Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Thanks Evilchap
Maybe I am out of range for it. I'm in Christchurch (which I'd expect to have HSDPA if NZ has it), but I can only really get 3G reception upstairs in my house. Only occasionally downstairs. Maybe if I try next time in the middle of town, I'll see an "H" symbol.
Cheers.
Posted by carkitter
My Vodem works on HSDPA at about 800 - 1400 kbps although they love to quote a theoretical maximum of 3.6 Mbps...
3G reception is patchy even in Auckland.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Thanks carkitter. Good to know, cause I thought NZ just must not have it yet! Christchurch city central usually has decent 3G reception so I'll check again next time I'm there.
Posted by brix25
@M-O: Cape Town is beautiful as always. You're right, that picture re-enforces all those stereotypes foreigner have of New Zealand.
I wanted to ask you guys. What happened to Econet Wireless which was supposed to have started a GSM network in NZ after they were awarded a licence.
Posted by carkitter
@brix
Third cell player is ready to roam
NZ Herald
5:00AM Thursday December 06, 2007
By Helen Twose
A third choice for mobile phone users came a step closer yesterday as Vodafone and NZ Communications announced a roaming deal.
Under the terms of the agreement, aspiring mobile operator NZ Communications - formerly Econet Wireless - will be able to use Vodafone's 2G network in areas where it has no network coverage.
NZ Communications chairman Bill Osborne said it was a big step for the company, which has spent almost seven years getting a mobile network off the ground.
NZ Communications was formed in 2001 as a commercial partnership between Hautaki Trust, a pan-Maori trust holding a third-generation spectrum (3G) radio frequency given to it by the Government, and African-based mobile company Econet Wireless.
continued...
_________________
I
V8 Supercars
"Innovation in styling comes from innovation in packaging" - Gordon Murray
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-02-25 06:41 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
@carkitter: Any joy on the T650i front yet? I'm awaiting some pictures!
Posted by carkitter
Not yet. By end of the month though I hope.
Edit: Motorola and Sony Ericsson range going cheap at Expert Infotech ATM, also keen on the San Disk 4GB M2 @ $108.00
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-03-02 10:12 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Hey thats pretty cheap! I don't need one at the moment, as 1GB is enough. But I expect I will at some stage. I'll look into it then!
Posted by carkitter
Hmmm... I have good news and bad news.
Bad News - My T650 fund has taken a hit
Good News - I found a V800 in excellent condition on TradeMe. It arrives soon.
Bad News - My V630i is no more. Lost it at work today. Goneburger.
Good News - More reason to get a T650 fast!
Bad News - Vodafone PhoneInsure excess is $125. They'll probably send me a K610.
Good News - My son had his eye on my V630i. Now I won't feel so bad giving him the K610.
Posted by carkitter
Bad News - Seems my son won't be inheriting a K610.
Good News - Apparently the insurance replacement for the V630i is the V640i.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Hahaha, overall that doesn't seem soooo bad...
I mean, you kinda score a cheap V640i out of it...
So will the V640i be instead of the T650i or will you give it to your son? I'd feel kinda crap if I had an old A100 phone and someone close to me had a nice A200! Though, the T650i is nicer overall... Hmmm...
Posted by carkitter
I feel kinda funny about it. Everytime I get ready update my phone, I lose the d**n thing! It's real frustrating and upsetting too!
My son won't be getting the V640i that's for sure. I will still be getting a T650 because in my (camera-centred) opinion anything with a 2.0Mp cam is a move sideways not forwards. I definately want to move up to 3.2 Million pixels! Until I get a taste of the differences between A100 and A200 platforms it won't register high on my list of priorities I guess. The only A200 feature that interests me ATM is the WLAN plug-in accessory and that's only a rumour...
The T650 will be my favourite but as I'm quite hard on phones it won't be going to work, or to the beach, or anywhere near the kids or... you get the picture.
The V640i will be the every day phone. The new V800 is just pure indulgence.
Had a good look at the new SE range (dummy phones) at the Vodafone shop this morning while sorting out the insurance details. Nice!
I like the K850i keypad, very cool. Quite thick though, I didn't expect that, but if that's necessary for 5Mp's (N95 is thick too) then who cares.
W910i is way cool! Not as tall as I thought either. Certainly eyecatching.
V640i is much better looking than it looks in pictures. It's almost iPod like in size and shape with nice buttons and two cool colour schemes. It's more of an upgrade from the V630 than I thought. Up 'til this point I was thinking WOW! SE are getting a hard time online for nothing, then I saw the K770.
While not being bad, it certainly didn't look or feel as good as the others IMO. I'd much rather have seen the T650 there. or even the K810i.
Overall I was very impressed. Can't wait to get my hands on the V640i and I'm even more keen to get the T650 than ever now.
Edit: Other phones which impressed me today were the Moto RAZR2 V9 and the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music - both thin and stylish. 5310 would be good for my son me thinks. He doesn't need 3G.
_________________
I
V8 Supercars
"Innovation in styling comes from innovation in packaging" - Gordon Murray
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-03-06 07:12 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Lol, everytime I update my phone, my brother scores a very cheap phone out of me!
Yeah, sounds like the T650i is still the way to go. A show-off phone, nice. And it really is your only good option at the moment, because as you say the K770i isn't that flash, the K800i was around when the V630i was released, and the K850i is far too expensive. And of the imports, the T650i really is the pick of the bunch (though I noticed expert infotech knocked it up $10! Bargain with them anyway, I think you'll get it down further than $10).
In regard to the dummies, I was probably more impressed with the K770i than you, but you're right that it's nothing special. I wasn't particularly impressed with th K850i actually and am now well over the phone. And the V640i is really impressive, I especially like the black and red one. But I
my awesome W910i! 
Well I'm definitely looking forward to heaps of pictures of all three (
) of your new phones! I hope you'll take the time to upload some! And perhaps you could get the 5310 as a birthday present for your son? If that's nearby (mines on Saturday! Sorry, had to throw that in somewhere). I always wished I'd get a phone for my birthday when I was younger... In my opinion it's the perfect present!
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-03-06 08:55 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Oh and when you get your fancy new V640i, could you let me know whether you get an 'H' for HSDPA ever? That'd be great thanks!
Posted by carkitter
My son's birthday is April 21st, still waiting to see what turns up in the Vbox; First Mobile Browns Bay said they didn't stock K610 anymore so maybe it won't be in the Vbox either?
I know when your birthday is.
One just needs to click on your posts and search under 'birthday'.
Are you planning anything special?
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
So it's soon then! Will he be receiving a nice new phone on the 21st of April then? Hmmm... When was the last time you had anything in your Vbox? Its beginning to seem like Vodafone have forgotten about it.
On 2008-03-06 10:37:28, carkitter wrote:
I know when your birthday is.
One just needs to click on your posts and search under 'birthday'.
Are you planning anything special?
Could you explain that a little further? Lol, I searched the last 5-10 minutes and can't find out how!
No plans so far except a nice dinner with my family. If I can get it together I may go to town with a few mates in the evening too.
Posted by carkitter
Doh! It wasn't 'birthday' although I did try that, it was 'march'.
On 2008-02-23 10:52:48, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
I'm 19, but I turn 20 in exactly two weeks (8th March).
I can find almost anything.
Who says the search is useless?
Posted by soane28
I too went into vodafone the other day and had a play with the K850 and W910. Very interesting.
K850 was nice, liked how it looked in real life. But i couldnt handle the touch sensitive buttons! Not for me at all. And what got me the most was the saving time to take a picture. Reminded me far too much of the Nokia N95! Such a shame as i really liked everything else about it!
W910 is thin! And build quality was excellent. Slide was great. Was good to use actual buttons compared to K850. Dont think i could live with that camera though!
My verdict: Wont be forking out the cash for either.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
@soane29: You got to have a proper go on them? I think carkitter and myself only saw the dummies. Though, after I got my W910i my local Vodafone store got working demos of both the W910i and V640i. So the touch sensitive buttons aren't so great huh?
I wouldn't fork out K850i prices, but I did fork out almost full price for my W910i. I got $75 off lol. I'm not concerned with cameras on phones anymore, just as long as it has one that works!
Posted by carkitter
My new V800 has arrived and I'm loving it. Bought it from TradeMe for $145.00 . It's in great condition, with the full package including 2 AC chargers + 1 Car charger + 512MB MSPD + an old school Moto BT headset with car charger.
I had a V800 before the V630i and going back to the V800 has been interesting. The Font is a little crude looking but ok, the screen is nowhere near as bright, I miss the Large clock on the standby screen and my 760+ text messages backed up on MPE won't fit into the 200 spaces available in the V800. But it's so gorgeous to look at and to touch; I was disraught when I lost my 1st V800, I know this was a good decision to get another one despite the fact it doesn't get along with my HPV-705 BT headset. The V630i and headset auto-paired easily...
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Wow that's in great condition carkitter! And still looking as great as when it was the latest phone! I took my old V600i to a party last week, not wanting to risk losing or dropping my W910i, and I was quite surprised at how old it feels (software-wise). I mean, they software hasn't changed much in appearance, but small things like fonts, colours, and brightness make all the difference. Still love the old thing though.
Thanks for the birthday thread by the way!
Just thinking, perhaps NZers' birthdays could be added to the first post, so we can keep a track of them?
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Just a heads-up: If you're interested in a SE K660i or an SE W890i, Etown has them now at fairly decent (but not great yet) prices:
K660i at $510 here (white or black, near the top)
W890i at $750 here (silver, top of page)
No images of them yet, which suggests that maybe they haven't got any stock yet, although as you can see, having images isn't necessarily a good thing, as a few are wrong anyway!
Anyway, I've dealt with Etown in the past and they were very good.
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-03-09 09:11 ]
Posted by soane28
Muhammad-Oli: Yes i was lucky enough to have a go with working ones!
Yeah, the touch sensitive buttons didnt go down well with me, very unpredictable. I found you had to press the buttons in a particular way or with a certain amount of pressure to get them working 100 percent of the time. Sometimes it just took time to load so you thought you didnt press them right, but next thing your deep into the options or opening up a game!
The W910 is def the best one of the two, im not surprised you got yourself one!
Carkitter: Great buy there! Really really good condition!
Just a side note: I will be getting a nokia n82 within a month or two, so if anyones interested or curious as to what its like, you will be able to ask me some questions or i could post a mini review.
[ This Message was edited by: soane28 on 2008-03-09 10:06 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah I've heard of those problems with the K850i. The touch keys were probably my main reason not to get one!
Nice, seems like everyone is getting a new phone at the moment! Post some pictures up here in the NZ thread when you get it mate!
Somebody may want a mini-review too.
Posted by carkitter
Hey guys, don't forget there is a Product Reviews section to the Forum which doesn't contain any N82 or W910 reviews so hint hint, nudge nudge...
I'll certainly be posting a V640i review! If you want a template for what a good review looks like, check out this one.
Posted by carkitter
The V640i is waiting for me at the local Courier depot. I'll have it tomorrow!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Lol I would do a review, but I think everyone has seen enough W910i reviews and info, that it would not be so worth it! In NZ we get stuff so late that elsewhere, everyone is over the thing already!
Looking forward to the V640i review, thats something people haven't seen much of before! I bet you're pretty excited!
Posted by carkitter
Just a couple of pics and some quick comments on my new V640i...
The Sony Ericsson UI just keeps getting better and better! Menu font is the same as V630i but the soft key is smaller on L and R with a 3rd soft key in the middle with Italics.
Love the new aimated Media player! No H for HSDPA yet but I'll test it further on the weekend.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Niiiice!
How does it feel in your hand? Pretty solid huh? That's what I thought when I had a very brief go on one at the vodafone store. It looks really cool, A200 is great isn't it!?
Posted by carkitter
It feels great to hold because the lower part is rubber while the uuper is plastic. It's very good looking in a sort of 'V600 meets 1st gen iPod Nano' type style. It also looks thinner than it is thanks to the curved edges and the I like the overlapping circle styling on the back too. First impressions are definately positive
I was hoping for Havanna Gold but Quick Black is fine because it won't show scratches easily.
I'm expecting even better things from the T650. I can cope with a less stylie media player if the 3.2 Mp camera is up to the job.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
I'm loving the red touches along the side, etc. That's awesome! And speaking of cameras, what is the 2MP unit like? V630i quality?
Hehe I guess the K618i/K610i/V630i photo thread died today!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Want to win an N95? Well go to the Vodafone NZ online shop via google. I believe you have to go via google (or a search engine) so go to google and search for the shop and then click any link that will take you directly to the shop, eg. http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop
You should then see a large banner asking you to do a survey. The survey is mostly about the importance of advertising and searching (hence the google thing) and it only takes a couple of minutes. Then you put in your email and you're in the draw.
Oh and BTW, the W200i now comes with a free set of speakers, for the usual price of $199. Or if you're stupid, you can still buy it without the free speakers... Odd.
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-03-11 10:19 ]
Posted by carkitter
On 2008-03-11 10:52:13, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
I'm loving the red touches along the side, etc. That's awesome! And speaking of cameras, what is the 2MP unit like? V630i quality?
Hehe I guess the K618i/K610i/V630i photo thread died today!
I expect it'll be V630i quality but no matter cause I'm on record as being very happy with the V630i camera...
I'll post some pics probably this weekend when I have some spare time; quite busy this week.
Poor Jojo!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Oh I didn't mean V630i quality as a bad thing! I think it was probably one of the best non-autofocus 2MP phone cams around! I made some great shots with it too, so I guess I can go on record as being pretty happy with it too!
Haha, I don't think Jojo will worry. He's been gone for over a month now. Never said goodbye...
Posted by brix25
Just dropping in to say hi!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Hey Brix24, hows it going there?
Posted by carkitter
The T650 is no longer listed on EI's website!
I'd better give them a call. Maybe they dropped the price to $360 to clear final stock?
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah I noticed that last night! Maybe it's an error, but it doesn't look too hopeful unfortunately.
Other parallel importers are selling them pretty cheap now anyway.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Hells yeah! I just joined the >1000 posts club!
My first 500 took me nearly 3.5 years, the second 500 posts took me one month!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
W890i for $600 at Expert Infotech! Thats not much more than they sell the W910i for! Not bad in my opinion!
Posted by carkitter
Nice!
It really is a hard choice between K810 / T650 / W890 3.2Mp phones!
I like all three; with T650 having A/F, best styling (just) and cheapest price it's still my numero uno choice.
$599 is an awesome price for the W890 so early in it's cycle. Makes VodafoneNZ's K770 look sad...
Posted by soane28
Carkitter, I would go with the T650. Nice looking, camera is actually quite decent and has AF. You could also get walkman headphones with adapter and have similar quality to the W890!
The only thing you would miss out on is the A200 platform, however its nothing too special, the media player is nice but ultimately does exactly the same as the old version.
Just my 2 cents!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah I agree with Soane28. Its not worth spending so much more for the W890i when the T650i like you say looks the best, and will do the trick. Maybe if you were a rich dude, you could go for the W890i (and maybe you are lol) but I'd still say the T650i is the better deal.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Expert Infotech have the W380i available in purple for $357.50 which is well overpriced for a 1.3MP low/mid-end phone. I expect that price will drop as the price overseas drops too.
Posted by carkitter
I don't think its overpriced for a new release. Its similar spec to a W550 but alot lower price than that used to be. W380 includes A2DP, 512MB M2, FM radio + USB cable and media software for $357.50
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
On 2008-03-16 06:29:46, carkitter wrote:
I don't think its overpriced for a new release. Its similar spec to a W550 but alot lower price than that used to be. W380 includes A2DP, 512MB M2, FM radio + USB cable and media software for $357.50
I don't think so, the W550i was released more than two years ago so you can expect the W380i to be a lot cheaper. For example, the V640i costs $399 in NZ's way overpriced market, that's less than $50 more for A200 and all that it brings with it, HSDPA, a much better camera (going by the 1.3 MP SE cams I've seen, the W380i will be terrible) plus the functionality the W380i has. Consider than that the W380i is an import which should really be a lot cheaper, especially when it retails for 80 pounds in the UK.
Posted by carkitter
80 pounds!
If I could get one for $240 kiwi peso's I'd get 2! That does'nt sound right does it:???:
Anyroad,
This post is piped to y'all courtesy of my V640i +USB cable.
The Vodem is now surplus to requirements and will probably find itself on TradeMe real soon.
_________________
I
V8 Supercars
"Innovation in styling comes from innovation in packaging" - Gordon Murray
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-03-18 11:33 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
On 2008-03-18 08:04:36, carkitter wrote:
80 pounds!
If I could get one for $240 kiwi peso's I'd get 2! That does'nt sound right does it:???:
From the 2008 Portfolio thread:
On 2008-03-11 15:32:21, PeterKay wrote:
thanx, w380i very cheap in the UK, at £79.99 bargain.
I just can't see any reason for it to not be cheap! Its nice, but not that great!
On HSDPA, I'm tempted to call Vodafone and ask if NZ even has HSDPA. I ain't seeing any improvements in data speeds at all.
Posted by soane28
just bought my nokia n82 on trademe for $740! Quite cheap i thought.
Will hopefully get it next week!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah that does seem quite cheap! You'll be even more pleased when Vodafone releases it, cause it will be over $1000 i bet! Will we be seeing a review from you?