choosing a cell phone

[cheesemanxl]

i am getting a phone soon and i have two choices
1)the LG shine
2)the samsung a737
if anyone has had either of these i would like a short review or a suggestion

 

[Eternal_Rapture]

I still have a phone with an antenna!

But I know a few people with the LG Shine, and they say its a good phone, but sometimes the touch screen is a pain to use, and reception is worse than other phones.

But then again, those same people like to complain about every little thing.

 

[cheesemanxl]

well some people have told me that the shine has problems after they use it for a couple weeks so have you experienced any
also is it good for text messaging

 

[thiosk]

I own the samsung rugby A837.



this is the best phone i've ever owned. I'm tough on electronics.

Watch phone get totally abused here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv9fgLnYXuc

 

[TerraMGP]

Ok lets look at this from an Engineering standpoint.

Does it beep?

Does it send calls?

Is it large enough to avoid losing it in your pocket?

If so, then its fine for you. You don't need frills at all. You should not even need texting considering you are more or less typing out things you could SAY over the phone.

 

[DannyDamage]

Buy the cheapest one for god's sake. It's a phone, not medical insurance!

I never got why people have to 'stuff their pants' as it were with gadgets like mobiles. Everyone has one now, they're not special, just use them to call and text people as that's all they're REALLY needed for.

 

[TerraMGP]

If your going to use any of the phones 'frills' then you may as well get a laptop. That way if you need to do anything the phones offer you can only better, plus you get all the other functions of a computer. Besides unless you are in buisness you really have no reason to surf the net or check email on a phone. And if you were? blackberry.

Phones are for calling, thats it. MP3 players play MP3s, Laptops or perhaps palm pilots surf the net. If you pay for a phone that does more than send and receive calls your probably paying too much. You MAY not be, but if you have to ask about two different phones odds are good you don't need the frills.

Then again even my 20 dollar tracphone has most of these features even if I don't use them, so it really should be a non issue.

 

[curlycrouton]

Are you sure you're limiting yourself to these two phones?

I'd suggest this, the Nokia N95:

 

[Logan Westbrook]

I'm with RAK on this one, I love all the little bells and whistles that my N95 has. When the N97 comes out, I'll be in gadget heaven as I'll have a full QWERTY keyboard for my internet browsing and I'll have a touchscreen that I can use to play Monkey Island on.

Slightly more on topic, decide what features you want and then look at which phone has them. Read some reviews on line as well, that should help.

EDIT:

If your going to use any of the phones 'frills' then you may as well get a laptop.

Bit hard to fit a laptop into your pocket though, isn't it? By the same logic you could say, "Why carry a swiss-army knife? If you need anything other than a knife, just get a toolbox".

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I love my LG with a passion. Once you go mini-keyboard on your phone, you don't go back. Never found a touchscreen that worked as well for me.

 

[Rath709]

I would probably go crazy without my iPhone 3G, the journey to and from work would be unbearable without the music on it.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

just get an iphone and ascend to a magical apple filled dream world in the sky made of raindrop buttons and 30 dollar add ons...

 

[Vek]

I've got the Sanyo S1. It is a phone, and that is all. BEcause that is all I need it to be; a phone. I'd rather have dedicated purpose-built equipment that works well than a multipurpose mish-mash that can't do everything "well enough."

 

[Galletea]

Phones are for calling, thats it. MP3 players play MP3s, Laptops or perhaps palm pilots surf the net. If you pay for a phone that does more than send and receive calls your probably paying too much. You MAY not be, but if you have to ask about two different phones odds are good you don't need the frills.

Why would I get all of those if I can get a phone to do them all?

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Ok lets look at this from an Engineering standpoint.

Does it beep?

Does it send calls?

Is it large enough to avoid losing it in your pocket?

If so, then its fine for you. You don't need frills at all. You should not even need texting considering you are more or less typing out things you could SAY over the phone.

Finally! Someone who shares my opinion!

 

[TerraMGP]

Phones are for calling, thats it. MP3 players play MP3s, Laptops or perhaps palm pilots surf the net. If you pay for a phone that does more than send and receive calls your probably paying too much. You MAY not be, but if you have to ask about two different phones odds are good you don't need the frills.

Why would I get all of those if I can get a phone to do them all?

Because you can get three tools that do the different things WELL rather than one phone that tries to tack them on. The question is why waste money on features with such limited use on a cell phone

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Phones are for calling, thats it. MP3 players play MP3s, Laptops or perhaps palm pilots surf the net. If you pay for a phone that does more than send and receive calls your probably paying too much. You MAY not be, but if you have to ask about two different phones odds are good you don't need the frills.

Why would I get all of those if I can get a phone to do them all?

Because you can get three tools that do the different things WELL rather than one phone that tries to tack them on. The question is why waste money on features with such limited use on a cell phone

The problem with having three tools is that you have to carry those three tools. No one is saying that a mobile phone is better than a laptop, but it's an acceptable substitute if you don't want to be lugging a laptop around.

 

[TerraMGP]

Phones are for calling, thats it. MP3 players play MP3s, Laptops or perhaps palm pilots surf the net. If you pay for a phone that does more than send and receive calls your probably paying too much. You MAY not be, but if you have to ask about two different phones odds are good you don't need the frills.

Why would I get all of those if I can get a phone to do them all?

Because you can get three tools that do the different things WELL rather than one phone that tries to tack them on. The question is why waste money on features with such limited use on a cell phone

The problem with having three tools is that you have to carry those three tools. No one is saying that a mobile phone is better than a laptop, but it's an acceptable substitute if you don't want to be lugging a laptop around.

But in todays world when would you really need the internet when you don't have a laptop? I really won't count an MP3 player because its just not hard to 'lug it around'. That is what coat pockets are for. Then again as I said if you REALLY need the internet even tracphones have it now, so even then you can get it from a 20 dollar phone in case of that rare emergency when you need it.

 

[Mariena]

Apart from having a really cool phone, I also have an old Nokia 6310i.

I actually prefer the 6310i because it never dies. It never fucks up, hangs, explodes, sets pants on fire.. I have nothing but praise for this amazing phone. It's so simple, as well. It can do the standard stuff like calling and SMS, but also MMS, Bluetooth, infrared (which is sorely missing on a lot of modern phones!) AND GPRS, WAP (okay okay, that's a heap of crap, but still), java applications and triple band.

 

[TerraMGP]

But in todays world when would you really need the internet when you don't have a laptop?

Email? Checking facts/data when you're out in the field (or when you aren't working, proving your friends wrong at the pub)? When you're bored out of your mind on your daily commute?

These are all the things I use it for every day.

I really won't count an MP3 player because its just not hard to 'lug it around'.

It is one more device to keep track of though.

Let's go back to this picture:

Then again as I said if you REALLY need the internet even tracphones have it now, so even then you can get it from a 20 dollar phone in case of that rare emergency when you need it.

Internet on a tracphone and internet on something like the E71 are two *very* different things.

Why are you even arguing about this when it's clear you haven't ever used a smartphone for a substantial period of time and we have?

Your right, I have not had cause to use a smartphone. but even with those devices listed most of them can be found on a tracphone now. granted its not as good in terms of quality, but then a smartphone is still worse than those devices at doing one dedicated task. Frankly I personally think that having one tool that does its job well is better even if it means having a bit more weight. The point is you can go for either, and if I took the time to look at the specs and how they operate I'm sure one would be superior to the other (personally from what I do know the LG shine costs 50 bucks and does not seem to give you anything important that the twenty dollar Samsung won't. So I am going to say go with the samsung.