[The_Dood]

Hey guys,

First off, I've had a Nokia N70 for a couple of years now and to be perfectly honest, I've always been quite happy with it. I'm on PAYG and I use about £10 worth of credit every couple of months or so.

Anyways, I'm usually quite up-to-speed with my technology but I must admit to being a little underinformed when it comes to mobiles. My N70 has one or two little marks on it now (just wear & tear) and I'd like to rejoin the modern era by getting something a bit newer and fancier. Problem is, I'm labouring under the impression that all the features of new phones are pretty much contract-exclusive (internet browsing, GPS, etc?).

I guess I'm really asking if there's anything that's worth upgrading to on PAYG. I'd like a pretty decent camera if possible and playing music on the phone doesn't interest me in the slightest. Christ, I haven't even been able to send as much as a picture message in 3 years...

Oh, and I'm pretty much maxed out at around £150 :P

Can anyone enlighten me as to what's happened in the world of mobiles in the last 3 years?

Much appreciated

[The_Dood]

Anyone? The camera's just packed in on my N70 so it's beginning to look like a mobile christmas....

[prking]

Originally Posted by The_Dood

Hey guys,

First off, I've had a Nokia N70 for a couple of years now and to be perfectly honest, I've always been quite happy with it. I'm on PAYG and I use about £10 worth of credit every couple of months or so.

Anyways, I'm usually quite up-to-speed with my technology but I must admit to being a little underinformed when it comes to mobiles. My N70 has one or two little marks on it now (just wear & tear) and I'd like to rejoin the modern era by getting something a bit newer and fancier. Problem is, I'm labouring under the impression that all the features of new phones are pretty much contract-exclusive (internet browsing, GPS, etc?).

I guess I'm really asking if there's anything that's worth upgrading to on PAYG. I'd like a pretty decent camera if possible and playing music on the phone doesn't interest me in the slightest. Christ, I haven't even been able to send as much as a picture message in 3 years...

Oh, and I'm pretty much maxed out at around £150 :P

Can anyone enlighten me as to what's happened in the world of mobiles in the last 3 years?

Much appreciated

It's pretty much an impossible task to summarise three years of mobile development in one short answer on a forum. Hopefully I can answer some of your questions.

First of all, you are wrong to assume that internet browsing, GPS etc are limited to contract phones. Nowadays, all but the lowest spec phone will happily surf the web, and even phones under £50 will do so using a program like Opera Mini. The thing to be careful of is cost, you should go for a tariff with an "unlimited web" data plan or bolt-on. And you should check what the operator considers fair useage.

You might find a handset at that price with GPS.

As for the camera, go for a handset with a good lens system and good software. Some of these phones with 8 Megapixel sensors have poor lenses and poor software. With the result that you get a better picture with a 5 Megapixel (or even 3MP) sensor on a different make. So the advice is to see example photos taken with these handsets. There are websites which have samples (eg GSMArena.com - GSM phone reviews, news, opinions, votes, manuals and more...)

As for sending picture messages, check with your operator that media messaging is set up properly on your account and handset. Then when you are looking at a picture, just select SEND, select the contact to send to and press SEND (or the green "phone" key)


Hopefully, I've helped a bit and given you things to think about. Perhaps, you have some willing friends who will let you experiment with their handsets for a few minutes, to get a taste of what you can do.

[The_Dood]

Thanks for that prking, much appreciated