orinoco77 | Opinions

I'm soliciting opinions on what sort of phone I ought to go for next. Frankly, I'm getting to the point where I'm fed up of paying through the nose for Orange's sluggish and unreliable GPRS service. My Treo 650 is lovely, but it's not particularly roomy, even utilising software to allow me to shunt most of my stuff onto the SD card, and it's getting a bit cantankerous in its old age. I want 3G, I want a keyboard (I'm used to the Treo and I don't think I could cope without a proper keyboard now), I want PalmOS or Linux, I definitely DON'T want windows, I want a reasonably sized screen with decent resolution (320x240 minimum). To me, that's a fairly reasonable list, but I'm damned if I can find it anywhere this side of the globe. There are some funky looking far eastern offerings that are tempting, if I could find a way to get hold of one, but basically the UK mobile phone industry is currently geared towards kids in hoodies who just want something to play their mp3s and take videos of their friends committing crimes, and businessmen who just want something that'll send email and not look too confusing. I want something I can actually use as a mini-computer (like the Treo). I want to be able to run an SSH session on it, VPN into the work LAN, write documents (albeit mainly just plain text, I'm not that fussy), read email and browse the web without having to put up with a crippled, godawful dog of a browser bundled with a crappy "smartphone" from Samsung, Motorola or LG.

Basically, what I think I want is for Sharp to produce a Zaurus with a GSM radio in it, or for Palm to release this Linux Treo they keep teasing me with, or even just a 680 with a decent internet connection and WiFi. It can't be impossible to find a phone that does all that. In fact, I know it isn't, it's just that all the ones I've found are either vapourware or only available from those cheeky chappies in China.

The Orange salesdroids have been ringing me fairly constantly recently, and with every call I try to get them to open their tiny minds enough to admit of the possibility that there might be smartphones out there that don't run Windows Mobile. Invariably they suggest one of Orange's branded smartphones, which are probably great, hardware-wise, but run Windows, and worse generally the more crippled of the variants available on current phones (the XP Home of mobile OSes). I DON'T WANT Windows. I refuse to run it on my home PCs what on earth makes these people think I want to run it on my phone?

I've toyed with the idea of just getting a crappy phone and buying myself a decent PDA or UMPC, but I don't really want to carry two devices around with me. The technology is there, so as far as I'm concerned I shouldn't have to.

So, do any of you, I'm particularly addressing those who are already smartphone abusers here, have any suggestions for me? I'd settle for a good place to buy dubious far-eastern kit from for now, really. Some of those are very cool. Or anything bleeding edge and Linuxy that I might be able to get a developer dealy type thing on. I'm sure I can write something useful if it'll get me a phone I can actually be happy with, and I need to get my teeth into something new to rekindle my hobby-coding habits anyway.

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Would the nokia E61 be of any use? It's running Symbian S60 platform.

The putty client for it works nicely also has a usable qwerty keyboard (sadly no alt key).

Kian's one is on T-mobile, sadly the tariff he's on no longer exists, but they're flext with web and walk plus is almost the same.

I have an E61. I love it.. most of the time. I hate my service provider (3) and I hate the company that sold me the phone (phones4U). But the phone itself I love. It doesn't come with a camera, which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.

I hate that Nokia has pretty much no accessories for it though. I had the worst time in the world trying to find a case for it and when I took it into Nokia shops, just about everyone I spoke to that worked there had never seen one before, and a lot of them didn't even know they existed!

I've had this phone for nearly a year now, and I'm still considering what I'm going to do when it comes to me doing something about my contract. i'm hoping Nokia is going to release an updated version of this phone sometime soon.

When I go this phone I was looking for a Treo. But they didn't have any on anywhere decent plans. Since I've always had nokias and never had a problem not to like them, this was the next choice.

The E61i does have a camera in it (2mp).

There is also the E62 - it lacks the Wifi connectivity and W-CDMA (UMTS) 3G (it's for the US market).

I'll be buying a Nokia N95 from T-mobile (with Flext Web&Walk Plus [so I can use it as a modem and get on-line while at uni).

Ohhh, I like. Although I'll have to have a closer look at that dpad. One of the guys at work has an N95, I must admit I quite like that also, however I do like the keyboard and the bigger screen. (But then on other days I hate the size of my phone - you just can't win! :))

In terms of bleeding-edge developer-type-dealies, http://www.openmoko.org may or may not be of interest.

Seen that. Love the idea, not so sure about the hardware. I've been seriously affected by the experience of having a phone I can type on, at a decent rate and without any real inconvenience. I hate software keyboards with a holy passion.

When the buzz about those first hit I was seriously tempted to look into their developer programme, which I think at the time was running about $300, but I may be misremembering.

Great idea, shame it's not a slightly difficult form factor, imho.

s/difficult/different, clearly...

Hobby-coding. I remember that. (looks at list of project ideas)

Your best bet at the moment is really the Nokia E60/61 - it's more or less Treo formfactor, has a usable keyboard and 3G but runs S60, so is going to be missing almost all of the apps you want, although analogues for them will exist.

Another option may be the Sony Ericsson P990, however it has bad reviews about the software load - they turned on a lot of bells and whistles in the UIQ interface that turned it into a complete dog performance wise.

I'd advise avoiding the Treo 680 - the software's less stable than the 650, the battery life's shorter and it's generally not quite as good, although the SD card is in a sensible place and the ariel has gone. Network performance is OK though.

At the moment your choice appears to be (on the general market):

Treo - 650 or 680 - given you've got a 650, 680's really the only way - no 3G, no WiFi, no real future, shedloads of software

Series 60 - Nokia E60 and E90 are probably worth looking at - both run Series 60 on Symbian, the E60 is Treo-esque in layout, the E90 is Communicator Clamshell - both largely similar in functionality, but the E90 is newer.

Linux Based Phones - OpenMoko (FIC Neo), Haier N60, HTC Blue Angel which is Windows but actually makes phonecalls under Linux :) Lots of Motorola Phones, TrollTech GreenPhone

Unfortunately, all of the really cool hardware seems to be going to Windows - in terms of hardware functionality what you seem to be asking for is the HTC Universal, but I don't believe there's a linux port for that. HTC Athena aka the T-Mobile Ameo is also very cool hardware, albeit a bit "eurgh" for my likes.

T-Mobile is pretty much the only network that hasn't drunk the MS Koolaid - they also offer the Sidekick (Danger Hiptop). There's not much choice out there at the moment.

Reading other people's reactions, I think you might be right there. I did some investigating, and it looks like, while it's not a palm, there is still plenty of software out there, of the kind that would suit and allow similar productivity. The other plus is that I might be able to cajole Orange into giving me one for free, although if I can get a similarly gratis deal on a network that doesn't charge through the nose for network usage, that would rock much harder.

Unfortunately, all of the really cool hardware seems to be going to Windows - in terms of hardware functionality what you seem to be asking for is the HTC Universal, but I don't believe there's a linux port for that.

Over at http://www.xda-developers.com I seem to recall a bootable linux for the Universal, as I had one of these 'til recently (it was stolen). They are great devices, mine was branded as an XDA Exec -- 3G, runs Opera nicely, SSH is good too, nice big 640x480 screen and a decent keyboard for a palmtop. Sadly I never got as far as actually booting linux on it, but definitely check the forum and the wiki.

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