Phone Purchase Ponderings ...

[jeshyr]

If I was hypothetically looking for a mobile phone with a good camera and the ability to be a wifi hotspot AND which could be purchased outright so I can use it with a prepaid voice/data SIM here in Australia, what would you tech people recommend?

I realised yesterday that I am considering buying a new camera (my 7.1 megapixel point-and-shoot is falling apart literally) AND after the saga with my "Mifi" type wireless 3G modem I have to get a new one of those ... and that hence it would probably be smarter to just buy a better phone. I do actually have a mobile phone but it's a very very simple no-internet non-smart Nokia that just does voice and text messages and is a pain to use. I just have the phone basically for emergency purposes when I'm out - I don't use it really at all, but now I'm going out alone it'd be dumb not to have it around.

Carrying one device instead of three would be nice, to start with, and less things I have to remember to charge and remember to bring with me!

My default would be to get an iPhone since then it's (a) a business expense (b) something I can use for ATMac app reviews, but you can't use an un-jailbroken iPhone as a wifi hotspot or even a bluetooth tether for an un-jailbroken iPad and that's why I want the wifi hotspot/tether functionality. I did see some rumours that iOS 4.3 might have personal wifi hotspot functionality but I don't have any confirmation of this so I figured I'd explore other options in the mean time.

Opinions please!!

Cheers,
r

Comments

[ideological_cuddle]

My understanding is that iOS 4.3's wifi hotspot support will be at carrier discretion, just like the current tethering support. Carriers that allow it typically charge extra for the privilege.

Your best bet is probably an Android phone. As of 2.2 wifi hotspot is a standard base OS feature with no carrier lock-out (it was already possible on earlier releases, just not as a base feature). The huge downside is the lack of AT: you can get a screen reader (which I have not tried) but it doesn't do any sort of screen magnification or inverse the way iOS does.

If you want to go that way, the question of which phone to get is pretty subjective. I have a Desire, with which I have something of a love-hate relationship. My one piece of advice would be to try to limit yourself to devices that have a known stable root and third-party ROMs available: it's not that you necessarily want to install one of those now, but when the manufacturer inevitably flakes on supporting future OS releases on the hardware in a year or two, you've still got updates available if you want them.

Probably the safest route is to see if there's a CyanogenMod port for any device you're considering. Their wiki has a list of supported devices at the top of the main page.

[thorfinn]

Just to confirm - iOS4.3beta2 definitely has the "Personal Hotspot" feature, and I've used it. As far as I can tell it's using the existing Carrier Setting for "Tethering" - if your carrier has "tethering" enabled for your account, then the iPhone doesn't care how you tether - you can use WiFi (with WPA security), USB or Bluetooth. Prior to 4.3 it was just USB/Bluetooth. This is a beta, so it's potentially subject to change.

[jeshyr]

Thank you - interestings!!

[azurelunatic]

I have an anti-recommendation for the Palm Pixi for your purposes. In theory, it tethers; in actual practice, I have not got it to work. So that's one thing. I cannot hold its performance in my apartment against it, given that my apartment is a black hole for phone signal. However, it does not multitask well: it struggles to attempt to do navigation and music at the same time. It also needs to be rebooted daily or near-daily with memory hogging applications. If its memory is too short, it does not ring its alarms. Palm WebOS does not have voice dialing capabilities at this point in time, which is something I consider a fairly crucial accessibility feature.

Its battery life does not seem to be bad as far as smartphones go; it seems to be comparable with cleverthylacine's Droid.

It is probably OK for someone who uses it as a phone with occasional app use, but not for someone who wants to use it as a handheld computer.

[azhdragon]

whatever you do, don't get a sony xperia x10 mini. it's a piece of shit. In the five months I've owned it, I've successfully answered less than 10 calls. Mostly I'm standing there trying to "slide" the doohicky on the screen towards answer and the call just disconnects.

I hate this phone with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. and I only have 19 more months left on the contract (sob!)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm happy with my HTC Desire running Android 2.2. Seems to be a wi-fi hotspot ok. Leon could give more information.

Audrey

[jeshyr]

Thanks, I'll see how I go. Two votes for Android so far :)

BTW wore one of your shirts yesterday - very soft! Thanks again!!

[thorfinn]

Android is nice - if you want to do the OS maintenance yourself. You will have to do that - the via carrier upgrade process is often either non existent, bad, or Windows only.

There is more hackability and feature variation ( the google definition of open ), but that isn't necessarily good, because it's more work for you. Price points often are lower too - but that is reflected in build quality.

Wait a month and see what the au carriers do with iOS wifi hotspot options. They are confirmed to exist in iOS4.3, but it's a question of carrier settings and pricing. And note - iPads run iOS...

[vass]

I love my iPhone, but it doesn't sound like what you need.

We will not meet the Jedi. Send the Droids.

[hypatia]

except not the actual motorola Android phones - they and Sony are the worst offenders as far as non-hackable Android phone. they sign their boot process cryptographically, preventing people from loading unofficial builds of Android.

HTC and Samsung have been far better about this. Samsung has very nice screens, also.

[thorfinn]

The only missing iPhone feature request seems to be the hotspot, which is confirmed to exist in iOS4.3 but carriers have not yet announced plan pricing. Also, jailbroken iPhones have been hotspotting for ages.

That said, I personally don't recommend jailbreaking an iPhone - after all if you want to do that sort of thing, then Android is no doubt better.

[jeshyr]

I will definitely wait until AU carriers figure out what to do with hotspot features, I am just interested in seeing what the non-Apple options might be - partly because I had no idea :)

Why is it relevant that iPads run iSO though? I do know that, but I don't see the relevance... my iPad is wifi-only BTW.

[ideological_cuddle]

The one thing I can think of -- and it's why I occasionally contemplate going back to iPhone, at least until I stop and think about the limitations that made me drop it -- is that by having both devices run iOS you've got a common set of applications and can run most of them on both at no extra cost.

[ideological_cuddle]

Oh, FWIW I just did a quick test having my iPad connect to the portable hotspot provided by my Desire and it worked Just Fine. Probably kills the battery something dreadful, mind, but it works as expected.

Same should be true for any Android device that hasn't had the firmware crippled.

[thorfinn]

Ah, forgot you only have the wifi iPad. It means that the 3G iPads will have the hotspot capability too - provided the carriers turn on the option too, obviously.

There are definitely suitable Android options, but only if you do the OS mod install and maintenance. Android is fine, but the hardware vendor and the carrier you buy the device from both have to provide you with updates ... And they both have strong financial reasons to not give you any OS updates at all. Google wants you to update, but there are two other major third parties in the way of that, unless you install the OS yourself.

[daniel]

So, I have another recommendation for Android, and a specific recommendation that something which can run CyanogenMOD, because I find their alternate firmware enormously better than the stock firmware. (Plus, free unlock even if you bought the TMobile G2 AKA HTC Desire Z and it was network locked out of the box. ;)

I would specifically recommend the HTC Desire Z if you want a hardware keyboard on the phone. I was undecided until I used one, and it makes doing work and private email on the phone much nicer. Not faster than the software input method I was using, but much less error prone and easier to use for formatted text rather than just running English.

I would specifically recommend the HTC Desire HD, Samsung Galaxy S, or Nexus S if you don't want the hardware keyboard (and it does add bulk and weight) for the phone, but want something current.

Keyboard-wise: get either ShapeWriter or Swype on the phone. The Desire Z ships, I believe, with Swype in the vendor ROM (and the G2 certainly does), but both of those made text entry reasonably fast, unlike the hunt-and-peck that I never did better than on the regular software keyboards. (They are gesture-based input with keyboard backing, which is nice.)

The rest of your desires are fine. Any Android with 2.2 should be OK, provided your ROM doesn't shackle the feature. Which is why "runs CyanogenMOD" is an RFC 2119 style MUST for any new Android phone that I buy. Earlier versions can do BlueTooth, USB (except to a Mac) or Wifi tethering.

The G2/Desire Z has a nice camera, with an LED flash. Good enough that I can do snapshots with a fixed lens using it and be very happy with the results. Works pretty good in low light, too. (The Register, of all people, usually do a good review of the camera hardware in these things, FWIW.)

[indigojo]

The T-Mobile G2 is the HTC Hero (unless it was known as the Desire Z anywhere else). I have one myself - it came out in late 2009, initially with Android 1.5, upgradable (with a laborious and obscure process) to v2.1.

The Desire was an early-mid 2010 handset, and came with Android 2.1 from the outset, IIRC.

[daniel]

...perhaps T-Mobile have reused the designator? They are certainly selling the HTC Desire Z as the "T-Mobile G2 with Google" on their website, and it is a 2.2 machine with a hardware keyboard. Definitely, absolutely not the HTC Hero.

I just went and checked the T-Mobile site and they definitely list it under that name. *shrug*

[mikz.livejournal.com]

So I've been looking at a lot of smartphones in the last year, and not a single one is really beyond where Palm O/S was most of a decade ago. So honestly, I'd say find a Treo in decent shape, if it wasn't for the fact that app writers have abandoned the platform. It's quite frustrating. And that's not even considering battery life!

Palm Pre has the best UI. iPhone is furthest ahead as far as apps go, and the most stable, but the UI is very inconsistent and generally somewhat sucky. Android is the happy medium, and will probably catch up with Palm as far as apps go before another year or two has passed. I don't have any specific hardware to recommend, though.