I am currently using a Sony Ericsson K700i. To summarize my experience.. it sucks. The phone is buggy, sluggish and ugly. Recently its also been acting very strange like for example the down button would stop working or my call list would show that I called people whom I never did. Not only that but sometimes when my friends call it won’t show me their names just their numbers.. even though their names are on my phone. Its really starting to piss me off and so I need a new phone. My problem is I don’t like paying too much for a phone, you can call me cheap but I personally just don’t see myself paying a lot for phones. I still remember when the Sony Ericsson T610 got released and I forked out KD220 for it back then but those days are gone. Now my budget is KD100 or less.
What I need is the following:
– Bluetooth
– Good looks
– extremely responsive system
– No Nokia
Yesterday I saw the Samsung SGH-E530 (pictured above) and it looked pretty cool. Although I dislike Samsung the phone looked really slick, it had bluetooth, a beautiful colored screen on the inside and a gorgeous OLED screen on the outside. The price at the dealer was KD95 so I should be able to find it even cheaper outside. The problem is the phone is targetted towards woman which would make me very girlie. Another option I was considering was the Motorolla Razr, I haven’t done any research on it yet nor do I know how much it cosst but I will check on that later tonight. Can anyone recommend me a phone?
update: seems like the Treo 700P is launching this month, I am going to wait for it and check it out before I take my decision. [Link]
50 replies on “I need a new phone”
I was a iMate user till very recently, but got fed up carrying a big brick in my pocket, and I don’t use most of it’s features anyway.
So I dumped it and got a Motorola RAZR. I paid KD 92 2 months backs with a free bluetooth headset.
Good thing is the same charger charges both the mobile and the headset.
Simple & basic. I think it meets all of your 4 criterias listed.
The only prob with Motorola is accessories. The shop keepers give me such sympathetic glances when I enquire about Motorola accessories. I own a V80 (which is cheap, good looking, Bluetooth and all – but memory is only 6MB, and the opening mechanism, though cool, is bound to leave me in tears some day). I’d say go for SAMSUNG.
dont go for this samsung…it looks like a ladie’s phone…
check moto SLVR……….
I always tend to fork out a lot of money when i buy a mobile .. bas i change mine very 1 or 2 years so it is worth it … right now i would have to say wait for the new SE phones the new line is pretty interesting, if u want it asap .. thent he razr is good … nice looks the features are nice … but the camera sucks and only 5 MB memory and no SD sLot .. oh btw this is teh old Razr ..i think u can get it for 80 KD .. he new Razr (same as old) adds a better cam and an sd slot .. so more storage … I used it for a couple of days it is really nice …
The new Samsung is targeting female consumers, no macho man would make the terrible mistake of buying one, unless you have a great deal of security with yourself. As a sony ericsson fan I just traded in my W800 with the all new W810, and so far I am more than pleased with my recent cellular purchase as is many of my colleagues who opted for the same choice.
I added your site to my favorites. As an investor in the retail and service sector myself, I can tell you that your analysis pertaing the retail industry in Kuwait is always right on target and very thorough.
keepetab!
If you update your k700’s software, and fix it’s joystick at the SE service point in Behbehani complex, you will be able to solve your current issues and extended its life by a couple of months untill the K800 comes out.
T610 cost around 150 when it came out at albarak. Definitely not 220.
I need a new phone too. I’ve had my current one for like 3years+ !
erm i think the samsung and the motorolla are too girlie for ME….
You could get a brand new used phone for 100 kd, which might fit what you need until you find more money to buy a new one.
mark DO NOT get a razr if you want a fast GUI and sane phonebook. the razr is about the slowest phone i ever used, it sometimes takes a full second to scroll one block.
also the phonebook is really primitive and retarded (it stores multiple entries for the same person with diff numbers) it’s jsut really really annoying. even the new V3i razr still has the same shitty motorola OS. wait for the razr 2 to see if the fix the interface and also the razr 2 looks even more sexy.
calrsberg i paid kd220 for my t610
Jashanmal I am a sony ericsson fan either, my previous phone was t630, before that t610 and before that t68i. My first phone was the ericsson 337 🙂
My problem I think is that I can’t wait for the next generation ericssons.. i could try but the longer i use this phone the more i will end up hating ericsson lol
ozy whats your phone?
Purg yeah i was thinking of passing by sharq and checking out the “nearly new” phones and see what fits my budget.
holla good to know cuz i really cant stand a phone slower then me..
I would definetely recommend the motorolla razr v3i. It look fucking amazing!! It has all 3g functions and a 1.3 megapixel camera to boot. I think the price is around kd 120-140.
ripped off obviously
Mark
Good for SE W800i or W810i.
I have the W800i but i dont like it color
a friend of my just got the W810i n its black n cool ot same as W800i only with EDGE N SMALL added features.
u Will like the Display too better than any other in its prize range. N they come with 512MB A big Plus point.
W800i = KD120 or less
wW810i = KD145 May down later after few weeks its new in q8 market.
carlsberg wtf is your problem dude? Ripped off would mean there was a cheaper price and I paid extra. I am not an idiot. There wasn’t a cheaper price, there were only 2 stores that sold it and both were for the same price.
kevin i am going to pass by sharq and see how much i can get the w810i second hand. might be able to find a clean one 100kd or less..
I miss the days back when phones didn’t have bloated operating systems and useless features. Black and white display, phone book, calculator, stopwatch, and a few games for when you’re sitting around waiting for something.
tell me about it, i have been trying my best to find a brand new Ericsson 388 to buy and use but no luck. My second favorite phone is the Siemens C55, if only it had bluetooth I would have kept it..
where do u get those “nearly new” phones in sharq?
there are 2 “streets”. One is across from Marriott Courtyard (Alraya mall). The guy with the biggest collection I call the Green Room. The inside of the shop is all green..
The second street is further down the road where they sell second hand cars and where the shops selling all the bicycles are located. over there u basically need to hop around from shop to shop. u could find phones that havent been released in the market there also.. black market shit but expect to pay a premium.
Motorola Pebl… has blue tooth, looks good, it is not a nokia and it is within or just at your 100 kd budget!
i LOVED how the Motorla Pebl looked like.. but then I opened it 🙂
Mark, if you would like to think so. It was around 150KD at albarrak when it was first released in Kuwait.
Man I still don’t understand what your problem is. You can’t come in here and tell me how much I paid for my phone.
Firstly, Barak didn’t have the phone when I got it.
Secondly when they did get it they were selling it for KD165.
Thirdly FYI, dealers dont get the phones first
try a fone by Sharp
I have one of the SX series bought in Hong Kong.
Only drawback is no Arabic support but that’s cool with me
kind of bulky but that’s the way I like em. The new ones are smaller I think
Extremely responsive operating system and Ericsson? I don’t think such a phone exists. All Sony Ericsson phones have hopelessly slow op systems. I don’t know why you have this No Nokia policy. I say get yourself one of the more basic Nokias that use the Symbian Series 40 operating system which is extremely fast and very sturdy in comparison to the crap Series 60. There are two coming out this month: Nokia 6233 and the 6131 flip phone.
I was a staunch Nokia user until they switched to the horrid S60 OS they’re currently using, which is totally counterintuitive…I bought a K700i last August. It took me quite a bit to get used to it, but it was cheap and small, so I stuck with it. Everything was going fine until a coupla months ago, when, like you, Mark, my joystick began acting up, esp when I tried to move downwards. And the battery life SUCKS–I have to charge mine pretty much every other day; that doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that my older Nokias would last at least 3 or so days before I had to charge them! I’m gonna check those phones Muscati mentioned when I’m back in AD next month…Good luck with your phone hunt!
PS. The RAZR is ridiculously overrated–Motorola’s OS is even worse than SE’s.
I don’t have a problem dude. I’m saying that you got your t610 overpriced, and when someone is over charging you, it means they are trying to rip you off.
over priced compared to what? What are you comparing it to? I can tell you that what I paid was over priced compared to the T610 if you want to buy it today since you can find it now for KD40. This doesnt mean I got ripped off. At the time of my purchase the T610 cost KD220. If I wanted to wait until it was officially released in Kuwait and every one was walking around with one then I could have gotten it cheaper. But when I got it the phone was still not out in Kuwait and barely out in Sweden.
all phones suck
Dont get the samsung, not a very good phone. Wait for Nokia 6131 it shoud not be too far away and should retail around 300usd the display is really beautiful and the new OS s40v3 in quite nice, check it out https://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,87665,00.html
oh no nokias, too bad for you 😛
all the current motorola phones use the same shit interface.
i am also looking to get a new phone and i want something really slim with a fast logical interface.
Wait for the RAZR V3i.. It’s kewler…
If you’re a person who doesn’t care about all the buzzed up components then get urself a PEBL U6, no Mp3s n a low quality camera…… but on the other hand a slick good lookin’ handy. In these days, who wouldn’t have an iPod? or if ur into ad/creative work then you would own a pro-cam so u end up with a phone and only phone that u need, and a bit of internet wouldn’t hurt on mobile. My take on PEBL U6, it just works!
mark, it’s the same as buying an xbox360 for 400KD before everyone else.
exactly. its not called getting ripped off.
A rip off includes financial explotation
Ok so let me get this straight.
You don’t know the exact date of when I got the phone.
You don’t know the place I got the phone from.
You don’t know if there was any other place that had the phone at that time.
You don’t know the price of the phone in the market at that time since you dont know when i bought it.
You are not the one who bought the phone I was the one.
Yet with all the above you came to the conclusion I got ripped off. Ok dude you win this argument.. whatever.
There is a difference between paying a premium to having an object first and getting ripped off. They are not the same. In one way you know you are paying more and in the other you don’t.
whatever you say
no whatever YOU say 😉
lool.. no its your blog ;p
what about SmartPhones ? like Motorola Q . Treo 700P . Or you can sattle for a motorola RAZR V3x which a 3G Phone since you look for style .
My recommendation is to go with the iMate SP5.. honestly it has everything your looking for plus wifi built-in.. bluetooth.. and it works on the edge network! I have jas jar right now and its rediculously fast.. i sometimes post on your website using the Jas Jar! But the SP5 very good and it has sooo many features and it can play mp3s and wmas.. and mp3s as ring tones.. it has good signal strength.. check out http://www.gsmarena.com and I can give you a good place to go for phones if you need. Let me know what price you get for a phone and i will see if my guy could get you better! U know where to reach me! I have been going crazy with phones the past month because I really dont like mine! I really want the Nokia N71! But Im waiting for that!
G-Funk yeah I Updated the post since I found out the Treo 700p is comig out soon, going to wait for that.
Marzouq I am a Palm OS guy so I dont like Pocket PC. Going to wait and see how the new 700p turns out
how much is a ericson w800?
wanna know which is better se W810i or imate sp5. coz the sp5 doesnt have radio. but other wise how is the speaker qualilty in the sp5 compared to the W810i? and wat is ui??
Dear CD,
Definitely go 4 SP5. Far better than W810i (which has good camera 2.0mpx + good sound quality) phone available now a day. As someone said earlier it is the only phone which almost has all the options one is looking 4.