Cell Phone Questions

[elph]

So my contract is up with AT&T and so I get to pick out a new cell phone. Now, I'm not really in need of a new cell phone (my Razr is lasting quite well), but with some of the new bells and whistles I may as well take a look.

I've narrowed it down to 2 choices.

Nokia E71x
Samsung Impression

Both of them look to cost the same ($1) for my upgrade.

Here are the things I'm looking at for my purposes....
1) A PDF/Text reader of some sort would be nice. The Nokia has that option natively, but the Samsung I'm not so sure about unless there's an app I can download for it.

2) A decent memory capacity in which I may not have to carry around my 1GB iPod. The Nokia has up to 8GB in micro SD while the Samsung has 16GB micro SD. I'm not so sure I'll use up 8GB right off. Even if I went 4 for audio, 4 for documents, that's still a shit ton of space for things. I'm not taking long trips, so I'd only be putting things on there for any given situation.

3) Conectivity: Here's the biggest issue I have I think. The phone I have now has a shitty web browser. I would hardly even call it a web browser. As such, I don't really surf on my phone (I'm mostly home anyway and that's what I've got a computer for). My concern is if I don't go with a major data plan and go with some 'pay as you go' plan I don't want to be hit with a surprise bill when I think things are cheap/free. The Nokia has WiFi access. I'm a little confused here on the order of things. If I go to someplace that has free wifi (Starbucks, Panera Bread, a friends house or whatever), does that mean I can go online for free through that available wifi connection without getting charges through my cell carrier?

I like some of the features the Samsung has. I like it's screen size, touchscreen, larger memory, and it's general size. With the Nokia, I like it's office/PDF applications built in, a notepad built in, it's WiFi capability (if it means what I'm thinking), and that it has a 3.5mm headphone jack instead of bluetooth for headphones.

 

[Adam]

I have a blackberry provided by work and...that's the extent of my cellphone knowledge. Although Nokia is made by the Japanese and get really nasty because they know the way of the Samurai.

Off hand I'd say the Samsung one has a bigger keyboard and is probably easier to browse with.

 

[Adam]

Oh wait, Nokia's German, right?

 

[elph]

you're kidding about Nokia right?
I think this might raise the ire of our local Fin

I love my nokia e71

Nokia was my first cell phone. I also had one other Nokia, 1 LG, 1 Sony Ericson, and 1 Motorola. The LG fell a part (keys falling off, battery dieing frequently) just as the 2 years was up, the Sony I just didn't like it's interface at all (got rid of it within 2 days), the Motorola's lasted me pretty well so far. The Nokia's were by far my favorite (before getting used to the Motorola really) and really did last me for a while. I only upgraded those because of situations like I am now. Time was up, and why not, it's only a couple bucks.

So can you fill me in on the WiFi with the Nokia E71 since that's what I'm looking at? Anything I should know or any good review sites for it?

Also, with GPS on phones. If I don't bother with the service (I know my way around town, don't really need it), can I still use the GPS by plotting in lon/lat like a basic GPS device for things like Geocaching?

 

[elph]

Well, it looks like my mind was made up. As cool as the Nokia sounds, when I was checking out my plan they demanded another $30/month (cheapest option) for the PDA Plan. Really, I don't have the need that badly to spend another $30 a month.

 

[Shannow]

I have had the impression with their data plan for the last couple months. It is fucking awesome. The web browsing is easy enough, but the keyboard...hot damn, its great. It is a bit larger than others, as it gets rid of some side keys, and makes typing on the fly cake (even with my large as thumbs). I find I type a hell of a lot easier and more often than I have on any other phone. I have a 2gb card in it now (carry over from my last phone) I will upgrade it at some point, but then again, i havent come anywhere near to filling it.

As for connectivity, I have not had any problem using the 3g connection anywhere when I am out and about for web surfing (I am in Syracuse, Ny for reference). its been fine.

The touch screen is responsive and fast, even with a cover on it for protection, as is its design (the sidebar widgets are great). And its bringht and gorgeous. the AMOLED they used for this phone is beautiful. I comepare it to my little brothers Eternity, as they have the same design and OS, except the impression has the slide out keyboard and the led screen. And it blows that phone out of the water.

If you opt for gps, att offers it as well, and its fast and works really wellon the impression.

The unlimted data plan i picked up with this phone was only 10 more a month.

I really really like this phone, and I am glad I chose to buy it, even if it did cost me 150 with contract renewal at the time. I will be using it for a while, I can see that.

 

[elph]

I have had the impression with their data plan for the last couple months. It is fucking awesome. The web browsing is easy enough, but the keyboard...hot damn, its great. It is a bit larger than others, as it gets rid of some side keys, and makes typing on the fly cake (even with my large as thumbs). I find I type a hell of a lot easier and more often than I have on any other phone. I have a 2gb card in it now (carry over from my last phone) I will upgrade it at some point, but then again, i havent come anywhere near to filling it.

As for connectivity, I have not had any problem using the 3g connection anywhere when I am out and about for web surfing (I am in Syracuse, Ny for reference). its been fine.

The touch screen is responsive and fast, even with a cover on it for protection, as is its design (the sidebar widgets are great). And its bringht and gorgeous. the AMOLED they used for this phone is beautiful. I comepare it to my little brothers Eternity, as they have the same design and OS, except the impression has the slide out keyboard and the led screen. And it blows that phone out of the water.

If you opt for gps, att offers it as well, and its fast and works really wellon the impression.

The unlimted data plan i picked up with this phone was only 10 more a month.

I really really like this phone, and I am glad I chose to buy it, even if it did cost me 150 with contract renewal at the time. I will be using it for a while, I can see that.

Before I narrowed it down to the Impression I was at first looking at the Eternity & Solstice. Between those 2, I was going with the Eternity because the only big plus the Solstice had was twice the memory size. Outside of that the Eternity meet or beat in every other area (camera is better and screen size is slightly larger on the Eternity). However, I don't like touchscreen keyboards. I have this tactile need to feel the clicks as well as maybe hear them. That's when the impression came in. As you've pretty much experienced, it was I kinda figured. It's just a better deal overall.

The thing is, I don't want to have to get a data plan unless it comes up that I get out of the house and use the web surfing and other crap more often then I do now (which is hardly ever - I leave the house to get away from computers). The GPS would just be a fun toy from time to time and maybe get me back into Geocaching (I don't need turn by turn navigation).

What I do want though is some form of notepad / PDF reader / text reader. Do you know of any apps for the Impression that can fill this role? I want to be able to put a document (.doc, .pdf, .txt, .rtf) on the microSD and look through it on the phone.

Edit:
So, I'm looking over the plans a bit more now. Seems some name changing has been going on in the last couple of years I may have misunderstood stuff. Looks like the Data plan is only $10 a month more and I believe it's part of the deal already, so that settles that. It still doesn't give me any new desire to add $30/month for the PDA plan, so the Nokia is still out.

 

[Shannow]

yeah, you are in pretty much the exact same boat I was a couple motnhs ago. get the impression, you will not be disapointed. The only thing I cannot say is about a doc reader. I havent really looked, as I do not really need to have a function for that as such. I can look around, though. it allows any java apps, so there has to be some out there.

 

[elph]

Yeah, if you find any apps like that let me know. It's not a deal killer really, but if I'm going to have a device this flexible, it'd be nice to be able to put eBooks or some form of minor text on it.

I suppose I could work around it with getting a web domain and hosting my own text documents and reading through it's web browser, but that seems a little excessive.