Recommendations for new Mobile Telephone

[Welly]

I know everyone will have their favorites here but:

I have an aging Blackberry which is not holding its charge well now, and is due for an upgrade anyway. I won't have to pay any actual moneh as it's a work phone.

I don't 'do' apps and mobile internetz so essentially just need a phone that doesn't need charging up on the hour, can send/receive emails and has a reasonable camera (so business use really).

I really don't care about what is/isn't 'cool' (see Blackberry above).

I have probably 100+ contacts which'd need shifting as painlessly as possible too, not sure how you do that on schmart fonez?

Over to you bunch of idi...erm... eggs perts......

[steve_earwig]

Don't ask me I'm sure someone like Highlander will be along soon to bamboozle you with their technical knowledge, however, I suspect you're about as technologically incapable as I am, so...

Make sure it has a flash for the camera, preferably one that doubles as a torch (my old dumb phone had this, my new* smart* phone does not and I really miss it. I didn't think any manufacturer would be stupid enough to leave this useful function out but what do I know?)

Don't get a smart* phone, the touch screen on mine drives me 'round the twist. Don't be tempted to buy one the size of a table top in the expectation that it'll make using the minuscule touch screen buttons easier to use either, that would be nuts.

Can't you just buy a new battery for the strawberry?

[OllieNZ]

I'm for android, as for choice of handset well they are all pretty much of a muchness with a few standouts, htcs are built tough, the top Sony is waterproof and the nexus is Google showing the rest how android should be done and is alot of phone for the money. So I'd try play with a few different brands as they all put their own spin on the android os and see what you like. As for transferring contacts I've not done a blackberry so not sure how to get them off but if you can get them off as a .csv file then transferring them to an android phone is simple. I did it for one of the guys at work yesterday from his windows phone to his new android phone and it took less than 5min.

[highlander]

If battery life is important, my former colleague got himself a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 just before he left at the end of last year, and the battery life was excellent.

But the trade-off is that the Note 4 is a really big phone. 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm, weight 176g. It's still pocket-sized, just a bit bigger than your average handset. The upside of that is that the screen is well-suited for people with larger digits (I have no data, nor any wish for data, on the size of your hands). The screen is also good enough for watching movies / TV on, if you later decide you want to get into doing stuff like iPlayer / Netflix when you're on the move.

Positives include Gorilla Glass 4 coating on the screen, so the screen shouldn't crack even when hit with something heavy, and should be very scratch-resistant. The phone also has a stylus pen included, so you can take notes using your actual handwriting, directly on to the screen.

You can copy the contacts from a Blackberry to any other Bluetooth capable phone, or you can transfer them to your PC using the Blackberry Desktop Software (I believe this software will let you put your Blackberry contacts right into your e-mail program, if you use something like Microsoft Outlook for your e-mail). If you use a web mail service like Yahoo! Mail or Gmail instead of an e-mail client on your PC, then you can also export your contacts as .VCF files. You can then use whatever desktop companion software is available for your new phone (whatever it ends up being) to copy your contacts right from your e-mail program (or from your .VCF files) on to your new phone.

For reference, I use a Samsung Galaxy S4, and it's quite good. I ended up binning the Samsung-customized version of Android though and went to Cyanogenmod, which is still Android, but is designed more for people like me, who like to f*ck about with stuff for no other reason than "just because".

[highlander]

Don't ask me I'm sure someone like Highlander will be along soon to bamboozle you with their technical knowledge

LOL, only just saw this!

Make sure it has a flash for the camera, preferably one that doubles as a torch (my old dumb phone had this, my new* smart* phone does not and I really miss it. I didn't think any manufacturer would be stupid enough to leave this useful function out but what do I know?)

Does seem a bit stupid not to have a flash function. I can't actually recall ever owning a smartphone that didn't have a flash function on its camera. Care to name & shame?

Don't be tempted to buy one the size of a table top in the expectation that it'll make using the minuscule touch screen buttons easier to use either, that would be nuts.

This did actually make a difference for my Dad; he had a little Samsung Galaxy Ace that my Mum discarded (she hated it, but to be fair, it was a shite little phone). He's quite into photography, but doesn't like having to carry around a phone and a camera in order to be contactable AND take pictures - so we bought him the previous-generation Samsung Galaxy Zoom. Really good camera, and a much bigger screen and newer release of Android than the previous phone. He had struggled to use the screen on his old one, but finds typing on the new one much easier.

You can also download different keyboard apps from the Google Play store - some of them are paid-for things, but most are freebies. We actually tried one out for Dad on his Galaxy Ace, which combines the predictive text option with a neat function that actually changes the size of the keys - i.e. as you type a couple of letters, the rest of the keys shrink down a little bit, and the ones you're most likely to press next will grow in size. It's a bit weird to start with, but ends up with much easier typing ability. Bear in mind that my Dad is over 70 now, he's not really IT literate, and he managed OK with that.

[Welly]

Can't you just buy a new battery for the strawberry?

I sort of want a new phone, but good point, although if the companies paying.....

I dunno I don't like 'large' phones at all. My Strawberry slots right in my Vulva's Cupholder by the handbrake, I don't think a larger phone will, and the Blueberry fits in me Shirt breast-pocket for convenience.

I'm going to embarrass myself by stating I don't actually know what 'android' means in terms of a mobile, is a Blackberry an android?

Cyanogenmod

Is that Welsh?

Sorry mate, thanks for your words of advise, as always, and I'll keep that in mind. Someone else said that the Galaxy was good, 'better' than an I-phone perhaps, I dunno.

If all goes wrong with transferring Contacts I'll just get my 16 year old daughter to type them in manually.....she can type eleventy twelvety words a minute on those things.

[Doggy]

You also need to check the proposed new phone doesn't get in the way when you jump across into the passenger seat to take pictures.

Carry on.

[steve_earwig]

Android is one of the smartphone operating systems, that's what this one has and it's very irritating. As I said, don't get a smartphone, unless you want to browse the internet, emails, check the weather etc.

I don't 'do' apps and mobile internetz

Ah, case closed.

[D4B]

It seems to me that all the suggestions above are Web enabled Smart Phones of one description or another.

I am with Welly, and am also intent on finding a non Smart Phone, not web enabled, with camera and torch which holds it's charge.

So to summarize, an UnSmart Phone, which is Webless, Appless, with a decent camera, memory card upgradeable, preferably not a touch screen,
with a torch.... Oh, must be able to make phone calls.

Cheers Steve

[benczuk]

OOOO can of worms!

Android is one of the smartphone operating systems, that's what this one has and it's very irritating. As I said, don't get a smartphone, unless you want to browse the internet, emails, check the weather etc.

I don't 'do' apps and mobile internetz

Ah, case closed.

If you have to go smartphone go Apple for simplicity and ease of use. (both my parents can mange to use one without calling me every few days, but their android tablet sits on the shelf as they cant fathom the OS.

Android has it's benefits, but for simplicity and a phone that will hold some value when the renewal comes along apple wins.

(In the interest of neutrality, I have had many different versions of each and develop apps for both platforms, yet my everyday phone is still an iPhone)

[benczuk]

I really don't care about what is/isn't 'cool' (see Blackberry above).

I have a good condition Blackberry torch I can sell you (development phone so never used in anger)

On a serious note, if you don't want anything great, get the best value SIM only plan you can then pick up something off ebay

[OllieNZ]

Steve_earwig if your camera has a flash you can get a app that will allow you use it for a torch this was something my old phone did but my new one doesn't and as it seems the answer is often these days..... There's an app for that.

[steve_earwig]

It doesn't have a flash. It's an HTC of some sort, it was given to me so I can't really bin it but it is pretty horrible. I still have the old dumb phone somewhere but I'd miss the occasional use of the Internet etc.

A few weeks back I was trying to do something with it (can't remember what) and it seemed to lock up. I kept stabbing at the screen but nothing. Then suddenly it's cycling through the screens so fast I can't keep up and it's decided to ring my brother's mobile. In GB. I reckon if it does that again I'll post a picture on here, taken with the dumb phone, of this with a 6" nail hammered through the screen and into a piece of wood.

[DaiRees]

Had many phones over the years, all the way back to an analogue Sony Mars Bar (remember them)?

I don't like apple stuff, partly because I'm not used to it but mostly because I'll never subscribe to the late Steve Jobs' plan for global domination. Got one apple product? The only way to make full use of its functionality, buy more apple products!
Had a HTC windows phone a couple back, nice phone, sh*t operating system.
Which brings me to Android, I like Android! My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy S2, my current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4, my next phone will probably be a Samsung Galaxy S6. The wife and son are both still using S2s. If I was buying now I'd get an S5.

Functionality and app availability are superb, I know it's sad but I really do wonder how I ever managed without a smart phone. Battery life is a problem with pretty much all smart phones but I just charge mine overnight, every night, and it's fine. Heavy app usage eats battery life, stuff like gps and bluetooth, but that doesn't sound like it'll affect you.

Not affiliated with Samsung or Google, just my opinion.

By the way, this post was made from my S4

[OllieNZ]

Ahhh "if only violence and technology mixed I'd be having a good day"