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carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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Technically we're third behind two others who were 1st equal.
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Yeah but shameful shameful third is not as good as so-so second! So if we can say second, we will. 
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yea g
Joined: Jul 02, 2008
Posts: > 500
From: New Zealand
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^^lol 
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Nice signature by the way!
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yea g
Joined: Jul 02, 2008
Posts: > 500
From: New Zealand
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yea I decided the design wasn't new anymore lol
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Well today's "The Box" (which is basically a weekly pull-out technology section that comes in The Press, our Christchurch newspaper) has an interesting looking cover story titled "Mobile Mania: The Hottest Cellphones Put to the Test". This looks like it could be interesting.
On opening it up, we find it is a double-page spread with a tiny introductory paragraph taken from the Dominion, and tiny reviews on 8 mobile phones. Then there's another paragraph named "Office tech tangle" looking at the challenge of integrating employees' mobile devices. Boring.
Anyway, because its short, I'll type out the Mobile Mania introduction and tell you how awful the rest is.
There's a mobile phone out there for everyone, but finding the one that's right for you – and that you can afford – can be a real challenge.
Some people want a built-in MP3 player, others want a nice camera, and some people just want a screen they can read without glasses. (Wow, how insightful! What about people that want all of it? - Oli)
But there are a few universal rules to keep in mind. Like all gadgets, ones with more features cost more, so don't waste your money on extras you won't use.
Always try a phone out in the store before you buy too. You don't want to buy one only to discover the keypad is too small for your thumbs.
If you're a traveller, make sure you get a mobile that supports lots of different frequencies – preferably quad-band – so you can use it in different countries.
Add one final word of warning – Telecom will launch a new cellular network probably next year using the same technology as Vodafone (GSM), and new entrant NZ Communications is also likely to start up its GSM network next year.
That means more competition, and better deals. So be careful about locking yourself into an expensive plan in the meantime.
And after that load of almost useless information come the reviews. And they are crap. There are 8 reviews and they cover some of the worst phones they could have possibly chosen. These 8 reviews are done by a total of 5 people, meaning that you can't use them as a comparison at all. Also, the reviews are only short paragraphs so end up covering almost nothing.
Here are the phones they reviewed, their rating and my reason why it was a stupid choice:
BlackBerry Pearl (3 stars) – Ok this one is alright. Covers business users well. I would have expected it to get 4 stars, but the review wasn't done from a business perspective, stupidly.
Okta Mondo (2.5 stars) – They basically say it has terrible build quality (really shocking) and that it looks horrible, but apparently it has an excellent camera and video recorder. There are better phones in the Telecom range.
Samsung Global (4 stars) – I fail to see how this gets 4 stars. Its a smartphone with only a 1.3MP camera, no Wi-Fi, no GPS. The only good thing the review talks about is that it can be used overseas (it's a Telecom phone). How the hell is that worth 4 stars? Vodafone phones can all do that.
Motorola V9 (4 stars) – Apparently this is a 3G smartphone... What? They say it is classy (then that means all Motorola phones are classy? Aren't they sick of the look yet?) and it has a good music player and HSDPA. Hardly worth 4 stars I'd say.
Nokia 5310 ExpressMusic (2 stars) – They say it fails on being a phone, and the camera is disappointing. Then they say "if you want a device more for music than calls – and can't afford an iPhone – it may be just your thing" I cant believe they chucked the iPhone in there. As if it's the best phone ever.
Nokia Arte 8800 (3 stars) – God the girl who did this review must be either retarded, a Nokia fangirl or has no idea about what else is available. I'm going to even write what she says out:
Sleek and stylish with lots of extras, including specially composed electronica ringtones. If you want it, the phone has it somewhere, even a radio and voice recorder. Small keys are pretty but make texting hard if you've got big thumbs. Terrible battery life too. So it's very sexy, just not so practical.
NOWHERE in her review did she mention the $2299 asking price and why the hell it is so expensive. Then she goes on about features (as if they are amazing) that almost every phone has as standard these days. This phone does not have everything like she implies. I get the feeling she hasn't even seen one in her life.
Nokia 6500c (4 stars) – Ok, 4 stars for a 3G phone with a 2MP camera, 1GB internal memory (no card slot I presume) and apparently poor battery life? Ummm... What? Not for $649 you idiot.
Sony Ericsson W350 (3 stars) – The only SE reviewed. Apparently it looks cool but the camera and screen are mediocre (what do they expect from a low-end phone?) Then they take a jab at the SE PC-Suite, which is probably deserved, but they didn't mock Nokia's did they?
Ok, now go over that list of phones. How good a representation of NZ's current mobile phone supply do you think it is? It's terrible! First up, the only SE phone is a low-ender. They should have a low-ender and a high-ender like maybe the K850i, C902 or P1i. I think they should have put the V640i in there too, as a thoroughly decent mid-end phone.
The three Nokias are hardly a good representation of the Nokia range either. Firstly, one is near unaffordable, especially for an article that's supposed to be aimed at the general consumer. Then the other two are decidedly low/mid end despite their pricing. They should have at least had the Nokia N95 or N95 8GB. I think the 6121 would have been a better bet than the 6500c.
There is only one Samsung and its a Telecom. This is despite the fact that Vodafone sells at least 6 different Samsungs. I think the U900 Soul should have been in there. Also, there is a huge lack of LG which is becoming pretty big in NZ.
I don't get why they include the Motorola, because according to the Vodafone website, they only sell 4 models and one of those is very low-end. Plus they got the price of the V9 at least $150 wrong. Its $600 for the Graphite and $650 for the silver. Not $800, dumbass.
I'm glad that only 2 of 8 phones were Telecom though. Though if people are that attached to Telecom (poor souls), I would advise them not to buy a new phone at all. Not at least until the new network rolls out.
So overall, this article is complete trash and they shouldn't have wasted their time. I should take out an ad in tomorrow's paper telling people to ignore these idiots that think they know about phones. People deserve to know how ill-informed they are becoming by reading this stuff.
Oh and the title was "Mobile Mania: The Hottest Cellphones Put to the Test". How are these the hottest cellphones?!
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-09-02 04:08 ] |
carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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link to Mobile Mania
'Hottest' is a hard term to pin down and is bandied about by the media all the time.
W350 is a recent arrival and could be termed "hot" but Okta Mondo is crap (I've tried one, the UI is budget and the spec below average) and has been around for ages. 5310 is attractive but I've banned my son from paying $499 for it 'cause it just isn't worth that much when the Warehouse has the V640i for $249 (that's hot!) and the K770 sells for $399 (that's hot too!) Tokenism is the word of the day my friend,  as the 'token' Telecom world phone and 'token' premium phone (8800) make an appearance despite lacking features. I do like the V9, have you ever held one - they are sexy in anodised metal and glass with a heavy feel which oozes style - but I doubt its credentials as a smart phone and it is pricey. The 6500c styling doesn't appeal to me and why pay $650 for it when one can get the E65 with the same spec plus wifi? Hmmm... and all the Nokias suffer from short battery life eh? A legacy of those super-duper screen swe keep being told SE should be using? Which leaves the Blackberry and who in their right minds would get a Pearl when every BB owner knows the Bold is coming?
Perhaps this is the list of phones neither network can get rid of ATM?
cough **advertorial** cough
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Ah you mean I wrote that paragraph out for nothing?! 
But yeah, you're quite right. Its funny how people say SE phones are over-priced, but if you look at the pricing of Nokias here, SEs seem like bargains! I was thinking it might be an advertorial too. It just seems really awful for what they were attempting to do.
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carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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On 2008-09-02 09:11:04, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Ah you mean I wrote that paragraph out for nothing?! .
Actually no, I enjoyed reading that on Opera Mini while eating my dinner!
It's an editorial decision, the reviewers just did what they were asked - try some phones and report back. Just a space filler using a 'hot' topic at the moment and getting shafted by both networks marketing departments I'd say...
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yea g
Joined: Jul 02, 2008
Posts: > 500
From: New Zealand
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they need to do more phones the best they could do is copy and paste some shit from here at esato or gsm arena or something, they shouldn't even bother doing it themselves
dam my internets going slow fing telecom
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frankthetank
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 159
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
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We are having too much load on the server. Please try again in a short while.
Result of a search this evening.... is the forum becoming a little TOO popular lol
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=793404578
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Nah I get that from time to time. I think its just a random error that comes up, but I always get it during times when Esato isn't that busy so I doubt there is actually too much load on the server or anything.
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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@carkitter: Did you get a chance to try and update your V640i? Was there an update available?
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carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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I'll try it now
Edit: It could take a while, it has alot of bandwidth heavy graphics and the Uni internet is particularly slow today.
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Voted Best Phone Review Esato Awards 2008!
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-09-03 04:12 ] |
Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Alright, I was only wondering because you seemed really disappointed that your V-series phones hadn't had updates before.
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Posted: 2008-08-31 01:30
