WAP Phones (Buyers Guide: Mobile Phones)

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Product:	Buyers Guide: Mobile Phones
Date:	26/10/01 (38 review reads)
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Choosing a WAP phone is as difficult as choosing any "simple" phone. However there is a number of questions that you could ask yourself and will help you to make (hopefully!) the correct choice.
The first and most important question is whether you really need a WAP phone.Are you going to use its WAP function frequently? Do you plan to use as an alternative to web browsers? If yes then do buy one. But have in mind that WAP-friendly web-pages aren't as many, and their quality isn't as high as that of the normal pages.
A second question you should ask yourself is whether you are going to buy a sim-free phone, a one with a contract, or a "pay as you go" one. Each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages but basically, as with the simple phones, sim-free are more expensive but allow you to connect your phone to the network of your choice. If you go for a "direct" relationship with a network, look out because the various networks offer similar services but not at the same prices. Additionally each network has its own advantages and disadvantages: Vodafone for example appears to be quite good in network connection and transfer rate but Orange seems cheaper, especially if you are on a contract.
Another important question you have to ask yourself is how much are you happy to pay for a phone.
The cheap WAP phones appear to be quite good in basic terms, although they don't have fancy functions like the expensive ones (i.e. Motorola models) and tend to have limited accessory range. A typical example of that are the Trium models: Although they are very reliable and handy, they don't have a large range of accessories and the networks don't seem as keen to support them. For quite some time I wasn't able to find a case for my model and was forced to by the one suitable for the Nokia 3310! So the kind of "backup" you want should play a role in your choice.
My suggestion (if you have enough m
oney to spend) is to buy the model of your choice sim-free. This will allow you to choose the most appropriate network for you,depending on the tariff and the services offered.

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