I'm thinking of "upgrading" my phone and was wondering if anyone here has any advice.

I've used Nokia phones for years, and really like their useability.  I haven't been thrilled with the last one, though, and have been thinking about how I use my phone, and how I would like to use it.

1. I use it as a phone.  This statement isn't completely daft - I've read reviews of phones which rave about the bells and whistles but then mention the terrible sound quality.

2. I text a lot.  A non-flimsy keypad with clearly delineated keys is essential for this.

3. I travel a lot.  Most phones these days are quad-band but not all, and I think this would be essential for me.

4. I'd like to have a decent-quality camera.  I don't have a dedicated digital camera, nor am I likely to earmark my limited funds for one, so it would be very useful to have a good phone-camera.

5. I'd like to have internet access, so when I'm travelling without a computer I can still dip into hotmail and not let my account expire.  (I'd love to have an iphone with wifi - what a fantastic interface, plus I'm a mac user - but the camera is rubbish and I don't want a contract with O2.)

6. It would be nice if the battery life isn't completely pathetic.

7. I sometimes use the FM radio, although I'm not bothered about mp3s.

8. I'm intrigued by these phones that claim to come loaded with maps (freeing one's handbag from the weight of the A-Z) but not sure which do and which don't, whether one needs to subscribe to a GPS service or if that's something different, etc.

I tried talking to someone in a mobile phone shop but I don't think we spoke the same language, so I turn to the erudite assembled company here instead.  Any thoughts?  I'm most likely to get a mid-range phone for free on my existing network, although I'm willing to shell out a little extra for something that ticks all the boxes.

I am extremely dissatisfied with Samsung. We have a terrible camera from them.

Excellent camera in the Sony Ericsson K800i. Decent battery too, if that's any help.

I like Sony Ericsson. My first phone was a wonderful Nokia. I programmed my own ringtone (it was the bassoon solo from the opening of the Rite). But I've been with Ericsson ever since. Glad they got rid of the joystick though because it stopped working after 9 months or so. I nearly stopped getting their phones because of the joystick. Considering I dropped the last one down the toilet when it was only a few days old, it worked incredibly well up to the end (18 months). I've got a w890i at the moment which does everything I want (though the keypad is still taking a bit of getting used to - my texts are not as fluent as they were).

I've always had Nokias and always been very happy with them. The only time I changed to anything else I hated it so much I was quite glad when it got stolen after just 2 or 3 weeks.

Recently my Nokia N73 was lost/stolen and I've gone back to using the 6610i that I had before it, which still does almost everything I'd like it to do almost as well as the N73 did (the N73 had a much better camera, but I don't really miss that, and the 6610 doesn't take the incredible amount of time the supposedly more advanced model took to 'recover' every time it sent a text message).

I'm very happy with O2, and have been for around 4 years now, but if your main reason for not taking an iPhone is that you don't want to move to O2 then there are iPhone alternatives on at least some other networks: time² just got a new one on Vodafone, although I can't remember the model name or make just now. It also can do that map-reading thing: you just have to install a version of the "TomTom" software, the same one that taxi drivers use to navigate these days.

Well I'm more confused than ever.  I had a look at some phones today, decided there were two I'd be happy with - but then tea-more-bile were so unhelpful about doing the upgrade that I now want to change networks.  But I'll have to pay for the privilege of getting the code that will unlock my phone all of three-and-a-half weeks before my contract expires.  I can't wait until afterwards because the whole point of doing the upgrade was so I could be webbed upside the head when I go away in about 10 days time.
 

And of course changing networks opens up a whole new range of phone possibilities.
 

Tinners, it's a reference to a collective outbreak of mild lunacy yesterday on the R3ok Glossary thread (I think) It's easier for you to read it than for anyone to attempt to explain it 'Upside your head' has been appearing in the most unlikely threads ...

I would be a gadget bore if I had any cash left over from the gadgets I need for work. But I still don't think I'd be particularly interested in a phone that did all these extra things, because I like in general to have as little to do with my phone as I can, and I certainly don't want it interrupting my private music-listening or photographic activities, so personally I prefer to have a phone which does just that one thing and which I can keep separate from everything else, or forget to take with me, or forget to switch on, or "forget" to do those things. I am slightly tempted by the idea of being webbed upside the head, but since I have my laptop with me wherever I go, more or less, one of those fancy strawberry things would increase rather than decrease my payload.

However, as gadgets go, this is one I have my eye on:



(it's a synthesizer with a ribbon controller instead of a keyboard)

For some reason it makes me think of strina.