Phone Upgrade -Help Please

yaco your a picky man lol, just going thru phones we have at work atm the samsung s8300 "ultratouch" might be what your looking if your looking for alternatives to a n95 Samsung s8300
 
I don't know why that Nokia N85, N95 or any other dual sliding Nokia phone is the only thing I can think about. Is there any reason I should/shouldn't get one of them? Who on this forum owns one? I really would like to talk to an owner of one.

I have an N95.

If you're worried about storage space, you could get a couple of 4 or 8 gig microSD cards. Although I've found that anything bigger than 2 gigs (in terms of microSD) causes problems with music playback.

It's great, although the keypad is a smidge smaller than in most normal 'candybar' phones, so you might want to check in a store to see if it suits you. And I wish it used Google Maps for GPS instead of Nokia Maps.

I got mine from eBay for ?100 (that's about $150 at the moment)...if you don't mind secondhand, N95s are fairly solidly built and should last a while. That way you're not spending $600, either.

I believe the N96 is an upgraded N95 but I've not had a chance to play with one.
 
teeb is your phone up to date on firmware versions? cause nokia solved that issue awhile back about the same time the N95 8gb came out.

N95 is still better value compared to the N96, didn't quite repeat the same success as the N95 which is probably attributed to the larger premium for so little gained over the N95 8gb.

Nokia maps is great i'm using it with my 5800 atm works well maybe for us down under might be a different story over in Europe and America, but try to find a copy of route 66 as used in the 6110nav really good software, google maps gives no voice prompting which does come in handy but you can load it on if you really want to
 
teeb is your phone up to date on firmware versions? cause nokia solved that issue awhile back about the same time the N95 8gb came out.

I thought it was, although I may well be wrong. I'll bung on the latest firmware tonight.

Nokia maps is great i'm using it with my 5800 atm works well maybe for us down under might be a different story over in Europe and America, but try to find a copy of route 66 as used in the 6110nav really good software, google maps gives no voice prompting which does come in handy but you can load it on if you really want to

I'm not a fan of Nokia Maps - it frequently thinks I'm in the sea when I'm 2 miles inland. It's good in town, though.
 
yaco your a picky man lol, just going thru phones we have at work atm the samsung s8300 "ultratouch" might be what your looking if your looking for alternatives to a n95 Samsung s8300

Well when it comes to a possibly $400 - $700 bill, yes, yes I am. Hmm, you make picking soo much harder now, that phone looks incredible! "DviX/ XviD/ MPEG4/ H.263/ H.264/ WMV9 player - MP3/AAC/WMA player" DivX and XviD!?! Wow, I wouldn't have to convert any of my video files of Top Gear! Nice job! I will have to look at this phone further, especially the price.

I have an N95.
If you're worried about storage space, you could get a couple of 4 or 8 gig microSD cards. Although I've found that anything bigger than 2 gigs (in terms of microSD) causes problems with music playback.

Ahh, does it get sluggish? If so that's the problem I have been finding with most phones (probably due to the MicroSDHC cards more than the phone). If that's the case with music, I could imagine it to be as bad as my LG Dare with music and video.

It's great, although the keypad is a smidge smaller than in most normal 'candybar' phones, so you might want to check in a store to see if it suits you. And I wish it used Google Maps for GPS instead of Nokia Maps.

That should be a problem but does it have any 'lines' or other ways to decipher which number your on the keypad? Why do you wish it had Google Maps? Nokia Maps comes with the phone free to use right?

I got mine from eBay for ?100 (that's about $150 at the moment)...if you don't mind secondhand, N95s are fairly solidly built and should last a while. That way you're not spending $600, either.

That is exactly what I was planning on doing and wanted to hear about the phone. Drop it a few times without any damage?

I believe the N96 is an upgraded N95 but I've not had a chance to play with one.

Anyone you know who has one here?

teeb is your phone up to date on firmware versions? cause nokia solved that issue awhile back about the same time the N95 8gb came out.

The issue with the memory cards?

N95 is still better value compared to the N96, didn't quite repeat the same success as the N95 which is probably attributed to the larger premium for so little gained over the N95 8gb.

Nokia maps is great i'm using it with my 5800 atm works well maybe for us down under might be a different story over in Europe and America, but try to find a copy of route 66 as used in the 6110nav really good software, google maps gives no voice prompting which does come in handy but you can load it on if you really want to

What are the major improvements or added features that you know between the N95 and N96? I can't tell a huge difference between them.

You two are being a great help, much appreciated.
 
Ahh, does it get sluggish? If so that's the problem I have been finding with most phones (probably due to the MicroSDHC cards more than the phone). If that's the case with music, I could imagine it to be as bad as my LG Dare with music and video.

It is, I'm fairly sure, a firmware issue. I've not had problems with video playback or images, just with music - it's a specific issue that I suspect is due to firmware problems.

As I said, it involved a 4 gig microSD and a 2 gig. With the same music on each, the phone didn't like the 4 gig and had no issues with the 2 gig. I'll try the firmware update and see if that fixes things.

edit - yes, official firmware updates say they fix it, up to 8 gig micro SD cards, no problems.

That should be a problem but does it have any 'lines' or other ways to decipher which number your on the keypad? Why do you wish it had Google Maps? Nokia Maps comes with the phone free to use right?

The '5' key has two large indentations either side of it, so your thumb knows what key you are on. I believe that's pretty much standard on every phone, for blind people.

I'm not your mother but please be careful if you're going to drive and text.

Nokia Maps is free with the phone, yes. However, if you want the woman yelling "Go left in 500 yards", you have to pay (I believe you can pay per journey or per [time period]). I've not had any problems with just using it as-is.

I like Nokia Maps because I can save a preset part of country (in my case, all of Scotland) onto the phone which means I don't need to download maps and images whenever I GPS (which would cost a lot in internet bills).

I don't like Nokia Maps because it has been inaccurate a few times I've used it - when I've been near the coast, admittedly. It thought I was in the sea when I was several miles inland. I've had no problems with it in town. This may be a problem with Nokia's maps and not with the phone.

I'd like Nokia Maps to accept coordinates, because then I could geocache with it. For 99% of people that's irrelevant though.

I've not tried Google Maps on it, though I might.

That is exactly what I was planning on doing and wanted to hear about the phone. Drop it a few times without any damage?

Drops and scrapes, with no problems. I once walked into the corner of a table, and by sheer bad luck my phone was in my jeans pocket, screen out, and the screen took all the impact. That cost ?44 to replace (including parts and work) at an official repairer.

Having said that, I suspect any phone (except a flip phone, obviously) would have done the same. And I've bought a protective case since then!



Anyone you know who has one here?

Not off the top of my head, sorry.
 
Last edited:
edit - yes, official firmware updates say they fix it, up to 8 gig micro SD cards, no problems.

Good to hear since that is a major concern.

The '5' key has two large indentations either side of it, so your thumb knows what key you are on. I believe that's pretty much standard on every phone, for blind people.

I'm not your mother but please be careful if you're going to drive and text.

Crap! Then who is? :lol:

On the serious side, texting and driving can be very dangerous and this is why I need/want a standard keypad.

EDIT: I can't remember which letter is where on QWERTY but on an Abc, T9, or WORD setting with a standard keypad I can type a whole message out without looking down at the screen. With my LG Dare touch screen I haven't tried texting anymore because its just plain dumb. Even when paying full attention I still can not get acquainted to the QWERTY pad.

Nokia Maps is free with the phone, yes. However, if you want the woman yelling "Go left in 500 yards", you have to pay (I believe you can pay per journey or per [time period]). I've not had any problems with just using it as-is.

Ah, no thanks. I don't need any more women in my life. If the main service is free I will have no complaints.

I'd like Nokia Maps to accept coordinates, because then I could geocache with it. For 99% of people that's irrelevant though.

Oh, so you can't put in 'points of interest' is what you mean?

Drops and scrapes, with no problems. I once walked into the corner of a table, and by sheer bad luck my phone was in my jeans pocket, screen out, and the screen took all the impact. That cost ?44 to replace (including parts and work) at an official repairer.

Is that the cost of the insurance, or the cost of independently having it repaired?

Having said that, I suspect any phone (except a flip phone, obviously) would have done the same. And I've bought a protective case since then!

I hate cases but I probably should buy one since its an incredibly expensive phone. Can you take any pictures of your case? I hate most cases because they do not protect the most vulnerable parts or can be ridiculous to use.

Thanks for the continued info.
 
Last edited:
Even when paying full attention I still can not get acquainted to the QWERTY pad.

i must be a freak i can type one handed and only glance at a qwerty keypad as long as T9 is on :p

Is that the cost of the insurance, or the cost of independently having it repaired?

We offer handset insurance through work, is pretty good value on high priced handset since it covers you for everything

I hate cases but I probably should buy one since its an incredibly expensive phone. Can you take any pictures of your case? I hate most cases because they do not protect the most vulnerable parts or can be ridiculous to use.

Sounds like Teeb has got a Crystal hard case can be a hit and miss with em until recently we had some pretty dodgy ones comming thru at work
 
unknownspeedster + Teeb + MadCow809 = Thank You.

unknownspeedster + Teeb + MadCow809 = Thank You.

i must be a freak i can type one handed and only glance at a qwerty keypad as long as T9 is on :p

Ohhh, you can have T9 while using your QWERTY? I will have to see if my Samsung has that option.

We offer handset insurance through work, is pretty good value on high priced handset since it covers you for everything

Unfortunately I know AT&T will not cover any phone I don't get through them. I will try and see if I can directly contact the insurance companies who work with AT&T and Verizon.

Sounds like Teeb has got a Crystal hard case can be a hit and miss with em until recently we had some pretty dodgy ones comming thru at work

Looks nice... until' it starts to crack, or crake as the author wrote.
 
that was a bad example of a crystal case lol, the phone store here downunder its offered at a store level rather then network based.

and i'm guessing its win-mo or samsung java operating system? cause both should have T9
 
Last edited:
Well i don't know what your choices of phone's are over there completely. But before i got my iPhone (which i can recommend highly) i had a Nokia N95, and i cant really fault it. Sometimes it got rather jittery and sluggish, but only if i really pissed it off. The Nokia's seem to be good at the moment. I've had a lot of friends who have had Sony Ericcson go wrong on them, so steer clear.

A few friends of mine have got a HTC Dream and HTC Magic, and I'm very impressed. A definate rival to the iPhone and the android system is brilliant. (although i cant live with out my iPhone, i love it ;P )

But if you want a proper phone, with normal keypad etc. I can recommend the N-series range.
 
for yaco one more handset to think about is this beasty Nokia E75 another alternative like the the samsung is but gives you a qwerty plus if you ever get in a hostage situation you can use the standard keys :)
 
Oh, so you can't put in 'points of interest' is what you mean?

I'm not the person to ask about advanced GPS features.

I can make it go from A to B, and that's all I've asked it to do. You'd be better off asking someone who knows about the GPS stuff about it - there's probably a Nokia N95 user forum.

Is that the cost of the insurance, or the cost of independently having it repaired?

That was the cost of an independent repair (through the Carphone Warehouse, UK's largest phone-selling chain). It was repaired same-day (dropped off at 10am, picked up at 5pm), but I was lucky - the branch near me was one of the few that did on-site repairs.

Insurance is between ?6 to ?12 a month in the UK for the phone, but I don't believe phone insurance is necessary (just a personal choice). If you look at how long I've owned mobile phones, assume I paid ?5 a month, and compared that to the total cost of phone repairs to date (?44), then it's a huge victory for not having insurance.

In the UK, some home insurance policies cover mobile phones, you might wish to check yours.



I hate cases but I probably should buy one since its an incredibly expensive phone. Can you take any pictures of your case? I hate most cases because they do not protect the most vulnerable parts or can be ridiculous to use.

Here's mine :

http://img23.imageshack.**/img23/4839/casese.jpg

The fake-leather case was ?5 from my local supermarket. Have to take the phone out to see the screen, though.

The phone sock was ?1.50 from the same place and has very little protective value whatsoever!

Neither are perfect, but I have to use one, because i know how clumsy I am (and how often I walk into tables and the like).

A quick google tells me you can get screen protectors for as little as ?3 online for the N95, which would help. The screen is the most damgable part of the phone, I reckon.
 
Nokia E75

Good suggestion, it shows most of the features I am looking for. Unfortunately that Samsung E75 (approx. $550) does not seem any better for me than the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH (approx. $600) or the Nokia N96 (approx. $600) but looks terrible to me. Plus I like the other two phones because most of the main buttons are hidden under sliders.

I'm not the person to ask about advanced GPS features.

I can make it go from A to B, and that's all I've asked it to do. You'd be better off asking someone who knows about the GPS stuff about it - there's probably a Nokia N95 user forum.

Oh, ok. I wasn't really sure what you meant by geocache. That will be good enough if I ever need help navigating.

I think its down to these two phones for now:

Nokia N96
Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH

I will be making myself tonight a list of compatible pros and cons to see what one I think will be better for me.
 
that's the way to do things just don't walk into the phone store and look at the cabinets, cause you will walk out with something else :p
 
Last edited:
Comparing the Nokia N96 vs. Samsung Ultra Touch.

Comparing the Nokia N96 vs. Samsung Ultra Touch.

I almost forgot to ask this but are those two finalist phones compatible with AT&T wireless here in the USA? I looked around but nothing mentioned what protocols are needed.

that's the way to do things just don't walk into the phone store and look at the cabinets, cause you will walk out with something else :p

I know exactly what you mean -I think my aunt did that with her new phone (Samsung Propel).


Nokia N96

Built off the N95 and others -Don't fix what isn't broken.
3.5 mm audio jack.
Internal memory: 16 GB storage, 128 MB RAM vs. 80 MB, ? MB RAM.
More expandability: 16GB vs. 8GB.
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology vs. none.
Symbian OS -Would that be considered a good thing?
N-Gage compatible -Nice feature since I was thinking of buying a crappy phone and buying a Sony PSP (but PSPs are a pain to convert everything to it).
No touch screen.

Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH

Weighs less, slightly smaller -Don't care.
Slightly bigger screen -240 x 400 pixels vs. 240 x 320 pixels.
Scratch-resistant surface -Guessing this isn't really that protective.
Less buttons on the sides -Not as easy to set-off by accident while in your pocket?
Faster 3G: 7.2 Mbps vs. 3.6 Mbps
Better pictures: 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels vs. 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels.
Geo-tagging: I think the N96 has it too if not mistaken.
*D1 (720x480 pixels)@30fps, QVGA slo-mo video recording vs. no slo-mo recording.
FM recording -Don't really care.
Better player? DviX/XviD/MPEG4/H.263/H.264/WMV9 player vs. AAC+/eAAC+ -I thought the Nokia can play video? What formats?
Better battery life.
Cheaper?

*What does D1 stand for?

Information compared from here:

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n96-2253.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_s8300_ultratouch-2667.php

Few questions that haven't been compared:

Which one has a better build quality?
Which one is more hackable?
Will internal memory mean it will be more responsive than MicroSDHC cards? Switching songs, fast-forwarding video and etc.
Which is more responsive when using built in options such as browsing contacts, going from menu to menu, taking pictures and etc?
Anything you guys would like to finish with?
 
I almost forgot to ask this but are those two finalist phones compatible with AT&T wireless here in the USA? I looked around but nothing mentioned what protocols are needed.

it would be case of investigating the frequency's that AT&T use

but going by gsmarena
The N96 uses
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 1900 - American version
The S8300 uses
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100

Thus it seems you may have issues accessing the 3g network with the samsung, but i would just double check, wont be a big issue with the N96 cause of wifi, but the ultratouch lacks it so browsing and downloading will be quite slow if you only had to use the 2g network


Which one has a better build quality?

Both the same, id say nokia's can be a little iffy sometimes with the dual sliders, so get them to show the phone and open and close it a few times if it and it feel loose don't take it, but besides Samsung quality has picked up so no real issues will quality

Which one is more hackable?

Both are quite restricted, symbian has a following so there are lots of applications for things check out this Place, i haven't seem any apps for samsungs.

Will internal memory mean it will be more responsive than MicroSDHC cards?

Not really don't buy shotty china town card and don't go beyond the limit specified by the manufacturer and it will be fine, if you go to big we find phones slow down

Switching songs, fast-forwarding video and etc.

No real issues

Which is more responsive when using built in options such as browsing
I haven't use a ultra touch indept but the F480 which its based on kinda lagged when opening and moving between applications, the N96 is pretty good dont have many software issues.

contacts, going from menu to menu, taking pictures and etc?

As discussed above :D
Anything you guys would like to finish with?

Not really its up to you find what is relevant to you and getting the model that matches that :)
 
I think the only thing I won't be able to live without is the video codecs in the Samsung and the slightly bigger screen. Almost all other things the N96 has and exceeds in memory, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and we have some users (N95 but who's checking) on this forum who recommend it. I am leaning to the Nokia but I need to make sure that has a video codec I can transfer all my videos into without huge problems. Any good sites others would recommend? I will be checking Wikipedia for any info tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again.
 
That Samsung looks impressive. I am guessing that AMOLED screen would be quite impressive for video playback, hence the reason for the extensive codec support for a phone.
 
Last edited:
I would STRONGLY encourage you to check out the Samsung i760, it can only be found on the Verizon website, but I bought mine used (and with goodies) and paid $125. The reception is great, it has built in wi-fi and it an all around great phone with both a touch screen and real buttons too!

Here is a pic of it:

Samsung-SCH-i760.jpg
 
Top