Best Mobile Phone

Wife had a easy touch.....avearge reception for country areas.....ongoing problems with dropping out after 4 inward rings etc.......still under contract and Telstra rep acknowledeged the issues with that model but would not change it

Because we were still under contract we purchased a prepaid samsung form Autralia Post for $69 and put the simcard in.........and it is great

Hate Telstra with a passion for a huge number of service and attitude issues but living in the bush we have no choice but to use them.......

bottom line is that based on our experiences with the Easy Touch I wouldnt have one as a gift

If there is a Samsung blue tick available under your plan I would get it.........

Hi, Have not heard too many good reports on ZTE phones , we have a Nokia 6720 and it is a good phone , locks to GPS instantly, also a 5 mpix camera as well,
we use it as a modem for the laptop as well. strong reception, easy to use,
I have a Nokia 6120 & E51 as well but this has many more features,
We are on a $30.00 plan and have a $10.00 data pack ( 1gig) as well.
Very happy Cheers Des.

Gidday

I have a Samsung C5220 which I think is probably about as basic a phone as you can get but it has the Telstra blue tick and is much better than the Nokia it replaced reception wise. It is also a flip top and I think the keypad is bigger than the Telstra branded phones I looked at at that time. Doesn't seem particularly strongly built but i have dropped it and it keeps working (which I understand an iPhone probably won't!) Box says it has bluetooth but that is a bit beyond me and my requirements

Cheers

rocco

I replaced my 165i about 18months ago with the telstra T90 tough phone. My 165i died prematurely, and the so called tradesmans phone by ZTE I had prior played up constantly too.
No drams with the T90 at this stage (got it for free when updating plan), reception quite good, blue tick approved if that actually means anything. Has Bluetooth, but not sure whether its compatible with your gps though.
I believe there is a car kit available which connects to a fixed external aerial.
Fingers Crossed, but this looks like it will be my first ZTE phone that will actually live for the life of its plan.

Cheers Tanka.

Another vote for the Nokia 6120, works extremely well especially in remote loacations on both phone and data calls (as a modem on the laptop) Has been dropped several times and continues to work well.
We've got a couple of force cradles in the vehicles and this enables an external antenna and charging.

G'day arofs1
Bought the new model 165 about 4 months ago the reception is very good, always better than my wifes iphone 4g. It has the pull out aerial and I have the car mounted antennae although this works better when stationary.
It also has bluetooth. You might still have the same problem but it may have been rectified with this model.
Always hate changing Phones, too many choices and sometimes too much irrelevant information.
good luck
Joel

Got a ZTE 165, 3 years ago, when out of contract went to a T2 easy Touch, had it replaced after 6 months and now out of warranty is starting to drop out, use the 165 as a backup and when the T2 fails will go back to it.

Would not get a T2.

Both phones are good for outback reception.

Peter

DJ

I recently purchased the Telstra T90 Tough Phone, it's a no thrills sort of phone, but seems well put together, has the blue tic, and blue tooth etc, on our current trip around Tassie it's been great, signal in supprising locations on the west coast.

Cheers........Browny

Buy an Iphone and keep the ZTE for emergency use. Inbuilt GPS and a million apps to make sure you get home safe. I keep my ZTE in the glovebox with a pre-paid long life sim and use the Iphone for everything else, including Next G modem.

I too have the T90, it does all I want and more. As I live and work in the bush its my only form of contact. Just spent 7 weeks up in the Hillston area on the harvest and had phone contact all the time, sometimes up to 70k from town.

The GPS location works well. Used the weather every day. Best phone Ive had.

Another vote for the Telstra T90 with external arial & Blue ant hands free.

Great regional coverage and bounces well off the back of a ute and water proof after I found it in the creek, I won't carry it in the shirt pocket again lol.

Hi Brian

Its not quite that easy to determine the one with best reception despite the fact that I have the equipment to do this.

I was very happy like others here when I got the Samsung cheapie A411/A412 some 3 years ago.

As time went on and it got knocked around I naturally went to its replacements like C5220 etc - good phone to , but I wondered about the aerial being relocated lower down in the case where its often hand covered.

This lead to tests and I re-established that A411 type was best in marginal conditions and now re-instated it as our primary phone.

If its car based then the best phone is one that allows quick connection to external aerial, such that this actually happens , the Samsung types have this connection but it requires care.

You probably know that texts will get thru when voice won't

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but what is a "blue tick" that you guys keep refering to?

I noticed Safeway have a T100 (its a Blue tick) for $50 with 30 bucks credit,anyone had anything to do with this phone connected to external aerial ,Only want it for going bush...


Cheers

hi
my son works on groote iland and he has a samsung c5220 and we talk with good reception day/night he previously had a nokia 6120 but it used to drop out
i have an older A701 samsung which has never failed me no mater where i have been
cheers

Thanks everyone for your comments. I have decided to go with the Telstra (ZTE) 165+ (Explorer) because indications are that they have the best reception power and "appear" to be compatible with my Garmin bluetooth. I also wanted flip case, but that was not as important as overall reception power.

Brian DJ

Hi
You don't really need a phone with a blue tick. That is just Telstra rubbish. Find someone who works for someone like GrainCorp. Their reps travel all over the place. I have a Nokia 6120 Classic, recommended by a GrainCorp rep, which was still working just north of Lyndhurst, SA - used my Nokia more than my sat phone.

My tips for you:
1. Avoid long battery life brags, it usually means poor dB levels or worse coverage. You may need to recharge more often but I would rather have better coverage.

2. Avoid all the "yuppie" features like, twitter, etc.... More junk, less quality seems to be the pattern.

3. Flip & slide phones have a lot more to go wrong with them. Top & bottom panels are connected by a ribbon with very fine wires in them. Sit down and bend a piece of fine wire back and forth and see how long it lasts.

4. Make sure all keys, other than the numbers, can be changed to suit you. That way you don't need to have Foxtel, BigPond or Internet on the back or end key. A lot of people get caught backing out of menus and ending up the net, followed by a big bill if they forget to disconnect from the net.

5. It is much cheaper to buy the phone outright than get it on a contract.Shop around not only for the phone but for calls too. If you buy the phone outright you won't have to start your contract again. You may still need to use the Telstra network but there may be a cheaper provider. A good example is my mobile internet via the Optus network. Optus is almost double the price of Bendigo Community Telco.

I hope that helps.

Regards
T