Guys,

My heap of sh!t Nokia N80 has died in the ass. its gunna cost $100 to fix it and its 13 months old.
So I want a new one - I've told my TBS dealer I want a new one but im not sure what I want yet.

I want a phone that has a color screen, can recieve MMS, can send and recive SMS, is nextG compatable for extended coverage and can make and recive calls and is FAST i dont want to have to wait 30 seconds to see my contacts (ie i definately DONT want a Nokia N series) It also has to have wired connection to an external antenna.

Currently Im looking at the Telstra F165.
Has any one used this phone?

Regards,
Kirk

It just so happens that I have had a little bit of experience this morning.

I don't know what the phone itself is like, but the software for sync'ing with the computer and such is absolute rubbish.
If this is important, well, i'd at least have a look at it before you buy.

Not really interested in sync'ing with the PC - the only time ive ever done it with my nokia has been to copy contacts back and forth when ive reset the hunk of sh!t.

One thing that is putting me off the F165 is that ZTE (who make this phone exclusively for telstra) dont exactly have a great reputation as far as build quality - though they do have excellent after sales support. Also Bury dont make a handsfree cradle for any ZTE phones - that said ZTE have a hands free kit available through Accessory Warehouse which has an interchangeable cradle between all ZTE phones. BUT the ZTE phones need to have a "micro" usb plug pluged into them before inserting into the cradle as they dont have a contact pin arangement like many other phones.

The Menu system right down to the predictive text is supposedly very "similar" to the nokia menu arrangement and T9 predictive text - which is a good thing.

Are you totally against Nokia Kirk?

How about a Nokia 6120? .... it has/does everything you listed plus more .... and its a good looking phone

I've mine for about 3 months now (I know its not long) but so far its never missed a beat.


Edit: Oops .... I didn't see the bit about having a wired connection to external antenna .... has no provision for that afaik

I think the Nokia E51 has an external Antenna, as well as all the other stuff you are looking for.

Get a motorola

as i told you the other day, i drowned mine in beer, rinsed it under a tap and then dried it in the oven, it works still hahaha
i have had phones from the 3 majors, Moto have been the best, Ericsson were next (now not so good) then nokia.

my first phone was a moto


and if you really want a "brick" look at this http://www.slashphone.com/83/3058.html hahaha

Only the N95 has wired antenna connection in the nokia range AFAIK. If there was another phone like the N95 that wasnt a slide / flip whatever phone I would possibly look towards it. Though my experiance with the Nokia N series and what my TBS dealer and my Telstra MobileNet dealer (who also does inhouse repairs on phones) about the N series and how S L O W they are I'm not too keen on getting another N series phone unless someone could prove there has been massive improvements over the last 13 months...

None of the motorolla phones have BlueTick (meaning they dont meet all the telstra requirements as a NextG phone - one of these requirements is the external antenna)

Have you looked at anything in the Samsung range, Samsung build tough phones and when I brought my first Samsung 3yrs ago I asked the sales guy which brand has the least warrenty claims per models sold and he straight out said Samsung, I'd just come from having a motorola that f***ed out after a yr and I'll never own another Motorola again they are crapE!!!

Samsung BlackJack maybe?
http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/detail/...&fullspec=F

http://shop.telstra.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...ayType=Advanced

The black jack is a PDA style phone and isnt bluetick approved

The only samsung phone with bluetick is the A412 which is a flip style phone - definately not a phone that suits my needs

Kirk, imo the zte is the biggest heap of rubbish... kinda like comparing an old saab with mercs and bmws.

yes, they work..... they seem to be fairly robust..... they look crap, are craphouse in a carkit (it will drive you insane, connecting the mini usb connector every time!!!!!) and dont quite have the bells and whistles of the N series Nokia for example.

As for sony ericsson who cares, have never liked them lol

I'de be going for the N95, quite possibly the most advanced (NON PDA) phone on the market although having to pay subscription for GPS guidance is a bit stupid considering the Nokia Navigator (cheaper) is free.

I'm glad Imate dont have a nextg smartphone (not touch screen pda) yet, as they seriously need to do some researching into how to make a reliable phone GRRRRRR

Well im pissy

Lee (my telstra mobilenet dealer) said the exact same thing as you Broadz and I have to admit i was a bit skeptical myself so just hearing it from someone else confirmed it for me.

Basically there is no phone that is nextG blue tick with external antenna connection that isnt a flip phone. Back to the drawing board for me im afraid for now...

hey Komodo, what is the fault with your n70, i may be able to fix it for you for a few cans

Consistant faults i have found with these are;
no service.
freezing and locking up (easy fix)
wont power on (broken power switch or dry joints to power switch)
Bluetooth (wont find new devices but will connect to any it has previously)

I have just purchased 50 X ZTE F165 handsets for work.
They are used for regional areas throughout Victoria.

They provide great coverage which excels beyond any other phone (extensive testing to prove this), have great battery life, large display and large buttons. They also have a car kit which has a bit of hiss in it but quite acceptable and connection for an externel car kit. You will get used to connecting the USB plug and I think it is a good move and a lot of other manufacturers are going to head this way. The old Nokias suffered from degradation of the terminals between handset and cak kit. Hopefully this should eliminate these issues.

But, they are an ugly largish phone.

If you want a good phone which has all the bells and whistles get yourself an HTC 3600. Inbuilt GPS, full PDA and external antenna socket.
http://www.calculatorking.com.au/product_i...products_id=749

The Nokia N95 it very expensive for a phone only.

BTW, I have a Palm Treo and love its functionality.

Let me know how your 50 last I'm interested

A hiss in the HFK is HARDLY acceptable IMO - its not that hard to get this kind of sh!t right, why should I as an end user who is paying top dollar for a phone put up with poor voice quality via hands free when thats exactly what I want the phone for.

So far there is NO proof that the F165 has better reception than any other manufacturers blue tick phones and the ZTE brand is yet to build a reputation for good quality units (in the past they have been poor quality)

The USB plug is NOT a good solution - at least it could have been integrated into the cradle like many of the PDA phones which use a similar type connection thus elliminating the need to think/remember about plugging it in. The flimsy antenna so far has to be proven to be bennificial and I am with the non-believers on this one as I dont believe a pull out antenna will increase signal strength measureably in the real world - an ols school screw in (BNC or similar) type connection would have been better for the times that this type of antenna would be needed OR even a flip up antenna. I con only see this pull out antenna failing very quickly.
As for nokias having a pin connection problem - I've experianced this once from a phone that was 4 years old which is removed and replaced about 4 times a day - thats five and a half thousand odd times before there was any sign of degradation. This was fixed simply by the dealer in about 30 seconds and has since not missed a beat. Funnily this type of connection has been in use since the old indistructable GA688 (or was it GH688) (how I miss mine)

Time will tell but at this stage I'm sticking with a 6230i we had in the draw...

i wouldnt piss on the n95 if it was on fire. such a piece of rubbish and everyone i know has had to take them back for repairs (some more than once)

i just got a Sony Ericsson K850i, so far so good. as good as a n95 but better.
photo's are heaps better too.