Nokia N85 or iPhone v3? Parallel import or local?

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sbowness

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#32588 20-Apr-2009 14:05

Now, I know that I'm not comparing eggs with eggs here, but I would be interested in everyone's take on this.

I currently have a Sony Ericsson C702 - capable phone but I'm thinking of moving up. It seems to come down to either the Nokia N85 or the rumoured iPhone v3 if/when it comes out in June. They are radically different, I know, but each one is attractive for different reasons. I would be interested to hear what you would get and why.

Also, i've looked at the previous topics on parallel imported phones, but the discussions are a year old now. Would you buy parallel and from whom?

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Ultimate Geek
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#208245 20-Apr-2009 22:14

If you are planning to buy a mobile at the end of the year then perhaps you should consider the newer models like N86 and n97 that are not release.

I would buy parallel.I have never bought a mobile from vodafone since I existed in this world.I got my uncle a N95 8GB as my father is in hong kong.It was $800 when he bought it and vodafone is still selling at $1399NZ. Man do you have any idea that the price of mobile drops every few weeks while NZ stays the same?Anyway

With nokia phones you can do everything without installing PC suite while the iphone requires itune to import anything.

Have you tried the iphone thats out at the moment?What do you think of it?

I think its too early to decide.Nothing has been confirmed yet but for me I would choose the nokia

NZtechfreak

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#208270 21-Apr-2009 07:21

Definitely parallel imported.

I'd avoid Apple too, but thats just me - any of the current crop of Nokia's will do so much more than the iPhone...

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johnr

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#208272 21-Apr-2009 08:13

Nokia gets the thumbs up from me

John

chriswiggins

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#208282 21-Apr-2009 08:57

I'm loving the 5800... maybe wait for the release of the N97

CYaBro

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#208294 21-Apr-2009 09:33

I'm also in need of a new phone soon.
Currently have a Nokia N73 and it has been a good phone but very slow to respond to button presses most of the time.
I am looking at an iPhone as well but only because some of the products we sell have free iPhone aps to control them or have an iPod/iPhone dock for playing the music stored on them throughout your house.

Is there any way to run iPhone aps on other phones??? Emulator perhaps??

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

sbowness

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#208301 21-Apr-2009 10:01

Thanks for the feedback so far.

My lean towards the iPhone is entirely because of the apps and the media player. I don't actually use my phone for making many calls - mainly SMS. A couple of friends of mine have them and I'm jealous of the huge range of apps that are available, as I'm an information junkie.

I then lean towards the Nokia because of it's solidity and quality. Also, I like the GPS. The C702 has GPS and it's very useful but the available apps are a little limited as the maps are online only and the maps get out of date. With the Nokia I've got the choice of Nokia Maps or getting Garmin XT and using the nzopengps.org maps.

I thought about the N96, but that has not had good reviews. The N86 looks interesting but I'm not sure that the extra features are compelling enough. I've also had a good look at the 5800 online and it's also enticing, but I suspect that if I got that instead of the iPhone then I could feel that I got an iPhone substitute. I suspect the N97 will be outside my price range.

If I were to go parallel imported, do you have any recommendations on who to buy from? Parallel Imported Ltd are just across the road from me here.

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ninjabear

460 posts

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#208323 21-Apr-2009 11:38

Nokia maps will do fine.I use it all the time and once in a month I look at google maps on my n82

I would choose a mobile base on what you think is good.Getting a Nokia phone isnt a substitute of an iphone. Nokia release far advance mobiles than iphone and I would think its the other way around

Your friend is just being childish simply because he does not know that the other manufacturs like samsung and making better smartphones.I present you the Samsung Ominia HD. It has all the things iphone can do + better specs such as camera, high definition

Go and call your friend up now and laugh at them and say Iphone required a firmware update to support pxt and video call.. lol lol. Isn't that like the year 2002ish when everyone had pxt and you as an iphone user have to upgrade it to have that capability and your sitting here laughing at me saying how awesome the iphone is?

It has no A2dp and you can't stream music.

No java, no flash, no useful use for bluetooth

The camera on it sux. Theres no flash and no autofocus and its 3.2 megapixel. Even though you don't really use camera do you really wanna spend so much money on a poorly made phone?Do you wanna risk yourself and get locked into itunes where you have to import music using itunes and then once you go to your friend's place you say to yourself OMG I CANT TRANSFER SONGS TO MY FRIEND PC!

When you connect itune is a pain in the ...

Iphone may have more softwares but symbian isn't bad either.Most application you find on the iphone is available on the symbian.

I think while apple iphone's games,app etc are all and only available in itunes symbian's software,games are available everywhere online. its not tied into one software like the itunes

Even if you decide to buy an iphone at the end don't buy it simply because of peer pressure.Simply buy it because you made a good choice.

My friend listened that mac is such an awesome device. After spending $5000 and buying he couldn't import music, videos had a hard time opening programs. Games won't run. He was so disappointed.

One last thing

Don't buy from expert infotech or parallel imported ltd. They offer the worse service after jesus died on the cross

sbowness

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#208361 21-Apr-2009 14:16

If not Parallel Imported or Expert Infotech, who should I buy from?

friendlymonkey

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#208405 21-Apr-2009 18:08

I would go iPhone simply because the iPhone platform has been so successful and with iPhone 3.0 software it will provide even more expansion for apps.

The only reason you would buy an parallel imported phone is if it was cheaper for you. Wait and see if the new Telecom network or NZComms will be offering iPhones later in the year.

friendlymonkey

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#208408 21-Apr-2009 18:17

ninjabear:

Go and call your friend up now and laugh at them and say Iphone required a firmware update to support pxt and video call.. lol lol. Isn't that like the year 2002ish when everyone had pxt and you as an iphone user have to upgrade it to have that capability and your sitting here laughing at me saying how awesome the iphone is?

It has no A2dp and you can't stream music.

No java, no flash, no useful use for bluetooth

The camera on it sux. Theres no flash and no autofocus and its 3.2 megapixel. Even though you don't really use camera do you really wanna spend so much money on a poorly made phone?Do you wanna risk yourself and get locked into itunes where you have to import music using itunes and then once you go to your friend's place you say to yourself OMG I CANT TRANSFER SONGS TO MY FRIEND PC!

When you connect itune is a pain in the ...

Iphone may have more softwares but symbian isn't bad either.Most application you find on the iphone is available on the symbian.

I think while apple iphone's games,app etc are all and only available in itunes symbian's software,games are available everywhere online. its not tied into one software like the itunes

Even if you decide to buy an iphone at the end don't buy it simply because of peer pressure.Simply buy it because you made a good choice.

My friend listened that mac is such an awesome device. After spending $5000 and buying he couldn't import music, videos had a hard time opening programs. Games won't run. He was so disappointed.

With iPhone 3.0 software bluetooth functionality is being expanded, PXT is also becoming an added feature. But why would you want to use pxt to send crap quality photos when you can send FULL quality photos using email on iPhone.

One huge benefit with iPhone is the iTunes software. iTunes makes everything so simple and easy to use. You dont need to go hunting for apps everywhere (like Symbian), it syncs all your data to your phone in just a few seconds and you have access to the entire iTunes music library. iTunes just works!

Im not sure what your friend was doing with his mac but importing music and videos is so easy on Mac OSXm Mac OSX plays the same formats as on windows??!

ninjabear

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#208411 21-Apr-2009 18:40

I really hate the aac format that mac offers.I tried it myself, my friend as well and we both couldn't import any music using itunes to the ipod

You can also send full size pictures too on a symbian device and with better camera out thats substantially better than iphone why would you buy an iphone?

I guess you can say that it is easier to access softwares and such since everything is on apple but you need to pay for everything.

Once the SDK is release and the symbian becomes fully open it will be interesting to see what people can do

You can't stream music using an iphone and pxt is " an added" feature. When they hyped the iphone why didn't they think about adding pxt?I don't understand?Surely such a perfect product can do something like pxt? and have a good camera at least?I hear alot of people jailbreaking their iphone to get the benefits the iphone.I'm not sure what jailbreaking is but doesn't seem such a good idea.I don't think you can remove the battery for an iphone so you have to keep it charging if the phones flat.

Don't think texting is fun on a touch screen.Try the iphone out first.You can find some vodafone stores have them on display. I know palmerston north had one and I didn't really find it easy to use.

The only place I've purchased a mobile that had an average amount of service was thru etown. They were quite easy to deal with but make sure you call them up and ask if they have stock first because the 2nd time I went and made a purchase they didn't have stock . Took 3 weeks for a refund. Pretty annoyed about that.

I normally just sending money to my father and he goes and buy the mobile for me in Hong Kong.

I suppose if you need help we can arrange something if you like.

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friendlymonkey

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#208415 21-Apr-2009 19:10

ninjabear:

I really hate the aac format that mac offers.I tried it myself, my friend as well and we both couldn't import any music using itunes to the ipod

You can also send full size pictures too on a symbian device and with better camera out thats substantially better than iphone why would you buy an iphone?

I guess you can say that it is easier to access softwares and such since everything is on apple but you need to pay for everything.

Once the SDK is release and the symbian becomes fully open it will be interesting to see what people can do

You can't stream music using an iphone and pxt is " an added" feature. When they hyped the iphone why didn't they think about adding pxt?I don't understand?Surely such a perfect product can do something like pxt? and have a good camera at least?I hear alot of people jailbreaking their iphone to get the benefits the iphone.I'm not sure what jailbreaking is but doesn't seem such a good idea.I don't think you can remove the battery for an iphone so you have to keep it charging if the phones flat.

Don't think texting is fun on a touch screen.Try the iphone out first.You can find some vodafone stores have them on display. I know palmerston north had one and I didn't really find it easy to use.

The only place I've purchased a mobile that had an average amount of service was thru etown. They were quite easy to deal with but make sure you call them up and ask if they have stock first because the 2nd time I went and made a purchase they didn't have stock . Took 3 weeks for a refund. Pretty annoyed about that.

I normally just sending money to my father and he goes and buy the mobile for me in Hong Kong.

I suppose if you need help we can arrange something if you like.

The main function of a phone is not to take photos, if you are a keen photographer Im sure you would have a very good camera like myself.

Yes! you can sync music in AAC format from iTunes to an iPod. iPod is designed to work with AAC. You can also import MP3's into iTunes.
Why don't you like AAC? AAC is better quality than MP3. AAC is the standard audio format for nokia N series.

Define what you mean stream music? You can stream music from the internet to your iPhone. And you dont need to stream music from your computer to your iPhone as you already have songs stored on your iPhone.

Jail-breaking is modifying the software so that you can install software not approved by apple. Its a good thing that apple approves all the software in the iTunes App Store, that way you get better quality apps. The majority of iPhone users do not jailbreak.

Everyone I know who uses iPhones find the touch screen easy to use. You do find it a bit weird with no buttons to start with. The keyboard and auto correction work really well. You don't have to be as precise as you think.

ninjabear

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#208435 21-Apr-2009 21:06

A2dp allows you to stream music thru bluetooth.

Personally I do not believe iphone is the phone for me as I prefer phones that are more advanced that is capable of doing everything.I only find the only good thing about the iphone is the design.

I really hate itunes .It is one of the most annoying software.I hate having music going thru a software.Drag and drop is much easier and simple

Your right Nokia supports the AAC format but I do not use it and I don't really find the quality sound better than mp3 especially if the mp3 quality are 320kbps.

To be honest I didn't really like the Nokia 5800 either

Still waiting here and trying to find a really good touch screen mobile. MAybe the 5800 firmware upgrade did fix all the problems but I tend to stay away from touch screen.

I was able to text faster than someone using touch screen texting.

dman

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#208650 22-Apr-2009 19:31

friendlymonkey: The main function of a phone is not to take photos, if you are a keen photographer Im sure you would have a very good camera like myself.

even most keen photographers do not have a camera with them ALL the time

but the average joe will have his phone with him whenever he is out and about

so I'd rather have a cellphone that can do 95% of the job of a camera than a camera itself, as I know I'll end up in real life using the cellphone a hell of a lot more often

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ninjabear

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#208677 22-Apr-2009 21:00

so whats the point of getting a iphone and getting locked into a 24 months contract that cost heaps of money when other mobiles can do much more with no contract tied to the mobile?

Whats the point of getting an iphone.Is it because all your friends have one?Are people that clearly brainwashed?

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