which phone for internet and watching movies?

ninhydrin · 14-03-2010, 4:35 PM

I am due an upgrade with o2 and Iv not been in touch with the mobile market for 18 months Im sure its moved on since the SE 902

Basically the feature I most would like is internet browsing with a wi-fi feature and a decent screen for watching movies on the go.

Im not too bothered about an iPhone because of the price but I suspect this will be what everyone recommends, I was looking at the blackberry BOLD 9700 but Im wondering what the other brands are like.

Cheers for any input

Matt_C · 14-03-2010, 5:44 PM

I would say iPhone, mainly down to the web browser being very good (albeit with it's lack of Flash support), and the screen is very good for video playback (although quite why anyone wants to watch movies on such a small screen is beyond me!)

The only drawback is it's dependancy on iTunes, meaning that whatever video file you use will need to be converted to MP4 (or M4V) to be loaded into iTunes and sync'd to the phone...

ninhydrin · 14-03-2010, 5:56 PM

cheers for your input matt i appreciate it, I think the lack of flash player will be a stumbling block for me, especially when it is an option with the HTC HD2 which I have just had a look at online, Im starting to think that is now the phone for me until someone pops up and says nah you dont want that because....

as for "why anyone would want to watch movies on a small screen" I will be travelling around poland in the summer and some of the train journeys will be in excess of 5 hours so movies on the go will cure some boredom as I believe you cant really use the internet abroad without getting charged alot.

RobM · 14-03-2010, 5:57 PM

The Blackberry 9700 is a fantastic phone, but it's got nothing on the iPhone when it comes to internet browsing and media playback.

As for iTunes, personally I see this is a bonus as it's so easy to get media onto the iPhone and you're a couple of clicks away from a massive catalogue of films, TV and music.

porker · 14-03-2010, 5:59 PM

You should maybe check out one of the soon to be released offering from HTC, the Legend or Desire.
The Desire has an AMOLED screen which is 3.7" and has much better resolution than the iphone.

RobM · 14-03-2010, 6:07 PM

Trouble is, the Android media player is pretty terrible and the format support is pretty poor also.

ninhydrin · 14-03-2010, 6:21 PM

haha cheers rob I can see the usual going round in circles thing kicking in here

Porker I thought the HTC desire was already out?

Dubster · 14-03-2010, 6:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porker

You should maybe check out one of the soon to be released offering from HTC, the Legend or Desire.
The Desire has an AMOLED screen which is 3.7" and has much better resolution than the iphone.

It might have better resolution screen but like all amoled screens ive tried they are totally useless in bright light/sunlight.
Not good if you use the phone outside like i do and im guessing the majority of mobile users do also.

RobM · 15-03-2010, 3:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninhydrin

haha cheers rob I can see the usual going round in circles thing kicking in here

Porker I thought the HTC desire was already out?

I'll give you my honest opinion, you can decide what to do with it...

Since Jan this year I've had the following phones:

iPhone 3GS
Google Nexus One
HTC HD2
Palm Pre
Motorola Milestone
BB 9700 (current weapon of choice)

The HTC HD2 is the best and most flexible media player. With CorePlayer installed especially there is almost nothing it wont play, it's very easy to use for media and the screen is huge and a good resolution.
However, unless you like a project and enjoy patching, hacking, registry tweaks and a lot of work like this, the HD2 is a frustrating device to live with otherwise. Insanely powerful and customisable, but Windows Mobile in every sense.

The Nexus One and Milestone are fairly even in this regards. The Nexus has the better screen, but washes out in sunlight. It also runs Android 2.1 which has a more advanced '3D' media gallery. But both are limited in their format support and have extremely basic video players.

The Palm Pre is great, but too small for video use. I'd discount this given your priorities, but would certainly consider it if it weren't for the video requirement as the web browsing is still very good.

The BB 9700 is the best phone, in that it has awesome battery life (3x that of the others, easily), holds the best signal, has the best call clarity and the best messaging interface. But it's screen size is small and media playback limited. It's web browser is also limited, if fully functional.

The iPhone 3GS has limited format support. If iTunes / Quicktime doesn't play it, the iPhone doesn't. But it has the best media interface, easiest control and the sheer power of the iTunes library means there is an endless choice of media (TV, Films, Music, Podcasts etc) right at your finger tips. And there are plenty of free applications, such as Handbrake, that make it easy to convert media into a format it supports.

So in my opinion, the iPhone is the best option for you. The web browsing is also the best of the bunch. If you take the pain of converting media to the right format you'll get the best experience.

ninhydrin · 15-03-2010, 6:16 PM

cheers rob for you honest opinion I have took all the pointers on board and Im gonna be making a decision in the next couple of days, I will let you know what I decide on. I do like the idea of the HTC being core player and internet flash compatible but as you say the iphone is maybe the all rounder, its now definately between the two... thanks again fir your input

ninhydrin · 15-03-2010, 8:43 PM

I have ordered the HTC HD2 through O2

RobM · 16-03-2010, 9:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninhydrin

I have ordered the HTC HD2 through O2

Good call. Great phone, if you're prepared to put the work into it

Some things you need to do as there will be certain things that annoy you, others are just nice to do to improve the look and feel.

But if movies is your priority, invest in Coreplayer

ninhydrin · 16-03-2010, 6:27 PM

cheers rob my next step is to learn how to customize Im guessing I need to hack it to do that? is there any good quick tutorials knocking about? Im a complete beginner and not even sure what all this ROM talk is about?!?!?

RobM · 16-03-2010, 7:39 PM

Check out the XDA Developers website (Google it) and spend some time reading through the HTC Leo section (Leo is the HTC name for the HD2). Also spend some time reading the FAQ's and other such guides, which will do a better job of explaining it all than I would

Also check out the HD2 Discussion thread in the HTC forum here, where many common questions and more have been answered. There is a lot of good info.

The best advice I can give you is use the device as-is for a few days and see what your feelings are. Chances are, something will big you or wont be quite right. And chances are there will be a fix for it. But don't go applying every single patch, cab, hotfix etc you can get your hands on as it can confuse things unnecessarily.

The iPhone mantra is 'There's an App for that'
The Windows Mobile mantra is 'There's a fix for that'