Cellphones

Celery

Celery

Joined
Jun 14, 2001
Messages
128
What kind of cellphones do you use? Brand, modell?

@ this moment I'm using an Ericsson T28, and please note that I'm from Europe! :)
 
I wanted a Star Tac, but a friend of mine that works for Motorola told me to hold out.

The Motorola Timeport I now use is like a Star Tac on steriods! A very eligant platinum color, larger color display, web browser capibility, very light weight, and not too small. I love it, and use it all the time. I especially like being notified of incoming e-mails. You can even read the first line or so of the text to get an idea of the subject matter.
 
Nokia 3390.

I have found that the technology changes so quickly it is not in my best interest to drop several hundred dollars on today's phone. I just get the latest offering that is on the tech curve and upgrade every couple of years.
 
I presently have a Motorola 75, Star Tac 7790, an old Mitsubishi, 18X, IIRC, and a new one, a Nokia 5165.

I paid about $250 for the Motorola, $300 for the Star Tac. I was taken. The Nokia 5165 was just over $100, including extras: a higher capacity Li ion battery and cigarette lighter charger cord . Standby is about a week with the standard NiMH battery, and two weeks with the Li ion battery. Talk time about 3 hours and 5 hours, respectively. I thought the other phones were doing great when I got 3 days of standby.

The cell phone companies make their money on roaming charges and monthly fees. They virtually give their phones away. Don't be afraid to haggle, and work with the people on the internet; don't go into a brick and mortar store; that was my mistake.

Here is what to look for in a phone:

Make sure it is dual band (digital plus analog) phone. Digital only phones (the Nokia 3390 being a good example) are often featured in ads, and these work at the PCS (Personal Communication Services) wavelength: 1.9 GHz (1900 MHz). The problem is, digital phones depend on digital cells, and these are mostly in metropolitan areas. If you get out in the country, you will probably run into analog signals, which operate on 800 MHz, and your digital phone will not work at all. Usually. There are digital cells which use the 800 MHz wavelength (most digital phones actually use both 1.9GHz and 800 MHz as well), but a completely digital phone will not pick up the analog signal.

Find out which type of multiplexing (signal sharing technology) is most common in your area, so you can get the appropriate digital dual band phone. There are three types, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), and the less frequently encountered GSM (Global System Mobile communication). CDMA is generally preferred, as it is encrypted, and thus nearly immune to 'cloning' (someone stealing your cell phone number and using it to make calls that will show up on your bill). Further, TDMA cells generally have a larger area per cell. This can be a mixed blessing, however, as there is a Sprint cell in San Francisco that handles 240 calls simultaneously, and it is full 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; Sprint is trying to put up satellite cells, but is having problems with interference between the two coded signals from the two different cells.

Ask your friends how much coverage they get, then find out what type of multiplexing the friends with the best coverage are utilizing. Just look it up on their cell phone companies' website. Then get that type of phone.

NiCd batteries are no longer worth the money. NiMH are what you will often get with a phone, but you should get an extra Li ion battery. This will give you a lot more standby/talk time, even more than if you calculate what you should get by comparing mAh ratings of the batteries. Li ion batteries have a problem, and that is that they are only good for about 2 or 3 years of normal use, but by that time, you will probably benefit from a new phone anyway. The sensitivity of phones is ever improving. In the Santa Cruz mountains, the Nokia was the only one of several cell phones present which would work.

Give a lot of thought to how much you really need the extras, such as e-mail, voice mail, and internet access. I had most of these on my phones, but found I never used them. If you do use them, expect to pay for them.

Expect some hassles with your provider. The overall consumer rating for this industry is a 'D', with only one company, AT&T, getting a 'C'. See the comparison here: http://www.planetfeedback.com/ratings/Industry/0,2503,100,00.html

I found this company excellent to buy accessories from at heavily discounted prices: http://www.wirelessbargainstore.com/index.html

Hope this helps, Walt
 
When my contract came up recently, I switched from a StarTac to a Timeport, and I have to concur with what's been said. The 'Tac was ok, but ergonomically wasn't a good choice for me; battery life was miserable, and I had a constant problem with the antenna connector and the power plug jack.

The TimePort seems to be free of these problems so far, and I actually appreciate the larger size. It also has a decent speakerphone and voice-activated dialing, which is a great safety feature for anyone like me who is driving and using the phone at the same time....
 
Had the Nokia 8890, then switched to the Motorola V60C...due to service change.
 
Had a Startac. Not sure which model, but it was from Sprint and I loved it. UNtil it got ran over by a car. After that it was not very useful.

I got a Timeport, but didn't like it. Didn't like holster, of which I have broken 3 in less than 6 months (never broke my Startac one in almost 2 years of use). It was ok but I just didn't care for it.

So I swapped with my wife. She know carries the Timeport in her purse and I carry her old Samsung 3500. I really like it. Have one of those swivel holster thingies. Works well
 
The cost of the phone is only one aspect. Consider the cost of accessories. Most people end up buying another battery, a handsfree set, a case, insurance against loss or damage etc. which adds to your intial outlay.

When you switch phones you most likely will never be able to use most of those old accessories with the new phone. You'll start all over again buying some of this stuff.

This is one of the reasons why I try to stick to the same phone manufacturer and only buy the current technology curve phone being offered.

Walt brings up some great points when considering a phone. I have GSM because it is the only service that works where I live. I have had really no complaints with it. Prior to that I had CDMA.

By the way, GSM is the only phone to my knowledge that stores all your data encripted on a chip in your phone. When you change phones you just transfer the old chip into your new phone and all your data is there. Any other phone you would have to re-enter all that data over again. If you drop and break the screen (like I did) to your CDMA phone you won't be able to get the data info out of it.
 
I have and use a Nokia 8290 to replace a 6190 that was too big to carry with all my other gear that I carry on a daily basis amoung other considerations. Where I live, I can get any type of service but chose GSM for the SIM card swithc capability. I bought the 8290 on ebay and simply switched the SIM card to the new phone. In theory, the GSM also supports data transfer, but I'm unwilling to pay for that sort of thing.

I have 3 batteries for the 6190 (1 NiMH, 1 Li-Ion, 1 Li-Ion vibe) but I really only used the vibrating battery. IMO, Li-Ion is the way to go for the slimmer form factor and the lighter weight. The 8290 came with all the accessories I needed, but I ended up buying another belt case and a couple of faceplates anyway. I don't think that I'll buy another battery until the original starts to crap out on me.
 
I have a Timeport. I like it, but wish for longer runtime. My wife's Nokia goes for like a week on a charge.

I'd say the best thing to do is talk to people in your area, see which phones work best. I agree with the advice to avoid digital-only PCS phones. Even in metropolitan areas, anywhere there's a dead spot, you end up roaming. That happened too much for me. I'd rather go with a dual-band phone, and get switched to analog without getting roaming charges.

Among the important features for me is digital modem capability, and that the cell phone service provider offers free ISP service. The cell phone has to have digital capability, and the provider has to offer the ISP service. Most vendors do this, with AT&T one of the big exceptions. With this service, I can attach my PDA to my cellphone with a specialized cable, and then access the internet for free (except being charged for my minutes as a regular call; no problem, since I have 1000 minutes included in my package).

Voice dialing is another outstanding feature. I like it.

But beyond good service, modem service, and voice-activated dialing, I look at battery life and form factor.

Joe
 
I got the Motorola V60c a couple of months ago. It replaced my old Startac 7760 (which I loved). The V60c is hella expensive at $420, but it's a very nice phone. I love the small-but-not-too-small size and the metal (!) case. With the slim 500 mAh battery, I get nearly two days of standby in NYC. With the extended 850 mAh battery, I get five days of standby. Big improvement in battery life compared to the Startac.

The interface is an improvement over the Startac as well. Previously, I've also owned the Nokia 232, 2160, and 6120. Nokia still makes the best interfaces, but with the V60c, Motorola is starting to catch up. Motorola sound quality is light years ahead of Nokia though. The V60c improves in this area as well.

The best part of the V60c and any other web enabled Startac? Truesync! I got the serial cable, and I can now hotsync the phonebook and datebook from MS Outlook. Now, all my phone numbers are the same whether it's my Palm V, my phone, or my desktop. Plus, I get a brief and subtle vibration reminder whenever I have a meeting scheduled!

I'm using Verizon's Singlerate East $35/month plan + MobileWeb service. Web surfing on your phone is surprising useful (sometimes). ;)

Highly recommended.
/mel
 
Dexter Ewing; I never really left, except in August and September, when I was in bed with sciatica. Two epidurals later, it went away. I was fairly incapacitated with the pain, and lobotomized by the drugs I was on. Further, my eldest daughter gave me (quite unexpectedly) a 9 lb. 8 oz. grandson on 10-17 of this year. He is not quite two months old, but weighs 20 lbs., and has outgrown his six month sized baby clothes already! I had to make a road trip, of course, to see him, and also dropped in on youngest daughter to say hello (she is in Ft. Collins, C0; eldest daughter in Omaha, NE). Youngest son turns 10 yo, tomorrow, so I have been busy.

BTW; you guys are true technogeeks! ;) :p

Walt
 
In Europe you should be able to find a T39.
I too had the T28 but the T39 is a godsend.
I posted a review of it on here previously.

The menus are similar to the T28 so there won't be much of a learning curve.
The radiation is less -- the battery time is more -- and the features are just great.... built-in vibrate alert, web browser, GSM, GPRS, voice control, POP e-mail....
Just think of it as a T28 on steroids (same height and width but 3 mm thicker -- barely noticeable.
And you'll still be able to use all of your T28 accessories.
 
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