What to do, what to do…
My beloved hiptop3 is on its final legs; the blue roller button doesn’t work as an ‘enter’ key anymore, so it is just one more key-press to get things to send, receive, move around the phone, etc.
The inbuilt camera and the web browser have always been lousy, so anything better would be a bonus. The calendar, etc., won’t sync with Outlook 2007 (nor does my Nokia pre-paid, annoyingly) no matter how hard I try, and I have no need for Live Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger.
My two-year plan with Telstra ends the middle of next month, bringing my bill down to $30 plus cost of calls and message bank enquiries (the cost of calls is such that I have a separate pre-paid phone for outgoing calls because the call cost is cheaper when bundled with a ’5-minutes for $1′ offer).
So I’ve been looking around for a phone that offers me the sort of wonderful keyboard that the hiptop does as well as a half-decent browser, call cost and data plan.
Not a major drama or challenge, you would think… You’d be wrong!
The hiptop is on a 2.5G network (imagine 14.4k dialup), and the new 3G network is massively faster (imagine broadband).
Good keyboards are hard to find. I can potentially get hold of a HTC Touch Dual which has a two-characters-in-one style keyboard (apparently you quickly get used to it) and 3 are touting the HTC Touch Pro, but for a higher price point of $69/month/24 months plus a $20 1GB/month data plan.
I’ve looked at the Palm Centro, but it doesn’t balance as nicely in the hand as the hiptop, making thumb typing that little bit harder.
I’d prefer to stay with Telstra for a few reasons:
- They have the best coverage
- I am an ex employee and still feel some (albeit small) attachment to them (even though my current isp plan gives me more than Telstra’s equivalent for half the cost)
- With so many shops around the country (city and regional) if my phone fails I at least have somewhere to go and whinge and see if I can get a replacement while under warranty.
What I’ve also noticed on my rummaging through various websites is how times have changed.
Just a few short years ago you had just two types of mobile phone: Nokia phones and all the others. Nokia had the best menu system around and it was the ‘Google’ of the mobile phone world.
Boy, have they taken their eye off the ball! Now there is a plethora of phone manufacturers (or at least badges) and Nokia is no longer the first phone you instinctively look for.
Anyway,, I’d welcome anyone’s views on what sort of phone should I go with next, and what sort of plan. No, I don’t want an iPhone (no keyboard). Over to you…
