Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

My dad has this phone -- it rocks! And I love Nokias. I would never buy any other phone. When I got my local phone, I paid $70 more to get a Nokia. I once dropped a Nokia in the parking lot of a supermarket, a car ran over it, and apart from surface scratches, it continued to work just fine for a year. Six months ago, I dropped another Nokia into a glass of water and after a day of drying out, it whirred into life and is still currently working. I'm a lifetime consumer.

I would say "yes!!!", but then you already knew that. ;)

is that the 6111?

Des: I too am a Nokia fan, but I definitely haven't put my phones through as rigorous a test as you have!

Nat: Tell me something new lah...

pblossom: Yup, that's the 6111. Although the 6070 (going for S$38) seems to be fairly good too.

the 6111 is quite old leh ... since u're finally getting a new phone, why dun u get one of the newer models?
but the 6111 is quite nice and small. just not that sexy :P

OK, I shall tell you something new, heh. But first to answer pblossom's question for you - because Scrabby doesn't want to pay for a new phone, if possible, and that severely limits her choices. The new phones (save for the 6070, which I'll get to in a bit) are all priced too high.

So anyhow. Here's my take on the 6111 vs. the 6070 - I'd go for the 6111 if it's functions you want. Sure, it might be half a year old or so, but it's still a decent phone. Compared to the 6070, it has a better camera, Bluetooth, more built-in (but still non-expandable...) memory, and a way better screen. And the sliding thing is damn cool lah, hahaha. The only gripe I have with the 6111 is that the keypad's a bit small, and it's a bit hard to press the keys even with my relatively small fingers. Takes some getting used to, but it's OK after a while.

As for the 6070, I haven't tried it out myself, so I really couldn't say. But it's quite well-designed, and considering it has a camera and it's tri-band, I think it's a pretty good deal for $38. But having no BT limits its attractiveness somewhat for me. It does at least have infrared though.

The other option I'd consider is the relatively older 6230i. Got that for my mom last year, and really, that phone is just one of the better Nokias they've produced in a while. It has excellent features - very good camera, BT, IR, expandable memory, good screen, solid form factor, good keypad layout. I'd still recommend it, even if it's a year old. But seeing as you don't change your phones often, you might want to go with a more recent model.

Nokia loyalties aside - if you're willing to pay almost $200, I'd say just go for a SE phone. Sony Ericcson makes excellent phones now, and are truly bang-for-your-buck. $178 for the K610i is a real bargain (it's some promotion going on now), considering you get a 3G phone with a kick-ass camera and screen, MP3 player, expandable memory, BT...yes, I know everyone here seems to be a Nokia fan (and to a certain degree, I am too), but I also carry an SE phone for a reason - the phones are good, the UI has improved tremendously (believe me, I'm a real stickler for good UIs), and lately, SE has put more thought into their phones than Nokia has.

OK, I'll stop now, because you're probably bored out of your mind. This is what happens when you ask a telco person (and geek, to boot!) about phones! ;)

Wow. A 3G phone for only $178? That's quite a steal. :)

aren't the "i" models non-tri/quadband tho?

Nope, they're definitely tri-band...where'd you hear that from?

all the i models in the u.s. are only dual band

Man, this blog is turning into an online forum for mobile phones... Stop! The geek factor's getting way too high!

Me, I just think the 6111 is pur-ty... Although the 6020 is very appealing as well, just because it's free.

If you had won some money at mahjong the other night, it wouldn't be such a hard decision. HAHA.

Des: then why didn't you let me win??? :)