So Ive just noticed I should be able to upgrade my phone/contract in a few weeks hopefully. Currently Im on O2 with a Sony Ericsson X1.

Its quite possibly the worst phone Ive ever owned. Rubbish signal. Dire build quality. Pathetic materials (LOTS of people reporting their phone cases cracking. Mine did this 2 days after I bought it, whilst it was sat on my desk :| )

My previous 3 phones were all SE and I loved them. I was enticed by it being Windows Mobile, as Ive always liked the gadgetness of a PDA but the lack of connectivity made them pointless. However I rapidly realised that WinMo is pretty horrid for a small device in terms of fiddlyness.

All this has resulted in me considering the iPhone 3GS, as it looks to be the exact opposite of what I have, good build quality, easy/quick to use, and expensive.

The problem is, after making such a bad choice with the X1, I want to make sure Im not going to do the same again. 18 months ago I figured android would always be playing catch-up to apple, but it does seem to be getting more popular.

Can anyone make any recommendations? Id ask on various phone forums, or read the many threads on the subject (surprised its not been raised more here tbh) - but phone forums always tend to be biased one way or another!

 

Isnt the G4 out at the end of the year though?

My phone is literally about to fall apart. Im left wondering whether the materials used were deliberate to force people to replace their handsets at the 18-24 month mark when contracts are up...my original intention was to get a decent phone with a lot of potential to be updated/customised, and to go PAYG once the contract elapsed, but thatll have to wait for another 2 years now ><

g4 will be out in july more than likely

Tbh what I want most out of a handset is the apps, rather than the phone. 9 out of 10 minutes I spend using my X1 is none-phone related stuff. Im extremely interested in many of the GPS based applications (presuming people have gotten around the TOS gubbins RE the augmented reality stuff), but mostly I want essentially an easy to use PDA that will show me my emails (doesnt have to be push, the x1 just sends/receives pop3 every 15 mins), a to-do list, and the ability to make calls/send texts. GPS stuff and incorporating my music onto it is a bonus too.

The last thing I want is to end up with something like the X1, where Ive had to use SPB Shell to give me the basics of things like emails, but its extremely limited, and to do anything you pretty much end up needing to pull the stylus out and perform several actions, even for fairly basic things!

Could the issues with the Hero just be down to it being more popular = more chance of someone having a problem with it? Certainly when Ive heard about handsets it always seems to be the Hero that is mentioned, for good or bad!

As to G4 causing a price drop, will it really be that much? Looking on tinterweb the 3G isnt *that* much cheaper. Id love to get a good deal, but surely the shops wont drop the price that much that quickly as I imagine a lot of people are going to be like me and wanting to get a bargain without forking out a massive amount for the latest and greatest?

if you want loads of programs to make fart noises, get an iphone.

iphone OS 4.0 looks good and has the multitasking you need.
And the next iphone to be announced in June looks and sounds great.

http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

iphone OS 4.0 looks good and has the multitasking you need.
And the next iphone to be announced in June has all the features they should have put in for the 3g, but still no bluetoothing medi, or ability to not use mass storage mode, and itll still wipe if you sync it with more than one machine
http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

Corrected


Its a pretty handset, but other than that its just what people expected the 3GS to be before it came out!

Not sure how you sync but I sync and my boss syncs with more then one Mac and it works fine as it should.
You set the options properly.

You cant sync the phone between different computers if youre trying to sync up music and the like, or itll wipe all the media.  Known issue, and apple admit its intended.  

As for features the other phone had - That is an apple dig which is pointless to be honest. All next versions of phones have things you would say should have been in the other. HTCs next phone in testing by the FCC has a keyboard people saying they should have done ages ago.

HTC have never stopped making and selling phones with keyboards, but they havent been huge sellers.  Either because they were badly executed (X1, Nexus 1), or being sold as branded handsets through Network operators (XDA/MDA/SPV).  As a brand HTC had issues with market penetration, and now they have that they can go back to adding keyboards to phones.  Plus the old HTC phones are ugly, I know this, ive had a couple.  Great feature set, great ergonomics, poor look.  

When the next Nexus phone comes out it will have a better touch screen as the one it uses is quite old compared to everyone else on the touch screen tech front, even google admits that and tells people they should by a droid for example.

Just Apply trashing that.

HTC again didnt build that for themselves, they did it to a design brief.  Network operators want to limit your use of the phone features due to costs.  If youve got a full multimedia handset with 3G and WiFi they dont really want to you using up all of your minutes, texts and data plan.  The less you use, the more they make out of you.  Thats why network branded handsets often have features missing compared to the same handset with the manufacturers own brand.  

My Wife is a prime example of a non-tech user.  Shes been on a 3G for 18 months, and her main reason for wanting one in the 1st place is "Its pretty".  it took her a couple of months to work out the apps even as she refused any help setting it up!  Ive just ordered her upgrade from that, and shes opted for a HTC HD2.  Because its not going to piss her off, the camera isnt sh*t, and she doesnt have to use iTunes on windows.  I had NO input to her choice beyond driving her up to Carphone Warehouse and pointing her at the smartphones.