Recommendations for a Smartphone?

buebo · 2009-09-18 08:32:06

Hello,
I'm not sure if Off-Topic might not be the better forum for that. It's here because I need a phone that'll sync with Arch, but I'd have nothing against this beeing moved to the appropriate forum.

The end of my mobile contract is coming up fast which means I'll be offered a new phone pretty soon. While I used to take whatever they offered me in the past, this time I'd like something a little more sophisticated and I might have the opportunity to squeeze a good offer out of them.

I'm doing a quite a bit of motorbike travelling and what I'd like to do is check my E-Mails, Twitter and use some kind of messenger (ICQ, something like that) on the go, without carrying the notebook. WLAN is a must and a usable camera would be nice. I'd rather have the phone access my IMAP account than use some kind of push mail service. A QWERTZ or QWERTY keyboard is a must as well.

The major part seems to find something that'll sync contacts and calendar with Linux (I reckon evolution might be the best bet on the Linux side). I do know about Opensync but don't seem to be able to find a lot of infos what will and what will not sync.

Ideally I'm looking for something that won't be too much of a pain in the behind the get running. I like the looks of the Nokia E75 but - again - can't find too much about it.

Any recommendations or pointers in the right direction would be very appreciated!

Cheers
buebo

ngoonee · 2009-09-18 09:17:18

My Palm Centro doesn't have WLan, but otherwise syncs fine either with evo (not recommended, loses addresses!) or jpilot (very good). I think some of the Treos would do, but that's old technology if you have a problem with that.

Otherwise, it may be easier for you to find something that syncs to 'the cloud' than to linux.

buebo · 2009-09-18 09:32:59

Thanks for your reply, but what's 'the cloud'?

I just found out that Symbian (the OS used my Nokia and others) is supposed to be something like Open Source or at least become it very soon, so I reckon I should be aiming for that.

E75 looks even better than.

As for evolution, I'm not fixed on that. Actually I rather like it to sync with the sylpheed address book and the XFCE calendar...

Just had a look at some of the Palm Centro reviews. No WLAN, right?

Cheers
buebo

Last edited by buebo (2009-09-18 09:36:30)

blasse · 2009-09-18 13:23:29

Maybe Nokia n900 based on Linux?
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

buebo · 2009-09-18 15:06:04

blasse wrote:

Maybe Nokia n900 based on Linux?
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

Well that one certainly looks sexy

Might have to think about it and see what it'll cost when it comes out, based on Linux sounds good, not sure how nice this Maemo is though (never heard about it before).

zenlord · 2009-09-18 15:11:49

I have a Nokia E71 and wanted to sync email, contacts and calendar info. Email works flawlessly via wlan/imap. I haven't spent a lot of time to try to sync the rest. I know this device doesn't speak caldav natively (my calendar server), nor ldap (my contacts server). And since I don't have BT on my desktop, I haven't tried to sync through evolution. This should work according to the internet-folks.

The device is a real beauty: battery holds up for 5 days and nights (calls and SMS), GPS with Sygic McGuider and comes with a nice pouch

I recommend it very much.
Now I've come to think of it: maybe I can sync with BT on my new macbook...

Dieter@be · 2009-09-18 15:18:21

buebo wrote:

blasse wrote:
Maybe Nokia n900 based on Linux?
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
Well that one certainly looks sexy
Might have to think about it and see what it'll cost when it comes out, based on Linux sounds good, not sure how nice this Maemo is though (never heard about it before).

look up some n900 / maemo5 videos on youtube. it's very nice. it should come out in october and will cost about 600-650$

HTC hero (G3) and magic (G2) are also very nice devices with the features you like. but they are more (smart)phone-ish, whereas the n900 is mobile-computer-ish (e.g. has a hardware keyboard)

moljac024 · 2009-09-18 15:27:46

Dieter@be wrote:

buebo wrote:
blasse wrote:
Maybe Nokia n900 based on Linux?
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
Well that one certainly looks sexy
Might have to think about it and see what it'll cost when it comes out, based on Linux sounds good, not sure how nice this Maemo is though (never heard about it before).
look up some n900 / maemo5 videos on youtube. it's very nice. it should come out in october and will cost about 600-650$
HTC hero (G3) and magic (G2) are also very nice devices with the features you like. but they are more (smart)phone-ish, whereas the n900 is mobile-computer-ish (e.g. has a hardware keyboard)

I was about to say how it will most likely cost an arm and a leg...

Dieter@be · 2009-09-18 15:31:26

moljac024 wrote:

Dieter@be wrote:
look up some n900 / maemo5 videos on youtube. it's very nice. it should come out in october and will cost about 600-650$
HTC hero (G3) and magic (G2) are also very nice devices with the features you like. but they are more (smart)phone-ish, whereas the n900 is mobile-computer-ish (e.g. has a hardware keyboard)
I was about to say how it will most likely cost an arm and a leg...

Well, for that amount of money you do have a small linux pc + phone + media player + .. with you. I think the price is actually very reasonable. I'm really looking forward to buying it.
The android-based htc's are a bit cheaper but they are considerably more limited in the 'mobile computer' aspect.

rwd · 2009-09-18 16:38:30

Pretty much every smart phone has a Gmail /Google Calendar app so if you don't mind selling your privacy to Google you could go that route. I own a Nokia n800 and although Maemo has improved a lot since the usability of Maemo and the quality of applications was quite bad.

Last edited by rwd (2009-09-18 16:39:36)

buebo · 2009-09-18 16:48:00

The price sounds fair to me as well. Don't know how it is elsewhere in the world but in Germany you get a discount of usually about 200€ if you take a two years contract with any provider (which is pretty much the standard here).

But anyways this is not the price discussion.

Maemo kinda looks nice to me but then again corporate screenshots and usability videos always look nice...

Definitely a worth a try anyhow.

As for Gmail: I'm just in the (painful) process of moving away from it, exactly for the privacy reasons. Having a mail provider with the right to publish everything you've written just seems mad to me. The interface is the best there is though...

Obi-Lan · 2009-09-18 19:04:25

Nokia E-series is pretty solid business models but most of sotfware what Nokia provides (PC Suite, Mail for Exchange etc) is only for Windows. Maemo being linux based isn't going to guarantee that Nokia will provide any linux software for PC linux.

Still I got two Nokia phones (e71,XM5730)... What I've been testing both have ability to mount memory card as oridinary USB storage and work as oridirany modem atleast with datacable (works automatically with networkmanager). Both have working IMAP support. Both have workin WLAN, XM5730 has Series 60 FP2 which can actually have list of priotized networks so that phone can automatically prefer wlan over 3g (dunno if others manufacturers have had this allready). Calendar&Contacts syncing is working with Exchange and Gmail since both have own softwares for the phone, as a third option there is Nokia Ovi service which can sync your stuff to Nokia server and you can use your calendar though web interface.

Haven't tested if sync between Nokia and Evolution works since I haven't been using any local e-mail software for long time. e71 + MfE client + corporate Exchange server is waay too handy and after first time I used that combination I have mostly ditched any pc-phone sync stuff. Only thing I'm doing anymore is copying music to phone and using phone ocassionally as a modem. But XM5730 has support to use webdav server as a network drive...

Last edited by Obi-Lan (2009-09-18 19:05:57)

rusty99 · 2009-09-18 19:42:30

buebo wrote:

As for Gmail: I'm just in the (painful) process of moving away from it, exactly for the privacy reasons. Having a mail provider with the right to publish everything you've written just seems mad to me.

Apologies in advance for the derail,

Can you explain?
I mean, I knew that people using the web interface pretty much agreed to having their mails scanned by Google for 'applicable advertising' but I didn't know they had the right to publish (unless you mean by issue of a warrant).

Anikom15 · 2009-09-18 20:11:54

Are there any phones with Dvorak?

buebo · 2009-09-19 22:25:11

Obi-Lan wrote:

Nokia E-series is pretty solid business models but most of sotfware what Nokia provides (PC Suite, Mail for Exchange etc) is only for Windows. Maemo being linux based isn't going to guarantee that Nokia will provide any linux software for PC linux.

My reasoning is more along the lines that if the Software in use on the phone is indeed open source (which it seems to be) then it won't be long until somebody gets it to sync with the rest of the open source world. At least if it's open standards this should not be too hard and might even be encouraged by Nokia or Maemo.

I had a look on maemo.org and all the talk about openness and free software made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... At least it reads like they do actually try to be open and do stuff. To me it looks a bite like the modern day Zaurus, but then again, I do feel all warm and fuzzy inside and right now I do very much want one of these even if I might not really be able to afford it.

[Off Topic]

rusty99 wrote:

Can you explain?
I mean, I knew that people using the web interface pretty much agreed to having their mails scanned by Google for 'applicable advertising' but I didn't know they had the right to publish (unless you mean by issue of a warrant).

This is straight from the U.S. Terms of Service of Gmail:

11. Content licence from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 You agree that this licence includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

(Boldification by me, not Google)

Now I'm not that much into law, but to me this reads like Google can just do anything with you mail (including publishing) if they can somehow remotely link it to improve advertising their own service.

To me it just looks scary. Like having the Postman nail all of your adult subscriptions to the tree next to your house, just to show everybody that they got them from Sweden to your doorstep in just two days without any damages, never mind what that beautiful nurse is doing with that horse. Ugh, bummer.

No thanks Google, take your absolutely fantastic interface, your fast servers and your generous storage quote and leave me a little bit of privacy. I'm going back to plain old IMAP, provided by companies that seem to care a bit more about all of this stuff.

Now back to the scheduled broadcast.
[/Off Topic]

zenlord · 2009-09-21 10:15:53

Kinda weird noone has talked about android phones? Maemo was there first as a linux-based OS for portable devices, but I think Android will be bigger, potentially even bigger than winCE because of Google's backup.

buebo · 2009-09-21 10:43:35

zenlord wrote:

Kinda weird noone has talked about android phones? Maemo was there first as a linux-based OS for portable devices, but I think Android will be bigger, potentially even bigger than winCE because of Google's backup.

At least afaik when using Android you have to sync against the Google Services (Gmail and the others) which is something I'd rather not do. Why? Have a look at my rant above your post.

It would be different if Android would be usable without all the online Google Services. (Hint: A smartphone with all the smart taken out of it [e.g. address book, mail, time planer, ...] is not a smartphone in my book).

Correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Dieter@be · 2009-09-21 17:24:36

zenlord wrote:

Kinda weird noone has talked about android phones? Maemo was there first as a linux-based OS for portable devices, but I think Android will be bigger, potentially even bigger than winCE because of Google's backup.

actually android phones were mentioned

zenlord · 2009-09-23 14:10:58

buebo wrote:

At least afaik when using Android you have to sync against the Google Services (Gmail and the others)

It's only a matter of time before someone writes/ports an app to sync with evolution or online/networked services, if not already. That's the beauty of android and maemo.

zenlord · 2009-09-23 14:11:37

Dieter@be wrote:

actually android phones were mentioned

you're right. My bad.

greenfish · 2009-09-23 15:48:02

I bought a new phone a month ago, had a choice between htc (android) or iphone.

I'm posting this message using my jailbroken iphone

Dieter@be · 2009-09-23 19:34:09

greenfish wrote:

I bought a new phone a month ago, had a choice between htc (android) or iphone.
I'm posting this message using my jailbroken iphone

hah. that's an anti climax

smartboyathome · 2009-09-23 19:36:02

It hasn't been suggested yet, but how about OpenMoko? Its completely open source, and even runs Linux!

Dieter@be · 2009-09-24 11:30:18

smartboyathome wrote:

It hasn't been suggested yet, but how about OpenMoko? Its completely open source, and even runs Linux!

openmoko has never reached something like beta status. it's unstable and even basic phone functionality is unreliable.
Android, maemo and Palm webos (palm pre) also run on Linux.

Chokkan · 2009-09-24 13:25:48

You don't have to use Gmail with android phones, but it makes things easier. If you don't like, or use their services, it really isn't the best option. I love mine though. Also, in Japan there is no such thing as choice, as far as contracts go. If you want the phone, you'll damn well sign whatever they put in front of you!

Arch Linux

#1 2009-09-18 08:32:06

Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#2 2009-09-18 09:17:18

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#3 2009-09-18 09:32:59

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#4 2009-09-18 13:23:29

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#5 2009-09-18 15:06:04

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#6 2009-09-18 15:11:49

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#7 2009-09-18 15:18:21

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#8 2009-09-18 15:27:46

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#9 2009-09-18 15:31:26

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#10 2009-09-18 16:38:30

Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

#11 2009-09-18 16:48:00

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#12 2009-09-18 19:04:25

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#13 2009-09-18 19:42:30

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#14 2009-09-18 20:11:54

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#15 2009-09-19 22:25:11

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#16 2009-09-21 10:15:53

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#19 2009-09-23 14:10:58

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Re: Recommendations for a Smartphone?

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