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Thread ID: 120217	2011-08-30 07:07:00	Best Smartphone between $300 and $600	John Calvert (16516)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1227089	2011-08-31 01:00:00	Yep, but for real travelling abroad, roaming is astronomical. Unless you get a local simcard in every country and lose your number. And for locally, if you don't have a data plan it means you might need one. Roaming is astronomical regardless, and you'll be paying up the creek for software with offline maps anyway. This is not a 'feature' or 'bug' that is limited to Android phones, same goes if you spend $1200 and get yourself an iPhone. The best solution is to know where you're going and use the "Offline Maps" feature available now in Google Maps. However, for the vast majority of people it's completely irrelevant, not to mention the OP hasn't mentioned anything at all about it. dugimodo is right about the gripes with the cheaper phones thought. The P500 isn't bad, but just remember that it's far from top-of-the-line, when people compare it with the likes of the iPhone (Which is what everybody seems to use as a benchmark these days). It's about 1/3 -> 1/4 the cost of it, so you're never going to get something exactly the same. But alas, I digress. The Desire is nice, but also quite old, there's much newer devices out there for the same money that you could get with additional improvements.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1227090	2011-08-31 01:43:00	[QUOTE=Chilling_Silence;1043567]Roaming is astronomical regardless, and you'll be paying up the creek for software with offline maps anyway. QUOTE] I have been told Google Maps still might need a data connection thou you might have the ability to cache. HTC Location is a free offline solution. A few might find 4" screens on the large side however ... My brother is also getting a P500. Maps is not an issue for him. And it's not too expensive.	Nomad (952)
1227091	2011-08-31 03:47:00	I love my galaxy S, if you are lucky you may find it at $600 now that the S II is available, if not check the mobile section here at PC world they just recently reviewed the smaller cheaper galaxy mini. And by GPS I assume Nomad is referring to the navigator app or something similar and in my experience the data usage is fairly minimal, I'm only on 100Mb a month and I've barely noticed the usage from using navigator a couple of times (Wi-Fi at home and work really cuts down on mobile dtata :) ). Navigator requires you to download the voice plugin but it's free. I think the biggest gripe with the cheaper smartphones would be the smaller screens and slower CPU, smaller memory capacity. They may be a bit sluggish to run some apps and hard to read in others. To be honest I wouldn't browse the net very often on any smartphone the screens are just too small for regular usage, custom apps like NZ herald and E-mail, facebook, etc are great however. How do you find your data usage? I'm looking at getting a smart phone at the end of the year and it will be mainly used for getting my emails when out, which is not very much at all and I'm estimating that 100 mb would probably be enough as I am at home a lot certainly much more than I'm out	gary67 (56)
1227092	2011-08-31 04:31:00	Well most of the time I'm in wi-fi coverage but I regularly check my E-mail, occasionally use navigator, and play wow over 3g (tethering is cool) once a month when I'm at my LAN group (total nerd I know) and I find 100mb plenty most of the time. I'm only on pre-pay with a 100mb addon that costs $10 a month so it's a cheap option. You can always add top-ups if you use more or switch to a plan. (first time I used it for internet access at the LAN I bought a 500mb top-up thinking I would use heaps, it mostly ended up wasted)	dugimodo (138)
1227093	2011-08-31 04:44:00	If you are using the email client . It might download the headers only and then download the rest of the email once you open the email . But for web email, not sure how that works .	Nomad (952)
1227094	2011-08-31 06:51:00	Well most of the time I'm in wi-fi coverage but I regularly check my E-mail, occasionally use navigator, and play wow over 3g (tethering is cool) once a month when I'm at my LAN group (total nerd I know) and I find 100mb plenty most of the time. I'm only on pre-pay with a 100mb addon that costs $10 a month so it's a cheap option. You can always add top-ups if you use more or switch to a plan. (first time I used it for internet access at the LAN I bought a 500mb top-up thinking I would use heaps, it mostly ended up wasted) Thanks, been looking at plans and comparing, just have to save up now.	gary67 (56)
1227095	2011-08-31 09:46:00	Yeah for most people doing basic browsing + email, 100MB is a good starting point :) Do YouTube or whatever and you basically blow it in about 2 -> 5 videos though :p	Chilling_Silence (9)
1227096	2011-08-31 09:50:00	Yeah for most people doing basic browsing + email, 100MB is a good starting point :) Do YouTube or whatever and you basically blow it in about 2 -> 5 videos though :p I started off with 100MB from 2degrees, I blew that in less than a week :lol:	pcuser42 (130)
1227097	2011-08-31 09:55:00	I recently bought my first SmartPhone - a LG-P500 for about $315.00. It is good but there are two issues I have: 1. The USB seems to be flaky - I can connect OK but try to move a bigger file and the USB connection drops. 2. Checking my email via WLAN does not always work. It is fine the first time you try, but after that most of the time it is unsuccessful in connecting.	johnd (85)
1227098	2011-08-31 10:51:00	I recently bought my first SmartPhone - a LG-P500 for about $315.00. It is good but there are two issues I have: 1. The USB seems to be flaky - I can connect OK but try to move a bigger file and the USB connection drops. 2. Checking my email via WLAN does not always work. It is fine the first time you try, but after that most of the time it is unsuccessful in connecting. I wouldn't touch a LG (had previous nasty experiences); they look real good but only their looks, LOL	bk T (215)
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