[ziderhead]

I was thinking of moving to "3" and getting a Motorola A1000, im currently on vodaphone and my bills are about £70 ish a month so i thought i would give 3 a go even if its just for the 14 days (i hope it will be alot longer with the savings i should make)

So two questions really :-

1) Should i move to "3" ?

2) Any views on the Motorola A1000 which looks rather good.

see the link below

http://www.halfpricelinerental.com/new/a1000.shtml

cheers ziderhead

[lalaland]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziderhead

1) Should i move to "3" ?

YES. Give it a try.

Don't listen to the Three bashers, make your own mind up and I would be suprised if your phone bill isn't slashed too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziderhead

2) Any views on the Motorola A1000 which looks rather good.

Not tried one myself, but as long as it's better than Three's first motorola offerings (and it looks like it is) then there's no reason why it can't be a decent phone.

[alibat]

Hello - I've seen very mixed reviews about 3 & havent used myself. As a light usage user I've just ordered a Motorola V220 from this site on BT C.N 100 minutes + 50 texts @ £4.99 a month for first 6 months & £9.99 for next 6 months & there seems to be some good deals here for high usage users too *admin edit* - please do not advertise.

[Mr Cable]

I've had my A1000 for around 2 weeks now - I love it! Full blown Bluetooth, Memory cards (which, for a proprietary format, are fairly darn cheap) and, drool, widescreen video...

Just make sure if you're taking a Text & Text Bundle that you stick on the £5 add video value bundle - complete BARGAIN!

[lalaland]

What's it like for size Mr Cable?

My Nokia 7600 is a funny shape, but a manageable size.

The motorola looks good with some nice features, but the size may mean it's not pocket sized.

How does it compare to say an Ericcson P900?

Also does it have 'real' ringtones (ie, can you use any MP3 file for a ringtone?)

How good is the speakerphone?

Any chance of a mini review?

Thanks

[Mr Cable]

Ooo, a mini-review? It'll have to be a mini-mini review mind, I'm not that articulate y'see...

As mentioned above I've had my A1000 for two weeks now and I'm glad I've made the choice. Running on the Symbian UIQ that's familiar to Sony Ericsson users, I was glad to see that it was open and ready to accept 3rd party programs unlike the original batch of A920's.

Battery Life - I would say that I probably got more juice out of my Nokia 7600. I suppose it's to be expected mind when to take into account the stereoLOUDspeakers (that seriously crap upon the 7600's from a distance). The ringtones are fairly col and yes, you can have an .mp3 as one.

Bluetooth file transfers seem to go very quickly (bizarre, but they do) and there doesn't appear to be a siaze cap like the 7600.

Still not a swanky looking as the p900 and I probably would've liked a plastic flip for texting as my screen get pretty darn mucky.

Only 22MB of on board memory seems a little tight, but there's always the transflash storage card bay (128MB for £16.95 @ picstop.co.uk).

Sizewise, there is pretty much nothing seperating this from a Nokia 7610. I have to admit I was suprised about just how 'pocket sized' it's turned out to be!

Get into a 3 point and get your mitts on one!

[lalaland]

I must admit I am tempted and due an upgrade, how much bigger than the 7600 is it??

And I notice that you mention applciations, does this one actually allow the uploading of apps via the cable etc. and run games without having to download them from Three?

Does it run all symbian stuff?

Thanks

[Mr Cable]

It's not MUCH bigger, and yes, you install apps using the USB cable! As regards all Symbian stuff, there's going to be key mapping issues with some programs but every UIQ program I've downloaded I've been able to install/run...

[lalaland]

It appears to be nearly 2 CM taller, which isn't a major issue, but what about depth and width?

I normally carry my 7600 in my jeans pocket and it's not normally in the way or noticable, is the A1000 like this?

And any problems you can think of or that you have had with this phone?
dislikes etc.?

Thanks

[lalaland]

Can you use it for GPS like a TOMTOM device?

(ie, could it be used in the car with speaking directions, if I got the right software??)

[joe_m]

I work for 3 and the new Motorlola is a quality phone plus not many people have them, I work for the registrations team and all we seem to register is the LGU8120 all day

Don't buy a 3 phone from Phones4U, the registration never sgoes through properly and they end up having to do 2 credit checks for one handset

Buy it from The Link because they phone us directly and the registration goes through first time

[lalaland]

I called Three and they want £79 to upgrade me to an A1000

But if I go to a certain online shop they will let me have a new contract on Three with that phone for free plus 6 months half price line rental. The catch? I have to have a new number....

hmmm....

Half price line rental for six months and a free phone or go through Three and keep my number but pay full wack on line rental and £79 for the phone.

Decisions decisions..

If it wasn't so chunky I would have the Motorola a1000 just like that, but it's taking some weighing up.

The GPS thing would swing it for me though

[Mr Cable]

It's not that chunky! In fact, it's actually LESS wide than the 7600! You may be interested in the forthcoming E1000 - No Symbian, but smaller again.

As for A1000 GPS - Haven't a clue, sorry!

[lalaland]

The E1000 is ugly.

Think if I was to jump ship to Motorola it would be the A1000.

[lalaland]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alibat

Hello - I've seen very mixed reviews about 3 & havent used myself. As a light usage user I've just ordered a Motorola V220 from this site on BT C.N 100 minutes + 50 texts @ £4.99 a month for first 6 months & £9.99 for next 6 months & there seems to be some good deals here for high usage users too *admin edit* - please do not advertise

Very clever Alibat, are you making money out of this?

Your link appears to be a nice genuine bit of help until you look closer at it, then you realise that you appear to be cashing in on it. The real URL for your link has /?money4me695460 on it which seems to be part of E2save's referral program.

Is that allowed under DS forum rules??

Very sneaky though.

For those of you that want to look at what appear to be good deals from that online retailer without lining the pockets of other forum users then click http://www.e2save.com or type that address in to your browser. (check my link, it does not have a referal on the end of it so I am not making money from it.)

[lalaland]

Just to add to this link, if you do want a Motorol A1000 then do NOT order from the online store mentioned above.

Although E2save.com say on their site that they have the A1000 in stock, they do not and it's at least 7 days before they get any more in stock.

Not sure if that's false advertising, but just to let you know.

[lalaland]

Ok, I admit it. I gave in and upgraded with Three.

The phone looked quite funky when I saw it, so I got one from the Link today.

Just hope it lives up to its looks.

I will wright a mini review of the A1000 just like I did on DS with the 7600 when I got that, once I have played about with it for a while.

Also, stocks do seem low at the moment. I had to try several Three sellers before I found the Link had some in stock.

And size wise, it's not that big. For a PDA and phone it's the ideal size and it's only just bigger than my 7600.

[Mr Cable]

Good for you lala! Remember you've got 14 days to change your mind if you're not satisfied with the handset. I know I am!

Have you got the £5 add video value bundle? The wide screen of this phone makes that near essential to download the news, footy, x factor & music videos! (Oh, and you'll get 20 mins of video calling each month, just for ars*ing about with plus 20 Video Messages).

AND the Transflash memory cards, which I am now in drastic need of, are very fairly priced - unlike Memory Stick Duo....

[lalaland]

I moved from Video 500 to 750, so that's 12 1/2 hours phone calls to any network any time for £35, which I am happy with.

I didn't take the video extras though. All my contect comes via by internet connection and then I upload them to my phone.

The video calling is something I play with occasionally, but I won't use 20 minutes a month.

Just had a laugh with Ms Lalaland when I called her via video, but other than that it's only going to be used occasionally.

I have also just read that I can use normal, non-Three, Pop 3 email with this phone, is that true??? I know Three have a walled garden, but their manual seems to state you can (only skim read it at work).

If that's the case then I am well chuffed as I own my own domain and Pop3 server so I can create a decent mobile email account with no restrictions and a good 3g upload / download speed too on the move.

Anyone tried this?

Oh yeah, the cheapest I can find for the memory is £50 for 128 meg. Can you point me to anywhere cheaper please?

[Mr Cable]

Sorry for advertising but picstop.co.uk have 128MB for £16.99. Barg.

[lalaland]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Cable

Sorry for advertising but picstop.co.uk have 128MB for £16.99. Barg.

OMG
That is the EXACT same brand and model that's £50 on the Three website!!!!!!!!!

And Three have aparantly sold loads with their phones saying there's limited availability. Wow, that's a lot of people paying over the odds!

Thanks for the link, I am buying one right now!

[lalaland]

Bought one for £18 inc. P&P etc.

That's just saved me £32.

Thanks

[lalaland]

Been playing for a while and can't find many apps or games at all that are compatible with this phone

Loads of symbian stuff about, but when you install it, it says it's not compatible and doesn't run.

Seems to be a fussy symbian software or something...

[Mr Cable]

Remember - there are several different slight variants of Symbian, (Series 60, UIQ, etc) and the software can be a little funny between them. Look for software designed for the Motorola A92x series mainly. However, as the A1000 gets more popular, expect to see more and more dedicated programs with the key mappings, etc.

I've got me speccy emulator running at the mo, mind....

[lalaland]

I seriously take back my comment that there's not much software for these phones!

I have downloaded a load of apps and games for the P800 and P900 phones and 99% of their stuff works on the A100.

Also I have found a lot of other Symbian games and apps on other sites and some P2P servers (keeping it legal).

Got tonnes of stuff now

Also installed an app called Tracker which adds a lot of file capability and improves the bluetooth options etc. I suggest you get this asap.

And the purchase of a bluetooth dongle for my PC (£11) has made the installations very easy without having to mess around with the cable. Just click send via BT and the handset receives it and knows exactly what to do.

This is one cool new phone

Oh yeah, I have a MAME emulator running on mine with several MAME roms!!!! How good is that for mobile entertainment?