Hi,

could you please recommend a best smartphone money can buy? And I mean some reasonable money, no diamond-studded platinum iPhone. Something under €700.

1) What manufacturer in general is the best in your opinion?
2) What specific model do you recommend?

Now, some of my tastes:
- fast and effective interface (preferably no Symbian, unless you have some very good experience)
- no useless fancy bullshit (like the TouchFlo3D or whatever it is called)
- GPS support (without the necessity of monthly payments) with Central/Eastern Europe
- touchscreen with querty keyboard is prefered, but not necessary (but still would be nice )
- good multimedia support (music player, FM radio, good video support)
- 3mm jack for audio output

That's all I can think off. Thanks a lot in advance

Nokia E7xxx series?
Blackberry....

Samsung Omnia 2?

blackberry curve 8900

Samsung Omnia FTW :bananalla

I can also tell you things about the one I have: GSmart MW700. Gsmart is the smartphone division of Gigabyte.

Good things

- The GPS chip is the SirfStar III, so is not just a GPS, is one of the best
- 520Mhz CPU
- Windows Mobile 6.1
- The size is fine. Not as small as a normal phone but flat and slim.
- It did the job for me as a computer during one year: Skype, Messenger, Office Word, internet browser, GPS, photo camera, TV, e-mail...

The bad things

- Battery life is a joke if you use it as a computer (as I did). For normal phone use is ok.
- Windows Mobile 6.1
- 64mb ROM. For most applications is more than enough, but in some heavy webpages it becomes slow.

Quite happy with it to be honest so, if you buy something newer and more powerful, you'll be satisfied for sure. My personal recommendation is Windows mobile, because the compatibilty with your PC (if you don´t own a Mac) is amazing and there are millions of useful applications. Is not as fancy as Iphone or Symbian, but is more useful, that´s why I like it. It has some bugs and runs slow sometimes (in my phone at least), so that´s why a wrote WM6.1 in cons and pros.

All of this /\ /\

It's possibly the best performance v's price Winmobile phone out there. Although if you can get an HTC Hero or a Toshiba T0G1 cheaply, then they're perhaps a better bet.

Have to comment on the Sirf III. I've got a little keyring bluetooth one for my phone, and it's bloody fantastic. It picks up strong signals even indoors (at least 3 satellites), and outdoors i've never had less than 9. Cold starts take less than a minute to get a lock, and "hot starts" are instantaneous.

Battery life hasalways a problem on every phone i've ever had, so, simply buy an extended battery. Mine is about three times the power of the original, and i only have to recharge once a week on (normal use) It'll run either Tom Tom, Navigon 7 or Memory Maps for about 12 hours on a single charge. The only problem with an extended battery is the extra bulk of it.

I'd also highly recommend you install PointUI and look for the PointSense Suite theme. It's never gonna be as good as an iphone interface, but it's a million times better than win6.1 or even 6.5/6.7.

Although, i must admit, i've recently had a play with the iphone 3Gs, and, by god its lovely, so so much nicer to use than anything winmobile based, i'm sorely tempted to make the leap (if i can afford it)

Well, if you willing to pay quite a bit of money, get either a iPhone of T-Mobile T3. Those two got the highest smart phone ratings. Otherwise, a blackberry should do you good.

Quote from GrIp DrIvEr :

Well, if you willing to pay quite a bit of money, get either a iPhone of T-Mobile T3. Those two got the highest smart phone ratings. Otherwise, a blackberry should do you good.

lolwhat, since when is iPhone a smartphone.

I am not an iPhone fan, so I'm not really tempted by that option, unless you convince me otherwise.

I prefer Win Mobile OS because of the PC compatibility, plethora of applications and the fact that I am already somewhat familiar with it already. I just hope that it's a good decision and that the OS will be responsive on a high end device.

I have absolutely no experience with Blackberries so I don't know if its functions will come to any use.
Besides that, what are your opinions on the top models of these brands: ASUS, HP, HTC and Samsung?

for that money get a small tiny netbook and stick a gsm/3g module on it.

Android, perchance?

The G1 has the keyboad (but the battery life is abysmal), the Hero has everything else.

lg km900 Arena . 8 gb memory great for music and video , great playback on audio and video . 5mp camara and a webcam on the front for video calls , i got all of that for 225 euro
+ wifi so free internet , all works with java apps

I have an HTC Ozone that I'm very happy with. Not a great browsing phone, but it does email and RSS nicely. It fits better in my pocket than my old razor did. Plus all those lovely free windows mobile apps, google maps, games, etc.

Quote from george_tsiros :

for that money get a small tiny netbook and stick a gsm/3g module on it.

Smartphone is more useful than a netbook: GPS, photo camera, radio, fits in your pocket, more battery life, calls and sms... and also the same basic stuff a weak netbook is able to do. You dont need to think about taking it with you everyday, all the features are always in yout pocket wherever you are.

I'm drooling over the nokia n900, however I can't justify myself to buy a bulky phone with features I would not use (I hardly even sms)

It's not out yet. http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
The apple one has probably the best ui, but I would never rent an apple product (I want control over my stuff). Androids are cool and not as locked down as the apple stuff. Maemo looks very free, but how free will it be and how good, future will tell.

Besides the apple one is hugely expensive, I got and ad that claimed it was cheap, minimum fees for the two year contract was eur900 (but I had to use a magnifying glass to read that) that did not include any extra apps from the apple shop, nor unlimited data.

Quote from heson :

I'm drooling over the nokia n900, however I can't justify myself to buy a bulky phone with features I would not use (I hardly even sms)

It's not out yet. http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
The apple one has probably the best ui, but I would never rent an apple product (I want control over my stuff). Androids are cool and not as locked down as the apple stuff. Maemo looks very free, but how free will it be and how good, future will tell.

Besides the apple one is hugely expensive, I got and ad that claimed it was cheap, minimum fees for the two year contract was eur900 (but I had to use a magnifying glass to read that) that did not include any extra apps from the apple shop, nor unlimited data.

The N900 looks good I just wonder, do I have to pay for using GPS with that phone?

Quote from breadfan :

The N900 looks good I just wonder, do I have to pay for using GPS with that phone?

AFAIK all GPS are free, you only have to pay for buying the software and the maps (If you want )

Quote from NitroNitrous :

AFAIK all GPS are free, you only have to pay for buying the software and the maps (If you want )

That's what I thought too, but some smartphones don't containt maps, they download them on-the-fly through internet, which is not free, especially when you're abroad on a highway. But maybe I am wrong. I just want to be sure.

Quote from breadfan :

That's what I thought too, but some smartphones don't containt maps, they download them on-the-fly through internet, which is not free, especially when you're abroad on a highway. But maybe I am wrong. I just want to be sure.

only thing you might pay with Software that doesnt download maps on the fly (eg Garmin Mobile XT, Sygic McGuider)is A-GPS, that is if the phone you buy supports it(most these days do) and you dont turn it off.

You install the navigator software (TomTom, iGo, Garmin...) and then the maps you want before going to any trip. Downloading on the fly might be an option for emergencies.

Omnia is crap and slow. I have a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, loving it.

I have the LG Viewty smart. tiz a good phone. has a 8Mpixel camera. it also supports up to 32GB (micro sd). it too has gps with google maps. it also has divx support, dolby sound too(headphones) it doesn't have a 3mm jack built in but the lead used for personal listening does. 4 custom home screens. super slowmo video recording and super fast recording.
geo tagging for your photo's. the list is endless with this phone.
not sure on the price (got it free) but i am 100% happy with my phone.
oh aye, it also supports multiple email accounts which is very handy. the software supplied is very easy to use so keeping it synced with your pc is a doddle.
hope that helps.
http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/lg-viewty-smart.htm <<< wee review.

Quote from Töki (HUN) :

Omnia is crap and slow. I have a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, loving it.

i ordered this ^

cant wait.

I ordered the satio yesterday, I expect it tomorrow.

Mine had a problem with the motherboard. There were some problems with the spare parts supply so finally the store is giving me my money back.
So now I need a new one, but nothing in the market right now seems to be interesting for me. HTC have some stupid details in their design (microSD car under battery cover, etc), Android is still to new... I'll wait for new models...