The "My New Phone" Thread

[Ben]

Some of you guys get through so many phones I lose track ;) How about we write a little bit about our new phones here as we get them, starting off with the phones we're using now?

I, rather predictably, am still on my iPhone 4S (White, 64GB). Still loving it, and iCloud, and using every fibre of my being trying not to smash it or get it stolen! Hopefully I've broken the iPhone 4 curse.

[Hands0n]

Okay :)

Currently I am carrying around three smartphones, I'll just comment briefly on each.

iPhone 4 - I never bothered with the iPhone 4S when it came out and still see no particular reason for spending the best part of £600 on an upgrade. Apple's iOS 5.0.1 runs well, if a bit slowly at times, on the iPhone 4. But overall the experience is very similar to what I may receive on the 4S with the exception of Siri. There is nothing in the iPhone 4S proposition that draws me. So I will be one of the many waiting to see what the Apple-without-Steve will produce later this year. The iPhone is on Vodafone and is my primary number/device.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus - I bought the GNex to get an early hands on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It was a bit of a jump from 3.2 Gingerbread and did take a little getting used to, even though I have practical experience of Honeycomb. The GNex screen is gorgeously large, bright and clear. It is an HSPA+ device and will pull in any available speed to date. The best I've seen is 12Mbps downlink and 3.5 Mbps uplink. It is on Three's The One Plan and tethers wonderfully with all my devices as required. I use the GNex as my secondary number/device and use it for tether very frequently when out and about.

Jil Sander - Do what? Yes, Jil Sander, otherwise the LG E906 sibling to the LG Optimus 7 (E900) Windows Phone 7 device. I picked this up a two months ago for £150 from Expansys where they were clearing a pallet-load of these. The Jil Sander is a designer branded E900 that is otherwise identical to the E900 in terms of the OS. I have been running the smartphone with a giffgaff SIM for just under a month and trying to get to like WP7 but it is not playing nice. I really do not think this OS is up to the game of taking on iOS and Android, possibly not even RIM's OS. It is different, yes. But it is also rather weak in very many places, both for the integrated apps as well as third party offerings. I am going to invest (?) in another month's worth of Goody Bag for a tenner and see how I get on. It is very unlikely that WP7 is going to usurp either iOS or Android in my pocket.

So thats me for now.

[hecatae]

Well I've just seen the Nokia Lumia 710 is £199 on o2 payg...

current devices:

Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman WT19i:

Picked this up in December 2011, it's a HVGA display, white, Walkman branded, 5MP auto focus camera, and the loudest phone I have ever heard, thanks to it's dual stereo speakers. Cost me £80 payg from 3 uk after Quidco Cashback, it's also guaranteed an upgrade to Android 4.0 come March/April 2012.

Dell Streak:

Won this for £60.88 from Ebay, came with a cracked screen that has cost me £25 to repair, may be an old device, but it's a beautiful 5 inch screen, strengthened with Gorilla Glass, and has an official Gingerbread 2.3.3 build, which is pretty recent if you check current Android reports that confirm 30 percent of Android users are still using Android 2.2

X10 Mini Pro

won this for £34 from ebay, arrived running Android 1.6, which was quickly replaced with official 2.1, and then replaced with MiniCyanogenMOD7 2.3.7. It's a very quick QVGA device with a very responsive keyboard, 5mp camera, wireless n wifi. It's also my last Armv6 device as I have sold my ZTE Blade and expect to see a lot more Dual Core handsets next year, and with WP7 entering the payg market, I can see Armv6 and Armv5 devices not being released by the end of the year