Mobile Phone- help!

[TrueLight]

hey guys

my old phone nokia 5610 is broken. so i need to get a new one cause it cost too much to repair. and i was paying $34 a month for $55 credit. Can someone please suggest a good mobile phone that i can get as a replacement to my old phone?
requirements- good camera (old one had 3.2mp a/f flash, took decent pictures)
                 - good music player (old phone had clear loudspeakers which i want)
                 - don't want to pay that much since i don't use it excessively. 34 dollars a month was alright. i dont want to pay 49 dollars cap a month.

any suggestions??

basically i want a mobile that is as good or better than nokia 5610

i need quick replies since i need to get this new mobile phone asap.
oh and i was thinking what do you guys think of buying mobiles over the internet? and then getting a prepaid simcard from telstra or optus or someone? is that a good idea since they are much much cheaper online? but yeah dont know how it will work out like this...


thanks

[shinny]

I'm not too great with phone models, but as for your plan/pre-paid itself, ever thought about TPG? $10 a month with $50 worth of calls, or $13 for $150 worth of calls. Haven't noticed anything dodgy about it either (the cap includes the standard services, flag fall and call rates are pretty much equal with other companies etcetc). Best thing is that even though it's a plan, there's no contract so you can bail out any time if it doesn't meet up to expectations. With the money you save on the plan, perhaps go on eBay and buy a nice phone outright.

[TrueLight]

hm is the connection good?

looked at the coverage map... looks similar to vodaphone... i was on crazyjohns vodaphone and the connection was pretty poor.

[shinny]

I've got no idea. I'm thinking of joining up next month when my plan ends. But hey, if it isn't, you only lose the $10 or so (and maybe the $20 deposit; haven't read the fine print to see what happens with that).

[chenny]

TPGs connection isn't too bad, my sisters on the $19cap.

the only downsides are the SMS didn't work for the first week or so and you needed to call them up to get it fixed and you also need to tell them to activate WAP.

other than that the value and the call quality are both good

[TrueLight]

oh ok so do lots of ppl recommend TPG?
and yeah 31 ppl have viewed this and no one knows a mobile to get?
im sure ppl on vn have mobiles.....

[shinny]

Price range? And are the only features you're interested in the ones listed or is there something else? Do looks matter? Particular style you want (flip phone, candy bar etcetc)? Note that I probably can't give a good reply even with this info but I'm sure someone else can!

[chenny]

yea i'd recommend TPG, once you get those things fixed its fine.

as for the phone, if you're into sony ericssons you could try the forums at http://www.esato.com/
or http://www.gsmarena.com/ to search by specs.

[TrueLight]

like i said if i was to go on plan the 34 bucks a month is fine so thats like 800 bucks in 2 yrs. but like i said if i can get the mobile for like cheaper maybe 400-500 bucks and then get prepaid maybe its more worthwhile...dunno. yes looks matter i dont want something that looks like nokia e71, something decent, the nokia xpress range i liked...style doesnt really matter.... and yeah i was looking at nokia or sony ericsson...but i think some samsungs r good but they prob too expensive... ah i dunno im just confused..lol

sigh optus and telstra on their websites... don't really have many options... they have like sony ericsson c905 and thats it...great..lol

[TrueLight]

do you guys think its a good idea to buy the mobile outright online? for much cheaper than in store prices? i was thinking about nokia 5800 but cheapest i can find is like $390 but i dunno if the sites are dodgy they are from hong kong... exceltek sells them for $600... anyone know of like a cheap mobile phone store either online or in store?................        quick replies would be awesome... im dieing without a phone...
what do ppl think of these stores....
youshop247
nextmobile
buymart
ebay?-most of them are hong kong...
mobileciti

[excal]

If you are already on a plan, then buying a mobile outright might be a good way to go especially if you don't like the constraint of remaining locked into a contract. You also get a wider range of phones to choose from.

I might just question some of your requirements.

Why do you want a good camera on a phone? There's only so much quality you can fit into the tight confines of a phone so a significant compromise will be made on quality. Therefore, it is not worth paying a few hundred extra quid on what is still going to be a fairly average camera. Use the money, instead, to get yourself a entry-level happy snapper digital camera - even these will have quality that exceeds mobile phone cameras.

Music player - why loudspeakers? They, again, are all gonna suck. You're better off investing in a good set of earphones / canalphones.

There's a point where you have to make a compromise between bang and buck, in other words.

A good starting point is how much you're willing to pay for the life of the phone (Total Cost of Ownership) whether it be on a plan or outright.

[TrueLight]

im not on a plan now, if u read my posts it got broken too much too repair cancelled it now i can do wateva. i also said that i might buy the phone if its cheap and then go on cap plan, maybe optus 19 bucks for 50 dollars credit??? or tpg...lol
i want a decent camera (as in if u print it on a normal 15*6cm or wateva the normal sized prints that it will look decent and not full of graininess (nokia 5610 did this decently). i ddi not say i want a super 8mg mobile phone camera with shake reduction, smile focus thingy..no i dont want that...music player yes im used to hearing it on loudspeaker since nokia 5610 didnt come with headphone thing and no nokia 5610 loudspeaker did not suck. how much to pay....well last time i paid 816 dollars for 24 months... so yeah somewhere around there...