[Eater Sundae]

At present I use an old Nokia 6131 folding phone on Virgin PAYG, and am looking to upgrade.

I don't use the phone much - the odd 10 second call "I'll pick you up in 10 minutes" type of thing, and even fewer texts.

However, I occasionally view internet pages, which is ridiculously small on the 6131, so I'm looking for something with a bigger screen. Ultimately this is the driver, I'd like a phone with a big screen for web pages.

I reckon I can live without Wifi - when I want internet access I will probably not be near an access point, and when I am I'll usually have my computer anyway. I will not need big downloads, I'll just be viewing web pages.

I am happy to stay with Virgin PAYG, and pay for the internet access on the odd days I use it (30p per day, just on the days I use it).

I would like to play mp3s - talking books, language courses etc, not music, so quality not critical - more important is the control of files, play order etc.

I would like the ability to display pdf - to use as a book reader - again the quality and ease of use is not critical - I don't expect a proper top of the range reader, just the ability to occasionally use it as a reader.

I use a cheap mp3/4 player in my car (and occasionally as a reader - but the screen is small). I'm looking to combine in one unit with a phone, and now's my chance.

I've read what I can about the Nokia 5230, and it seems to fit my needs. I understand that the mp3 is mono, which is OK. The (2mp) camera is good enough for my needs.The included sat nav would be a bonus.

I don't think it has a pdf reader.

Does anyone know if there are aftermarket readers that I can add?

I would intend to install Opera Mini (unless the fitted browser is good/better).

How practical is one of these phones as an organiser?

Can I use it to send/receive the odd email (even if I can't open any attachments)?

Can anyone with this phone (or if you know much about it) advise if this would be a good choice? Or, is there another phone which I might consider? I'm happy to pay up to £100/£120 - the 5230 is £80-something on Virgin PAYG, which is well within my range.

Sorry about the long post, I was just trying to organise my thoughts regarding what I really need.

Any advice will be appreciated.

[Eater Sundae]

<bumpity bump>

Is there anybody there?

[clonmult]

Its a good all round phone, very little can compete with it on spec for the price.

Its only the speakers that are mono - MP3 playback via headphones is in glorious stereo.

Audio books - unsure to be honest, most of my audio books have been in the MP3 format, played in the car on the iPod.

Email should be fine as well. Good phone, very highly recommended,

[alanwarwic]

Limitations are overridden by the screen spec and price.
Wifi would be useful but think the screen cannot be beaten in that price range.
It is hard to believe that in this one aspect it is far better than the iPhone 3G

Use Opera mini or something to give decent browsing speed or even try Opera Mobile itself.
I think the cheap Androids might be too much a pain with their small screen.

Just visit the OVI store to see what you can run on it.

[Eater Sundae]

Thanks to you both

[Running Water]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Limitations are overridden by the screen spec and price.
Wifi would be useful but think the screen cannot be beaten in that price range.
It is hard to believe that in this one aspect it is far better than the iPhone 3G

Use Opera mini or something to give decent browsing speed or even try Opera Mobile itself.
I think the cheap Androids might be too much a pain with their small screen.

Just visit the OVI store to see what you can run on it.

Are you seriously saying that the Nokia 5230 has a better screen than the iPhone 3G/3GS?

[myromeo]

Is that the one that's similar to the 5800? If so highly recommended here, both my parents and my sister have that one and it's a very good phone.



For ya info tho you could pick a 5800 up on eBay for a little more and have the benefits of wifi.

As for PDF, I'm sure symbian (the operating system the phone runs) can either view native or there's an app available to view them, either way it can view them.

The included web browser is very good for general browsing and the phone can send/receive email

Only thing with email, watch out on the data usage for costs

[alanwarwic]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?clien...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Got an angle?

[Eater Sundae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

http://www.google.co.uk/search?clien...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Got an angle?

Useful link, lots of sites I never found in my earlier searches (including this thread). Thanks

[alanwarwic]

Best check the 'mid range android thread too.

Competitive price reductions mean that £100 wifi Android phone might also be an option.

[clonmult]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Running Water

Are you seriously saying that the Nokia 5230 has a better screen than the iPhone 3G/3GS?

Its definitely higher resolution.

[Hippychickster]

What's the camera like the Nokia though?

[clonmult]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hippychickster

What's the camera like the Nokia though?

On the 5230? Its okay, fairly typical 2mp snapper. No flash, but then hardly any phones have a flash these days (dual LEDs != flash), and it seems okay for video as well.

[kobashi100]

I have the Nokia 5230 and it is great for my needs. I dont want an all in one device as I prefer to have a Portable Media Player to look after my music and video needs. For me I just need a phone to make calls, text, push email and GPS.

This does all them features and pretty damn well. You can receive and send attachments via email and the if you need PDF and Word, excel support you can download the apps from the ovi store. The phone is well worth the £70 price tag!

[captainlockheed]

it shoots video really well haven't found a free pdf reader yet that works yet, skyfire is a good browser as well as opera.

good app to get is snaptu

it took me a while to get used to the phone as i always liked buttons on my phone but it's really growing on me now

[jumbojimbo]

I bought the 5230 because I wanted SatNav. The price of a dedicated unit wasn't much cheaper and I figured buying the phone would save having to carry around another gadget. I bought the 5230 from Phones4U and it varied from £60 to £90 odd, depending which network it was purchased on. The salesman however told me that none of the 5230's they stocked were network locked. So I bought it on Vodafone PAYG for £60 and true to his word the phone worked on my GiffGaff sim.

The phone works well with my GMail account and the satnav application is nice- you can disable A-GPS to save on data and just use GPS but it takes longer to get an initial fix.

[Eater Sundae]

Update.

I finished up buying a second hand 5800 instead, so I've got WiFi as well.

Only just got it, so am still finding my way around it, but so far I'm very impressed. Just a lot of learning to do.

[Running Water]

Those S60 Nokias drove me round the bend. Having to double tap in some menus. So annoying!