Need a new phone, don't where to start!

if you get a smart phone get a data plane or switch off the data because they seem to down load stuff with out you known

most telstra plans come with a data allowance if your buying a smart phone with the plan.

android phones give you the option to turn of auto updates completely and they do...


with something like 17 apps approved for auto update including mapping stuff (mapdroid and others that use on board maps), using the google mapping stuff of my 1gb plan I use maybe 100MB keeping all the apps and maps up to date.

our home internet, and both our mobiles have their data plan staggered across the month if we run out of fast data on the home internet we just plug one of the mobiles in with the auto cut set at 900MB total through the phone once the phone hits 900MB of data total it no longer allows internet sharing.

we havent hit the phone data cap in about 2 nearing 3 years

I've had an iPhone for 2.5 years, my wife has got the new Samsung Galaxy Note, which is a bloody big phone.

The Samsung has more bits that you can tweak, which makes it both more flexible and complex if you're not a computer scientist. It's pretty impressive though.

The iPhone just works, and pretty much does what you want it to do fairly intuitively. It's got pretty good coverage. Battery life after 2.5 years is a bit ordinary, but if I turn off 3G and data, it can easily go a couple of days.

As above, you have to go Telstra. As far as Brisbane CBD is concerned, see today's Curious Snail has an article pointing out that Brisbane has about 1/3 the towers of Melbourne or Sydney, and they're not adding new ones at any great rate.

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Originally Posted by Ranga

For a cheap pre-paid option you could try this https://onlineshop.telstra.com.au/pr...rola-DEFY-Plus

I've had one for ages, and it's pretty bulletproof (waterproof, drop-proof, to an extent). That deal is locked to Telstra, but as much as it pains me to say it, I wouldn't be on any other provider, considering the remote locations I find myself in. I've managed to avoid a plan, and have used pre-paid for about 18 months. Of course, you would get a better price being on plan, but I'm a bit adverse to being locked in to contracts.

BTW, the Motorola Defy has all the functionality of all the phones mentioned above. ;)

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Hey Ranga

Thanks for the Link,
I just purchased the $99.00 Defy+

I was just about to pay $250 for one - I owe you one.

You do know you can put an external antenna on the Defy and Defy+ dont you. There is a RF port under a black plug under the battery cover, Using a nextG broomstick on your bullbar you can more than double the range. Neither Telstra or any of the resellers seem to know about this feature.

Patch Lead for Motorola Defy & Defy+

Currently I have a ZTE T28 android phone because it was the only smart phone avaliable with a RF port. But other than that the ZTE is not a great phone.

Last Saturday I picked up the HTC One XL, went in thinking Samsung Galaxy SIII. For all the questions the HTC came back better IMO and a bit cheaper.
Most importantly it was blue ticked, everywhere I couldn't get signal with my blackberry, I now get 3 bars at least.
Went Telstra $60 per month $600 in calls including voice mail retrieval and 1 Gb data. Also runs a small app showing how much data is left on the home screen.
Has everything listed below with a decent camera, I wouldn't even bother carry a separate camera and takes blu ray quality video.
Comes with a 30 month warranty, 6 months after contract finishes and the lowest return rate of any phones they sell.

Very happy, just my 2c

iPhone all the way.. I was against getting one and said I never would own one. Well that was until my mobile was stolen and when I went into the shop the iPhone was the only one the had available to walk out with on the spot. Now I love it and wouldn't have anything else.. it's easy to use and well it just does everything I need it to with a minimum of fuss..

They are reasonably sturdy but the glass screen can break when dropped but if you are worried about how fragile they seem you can always get an Otterbox Defender case.. you could pretty well throw the phone on the ground in one of these cases and not worry about it breaking..

I'm with Optus and the service is good - not quite as good as my partners service is with Tesltra though, but I refuse to change over as I don't like Telstra as a company - plus Optus seems to have better deals with phone service. I have 2 gig a month download (can't say I've ever used all that as I use my home PC for most internet stuff) and free facebook, ebay, twitter etc... $850 of calls a month for $79/month.. I'm happy.. :)

The only thing you need to consider is whether you want your info back, moving from iPhone to iPhone is a breeze, moving from iPhone to any other phone and expecting to take your pictures movies and contacts, good luck.

IPhone does not play well with others.

there are little programs that will allow you to access the data on your iPhone......

Just read this article tonight. Interesting re longevity of iPhones vs Androids.
iOS 6 gives iPhone 3GS another year of life support

I have used those programs, my issue is that they intentionally try to lock you to the iPhone clan, and make it extremely hard to leave.

It makes me think they would rather trap people into their product and operating system, then have their products stand on their own merits.
My wife uses an iPhone as she is comfortable with the iPad, and I have one given to me by the company I work for.


My thoughts are that it is just another overpriced piece of Mac technology that does a good job, but is more reliant on advertising and trends to hold it's market share. Perhaps you can sense my reluctance to become an iClone. :angel: