I've been waiting for months for the N80 as it seems to be the perfect phone for me. However, I'm hearing rumors that it won't be available because of disputes from Cingular. I need a new contract and would like to buy a subsidized phone rather than a high priced unlocked phone. Why spend $800+ for a phone if I have to agree to a contract anyways...
Anyway, are there any alternatives to the N80. I'm didn't even realize there were so many brands out there.
Here is what is important to me in order of priority. I also don't know much about phones so may not even know what is best for me
- POP3 Email able. My biggest reason for wanting a new phone is to check email. 95% of the time will be receiving and I rarely will reply. Since I won't reply often, I could live without a keyboard since small size is more important to me. I don't mind getting a portable bluetooth keyboard either. Have no idea what blackberry email is compared to standard email.
- Wifi: I lug my laptop around all the time to clients mainly for email and occassionally internet. I actually installed wifi hotspots in most of my clients businesses partly so I could have easier access. So a lot of effort was put into creating hotspots and I would like to capitalize on this with a wifi phone.
- Bluetooth: Would like to be able to use bluetooth to sync to Outlook. I'm always forgetting cords. I have bluetooth on my desktop and laptop. I also just got a bluetooth GPS system that will link to my phone (nuvi 360) with bluetooth. I don't use bluetooth headsets. I have a couple but they were sort of complicated and batteries died all the time.
- Fairly small: I currently have a Nokia 6620. I consider this phone a bit large. This is about the max size I would like. I could possibly go a bit bigger for a phone with keyboard.
- Good screen: I would like a fairly large screen with good resolution. As I will be reading emails on this screen, I don't want to have to scrutinize tiny type and scroll for eons.
- Removeable storage media: I will probably have hundreds of megabytes of email so removeable/expandable storage is critical. Don't really care about type of memory.
- Smartphone: Have no idea what that means. I assume I need a smart phone to check email. What are non-smartphones, dumbphones?
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Some nice to have features (but not deal breakers)
- MP3 player capabilities: stereo output, decent speaker quality, usable with standard headphones (with adapter is ok).
- Quad band. Honestly, I don't know what bands are. I don't travel internationally and as long as the phone works here in Colorado I'm fine. But I may travel to Taiwan and I heard a quad band phone may work there. Again, no big deal.
- Good Battery Life: Of course this is important but I don't mind charging every night for light day usage. I drive a lot and also have a car charger.
- FM Radio would be nice
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Some things I don't care about
- camera: I've got lots of great cameras that I use for photos. In the last year, I've only taken about a dozen pictures with my phone. I really don't use it.
- speakerphone: Another thing I don't use so complaints about low volume etc. don't matter to me.
- Style: This is purely for work and I don't really care what it looks like or what others think.
-------------------------------
Sorry for the long post. The N80 really is the perfect phone for me but I'm afraid it will never get released here. I've waited since November and in the meantime, can't use my phone to check email. I started learning about other brands I never even heard of.
I am considering ordering a foreign N80 but it seems a shame to pay a premium for a phone and then sign a contract with a carrier such as Cingular and not get the benefit of a phone subsidy. I wish they could discount my phone bill $200 for bringing my own phone... There are also some minor concerns about using Intl. phone on US G3 network, warranty, support, etc. Uggh. I just wish a carrier would pick the N80. I'm getting impatient.
Any alternatives based on the above?
Anyway, are there any alternatives to the N80. I'm didn't even realize there were so many brands out there.
Here is what is important to me in order of priority. I also don't know much about phones so may not even know what is best for me
- POP3 Email able. My biggest reason for wanting a new phone is to check email. 95% of the time will be receiving and I rarely will reply. Since I won't reply often, I could live without a keyboard since small size is more important to me. I don't mind getting a portable bluetooth keyboard either. Have no idea what blackberry email is compared to standard email.
- Wifi: I lug my laptop around all the time to clients mainly for email and occassionally internet. I actually installed wifi hotspots in most of my clients businesses partly so I could have easier access. So a lot of effort was put into creating hotspots and I would like to capitalize on this with a wifi phone.
- Bluetooth: Would like to be able to use bluetooth to sync to Outlook. I'm always forgetting cords. I have bluetooth on my desktop and laptop. I also just got a bluetooth GPS system that will link to my phone (nuvi 360) with bluetooth. I don't use bluetooth headsets. I have a couple but they were sort of complicated and batteries died all the time.
- Fairly small: I currently have a Nokia 6620. I consider this phone a bit large. This is about the max size I would like. I could possibly go a bit bigger for a phone with keyboard.
- Good screen: I would like a fairly large screen with good resolution. As I will be reading emails on this screen, I don't want to have to scrutinize tiny type and scroll for eons.
- Removeable storage media: I will probably have hundreds of megabytes of email so removeable/expandable storage is critical. Don't really care about type of memory.
- Smartphone: Have no idea what that means. I assume I need a smart phone to check email. What are non-smartphones, dumbphones?
-------------------------------
Some nice to have features (but not deal breakers)
- MP3 player capabilities: stereo output, decent speaker quality, usable with standard headphones (with adapter is ok).
- Quad band. Honestly, I don't know what bands are. I don't travel internationally and as long as the phone works here in Colorado I'm fine. But I may travel to Taiwan and I heard a quad band phone may work there. Again, no big deal.
- Good Battery Life: Of course this is important but I don't mind charging every night for light day usage. I drive a lot and also have a car charger.
- FM Radio would be nice
-------------------------------
Some things I don't care about
- camera: I've got lots of great cameras that I use for photos. In the last year, I've only taken about a dozen pictures with my phone. I really don't use it.
- speakerphone: Another thing I don't use so complaints about low volume etc. don't matter to me.
- Style: This is purely for work and I don't really care what it looks like or what others think.
-------------------------------
Sorry for the long post. The N80 really is the perfect phone for me but I'm afraid it will never get released here. I've waited since November and in the meantime, can't use my phone to check email. I started learning about other brands I never even heard of.
I am considering ordering a foreign N80 but it seems a shame to pay a premium for a phone and then sign a contract with a carrier such as Cingular and not get the benefit of a phone subsidy. I wish they could discount my phone bill $200 for bringing my own phone... There are also some minor concerns about using Intl. phone on US G3 network, warranty, support, etc. Uggh. I just wish a carrier would pick the N80. I'm getting impatient.
Any alternatives based on the above?