New Phone (again!)

[Mark]

Well, my phone insurance has come through. Only problem - they're all out of iPhones (my iPhone being discontinued and they don't have any 4s in stock). So I got £369 cash. Bit disappointing given 8GB 3GSs go for £419 new, but mine obviously wasn't new so there's nothing I could do. Better than 'denied', anyway.

So I'm in the unexpected situation of having to find another phone. My choices are:
Limp along on my backup SPV M3100 which I've kept in a drawer for the last two years. Surprisingly, the battery is still fine. It's completely crap by modern standards (Windows Mobile 5), but it'll make calls and send texts. Get something better when the time is right (e.g. iPhone5).
Switch to an ex-works Blackberry I got for peanuts. Cost £10 to get it unlocked so I can bung my SIM in it and carry on. Slightly more up-to-date than the M3100 but don't know if it's usable until I get around to unlocking it. Get something better when the time is right.
Scrounge another iPhone 3GS from somewhere. Don't know what the secondhand market for 3GSs is like, and I'll have to watch for duds due to ageing batteries. Should be well within my insurance budget though.
Try my luck with a secondhand iPhone4. Good luck with that, but I suppose someone moving to the dark side might be selling up.
Shiny new iPhone4 32GB. Can get the 32GB model for less than my insurance but it's a new 18- or 24- month contract. Skip the next generation.
Get an SGII or similar (HTC?) and try to muddle along. Android has 'talky' accessibility now but that's a slow option and application-dependant. If it's got a 'supersize me' option for fonts then that might work (previous generations of Android seemed to have horrendously small fonts).
My choice depends on (a) accessibility options on Android and (b) whether there's likely to be an iPhone5 any time soon. I know nothing about either, so if anyone has any insights, please help! :)

PS - I wouldn't want to 'limp' for too long. I've got far too reliant on my phone when I'm out and about - particularly for things like bus/train times and directions. I managed before but was always afraid of getting 'stranded'.

[Joe 90]

One of the guys I work with who was a big iPhone fan whilst he had it but then moved to the SGII recently and now much prefers it.

Still some things he doesn't like, but on the whole he's very happy to now have one.
I'd probably have one if it didn't cost so much!

[Mark]

The decision would be much easier if I had 20/20 vision. :p

Though there's the cost of replacing all my apps to factor in too (£150-£200 I suspect - EU and US CoPilot sat-navs being most of that).

[leowyatt]

From what I see in iOS 5 accessibility has been improved so that might be one thing to consider :)

[Psymonkee]

And here's me sitting with a brand new, sealed HTC Desire HD! :)

Any interest? I've only skimmed your post since I have to go back to work any moment...

[Justsomebloke]

I Love my Desire but if I was getting a new moby it would be the SGII, My mate has one & the screen is Gorgeous & the speed is noticeable.

Unless of course the price of Psymonkee is to good to resist like I said I Love my Desire & it's even survived a trip down my Bog. :D

[Kitten]

If he's not I might be :) i can get the SGII free on upgrade but not sure i want to switch for full contract duration yet. Need a new phone though this iphone is busted :(

[Psymonkee]

I got an SG2 then later that day discovered that HTC mysteriously decided to honour their paper thin warranty and sent me a brand new phone :D

I'm still not sure where to shift it tbh but I'm sure a sensible figure can be reached :)

[Mark]

Haven't looked at the Desire HD yet (will try to do tomorrow - it's too late tonight), but I have played with an SGSII and my God that screen is nice. It's so big that I almost don't need accessibility. :p

Home screen looks good enough but it's web and mail where the crunch comes. Guy in CPW suggested rooting it and changing the fonts (which I was very impressed with!) Don't know what's involved with that or how much it would completely **** up the interface, but it's an option. :)

SGSII Pros:
- Cost (£648 - 24mth - less insurance refund brings it down to £262). £11pcm for a phone that good is screaming buy me!!! :D
- Should do everything I want.
- It's not iOS, so I escape the Jobsian jail!
- Arguably best phone on the market right now. Trounces the iPhone in a lot of areas.
- Memory expansion - 48GB would last me for years! :)

SGSII Cons:
- Writing off £101.18 in apps and a similar amount in accessories. Would have to spend about that to buy back equivalent apps.
- Only 16GB but expandable (may be 8GB card in the box, but if not I've already got one) so not really a con.
- Limited accessibility (TTS, which I don't really want). Possibility to improve by rooting, but unknown until I try.
- No option to pool resources should I decide to get an iPad (no plans to do so, but can't rule it out).

iPhone4 Pros:
- Know it, love it, know it does just about everything I want.
- Accessibility. Maybe more in iOS5.
- Compatible with most existing accessories and apps (all bar about £30 - unused CapsuleNeo and screen protectors).
- Works great with my Mac (but it's old and might die, and I have a phobia of iTunes on PCs).
- Future iPad option.

iPhone4 Cons:
- Cost (£821 for 32GB, less for 16GB but I'd decided a while ago that I want 32GB next time). After insurance, £452, £19pcm, £8pcm more than SGSII.
- Jobs keeps me in jail! Arrrgh!
- 4S/5 'just around the corner' (3-6 months). Seems like a bit of a waste.

Given the saving outweighs the app expense, I'm very tempted by the Dark Side. Just got that darn accessibility thing though! :(

[Jingo]

PG's Galaxy S can change its fonts and that's on a standard 'out of the box' configuration so I imagine the Galaxy Sii has that option too :)

I think the only real consideration out of the above is the loss of money in specialist Apps and whether or not you want to be a part of the fashionable iphone club; this isn't a 'boooo apple' comment either, some people genuinely like being able to say they have an iphone etc and if you're one of those people then getting something else because of some technical perk will only result in regret once novelties have worn off.

If a phone is screaming 'buy me' at you then I think you already have your answer :D

[Kitten]

there's also a fashion for the 'Look at me, I WON'T BUY AN iPHONE because it's an iphone etc' club, which is just as bad. I think the wait for the 5 is a killer, IF you need a new phone. Otherwise, it's just a few months.

[Mark]

I've been muddling by with my old SPV. If I can get it to work with O2s data network (and there's on reason why I can't as O2 sold their own version) then I can muddle on for 'a few months', though I really don't like being without my app collection, especially when I'm away from home (Google Maps and National Rail Enquiries were manna from heaven :)).

The fashionista argument doesn't work with me, in either direction. I used to buy Motorolas when they were anything but fashionable (V3 excepted). :)

[Kitten]

I don't know if I can muddle along with mine, it's driving me crackers already and it's only been a few days :/

[Jingo]

there's also a fashion for the 'Look at me, I WON'T BUY AN iPHONE because it's an iphone etc' club, which is just as bad.

I didn't say it was a bad thing; I don't personally see the problem with wanting to get an item because your friends/peers all have one too. My choice of phone has always been based on getting me the functions I desire for the least amount of money.

[Kitten]

I didn't say you did, I'm just pointing out that there are two sides to the fashion thing.

There's a guy here who basically wanted something that did *exactly* what the iphone4 did when it came out, but wouldn't buy an iphone4 because he wasn't a 'fashion victim'. Surely the very definition of a fashion victim would be not buying something perfect for you because of the brand?! He didn't understand though :(

[Jingo]

What a plonker! ;D It's like when people stop liking bands because they become popular! :(

[Jingo]

p.s.
http://www.cadred.org/Images/Gallery/Resized/4048_iphoneownage.png

[Kitten]

bah, blocked at work.

[Mark]

Think I've found the one reason why I can't get an Android Phone...

I can't read the labels in Google Maps. :(

Didn't get chance to try navigation mode. Seems it has bigger labels but I doubt it's browsing (or bus) friendly.

So unless there's a workaround I guess I'd best stick with iPhones for the forseeable future. I don't mind that - it's just Apple's attitude towards customers that I don't like.

[Mark]

Come to the conclusion I'd be crazy to sacrifice known good functionality for 'new toy' bling, Motorola Droid has a zoom tool (Zoomservice.apk), but I don't know if the Atrix has the same, and even if it does I wasn't particularly keen on the mock-up I saw.

So unless Google decide to integrate Zoomservice into Android (no reason why they can't but no likelihood that they will), I'm going to have to stick with iPhone. Perfectly acceptable answer despite my dislike of Apple's opinion towards its customers. Right now I'd be dependant on my aging Mac Mini but iCloud should help with that.

However, if a 4S/5 is due in the next 3-6 months, I'd rather just tough it out and see what happens. To that end I'm going to try a BlackBerry for a few months :eek:. Got hold of an ex-Company 8800 for peanuts, finally managed to kill all the corporate **** on it, set it up with 'supersize me' fonts, and now just need to see if I can get it unlocked and get a suitable service plan for it so I can use the browser and maps (preferably without breaking my upgrade options). If not, I'll just sell the BB at cost and use the GPS-less TyTN - it sort of still works. :)