Team-BHP - The Mobile Phone Thread - Queries, decisions, discussions all here

Ricci, the whole point of buying a smartphone is that it allows you to do lots of stuff via different apps. This is where N8 would suffer. Not to mention poor sale might mean sparsely available parts in future. All said & done even though its a fantastic product, its future has been left hanging by the company itself.

Now unless there is a drastic drop in the price, I dont know why would you want to buy one.

There pretty good android based phones right from 10-12k onwards. There is no concept of PC backup on Android(ofcourse you can back up your sdcard) but nothing like Apple or OVI because you simply wont need it :)

As for security, its as safe & secure as your PC, what if someone hacks your PC? So there is no limit to that but overall it has not been a major issue.

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Loads more of research to do. Now if I strictly avoid internet use and use the phone more as phone cum multimedia device( music, movies , games ), would the N8 make more sense ? I know, that's not what smartphones are for, but if cellphone security is an issue, I can limit online interaction to PC even if inconvenient.

If this is what you want then buy an iPod Touch, it will do all of this & more :)

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Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 2358644)

Oh, so maybe the iPhone camera is improved over the generations. Still, iPhone is kinda expensive for me. As for WP7, will have to wait and see.

Thanks , vb-san. I'm not too sure about reviews, because the phone I have largely researched is the N8, and I found both kinds - the very happy ones and the very frustrated ones, some who switched from Android/iPhone , and some who switched to ! Confusing !:Frustrati

Ricci, no way I am saying that Android is bad. Its quite good indeed. My issue was with Motorola only. I do hear some good words on Android based Samsung phones.

You need to have a google id to sync your calendar, and a few other apps, but security-wise it is quite ok. You need to provide credit card info only for those apps which are not free. If you are not too much into apps, you can live with thousands of free apps available in the marketplace.

Regarding WP7, agree with you. I am pretty happy with it, but that may not be the case with a second person. Its still new, and the windows market is kind of growing, but not on par with iTunes or Android Marketplace. From my two months usage, the major plus is the ease of use - a typical windows trait.

Happy Shopping!

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Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 2358644)

Don't the Androids have 1200-1500mAh batteries vs the Nokia's 1050mAh? Is it the screen that's eating up battery juice or the OS itself ? I read reviews of the N8, where the criticism of 680MHz processor was countered by the efficiency of Symbian managing fine on low hardware resources.

Both, Screen and OS are heavier in Android phones (as compared to Symbian). So Android does drain batteries faster. My Nokia phone (5230) keeps the charge for a week with data usage and occasional call or two. This is not possible with Android.

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Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 2358644)

What got me worried about security, if you have to 'buy' some app on the Androind market ( or Ovi , for a Nokia) , wouldn't that mean putting credit card or netbanking information on the phone ? What if the phone is stolen , or hacked ?

No financial information is ever stored on phone itself. Credit card numbers etc remain on Google/Amazon's servers and are not transferred to phone. You can use a PC to manage this information.

Information can still be stolen (Recent Hack at Sony gave away Millions of cards). But it would not be due to phone being lost.

On top of this, you can choose to "encrypt" the phone. With that a password / pin would be required to use the phone. And unless someone knows that password, data on the phone would not be available.

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Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 2358644)

Now if I strictly avoid internet use and use the phone more as phone cum multimedia device( music, movies , games ), would the N8 make more sense ?

It should work for the most part. However, dont count on new games being created for this phone and check that it plays the videos that you have.

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Originally Posted by Technocrat (Post 2358668)

Ricci, the whole point of buying a smartphone is that it allows you to do lots of stuff via different apps. Now unless there is a drastic drop in the price, I dont know why would you want to buy one.

Yes, that is what I wrote too above. But first and foremost, the most important function of my phone is 'the phone' - voice clarity, signal reception etc. Next up, music, maybe videos. Third thing I'd like is a bit of mail/chat and maps for travel - and one place where Ovi scores over Google, as Ovi stores maps and can use them even where there's no signal or in offline mode.

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Originally Posted by Technocrat (Post 2358668)

There pretty good android based phones right from 10-12k onwards. There is no concept of PC backup on Android(ofcourse you can back up your sdcard) but nothing like Apple or OVI because you simply wont need it :)

And I don't find the build of those very appealing. But that's a minor thing, a and models will change over time.

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Originally Posted by Technocrat (Post 2358668)

As for security, its as safe & secure as your PC, what if someone hacks your PC? So there is no limit to that but overall it has not been a major issue.

Phone security is a new area. PCs have been around much longer. They can be hacked, but overall as I see it, they are relatively more protected. With phones, I haven't yet done all the research I should.

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Originally Posted by Technocrat (Post 2358668)

If this is what you want then buy an iPod Touch, it will do all of this & more :)

You're a mind reader ! That was one alternative in mind if I didn't find any phone appealing or priced right. But I'm in no hurry yet.

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Originally Posted by vb-san (Post 2358733)

Ricci, no way I am saying that Android is bad. Its quite good indeed. My issue was with Motorola only. I do hear some good words on Android based Samsung phones.

Of course, I'm not reading it like that. I know Android is what geeks overwhelmingly prefer, but I'm yet to get to that level of geekdom !stupid:
Surely there are people smarter than me who'd pick Android anyday, I just want to be sure it doesn't hold any nasty surprises that I can't live with/work around.

@Netfreak :
thanks , I will look up security and encryption aspects in the coming weeks. I bet they'll be useful sometime even in my regular work !

Guys,I am facing a weird problem.
There is someone out there, who is constantly trying to call my number. I picked up the call and found that I am not the person the caller is looking for, so I politely told him to check his number and retry. But this miserable prick simply doesnt seem to understand. He is constantly trying my phone , at random intervals, all through the day, for the past 2-3 days. I simply cut it off or put it on silent and let it ring. But the guy is really persistent. :Frustrati I ran a trace and it seems to be a Reliance CDMA number from MH.
Now, my phone (a Nokia 6500 Slide) doesnt seem to have the facility to block a number, and neither does Idea's website allow me to add it to a list of blocked numbers.
Is there a software available for Series 40 phones which can block or blacklist a phone number ? A quick google search didnt throw up anything useful.
Help!

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Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 2359970)

.. and one place where Ovi scores over Google, as Ovi stores maps and can use them even where there's no signal or in offline mode.

Please use the OVI maps for a while first and then decide on this point. A friend's set maybe. Why do I say so? I was using 5800 untill recently with the OVI maps and I wasn't very happy.

Tried them both in Hyd and Del. There were certain areas which were showing completely different names on Google and Ovi. Google being more acurate. This was not a problem since I was familier with both the cities. Imagine it doing this to me somewhere else!

Zoom in on a road near the outskirts of the city and around it you would get a simple 'green' screen. Do the same on Google and you will see localities exist at the same spot.

Also, When I was using the maps, it was a mere 100mb or so for the entire India!! I hope they have improved now, but like I said, why take a chance? Try it first and then decide.

On Android, you can always use 'brut maps'(a simple mod of Google maps) for offline usage and voice navigation.

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Originally Posted by rohan_iitr (Post 2361760)

Could you please elaborate on this ? What are brut maps and how they can be used in offline mode ?

Also, can't these be used on Symbian platform ?

Rohan

Its a hack of Google maps(if I can say so), which enables you to cache the map tiles on your device and lets you use the voice navigation too.

More info can be found here: [APPMOD][07.11.10] Brut Google Maps 4.6.0.4686-brut17 - xda-developers

On symbian, your best bet would be MGMaps if you want to use Google maps in offline mode. I have used that as well, but its not all that 'touch-friendly'. You have to download the map tiles using gMapMaker on your PC and then transfer them to you memory card.

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Originally Posted by sajo (Post 2361396)

Did you search for call barring or call filter options? I think Series 40 phones have such a feature.

edit: http://nokia-symbian-smartphone-tips...ict-calls.html

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Originally Posted by sajo (Post 2361396)

Guys,I am facing a weird problem.
There is someone out there, who is constantly trying to call my number.
Now, my phone (a Nokia 6500 Slide) doesnt seem to have the facility to block a number, and neither does Idea's website allow me to add it to a list of blocked numbers.
Is there a software available for Series 40 phones which can block or blacklist a phone number ? A quick google search didnt throw up anything useful.
Help!

Hi Sajo, My wife has the same phone, 6500 Slide. She used to get some pesky marketing calls earlier and I wanted to get her a Blacklist software. Unfortunately, I couldn't find ANY such software for S40 platform. So I gifted her an HTC Wildfire (Android 2.2). I could get the Blacklist software for free from the Android market. Now she uses the 6500 only for official purposes.

I have been using an N95 since the past three years. It is S60V3 platform. I use a superb Blacklist software and currently, I have over 400 numbers in my 'block' list. The software has different options and it is customisable. I have TOTAL peace of mind now.

When the platform is S60 and above, there are hundreds of Blacklist software available. I got my Blacklist software from the net and the cost was $27! I did not pay for it, but that is another loooong story!!! :D

So I think, assigning a 'silent ring tone' to the contact is the best option left for you. You can download the ring tone from Zedge.

I made a post here about this, but it seems to have been deleted. (Because I mentioned the name and the location of the caller).
Anyway, I found out that the calls are being made from a coinbox. From that moment on, I started receiving the call but did not say anything. Looks like the calls stopped (for the day) after the caller ran out of loose change. :P Just used to answer it and kept it on my desk. This happened about 15-20 times yesterday night within the span of half an hour.

@Devarshi : The option seems to be to block ALL incoming calls, instead of a specific number. Thanks for the suggestion though, as mentioned, its helpful during situations like international roaming.

@Technocrat & Chevy lover : Thanks for the tip!

PS : There is another angle to this which I hadnt thought of. If this continues, I may have to lodge a police complaint, just to avoid any possibility of risk later on. Cant post the specifics here because it will get deleted.

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Originally Posted by Dry Ice (Post 2361656)

Please use the OVI maps for a while first and then decide on this point.

Tried them both in Hyd and Del. There were certain areas which were showing completely different names on Google and Ovi. Google being more acurate.

On Android, you can always use 'brut maps'(a simple mod of Google maps) for offline usage and voice navigation.

Thanks, Dry Ice , warning heeded ! Unfortunately trying Ovi isn't an option, I hardly see smartphones around me , ditto for Android, and fewer people who actually use them to the max. So far I have been reading reviews and comments on tech/gadget sites, and Ovi maps while not so frequently mentioned, have been praised for their offline presence, and on premium Nokias they are free with voice navigation as well. Maybe Android apps to do the same exist , but I need to find them.

As for map content, I don't know what to expect of either , I suppose at some level both Ovi and Google maps can't help if you need directions down the typical lane in a small town !

On with the reading for me.