I dont consider myself very great to put advices here, I am just giving tips on what experiences I had with these things that might help you in choosing the best. I hate to give advice but I love to help.
I own Nokia 5510 suitable to my needs, here is how one should go to find a best suitable cellphone.
Mouthshut Articles/Reviews
Two years back when I went to choose cellphone, I chosen cheapest cellphone of mitsubishi but it got down in 2 months and I had to throw it off. I wish I could have access to mouthshut and would have read many tips/experiences about cellphone to choose the best. So before going for cellphone, you are welcome here, read n number of reviews and choose the best. All people here are genuine and they even put prices here so you dont have to go shop to shop for asking prices. All people list here all the facilities about phones and service providers very nicely so its kind of really great knowledge center (not only for cellphone but almost all products).
Understanding Need
Usually cellular service providers today provide all sort of facilities with minor differences we will see later on. But cellphones are of various types. They vary in terms of size, quality of battery, looks, facilities, programs.
Size:
Size of cellphone should be handy, not too bulky, as the older cellphones used to be. But choosing very small cellphone raises problem while speaking since mic in phone is quite away from mouth usually the listener on other side gets many disturbances. Cell should fit in your upper pocket, and must not fell while you are running. So size should be moderate, not too small, not too big. My Nokia 5510's size is OK, a bit big and odd but infront of other features I compromised on size.
Battery:
When time comes to talk about battery, Nokia is the leader. I have used almost all phones, no one comes closer to Nokia's battery quality. Well after 2-3 years, Nokia's battery looses potential and it gets down frequently and fast. But in earlier time it lasts very long. Usually batteries should work for 24 hours. Take high care while choosing second hand cellphone, usually in second hand cellphone battery is very weak and you must replace with new one.
Looks:
''Looks could kill !!'' its definately true. When we talk about looks, as there are millions of beauties in town, there are so many cellphones having great looks. Its matter of choice from people to people. Well we only need to worry when going to for good looking cellphone is our Pocket.
Facilities
Here comes the important part of choosing cellphone. SMS, Reminder, Alerts etc are there in all cells. Just go through each and every facilities provided here and find the best one for you.
SMS:
If your primary need of cell is SMS (like I have) then you must choose Nokia 5510 or Nokia 6800. Both phones have complete keypad of typing SMS. It is very fast. I type SMS 5 times faster then others type. 6800 looks better then 5510 but its yet to be released. 6800 does not have MP3 player :(
Reminder & Alerts:
Almost all cellphones has this so nothing much to say, but its good to have it anyway.
MMS:
Its now days craze of having MMS, but before investing money on MMS cellphone and MMS service provider, just think of your need. We usually have cellphone for work, we dont go to picnic everyday to use camera in phone. We dont watch cricket every day,every hour to have MMS video clipings. Well having them in cellphone is definately better then you having cellphone, camera all in different equipments. Its so convenient to have all in one. And also having such tiny camera is somewhat risky. People can get personal photos and might harasse others. Since its new no one has idea of how bad it could be, because generally people use utilities more for bad purpose rather then good. With tiny camera naughty kids/people can take pictures of someone's personal activities and send it over all people. People are going to suffer such consequences and there is nothing which can control that so we need to be aware.
Entertainment:
With this topic, people think only Reliance India Mobile provides this, but just try to explore facilities offered by many other cellphones and service providers. Now days cellphone with various games, FM radio, MP3 player are in town.
Nokia n-gage is having 3D games with blue tooth network so sitting in class room students can play multiplayer game with it.
Samsung, Philips and many other provide MP3 player and FM radio.
My Nokia 5510 has MP3 Player and FM radio and good games as well. Excellent when I am doing long distance travelling.
LCD Screens
After launch of True-i , many phones came with color screens, but before that we had only monocrome screens or black and light green screen.
If you are only mad about the look and navigation of cellphone then Sony z5 was the best peice. It has very good navigation (b&w) , Nokia's MMS phones are also having windows kind of menus and colors.
Programms
Costly phones have PDA kind of interface, which has many programs like accounts, data sheet and advanced calculator. In Java enabled phones you can even download applications from internet, or make your own application in java and upload it on your phone and use it.
Cells With Features (only I know)
Nokia 3310 -
Best to only talk, ringtones, games, cheap
Nokia 5510 -
MP3, FM, Best for SMS, Games
Nokia 7650 -
MMS, Digial Camera, Good Interface, Bulky in size, Color Screen, Games, Java enabled, GPRS, Internet
Nokia 6800 -
MMS, Color-Screen, Best for SMS, Games, Java enabled, Internet, GPRS
Nokia n-gage -
3D Games, Multiplayer Games with Bluetooth, Internet, MP3 player, FM Radio
Samsung True-i -
Color Screen, Looks Nice, very small and very handy.
Sony-Ericsson -
Color Screen, Looks Nice, small and handy
Sony-j5/z5 -
Looks Nice, small and handy, impressive user interface
Phillips -
Looks Nice, small and handy, GPRS, Internet
Thats all for now, I cant think of anymore to say here, if I get then I will add it later on....
