Mobile telephony

[caddyman]

My current contract with O2 runs until March next year. Carphone Warehouse however, tell me that upgrades become possible 15 months into an 18 month contract - the mobile companies don't always allow them at that point, but they will at least listen and they can only say "no". Apart from which, the threat to let the contract expire and go somewhere else often brings out the best in their customer relations services.

I don't need my phone to do much; it must make telephone calls and do texts, obviously. I also like them to have GPRS/WAP. Beyond that, cameras and music players are not entirely necessary, though I do quite like having them available.

I wandered down Victoria Street to have a look at what is currently and soon to be available. Two reasons really. Firstly I like to know well in advance what I am likely to be aiming for when I upgrade, and secondly, Furtle's phone is behaving oddly again and her contract is up around the same time as mine. The timing was also influenced by the announcement that O2 will be launching the iPhone in the UK in about 6 weeks. Now I don't want one of those, but I am expecting it to stimulate a flurry of new handsets by rival manufacturers, so I was keen to see what is happeneing in the ephermeral world of mobile telephones.

Well, I have found my replacement phone and in December I shall start investigating properly. In the meantime, here is the Motorola RAZR2 V8. Oh, joy.



Motorola UK website

Comments

[oldnick.livejournal.com]

Reports I have heard suggest that the more advanced handsets have already been launched ahead of iPhone, by pretty well all the manufacturers. Once again Mac are bringing out a pretty white gadget which does less than its competitors at a higher price.

[sack-boy.livejournal.com]

Akshally it's black.

I don't want one.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

Everyone rushed to buy an i-phone when they appeared here, a couple of months ago, camping outside the store two days in advance, etc. The doodads have been full of glitches, I hear, thereby making these early birds look even more foolish. Same as Playstation 3 (or any shiny new gaming platform): I'll wait a couple of years for the teething troubles to be fixed and the usurious price to drop dramatically, and get one at Wal-Mart.

Inspecting the competition is jolly wise.