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Greetings All.
I am finally thinking of upgrading my ancient Nokia to a Magician. Taking tightfistedness as a given, as a UK resident, my question is what is the least money I need to part with to acquire a Magician? If on pay-as-you-go, price is easily seen. But I am a little confused about tariff options: I would consider a phone on a tariff to cost:
[handset price] + [no of months] * [monthly rental]
where
[no of months] = least no of months before I can get the contract cancelled
Unfortunately, I don't actually know what this last number is with the UK companies: is it 6 months? Less? More?
Any information would be greatly appreciated, including what buyers have found to be the typical "total price" as defined above.
Regards.
I have found u a sim free himalaya for sale at Amazon. I wouldn't go for the magician myself due to it only having 64mb of ram and the himalya having 128mb of ram.
http://s1.amazon.co.uk/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y06Y2078550Y1436518/202-4701076-6303825
Anyway check out the link I have given you.
s1nn0n
Thanks for the link. Is the ~£370 mark the standard, therefore for the Jam? If so, do the tariff equivalents also level about £370 after minimum contract?
And since I don't actually know this despite having lived here all my life, what _is_ the minimum contract with the various phone firms (T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone, etc.)?
ive had the xda 2 and i have recently got rid of it and got the imate jam
its alot better signal wise/ battery life wise/ size wise/ faster/ better cam
id choose it anyday over the xda2 as its just too heavy and big compared to the jam
i brought mine sim free from expansys for £407 near enough
simple to set up on o2 payg online
Look here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=15279
Contracts are usually 12 months. I have seen some 18 month contracts too.
the Jam's camera is basically the same as the xda II's anyway, I don't know why the Jams is so poor its suppoed to be 1.3MP there is so much noise in the pics they look worse than the XDA 2's.
As for the signal, the new 1.18 radio upgrade not only increases the signal of the XDA II so it's much better than before it also has increased the battery life by a considerable amount i've noticed.
Personally, i'd go for the XDA 2 any day over the JAM, I can't stand that they have halved the amount of RAM in the JAM compared to the XDA II. Size isn't everything!
id stay clear from the contracts and go onto o2 online pay as you go. 300 free texts, 1mb free gprs, works out at giving u 40mins of calls compared to contract and all for £10 / month.
sims are only like £5
So everyone who buys a phone from, say, O2 or T-Mobile absolutely _has_ to pay the 12 month contract? There is no option to, say, cancel after a minimum time and still keep the handset? Excuse my n00bness on this issue...
u dont even have to buy a contract with this one
http://s1.amazon.co.uk/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y06Y2078550Y1436518/202-4701076-6303825
they are sim free. NO CONRACT! u can change phone and switch networks whenver u want.
just simply stick in an o2 online sim card for £5.
1.18 rom on the xda2 didnt do much for me still couldnt get signal at work
now i got my jam i got 1 bar all the time
camera quality is crap i the dark but with the new patch its improved daylight photos alot they look very clear now
and no the 64mb ram doesnt make any difference when you have a 1gb ultra SD card i use that for storage
128mb would be nice but its no problem at the moment
also you dont look like a fool with it to your ear no more lol
gaz
Agreed, s1nn0n. The only reason a contract idea is being entertained at all is the possiblity of getting a better overall deal on the Magician handset.
kneeslasher said:
So everyone who buys a phone from, say, O2 or T-Mobile absolutely _has_ to pay the 12 month contract? There is no option to, say, cancel after a minimum time and still keep the handset? Excuse my n00bness on this issue...
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you have to usually have them for 12 months or sometimes 24months but you can pay the contract off upfront (pay the monthly charges all in one go)
yeah maybe.
but they are still expensive on contracts.
also the IR on the jam works just like an ipaq unlike the xda2 which doesnt do anyhting at all lol
look at the below link, id just put that in a sim free phone. works out much cheaper and a contract wont give u anywhere near the value.
THE SIM IS FREE NOW!!! lol
http://shop.o2.co.uk/cgi-bin/o2uk/j...Details.jsp?prodID=consumer:O2:TALKALOT:GROUP
urs must a been dodgy thn.
mine works fine.
Thanks. In that case I shall factor [12 * monthly cost] into the price. Right. In that case I shall now scour the other threads for where good deals on the Magician are available. Thanks for the XDAII suggestion s1nn0n, but I think until the XDAII evolves further, the Jam is for me.
I bought from www.mobilejoker.de with a 1GB SD Card (65 Euros), 40 Eueos delivery and 15 Euros Cash on Delivery charge and it came to £380.
You'll get the MDA alone for less from them or Ebay's German sellers.
seriously the imate JAM is pants.
the xda II also has MP10 on it now and wm 2003 se
there really isn't much difference.
JAM is smaller but xda 2 has more memory.
That doesn't sound too bad, 27. But what on earth is this 15€ C.O.D charge?
I agree with s1nn0n in that the Jam has less memory/functions/etc.. I have computers to do my work. The phone/pda is just for simple carry-around utility.
Please share the most annoying thing that you don't like about your i-Mate, O2 Mini or something similar to it.
I have the O2 XDA IIs and the one part I hate about it is the inabillity to answer call the first try. It does this every hour on the hour.
I have never had a problem with my O2 XDA II. Other than the incompatibility with SPB Pocket Plus on the occasion hard reset, but to say the least it's a software problem, not hardware.
I'm thinking of upgrading to an i-Mate Jam because of the size and the 1.3 mega pixel camera. I'm thinking of upgrading the ram to 128mb from PPCTech, I don't think 64mb is enough, since my old Compaq iPaq 3955 had 64mb and HP iPaq 4155 wasn't enough.
Please share before I jump the gun and purchase the i-Mate. Thank you.
1) the camera is no good (Nokia 7610 1.3MP beats it handsdown IMO). even after the patches and fixes. bearable for snaps.
2) the bluetooth is MS stack. not a problem more of a preference; been spoiled by Widcomm on my previous PPC (an iPAQ), interface is not as easy with wizards.
other than that I love my JAM!!! but get an O2XDAIImini they say it has better resale value.
I heard that the i-Mate jam or similar to it, like the O2 Mini has a problem with picking up calls? If someone calls, it'll get drop, but after a soft reset, it doesn't do that. Is that true? That's almost the same problem as the XDA IIs or PDA2K.
More irritations
when the XDA Mini battery saving function is set, the system goes into sleep mode after the annointed period.
If you are using bluetooth headset (mine is plantronics M3000) on lengthy conversations you loose half the conversation (transmission side only , reception works OK) when the sleep mode activates, until you turn the unit back on. So you either have to live with the reductiion of battery life, the signal loss or remember to turn off the sleep mode, mid conversation.
Others have reported similar problems with no fixes in sight.
The battery life is disappointing but I have not owned other PDA's to compare it with.
The camera is a gimmick only, not for serious use.
I also have trouble in some internet sites requiring pop-up password entry
input (ie. one of my bank accounts) where it just will not acknowledge the data input. Dont know why, and the bank IT people cant explain it either. It works well on another similar banking site. ????
But.. all things considered, it is a pretty useful gadget.
PS; Cant buy any accessories in Australia yet, but www.boxwave.com in USA was a useful site and easy to deal with.
I haven't had any probs with battery life on my Mini. Much better than my SE T610, particularly when you consider the Mini does a double duty of phone and PDA.
Camera works fine for what its there for. Its not designed to replace a digicam, just be there for those moments you don't have it with you.
Not had any of these call problems described.
PS; Cant buy any accessories in Australia yet, but www.boxwave.com in USA was a useful site and easy to deal with.
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I haven't had probs with buying accessories. I either get them online from resellers or from eBay.
Get one!!!
Re: More irritations
pactim said:
The battery life is disappointing but I have not owned other PDA's to compare it with.
PS; Cant buy any accessories in Australia yet, but www.boxwave.com in USA was a useful site and easy to deal with.
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I'd have to disagree with these two comments, I think the battery life is good on the JAM and as for accessories, lots of online aussie gadget shops sell accessories for the JAM.
http://www.expansys.com.au/
http://www.mrgadget.com.au/
just to name a few.
I shall sit corrected and withdraw my remarks about the accessories in Australia.
Thanks for the links. Have already used one and the other was helpful.
When looking around early last month I coud find accessories listed on websites but nil stocks available. I was impatient so I got my soft case from the states, and aluminium case from Singapore while visiting. Good to see the local have caught up. Although they probably all come from the same places
Thanks for the Input
Thanks for the input, I was curious and now I found the answer.
As long as the pda don't act like my O2 XDA IIs, then I'm fine. I hate it when I pick up a call and can't hear anything on the other end until I have to soft reset it.
I love my O2 XDA II, but it's lacking buttons and keyboard. Both the II and IIs is too big, so I'm gonna try the Mini.
Anyone wants to buy any of my XDA II or IIs? Hehe, I'm serious.
I have been patiently waiting for months now for this superb phone to come to o2 uk. I am already over due an upgrade but have been waiting untill the mini is available. But the wait is starting to annoy me and i am thinkin of jus leaving and going to t-mobile and picking up an MDA Compact. Anyone got any idea when the mini is coming to the uk? i have called o2 and they are as much help as a kick in the balls.
thaks,
Tom
Orange is releasing thier SPV M500 which is essentially a Jam, but it's also rumored it has 128mb RAM, may it's worth holding out a little bit longer for that
very interesting - if it does have 128mb of ram then it is definately worth waiting a bit for - but hopefully not too long! (i am a very impatient person!)
SPV M500
The SPV M500 is already available - I have one now, but alas it does not have 128mb Ram !
hmm if that's the case then i would still rather wait for the o2 XDA mini as i can probably get it cheaper as an upgrade an d i don't have the hastle of moving contracts etc. So any one got any idea when it is likely to be coming out?
Tom
welshtom said:
I have been patiently waiting for months now for this superb phone to come to o2 uk. I am already over due an upgrade but have been waiting untill the mini is available. But the wait is starting to annoy me and i am thinkin of jus leaving and going to t-mobile and picking up an MDA Compact. Anyone got any idea when the mini is coming to the uk? i have called o2 and they are as much help as a kick in the balls.
thaks,
Tom
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Click to collapse
It's not going to be released. Time for new devices
welshtom said:
I have been patiently waiting for months now for this superb phone to come to o2 uk. I am already over due an upgrade but have been waiting untill the mini is available. But the wait is starting to annoy me and i am thinkin of jus leaving and going to t-mobile and picking up an MDA Compact. Anyone got any idea when the mini is coming to the uk? i have called o2 and they are as much help as a kick in the balls.
thaks,
Tom
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I spoke to O2 UK about this a few days ago and the guy on the phone said not to hold my breath waiting for it as they may not do it here in the UK!
I was with O2 and in the same position a few months back - eventually I went with an Orange contract and a Qtek S100 (2 year warranty) - the interesting part is that orange will match O2's '200' contract, so essentially you end up with the same deal as O2 with the benefits of Orange (241 cinema tickets are great) and a extra years warranty! You don't _need_ 128mb, the bigstorage conversion takes care of that! Compared to the XDA2 it's incredible - just as fast, the SIZE OF A PHONE (AT LAST) and battery life is far, far better (i no longer need to charge EVERY day).
Do it...
I bought mine from:
http://www.a1comms.co.uk/store/merchant-4-34-305-Phones.ihtml
..but do shop around. Sell you old device on ebay - i sold mine for 350ukp with a gps unit!
I see they're doing an O2 promotion right now - so you could stick with O2 and save some cash!
e.g.
"O2 200 with 50 messages + Promotion (12mths) £30 per month, phone cost £29.99"
Or do what i do.It takes forever for the companys here in the uk to get the decent phone,if ever so when your upgrae is due,get the best phone possible,sell it on e-bay then buy whatever phone sim free ie i mate jam :wink: that way you don't have to spend time removing all orange,o2 etc's crap off it.You can even sell the phone you got now too to raise more.Works every time for me! :wink: :twisted:
jaythemagician said:
Or do what i do.It takes forever for the companys here in the uk to get the decent phone,if ever so when your upgrae is due,get the best phone possible,sell it on e-bay then buy whatever phone sim free ie i mate jam :wink: that way you don't have to spend time removing all orange,o2 etc's crap off it.You can even sell the phone you got now too to raise more.Works every time for me! :wink: :twisted:
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To not install the 'crap' just reset the device after windows setup, that way the extended rom isn't installed and you can do it by hand. I did the math and it would of cost me more to buy, sell and then buy again - remember you can drop your contract rate post-six months in which brings the cost down again. Besides, the problem is, that O2 do not offer the magician as an upgrade
right cheers for the replies guys - very interesting, i am shocked however that o2 is probably not going to realease this phone! big mistake in my opinion! looks like i had better give up waiting then and go do some searchin around and some maths to find the best deal i can!
thanks again,
Tom
i got my s100 on o2 100 for £39.99 and £25 a month contract,
a1comms.co.uk
great device (obviously not branded as o2 but its still the same)
I just got my Vario, but now i am thinking that i should have waited for the Vario II (Hermes?). Have i made a mistake? Should i send it back under my 7 day return and wait?
aint being funny but i fink it looks crap...
http://www.newmobile.nl/eur/en/photos.php?phone_id=18fc907
i'd rather have the current Vario...as it's got style to it....that looks like a simple t mobile phone :roll: looks a bit blaah if u get me
Eh? I think it look pretty nice, better than the Vario I. And a 400Mhz CPU? I would not mind some of that.
What should i do?!
well the 200mhz aint bad....plays movies without a problem...music is fine...tom tom works; so it aint a bad phone...
but if your main concern is the CPU speed then go for it...
I think the hermes looks like a great device, an evolution on the current vario. If you can wait and afford the difference in price go for it, i'm sure it will be a cracking device.
Otherwise go for the vario, the hermes being available will not make the vario any less useful and there are already loads of hacks available for the vario.
A tough choice, but bear in mind even if you hold out for the hermes, there is always somethings bigger and better just around the corner.
whichever decision you make enjoy your device
R
No matter what phone you choose to buy, there will always be something better coming out on the horizon
mattucd said:
No matter what phone you choose to buy, there will always be something better coming out on the horizon
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Agreed, but the when the device is coming out so soon (this month?) it might be worth waiting.
Where are you based ?
I just got a vario and asked about release date of vario 2 ... (Assuming you actally mean the vario rather than i-mate or xda mini S) then Germany will be getting it this month but the T-Mobile aren't planning on releasing it in the UK till Q3 (ie October at the earliest)
BTW isn't it a 300Mhz CPU rather than a 400 Mhz one ??
HTH
Too soon? You mean too late!
I've had mine for aaages now, i'm nearly ready for an upgrade!
Other than that rather tasty looking camera application on the Vario 2 i think the XDA Mini S looks far nicer, as an ex XDA IIi user im finding it very hard to fault the XDA Mini S at all, its a great phone.
The Front-side looks okay to me, but the keyboard is ugly as hell, I like the keyboard of the MDA Vario a whole lot more.
I'm also keeping an eye out for the hermes but i haven't heard anything about any official release dates. I'm leaning toward the Imate branded JasJam but no clue when its coming out. Anyone have an idea? also is its 3g/umts compatible with the Cingular 3g?
At last I heard, the Hermes will not be compatible with US 3G networks, but that may change by the release by Imate or Qtek.
A
hi, im also having the same dilemma, i currently have the imate JAMin and looking to get a device with a keyboard and im leaning towards the imate k-jam, but i am eagerly awaiting the release of the hermes or imate JASJAM.......i dont know if i should wait for the hermes or get the k-jam for now.......i have emailed and called the imate company in dubai and they advised me that they have no idea when this device will be released internationally......it is still under testing they said.....
irv777 said:
hi, im also having the same dilemma, i currently have the imate JAMin and looking to get a device with a keyboard and im leaning towards the imate k-jam, but i am eagerly awaiting the release of the hermes or imate JASJAM.......i dont know if i should wait for the hermes or get the k-jam for now.......i have emailed and called the imate company in dubai and they advised me that they have no idea when this device will be released internationally......it is still under testing they said.....
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i'm actually looking for an i-mate jamin and i currently have a vario (k-jam). i'd gladly trade mine for yours.
You dont say which country you are in so we can give you valid advice. The vario 2 has a 300mhz processor and uses a microsd slot - so 1gb max for now. It has a better camera but far as i can see does not have stereo speakers like the vario. If sound is a priority or if you already have a minisd card stick with the vario - otherwise go for the vario 2, i am certain that overall it is a better device. see here http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=41660
waiting can be fruitless
I've waited since November for the Nokia N80 to be released. It was always just around the corner. Now here we are in May and still no US N80. There are even rumors that it will not be released due to some G3 issue.
I wish I wouldn't have waited and just got the Cingular 8125 back in November. I could have been enjoying it the last six months.
Point is... you can drive yourself crazy always looking out on the horizon. I would recommend getting the current version and having fun with all the mods. When the Hermes comes out, give it another six months for more mods to come out and the price to drop and then you can switch again if you want. But by then rumors of Hermes II will be floating around with beter keyboard, 800mhz, 5mp camera, built in 10gb hard drive optionsl, thinner, built in GPS receiver. LOL Just my opinion.
My brother just got an N80. I had a friend of mine buy it for him from Saudi Arabia and then had one of my friend's mom bring it with her to texas. But i'm gonna say its gonna be a while (2 to 3 months) until it gets released on cingular.
Got my wife a wizard about 2 weeks ago and been playing around with it. Its a great little phone. I'm due for an upgrade now and am wondering if I should wait for the Hermes to be released in July (as someone posted on another thread) on Vodafone or just go for another wizard now. What do you guys think?
The Wizard is a great phone no doubt. Seeing that you already got your wife a Wizard, I would just lend her your current phone and use her Wizard until the Hermes comes out. Tell her its essential. If that fails, I would wait. Its only a month away. BTW I think they changed the name from Hermes to TyTN (Titan) now. HTC TyTN.
I think so too. But I've been waiting for this phone from vodafone (as they are out of stock) for over 2 months now. They've been pushing back the date continuously. It might be when the TyTN arrives when the qtek 9100 come back into stock.
Anyone knows how much the unit will be on contract? (How much was the Wizard on contract when it first came out? - It should be similarly priced)
I have heard on the grape vine that T-Mobile will not be selling the Hermes due to the high price, it will be simliar to the MDA Pro, contract price about 200 on a 35 a month contract.
if you can wait for may of next year for a herpes then get that instead
If you want to wait for the heremes, may be because of:
1. Wizard's bad camera.
2. Slow bluetooth transfer rate.
3. maybe the heremes will have a faster processor.
Otherwise, the wizard is great, I compared my mini s with my friend's JAMin, I really liked the wizard more!!!