Topic awaiting preservation: The demise of my trusty communicator.

I was rather reticent to start a thread with the words "mobile phone" in the title hence my rather abstract alternative.
A couple of days ago I managed to break my mobile phone so I'm now looking for a new one. I had considered keeping this phone as I can still phone out and receive calls and I also like the psychedelic "eye" that has appeared on the broken screen, I had started calling it my new Eye Phone. Not been able to read the screen though is turning out to be far too impractical so I'm now looking for a new one.
Any suggestions my learned and generous Asylumites?

Apart from the basics I'd want a music player and radio functionality. Next I'd like internet connectivity for free or at least at a reasonable rate. I realise this will also depend on what kind of "package" I sign up for.

I have always had my phones on a "Pay as You Go" rate and I have been considering getting a contract this time but the MADNESS that is our consumer society does not appear to want me.
Apparently, because I always pay cash for everything and have never been in debt I do not have a credit rating. I could hardly believe my ears when the salesman said my request had been turned down because I have a "bad" credit rating. I have never been in debt to any company or organisation in my life, as I said I always pay cash. I save up for things I want.
The next suggestion was I join a credit checking company like Experion who will then go through my credit history and who may be able to "set my records straight". For a monthly fee of course.
Thieving shysters
Honestly, I've had more honest and open dealing with hardened criminals than I'll ever get from these sales and credit people BAH!

ANYway, looks like I will have to buy a phone instead.
I'm rather taken by the touch screens I've seen advertised but I've not had any hands-on experience with them. I also feel an affinity towards open source like Android.

So. any recommendations?

HTC Desire! I just got one and I absolutely love it. I'm now fully connected

It is great for the Internet, great for connecting and synchronising contacts, and great for geolocalisation. The UI is fantastic, it is highly configurable, and it simply does what you expect a smartphone to do. It has a 5M pixels camera which I still have to test.

Any more questions welcome!

Cheers,

kimson

Android, being Linux-based, is certainly a better OS choice than many, but these days you can get phones that run on proper Linux (not Java?-y, Google-touched mutants like Android), and you don't even have to live in Asia. Example.

Oh my! I love the look of both of those. I'm just going through the video showcases on YouTube and Vimeo for each of them. I think the next step is to go to a phone retailer and actually handle the phones to see how they feel in my eager hands. Then to work out how costly they will cost to run on a monthly basis.
Thanks kimson and reisio.

Oh Flying Teapot, I be getting gadget fever:
Gadget Show - Best Buys
MeeGo



(Edited by Tao on 07-02-2010 01:26)

I have a HTC Hero, and while I'm not a big fan of the phone, the HTC Sense interface is really nice compared to the stock Android experience, and the new phones, such as the Legend and Desire (Nexus too) are much better hardware, so I really recommend getting an Android phone.

If you can get an unbranded phone though, I would consider buying the phone straight out rather than contract, and putting your own sim in, and buying a separate internet package on top of your regular pay as you go, this is by far the cheapest option, but involves a bit more management on your behalf.

The reason for not buying a branded phone is simple, my HTC Hero is from a contract with Orange, and they lag behind on OS updates by many months, it's bad enough having to wait 6 months for HTC to recompile the latest Android build (1.6 to 2.1, in my case) but then once it's released you still can't upgrade until Orange have released their own branded version, unless you want to root your phone, but sometimes it's nice when things just work.

As an aside a really easy way to get a good credit rating is to get yourself a credit card and use it for as many purchases as possible (I like to use mine for Amazon, and purchases over £100, then pay it off instantly. This won't incur you any extra charge (you won't pay interest on purchases for the first 12 months on most cards, and you'll pay off any credit before you have to pay interest on it), and your credit rating will look very good as you'll use your card regularly.

Now that is an option I had not considered, thanks for that Blaise. I am off out this afternoon hunting phones and deals

After much debate and humming and haring I now have my new phone. In fact I am writing this with said phone.
It is the HTC Desire. I love it, I've only had an hour or two play so I'm still finding my way around, and there's lots of around to find.
I'm now trying to transfer my numbers from the old one, I'm sure there must be a quick way to do this.
I'm off to investigate.



All contacts transferred like a dream
Now to immerse myself in the world of Apps

(Edited by Tao on 07-28-2010 00:43)

Excellent choice Tao! I'm still amazed how great this phone is. It just does what you want

Still playing around to find the perfect configuration for it, but I'll get there.... And now we can also look forward to the Froyo update!

Let us know if you find the ultimate application!

Cheers,

kimson

Now this is going to sound a bit excessive but.....
I could hardly sleep last night Many times I advised myself to just put my Desire down and go to bed. Eventually I nodded off with my trusty HTC by my side.
I have yet to set up all the different screens or to customise I should say. One app I'm testing now is called Layar It appears to be still under development but the potential is fabulous, augmented reality indeed.
Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Ah yes! I had been trying to recollect its name for a long time, I had read about it in some magazine! Thanks so much for sharing, downloading it as we speak ;-)

Which colour did you get by the way? I couldn't choose mine and got a brown one, I was disappointed at first when I saw it on the box, but I really loved the colour as soon as I got it out of the box! It's got hints of purple, it's a beautiful coulour

Mine is black/brown with hints of purple too. I've just encased it in a black flip top holder and put a screen protector on it. I found it impossible to lay the screen protector down without getting a few little air bubbles which was annoying at first but as soon as the screen is activated the bubbles are not noticeable.

Sat in a café to-day taking calls checking emails, facebook and flickr. Then I noticed there was free WiFi available so I hooked up to that and listened to a few tunes on my Last.fm page. Stayed there far longer than I had planned, drank too much coffee and cycled home like a demon in record time

I see there is a Photoshop app too haven't tried it yet have you? I just have to wait till tomorrow when my old phone number gets transferred. I've also changed a few of the default settings to increase battery time.
Oh, I'm having so much fun.

TP: Spam removed

(Edited by Tyberius Prime on 07-30-2010 12:15)

Naff off SPAMMER!
You have even stolen my words you low life

Didn't know about the Photoshop app! Downloading it right now, I'm going to try it out! Looking for some games as well, but haven't found anything highly entertaining. I quite like Bonzai Blast though, it's a remake form Zuma but with more features.