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PaulBags

809 posts

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#110972 21-Oct-2012 16:18
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Hi, I've been surfing the net looking at mp3 players and figured for the price I might as well just get a new phone. [edit] And then I'll only have one device to carry too [/edit] There are so many phones out there and none of them seem all that good to me. I've spent hours looking and I've no idea where else to turn so any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not made of money and will have to skimp and save up for a few weeks to afford even a $200 phone, anything more expensive is out of the question unless it meets all of my desires; although even the more expensive phones look pretty unappealing to me. So here is what I want, in roughly descending order of importance:

 * Plays music.
 * 3.5mm headphone jack, failing that 2.5mm.
 * Shuffle mode.
 * Absolutely NO touch screens.
 * Flip phone, others considered if their keypad lock is robust.
 * Ability to turn OFF predictive txt, preferably permanently.
 * Quality OS, home brand is fine but no LG or anything else written by monkeys. Has to be fit for purpose as a cellphone, with some room for configuration of functions.
 * FLAC playback an advantage.
 * Preferably it won't beep, flash, vibrate, or do the moonwalk just because it's finished charging/been plugged into the charger/is running low on charge/feels a disturbance in the force.
 * Basic browser an advantage.
 * Buttons designed for fat fingers instead of ant's legs preferred.
 * WiFi a very distant pipe dream.



I don't care about 3G, voice recording, cameras, bluetooth, external speakers, super bright/high contrast, endorsed by celebrities, or even personalization of background images and menu themes; so long as the default isn't gaudy. If it helps you get a sense of my 'style' and priorities: when I was looking at dedicated mp3 players I was pretty firmly looking at the sandisk sansa clip zip, I'd have to import it as no-one seems to sell it in NZ. But for a similar price to an ipod shuffle I could get twice the inbuilt space plus a microSD expansion slot, and a screen so I could see what I'm doing; in a player not much bigger. Convention and function over a strange 'talk to me' button, and for the same price? Hell yeah.

 

So what do you think geekzone? Do you know of a cellphone that can perform basic functions WELL without the need to be faster than a speeding bullet or win fashion shows?

 

 

Thank you in advance for any hints, suggestions, recommendations, compliments, condemnations, anecdotes, or cat gifs that you feel are a worthy reply to my request.

 -Paul

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mattwnz
20108 posts

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  #704344 21-Oct-2012 16:24
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Possibly one of the nokia symbians. My old nokia 6121 classic I think it was, was a reasonable music player. Just not as nice to use as newer touch screen devices.



Batman
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  #704351 21-Oct-2012 17:09
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you said you've seen so many phones ...

which ones?

also i reckon if you throw in a storage space say 5GB then you can narrow down much much easier

PaulBags

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  #704452 21-Oct-2012 20:47
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joker97: you said you've seen so many phones ...

which ones?

also i reckon if you throw in a storage space say 5GB then you can narrow down much much easier


A) I said I've spent hours looking and that there are many phones. Over half my time has been wading through phones that don't remotely fit what I'm looking for, trying to find a way to search for just what I'm looking for, or trying to find specs on phones that even the manufacturers don't adequately describe or photograph. In fact of the phones I've looked at that apparently have a 3.5mm jack maybe 2 have pictures that I can find on 1) that website 2) google images or 3) the manufacturers website. I did seriously look at a touch screen phone on deal extreme before deciding there's no way I wouldn't get angry at it and smash it inside a week. A list of places I've tried, and failed, to look (probably incomplete): deal extreme, the sony, nokia, & samsung websites (so their current line up), the 2degrees online shop, browsing around trademe and ebay, pricespy, price.geekzone. And now I'm here. If you have a suggestion on how I could narrow down my search please, I'd like to hear it.

Which brings me to B), pretty much any phone that plays music should come with a TF/microSD slot, support for up to 32gb cards would be awesome but I'd be happy with 2gb if it can do what I want it to. Narrowing it down by capacity is moot; I just want to shove my headphones in it and hit shuffle without worrying about pocket dialing, scratching up the screen with my finger, and a multitude of erroneous half arsed features when a solid set of core features would be much more useful.

 

A fixed hardware/software device should never run out of memory when using it's functions one at a time. It's doing the thing it was designed to, and shouldn't fail. Like when your using the camera or trying to receive a txt (with a nearly empty inbox). Someone recently gave me a telecom phone, I can't remember the model, and it was so frustratingly useless that I ended up snapping it in half. This is why the overwhelming number of brands and models is daunting. Not only do I have so many to sort through, and then research if I find one that looks good, but 99% of them will be crud and I have no idea what I'm doing anymore.

 

 

I just want to say that I do appreciate the feedback. I know that I'm a negative person, and I don't mean to get anyone down or turn anyone off with my ramblings. I'd try and be nicer but I just can't, I'm just tired of technology sprawling away from what I find useful. Which is kinda scary since I'm only 25.



jeffnz
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  #704463 21-Oct-2012 21:10
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basically you have limited your options by saying you don't won't a touch screen as this is the way technology is going.

Going on your posts I would suggest the path of least frustration would be a simple basic phone and an MP3 player




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scuwp
3880 posts

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  #704481 21-Oct-2012 22:15
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jeffnz: basically you have limited your options by saying you don't won't a touch screen as this is the way technology is going.

Going on your posts I would suggest the path of least frustration would be a simple basic phone and an MP3 player


Exactly my thoughts.  Your wish list (or list of exclusions to be precise) is pretty restrictive.  I reckon get a player that does what you want, and a cheap phone.






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NonprayingMantis
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  #704487 21-Oct-2012 22:43
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My opinion:
Music players on cheapo phones generally suck very badly.

Just get a dedicated MP3 player and separate phone. Small MP3 players are good and take up hardly any room and you can pick one up for less than 100 bucks. Battery life will. Probably be better too.

Hobchild
623 posts

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  #704499 21-Oct-2012 23:46
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The Sony Ericsson Zylo ticks most of your boxes with one big exception. No 3.5mm headphone jack, however that can be easily sorted by buying an inexpensive adapter off Trademe. It's a slider so you don't have to worry about pressing buttons in your pocket, not sure if the buttons will be big enough for your likings though either. Look it up anyway and see what you think.

 
 
 
 

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).
PaulBags

809 posts

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  #704512 22-Oct-2012 01:13
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Well it's good to know where I stand at least, guess I'll go for the sansa clip after all.

Thank you for your replys.

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