Torn between 2 phones

Upgrade time with O2 [1]. Last time I got a jammy deal on an N95, 200
mins and UL texts for 15 ppm. Now been offered 200 mins plus 400 texts
for 200 ppm - with a choice that comes down to 2 phones.

Nokia E71 - which seems popular here - I'd have to pay a whopping one-
off charge of a fiver to get this.
Nokia 5800 - which I don't think has ever been mentioned on this
group.

Anybody care to advise on which to choose? [2]

[1] Was going to change to Orange as they did a better deal [3] but it
turns out that they are arseholes [4]
[2] Having got used to my N95 I do like Symbian smart phones -
although I don't use email a lot as I'm too tight to pay for a data
package. Do use wifi a lot when available and I use the phone as my
camera/video etc. Like to be able to read office type documents. I
also like to be able to put a phone in my trouser pocket without it
disintegrating.
[3] 400 mins and UL texts.
[4] My wife got the Samsung Jet from them. The phone is totally munged
with Orange branding and they managed to attach her account to a
totally different bloke. We're now on our 5th call of getting them to
get her account in her name with her PAYG no.

 

The black one.

 

I got a Nokia 5800 as an upgrade to replace my old N95, last month,
and have just stuck it back in the box and got the N95 out again.
I find it almost impossible to use the 5800, it does everything the
N95 does, but it's *much* harder to use due to it's inaccurate touch
screen.
Don't do it, 02 you say, get an iphone or stick with the N95.

 

E-71
Reboots itself regularly when accessing the address book
Too many keystrokes to do regular things
Damn awkward to just key in a number
Keyboard useless in low light as the backlight doesn't *quite* activate
until it is darker

OTOH it looks great and the camera works well enough. Battery is ok.

 

Pretty sure you can get a better deal than that.

 

It is?

Takes no time, in fact, I do it (not to mention push the home button
first, to activate the slider) instinctively whenever I pick the phone
up. It certainly takes no longer than unlocking the keypad lock of any
other phone.

Optional step.

When combined with 1), there is no wait, it's on the screen before I look.

Similar to any other phone.

Wait? Mine is up almost immediately that I push the icon.

similar to any other phone.

Similar to any other phone. I can make calls quicker on my iPhone than
I was able to with my Blackberry and Sony Ericsson before that.

^^^^ This might well be your problem.

 

That's definitely fucked. I'm not good at judging very small amounts of
time, but I would say that it's maybe half a second from icon push to
loaded screen.

I don't understand, why did you have to jailbreak your existinf iphone
or buy a new iphone?

 

Unlocking it from a provider != jailbreaking.

 

Ah bollocks and bad form and all that. Should be 20 quid a month. If
you know any better deals then I'm open to suggestions.

I rarely use my current 200 mins a month and would not send more than
400 texts. With O2 I'm better off with 400 texts than unlimited as mm
or roaming messages take 4 from one's allowance and are, therefore,
free. UL texts are considered a bolt-on and one must pay for all
picture messages and roaming texts.

I was tempted to go sim-only but the N95 speaker is starting to sound
knackered and is irritating. My wife got her N95 at the same time and
has a problem with the slider. So I could do with a new phone but you
don't get much on a 20 quid contract.

 

IIRC this is the only way to get a provider unlock from certain
providers atm. I hope I'm wrong - if anybody had success in getting O2
to unlock a PAYG phone let me know - but I haven't heard anything to
indicate it.

 

Talk to BGN.

 

Time to mention again that Carphonewhorehouse sell UNLOCKED phones.

 

Which helps how, in this context?

 

Do they sell unlocked *iPhones* though? AFAIK you can't get those over
the counter in the UK.

 

Dunno but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Relevant to the OP?
and don't they trade in Holland too? They bought erm "Road Phone" or
somesuch nearly 10 years ago

 

Not very useful for me given that I've already got a PAYG 3GS, but it
might be useful for someone else.

 

Not relevant to the OP and not relevant to anyone else in the
sub-thread either.

are you on crack?

 

T-Mobile do much better deals than that. E.g. if you keep your phone,
500 minutes & unlimited texts for 15/month (12 month contract), or 350
minutes & unlimited texts on a 30 day contract.

If you want a new phone, 15/month will get you 300 minutes & unlimited
texts on some phones with a 24 month contract. Plenty of other deals on
their website.

 

Have you ever tried the E71 to be able to make a comparison. I thought
the build quality might be better so went for that in the end. Bit
disappointed really - although I always suffer from buyers remorse -
it doesn't seem to do anything the N95 couldn't do (except it has the
full version of quick office) and the screen is noticeably smaller.
Also, although it's quite nifty having all the keys there to use, they
are very small so I have to be more careful typing and end up being
slower than on the N95 with predictive text.