s hope for Bluetooth.

    Agreed, but its price to convinence ratio

    Physically moving a CF card between camera and laptop is so outdated, man

    and I thought using the USB cable each time was. This is my issue with bluetooth. I agree i would love to copy the pics directly off my camera, but none of the nikon camera’s come with bluetooth support. There is one model which supports wifi, but that one costs $500 extra then the same model without wifi. I will need bluetooth support for my laptop was well and a cheap one will cost atleast $50.

    Do I spend $550 or do I just yank the CF card and push it on the side of my laptop ? I say second option.. for $550 I can get a 3Gb CF card, in which case I do not need to move it around at all.

    I agree bluetooth is cool techonology. but economics dont work out, and at the end of the day , thats all it matters.

  41. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    The fun starts when devices have bluetooth support built-in. Mobile phones are already there. Apple’s laptops are already there. The Wintel world will catch up soon, and then cameras will.

  42. admin · February 24, 2004 Reply

    – I do not have an apple laptop ( and atleast in india less then 5% of the laptop’s are apple)

    – I do not see too much use of mobile phone < --> laptop communication. Nice stuff to play with, but not practical use.

    So do you still think bluetooth will ever take off ?

  43. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    That’s bizarre. It sounds like the FUD spread by competitors or envious customers of competitors. The LG phones show a counter that starts from when the number is dialled, but this does not mean billing also starts before a connection is established.

    Personally, I’m very happy with Reliance. The instrument is lousy, but it works great for Internet access. I’m thinking of dumping my Hutch pre-paid connection for AirTel or BSNL post-paid.

  44. jace · February 24, 2004 Reply

    You mean you never sync contacts with your phone? You type them all in using that tiny keypad?

    Syncing contacts isn’t play for me. It’s the most fundamental requirement, lower on the requirement list than even making and receiving calls.

  45. kingsly · February 24, 2004 Reply

    I do not see too much use of mobile phone < --> laptop communication. Nice stuff to play with, but not practical use.

    With a basic model like your 3310 … you would never notice the need.

    When you get a phone which has an addressbook(15+ fields) and an appointment manager… there is a lot of info that needs to be backed up/modified on a regular basis.

    Plugging a cable in everytime is a pain.(I’m doing it on my desktop and have one end always connected into the comp.) With a laptop it’s got to be twice the pain!

    Your rates on BT dongles are antique… you can get a decent one for $20-$30(maybe even less)

    The whole BT is dead FUD is being spread by Intel who are trying to promote their wireless USB technology… most mobile phone and pda manufacturers are going with bluetooth for wireless … I don’t see them dumping it. Remember how USB was when it started ? Everyone had those ports but Windows95 wouldn’t support it? and there were hardly any usb devices in the market… and now just about every device has an USB-model(keyboards/mice/printers/scanners/cameras!) BT is just about reaching that stage… we already have BT mice and keyboards in the market!

    And as penetration increases… prices will fall…

    IIRC the t68i was around $400(+$100 for the camera) when it launched … now you get a decent BT phone for $200+) By mid-2005 BT+(hi-speed internet) would probably be standard on all mobile phones.

  46. teemus · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Online mobile phone comparision…

    http://www.esato.com/phones – Compare upto three phones.

    Oh yes, the T610 does have a Nokia counterpart – the 6600, but for only 10k dearer…. 😉

  47. kingsly · February 24, 2004 Reply

    Re: tip

    CDMA 1x-EVDO would probably be available by the end of the year.(maybe as early as august)
    So getting tied to Reliance/their handset is a bad idea for now.

    I’ve dumped my Reliance connection for now will pick up a CDMA handset/device which I’ll own once the new players launch their service/competition heats up.. so that I can easily switch between providers if necessary.

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