If not an iPhone …..
Let us for a moment imagine that the iPhone wasn’t around! What ’smartphone’ would be your weapon of choice? Why do I ask? Because I am starting to look around for a alternative or complimentary option for my increased business travel.
Let me save everybody some time though – I am not interested in a BlackBerry. I have nothing against them and liked the one I had when I was working in the US, but I do not want to take on a monthly contract for this handset, as when I am in Spain I have no need for it and I want to be able to use it in both the UK and Dubai.
So this is what I need
- The ability to buy as an unlocked handset only
- 3G so I can buy a Pay As You Go SIM card in the UK and Dubai
- Sync with Mac: Mail, iCal, Address Book, especially To Do and Notes
- Good internet browsing
- Good quality camera – if this could save me buying a second point and shoot that would be perfect
As ever I am spending way too much time ‘researching’ this so would really appreciate hearing what you use or what you are looking at.
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The only thing I can think of is the Nokia N95 or something similar. I would stay away from the Windows Mobile devices. They are more pain than necessary. I don’t think you will find a better browser than on the iphone, on any of the devices.
[quote comment=""]The only thing I can think of is the Nokia N95 or something similar. I would stay away from the Windows Mobile devices. They are more pain than necessary. I don’t think you will find a better browser than on the iphone, on any of the devices.[/quote]
N95 looks a good bet, this would really just be for email and IM as those are what I struggle with most when away ….
Having said all that – a blackberry on contract here and keep the iPhone for non Internet stuff may work. Would pay roaming charges in UK and Dubai of course, but as don’t use that much may not be that expensive.
Or …. just get a Mobile Modem for here and Dubai.
I wasn’t built for all these decisions
Time for more Guinness I think 
In this case, ask yourself what are you going to use the phone for. BB are not that great at IM. They are ok, but not great. Once the software for the iphone starts coming out, I can see all kinds of IM programs for it. I use my BB for pretty much everything, except when I’m at a hotspot. Then out comes ipod touch, and the sun starts to shine
.
So draw up a plan on what is most important that you want that iphone does not have, then start looking for something that will fill the gap. There are not a lot of good “smartphones” out there, and Windows Mobile, seems to have a lot of them. I haven’t found a device yet, that will do everything I want. BB pearl I have has a very small keyboard, and really writing anything longer than a couple of sentences becomes a burden. Iphone’s keyboard is perfect for that.
Then there is Nokia E90, which seems to do a lot of business related stuff. So that could be the answer, maybe?
Also it does seem to sync with Macs….
I use an N95. It is fantastic – great camera, syncs perfectly with my Mac using native iSync, and there is a beta media manager app which syncs iTunes and iPhoto which works very well. It also works as a 3G modem over Bluetooth when on the go. There is even a free app which turns the N95 into a 3G wifi hotspot for sharing the connection amongst several laptops. The native Messaging app works fine for IMAP, and you can use the wifi/3G to make Skype calls over Fring and IM. As a music device it excels, with hardware media keys and a 3.5mm jack. Sound quality is better than my iPods.
I have set up my N95 to upload directly to either flickr or my Typepad blog. Works out of the box. I uploaded photos directly from the hospital room during the birth of my son, and posted to the blog so that family could follow along. Pretty cool.
Nokia Maps 2.0 is a huge improvement, and as a navigation device with the GPS it really is useable. Twice I have used the GPS “in anger” and once was a genuine emergency when my wife felt unwell – it took me straight to her at a friend’s house I had never been to. My TomTom One was safely in my drawer at home, and therefore not helpful!
The Webkit-based browser is OK, but does pale in comparison to Safari on touch and iPhone. The screen is just too small.
There are plenty of great shareware apps for weather etc, I recommend anything by Epocware.
I have tried everything, Windows Mobile (I have an HTC S620, and an iPaq 4700) and Palms (a Treo 650 and a TX) and Nokia S60 devices are the only ones that have consistently worked with my Mac without blowing up.
The only thing the N95 lacks is a QWERTY keyboard. But if that is what you need, then get an E61i. I don’t do or want to do a whole load of mobile messaging and email, if I did then a hardware keyboard would be a must. I hate using T9 and the numberpad.
In other words, although I am desperately waiting for a Swiss iPhone release – I have dual SIM cards for the same number, and even when the iPhone arrives I will still have the N95 loaded up with a SIM, charged and ready to go. It’s really that good.
Hope this helps! Oh, the E90 is a brick…too big. There is also the N95 8gb which is fatter but does have the storage and the bigger screen…
[quote comment=""]It also works as a 3G modem over Bluetooth when on the go [/quote]
I think that may just swing it. As I was planning on buying a mobile modem for Dubai and Spain which would need 2 PAYG SIM cards then a N95 would save me the cost of two mobile modems ……. add to that the fact that I may also get away without needing a point and shoot for Sands as well (bit of a long stretch that one though!!!!)
[quote comment="49138"]I have dual SIM cards for the same number …[/quote]
And as for that little gem …………………
Hi Chris – This is not directly relevant to your situation (it’s more relevant to use in businesses), but I thought you might be interested in a short read anyway: “BlackBerry or iPhone: Which do you choose?“…
Interesting stuff. I spent some time looking at N95’s on eBay yesterday – they are too expensive for what I want, bearing in mind that if the iPhone comes out with 3G I will no doubt go for one, so at the moment I am resisting temptation and just going to swallow the GPRS charges when I use the iPhone away from WiFi as they are bound to be less between now and a 3G iPhone than buying a N95!
A thought has been lurking at the back of my mind through this thread and I’ve only just been able to wrestle it to the ground now. Perhaps this is way off the mark, but (given that this is business driven) have you considered a mobile broadband service with either a USB modem or a Data Card – such as these ones from Vodaphone? I imagine that at least some of the other network operators will do similar products and services…
I’ve never used them, nor known anyone who has used them, but I know that these sort of devices have been around for a while now.
Good idea. Great minds and all that ……
I have a T-Mobile Mobile Modem (have been meaning to write about it for a while) that cost me £99 and runs on a Pay as you Go 3G SIM with a fixed £4 a day for unlimited use. It is brilliant.
I started off thinking I would get a similar set up for Dubai and Spain, which is why the N95 became an options as it would save me the cost of the two modems as it would double up as a bluetooth modem
I think that is the way I will go. Not as flexible as a N95, but cheaper and a good enough solution until such time as a 3G iPhone appears or not …..
Got a doubt about that on the basis that the trend with Apple is certainly slimmer and smaller, so how they going to achieve that and solve the poor 3G battery life?
Have been looking into Mobile Modems a bit more. My Spanish isn’t good enough to be 100% but looks like can get 10MB 3.5G a day for 1€, pay as you go which would be perfect for the odd hour now and again that I would use it for in the Marina.
That is what I currently pay if I chose to use my iPhone for emails, safari etc when not in range of WiFi. Only issue is that the iPhone tries the phone network first efen if close to WiFi so I was paying 1€ a day even when using it via WiFi in the apartment, so I have switched that option off for now. Gotta watch the pennies you know
> Gotta watch the pennies you know
I had the impression that you were filthy rich!
Watch the pennies long enough and hard enough
Just come across this site where I can unlock the T-Mobile USB Modem so it will work with any SIM card
Will take a look at this tomorrow ……
Just picked up a N95 8GB as again the iPhone proved pretty crap when it came down to a serious business use.
Of course I have picked it up on the last day of my trip so wont get to play with it until I get home (Monday night!!!!)
I went with it as I wanted the flexibility of a) acting as a back up P&S so Sands can have the Sony and b) a mobile modem for the 3 countries I spend time in.
Will let you know how it goes. I also picked up a new Nokia for Sands and found a site with a neat plugin that should enable it to Sync with her iMac so will let you know on that one as well.
> found a site with a neat plugin that should enable it to Sync with her iMac so will let you know on that one as well.
Before you go trying/buying third-party software, check out Nokia’s own free offerings. They have both an iSync plugin and a beta Multimedia Transfer utility.
I can’t use the iSync plugin with my Nokia 6300, but I do get to use the Multimedia Transfer util. Watch out with this latter one – when you launch it, it is not a conventional “up front” program. Instead, it subtly loads an icon into your menu bar. I tried it several times before realising this!
Apart from that, it seems to work quite nicely.
Lucky you – tried it with the N95 and got nowhere, and can’t find the files to delete the dam thing now either.
Sands new 6500 on the other hand worked first time with the plugin that I bought!!!!!
> Lucky you – tried it with the N95 and got nowhere, and can’t find the files to delete the dam thing now either.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a problem as a result of my suggestion. Since the Multimedia Transfer Utility uses a simple drag installer, I’m going to assume that your problem is with the iSync plugin. Since it uses Apple’s installer, here’s a simple trick you can often do to find out what’s installed and where. You can either do this up front, or repeat the process after a problem install such as you describe here.
- Run the installer.
- Proceed to the last step before the installation finally kicks off.
- Select File > Show files
This will display a window (which you might want to maximise) which lists each individual file of the payload. As you scroll down the list, you’ll see the hierarchy into which the files are installed. In some cases files can be installed into various different areas of your HD, so look all the way down.
Often you can see the destination directories, though sometimes all that’s listed is a temp directory (with the installed files being moved at the end by a post-install script). Where a temporary directory is listed, you can sometimes guess/infer to where the contents will be moved.
In this particular case, there’s only a very small payload and it appears that your plugin has been installed into this path:
/Library/PhonePlugins
I hope this helps.
Sorted now
Issue was a conflict with the other plugin I had tried as well. Is working perfectly now, am very impressed/pleased with the N95 so far …….. will write about it soon!!!!
[...] takes me a while to get round to things (more so lately it seems) but having posed the question If not an iPhone ….. sometime ago I eventually got round to picking up a Nokia N95 8GB in Dubai. To be honest [...]
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