My mobile phone is dying :( Recommend a new one?

[northwind]

Well, fair play to it, it's 5 years old. Anyway, time to find a new one... It's got to be on PAYG and under £100, I'm not a huge phone user, it's mainly for emergencies and so that people can reach me. I don't mind which network at all, but good coverage is most important.

Apart from doing the basic phone stuff, a good MP3 playe is what I want, and a proper jack plug for a standard set of headphones. Expandable memory also good, 2gb or 4gb would be ideal I suppose. If it can take half decent photos, that's a bonus but I do own a nice compact digi camera so it's not that big a deal- just for those times when I don't have my camera with me. Oh, and it's got to be tough, as you might guess from the fact that my last phone is 5 years old.

From looking around, I can see a couple of contenders..

Nokia 6300... I can get one of these for £58 on my current network. Only 2gb memory apparently and some people mutter about headphone compatability, anyone know if it'll take a standard headphone? Looks tough and practical

Nokia 5310 is designed to be a bit more of a music phone, I think... Shorter standby battery life, but more memory capacity. Both of these have a 2mp camera. £10 more expensive, needs a network change.

The Sony Ericson W910 comes in just over budget including calling credit... TBH I'd rather not pay that much but it looks good. Any suggestions for other walkman phones to look at?

I think probably either of the first 2 will do the job, but is there anything better?

[DarrenSV650S]

The 6300 will need a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adaptor for the headphones if you want to use your own.
Sony ericson walkmans are brilliant for music. The only downside is the headphone connector

[AndyL]

Never owned any of them models, but when purchasing a new phone I always use this site: http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/. It has really reliable reviews for most phones.

[Miss Alpinestarhero]

Nokia 6300... I can get one of these for £58 on my current network. Only 2gb memory apparently and some people mutter about headphone compatability, anyone know if it'll take a standard headphone? Looks tough and practical

I can only comment on this phone because it is what I have (and tbh, I dont know anything about the others you mentioned..!)

I find this particular phone really good. Its reliable, slim, doesn't weigh a ton, takes half decent photos. It does have a MP3 player / radio but I personally don't use it because I have an actual MP3 player so use that.

It should take a standard headphone - Ive got a hearing loop (so that I can use the phone with my hearing aids) which only comes in a standard size.

EDIT: The size of my hearing loop is 2.5mm

Oh, Ive also dropped it down the stairs (literally thumped down each individual stair from top to bottom) and on a concerete floor quite a few times. Hasn't broken or gone funny at all. So I would stay its rather sturdy too!

HTH

Maria

[Viney]

The 6300 is a great phone and is another nokia classic. However the camera is utter tripe on it and the music player is a tad fidly to use but it will take up to 4gb card. If you want a half decent music phone then it has to be a sony walkman phone. You can buy the headphone adapter easily enough and the sound quality (With alternate headphones) is pretty good. Most will take up to an 8gb card so more than enough. The camear is slightly better but all camera phones are rubbish compared to a proper camera anyway, but better than the 2mp nokia.

Id go for a Sony

[Filipe M.]

The W910i already comes with the headphone adapter that also doubles up as the handsfree mic (also comes with headphones but those are only good for voice anyway).
Generally it's a good phone, albeit a bit slow when compared to top-of-the-line Nokias. I just don't know about it's durability yet... mine is 6 months old and it's already showing signs of ageing (cheap plastics).

[CoolGirl]

ah, so that explains why you no return my text messages (it was a seafood cha-han, btw).

my old sony erricson's at least as old as yours, and I know how to work it, so I'd take another of those.

[shonadoll]

The sonys are the best for music-i've bought 2 recently, and they are fab.

[Shellywoozle]

Just ordered a sony ericsson c905, think i will sell it tho ! £250 on flea bay :) meant to be good phones

[metalmonkey]

I have a k800i is that what it is called? Anyway its black, mine is still working and I have had it since 2005, although its looking a bit worse for wear and sometimes has electrical tape wrapped around it.

Since then I have 2 upgrades one was the walkman phone, the other is some newish sony 5mb camera phone thing though I haven't used them. I don't really text that much as it takes ages to write text well for me. I vote my first phone as a good one as it works and has survied several incidents at work. However if you want a sony phone, i'll sell you one of many spare phones if you want!

[northwind]

Coolgirl, it was Mystery Tentacle Dish B if I recall correctly- got the text but can't convince it to send any out.

Hmm. The Sonys definately seem to be the better music phones but there's not many good deals on those, the Nokia 5310 on the other hand is available everywhere for around £60 (though on back order, because of this "Comes with music" promotion with the free downloads). I'm kind of leaning towards that, for that reason, it might not be quite as good a phone but the reviews are decent and the price is right.

In the meantime, I bought myself a cheap Samsung M110 for a tenner... My old phone is a Nokia 5100 brickie's phone, water resistant and armoured... And it's been dropped into rivers and pints of beer, and dropped on the floor in the middle of moshpits, and it's the solid state stuff that's gone wrong (silicon senility). This Samsung seems to be the modern equivalent, it's even got the same LED torch. So that should be good for a spare... (the LED torch is a stroke of genius, how many times have you tried to find your keys using the light from your phone screen?)

Thanks for the advice folks, I'm probably going to ignore it all but at least I know what I'm ignoring now :) That reviews site was ace AndyL

[DarrenSV650S]

Thanks for the advice folks, I'm probably going to ignore it all
:smt013

[suicidesam]

Another thing that might help your choice of network.. if you plan to buy over the counter try carphone warehouse for prices.. all the payt range are usually unbranded.. eg buy it on the cheapest network they sell and toss the sim pack and stick your own in it (after using the £10 topup) :cool:
Thats where i get the kids phones.

[northwind]

:smt013

At least I'm honest! Actually your post has put me off the 6300, the 5310 has a proper jack apparently. I don't want to carry around adapters etc, the entire reason for an MP3 phone for me is that I'll always have it on me when I wouldn't carry my big MP3 player (a HDD Creative, not exactly svelte)

Suicidesam, it does look like Carphone Warehouse will get the nod... They're about equal with the competition on price for this model and they'll give me a trade-in on the old phone, since it still powers on and off. But that's very good to know, I can keep the second sim card and number and just use it to make threatening phone calls and bomb threats. But don't tell no-one, right?

[suicidesam]

.... I can keep the second sim card and number and just use it to make threatening phone calls and bomb threats. But don't tell no-one, right?

Sure can :batman:
I have 3 Orange sims, and a spare o2 card left over from christmas! I'll eventually get round to burning off the extra dosh when i'm at work.. don't get a signal on orange in my house.

[dizzyblonde]

The 6300 is a great phone and is another nokia classic. However the camera is utter tripe on it and the music player is a tad fidly to use but it will take up to 4gb card.

Yes it is, I've just renewed my contract and got myself a different phone, on the camera let down. My previous Nokia to the 6300 had a super camera, and I was seriously disappointed with the picture quality even thoiugh they had the same mega pixels. On a good note the 6300 being a solid stainless variety is absolutely bomb proof. the amount of times I have dropped it trying to get it out of a bike jacket is untrue. It flashes as well when you have a missed call and text message which I find very useful
I'll be keeping it as a spare I just hope the 6600 I've just got doesn;t dissapoint, as i'm not overly keen on the flimsy looking slidephone, but I like nokia. This ones camera is vastly improved:cool:

[$tevo]

I've got a 6300. It stopped working last year after I got caught in a downpour by the Cat and Fiddle. Before then it was a fine phone, camera wasn't brilliant, email was poor, even though my N70 had a proper email address, the 6300 just came with a number@O2.co.uk address.

Basically, not waterproof at all but otherwise sound. Oh, apart from the battery life which was poor - Around a couple of days or so.

Lesson - Never zip your phone up in an outside pocket

[northwind]

You should have got an old 5100 then. Party trick- put it in a pint of beer, phone it, and watch it light the drink up :mrgreen: But it's a bit old so instead of an MP3 player and 2mp camera, it came with a 35mm film camera and a gramophone.

Not all of that is true, incidentally.

I think it's down to the 5310 or the 6300, the 5310's my choice but it seems to be going out of stock now so I might settle for the 6300. They're both like mental phones from the future to me though :cool: