BUYING A MOBILE PHONE : eBay Guides

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING A NEW MOBILE PHONE, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF MAKES AND MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM. DIFFERENT PHONES HAVE DIFFERENT FEATURES, AND BEFORE BUYING ONE YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL BE USING IT FOR, AND WHAT FEATURES YOU WILL REQUIRE.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE USING YOUR MOBILE PHONE ONLY FOR CALLS AND TEXT MESSAGES, AND ARE NOT INTERESTED IN COLOUR SCREENS, COMPLICATED TECHNOLOGY, CAMERAS OR DOWNLOADING MUSIC, PICS ETC., AN OLDER AND USUALLY MUCH CHEAPER PHONE SHOULD BE PERFECT FOR YOU. NOKIAS HAVE SIMPLE TO USE AND UNDERSTAND MENUS, THE '3310' IS A GOOD MODEL, OR THE 3330 IS BASICALLY THE SAME, BUT ALLOWS YOU TO ACCESS WAP SERVICES.

IF YOU WANT A CAMERA PHONE, MOST PHONES MADE IN THE LAST 3 OR 4 YEARS HAVE ONE, BUT THE OLDER, AND CHEAPER ONES DON'T HAVE AS GOOD A PICTURE QUALITY AS THE NEWER VERSIONS. THE SONY ERICSSON 'K700i' IS AVAILABLE AT QUITE A REASONABLE PRICE NOW, THIS HAS A GOOD CAMERA.

THE BEST PICTURE QUALITY WILL COME FROM PHONES WITH A ONE MEGA PIXEL OR HIGHER CAMERA.

A LOT OF NEW PHONES ALSO COME WITH A VIDEO CAMERA FACILITY. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT FEATURE FOR CAPTURING THOSE FUNNY MOMENTS WITHOUT HAVING TO LUG A CONVENTIAL CAMCORDER AROUND. SOME OF THE OLDER VIDEO PHONES, HOWEVER, DON'T CAPTURE SOUND. SOME MODELS WITH GOOD VIDEO CAPTURE FACILITIES ARE: SAMSUNG 'D500', NOKIA '7600' AND SONY ERICSSON 'K700i'.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON USING YOUR PHONE FOR DOWNLOADING MUSIC AND PICTURES FROM THE INTERNET, YOU WILL NEED ONE WITH PLENTY OF MEMORY. THE SONY ERICSSON 'K700i' HAS 40mb INTERNAL MEMORY, AND THE SAMSUNG 'D500' HAS 100mb. BOTH OF THESE PHONES CAN STORE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MEDIA. THE SAMSUNG HAS OVER TWICE AS MUCH MEMORY, BUT WHEN YOU TAKE PHOTOS WITH THE BUILT IN CAMERA, THE SONY ERICCSON USES AS LITTLE AS 2kb PER PICTURE, WHERE AS THE SAMSUNG USES UP TO 90kb.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOWNLOADING VERY LARGE AMOUNTS OF MEDIA, IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO GET A PHONE WITH A REMOVABLE MEMORY CARD. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO FILL UP THE PHONES INTERNAL MEMORY, THEN ANYTHING ELSE YOU DOWNLOAD WILL BE STORED ONTO THE MEMORY CARD. SOME GOOD MODELS WITH CARD SLOTS ARE THE SONY ERICCSON K750i W800i AND W810i THERE ARE ALSO VARIOUS NOKIA SUCH AS THE 6230i AND 6630.

IF YOU NEED A PHONE WITH BLUETOOTH, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO SEND MEDIA FILES DIRECTLY TO YOUR FRIENDS MOBILE PHONES (PROVIDING IT IS ALSO BLUETOOTH ENABLED) AND BLUETOOTH ENABLED PC AND PRINTERS, THERE ARE MANY ON THE MARKET. IN FACT, MOST NEW PHONES HAVE BLUETOOTH ON THEIR SPECIFICATION. ALL THE MODELS I HAVE LISTED ABOVE (WITH VIDEO CAMERA AND MEMORY CARD) ARE BLUETOOTH ENABLED.

THE NEW SONY ERICSSON WALKMAN PHONES, (THE 'W' RANGE, W800, W810) HAVE REMOVABLE MEMORY, AND EXTRA LOUD SPEAKERS, WHICH ENABLES YOU TO DOWNLOAD MUSIC AND LISTEN TO IT ON THE MOVE. BASICALLY, IT WORKS THE SAME AS A TRADITIONAL WALKMAN OR AN MP3 PLAYER.

IF YOU NEED YOUR PHONE TO BE SLIM AND STYLISH, TRY THE MOTOROLA V3 OR L6. THESE ARE SUPER SLIM, AND ALSO HAVE CAMERA, VIDEO CAMERA, BLUETOOTH AND MP3 PLAYER, BUT DON'T HAVE MUCH INTERNAL MEMORY.

YOU SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER TO ASK THE SELLER IF THE PHONE WILL WORK ON YOUR NETWORK BEFORE BUYING. MANY PHONES HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED TO ALL NETWORKS, AND IF NOT, THEY CAN BE UNLOCKED IN MOST MOBILE PHONE SHOPS FOR SOMEWHERE BETWEEN £5-£15.

NEW NOKIA PHONES (BB5 / SMARTPHONES / NOKIA 'N' SERIES) FOR EXAMPLE 6630 OR N70, CAN NOT BE UNLOCKED TO ALL NETWORKS, THE ONLY WAY TO GET THEM UNLOCKED IS FOR THE REGISTERED OWNER OF THE PHONE TO OBTAIN A CODE FROM THE SERVICE PROVIDER (SEE MY OTHER GUIDE "UNLOCKING NOKIA BB5 PHONES").

YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT YOU CAN USE THESE MODELS BEFORE PURCHASE, OR ASK THE SELLER TO RING THEIR SERVICE PROVIDER AND ASK ABOUT OBTAINING THE UNLOCK CODE.