Monday, April 9, 2007

My smartphone buying guide

I am in the market for a new mobile phone. If you have opinions on my shortlisted phones, do leave them in the comments.

What I am looking for in the phone
Prioritized, this is the order...
-- Great voice quality and volume
-- Speakerphone. I am in conference calls daily
-- Great camera. Space to store a good number of photos
-- Looks good
-- Internet browsing. The CBD area will soon be covered in WLAN
-- Music player. Doesn't need to be a "great" music player. Should be able to play a few songs
-- Allows me to write my own Java apps (at least) and download them to the phone

The budget
S$1000

The shortlist














Nokia N95



Nokia N93i



Nokia N91



Nokia N80



Nokia N73



SE K800i



SE K810i



SE W880i




Feature Comparison














Nokia N95

Camera: 5 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash:
LED
Cam Stabiliser: No
Storage: 160 MB
Exp Storage: Micro-SD upto 2 GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Plump

Screen: 240X320 TFT
Colors: 24-bit
Connect: WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, IR

Extra: GPS

Nokia N93i

Camera: 3.2 M
Cam zoom: Optic
Cam Flash: LED
Cam Stabiliser: No
Storage: 50 MB
Exp Storage: Mini-SD upto 2 GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Awesome

Screen: 320X240 TFT
Colors: 24-bit
Connect: WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, IR



Nokia N91

Camera: 2 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: LED
Cam Stabiliser: No
Storage: 8 GB
Exp Storage: No

Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Trying too hard to be cool
Screen: 176X208 TFT
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: No WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, No IR



Nokia N80

Camera: 3 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: LED
Cam Stabiliser: No
Storage: 40 MB
Exp Storage: Mini-SD upto 2 GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Plump

Screen: 352X416TFT
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, IR



Nokia N73

Camera: 3.2 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: LED
Cam Stabiliser: No
Storage: 40 MB

Exp Storage: Mini-SD upto 2 GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Good
Screen: 240X320
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: No WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, No USB, IR


SE K800i

Camera: 3.2 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: Xe
Cam Stabiliser:
Yes
Storage: 64 MB

Exp Storage: Mem Stick upto 1GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Great
Screen: 240X320
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: No WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, IR


SE K810i

Camera: 3.2 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: Xe
Cam Stabiliser:
Yes
Storage: 64 MB

Exp Storage: Mem Stick upto 1GB
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Great
Screen: 240X320
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: No WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, IR


SE W880i

Camera: 2 M
Cam zoom: Digital
Cam Flash: LED
Cam Stabiliser:
No

Storage: 16 MB + 1GB expandable
Exp Storage: See above
Sp-phone: Yes
Looks: Good
Screen: 240X320
Colors: 18-bit
Connect: No WLAN, 3G, GPRS, BT, USB, No IR


My impressions














Nokia N95

S$1100

Feature and connectivity packed.

Marketed as a nextgen PDA, but no touchscreen. D'Oh!!

Cam not good as SE K800 series. LED flash and no stabilization.

Looks OK only...

Price/Value ratio is too high

Nokia N93i

S$1000

Feature and connectivity packed.

Cam is good with optical zoom. But LED flash spoils night photos

Awesome looks!!

Price/Value ratio could be better




Nokia N91



Music phone, not a cam phone.

Lots of memory.

Screen sucks

Rejected











Nokia N80

S$ 500

Camera not good.


Looks bad

Rejected













Nokia N73

S$ 400

Looks good

Cam not good as SE K800 series. LED flash and no stabilization.

Good value for money

SE K800i

S$ 400

Great camera

Subtle good looks

Great value for money



SE K810i

Not out yet

Same as K800i and looks better. But is not out yet







SE W880i



Camera not to level of SE K800i.

Rejected






Parting shot
My rational self draws me to the K800i. But my reptilian primal brain might spring for that awesome-looking N93i tomorrow.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

dude,
you could also check out the Imate Jas Jam.
http://www.clubimate.com/t-DETAILS_JASJAM.aspx

Around usd 1000/-

cheers

Arun said...

Hi Satish

One of my main criteria is a great camera. I do not use my phone as a general PDA to store contacts, sync with Outlook etc. Mostly for calls, texts and fotos. So probaby the JASJAM is probably not the right fit as the camera is pretty bad.

Secondly, I am very much doubtful about the quality of anything that runs Windows Mobile. Have seen too many friends rebooting their Windows phones.

Anonymous said...

..... or you could just wait for iPhone and buy one.