Yes. As the title says, it is your chance to help me pick a new phone.

Here’s what I have at the moment.

It’s a ratty, old Sony-Ericsson k750i.

I have replaced the screen and the chassis last year, but the joystick is ratshit.

I have to physically force it in whichever direction I want to make it do anything. If I don’t force it in the exact right way it ’selects’ something instead of moving up or down or left and right and it’s ANNOYING AS ALL FUCK.

Good thing is, it stops me from using my phone too much. Bad thing is I want to smash my phone onto the ground whenever I try to text, which is what happened today when I threw it hard onto the ground. TWICE.

The damn thing still works.

Anyway, before I really do some damage to it, I need a new mobile.

And no, I don’t want, nor can afford an iPhone.

But here’s what I am looking for.

I want the following, in order of desire

Needed

• Good and easy to text.
• has decent sized buttons.
• has an FM Radio.
• has expandable memory (bear in mind, I already have a 4Gb Memory Stick with my current phone, but I realise that most phone no longer use these)
• Bluetooth

Preferred

• 2Mb+ Camera Phone
• 3.5mm headphone plug

Nice to Have

• WiFi Access
• GPS Tracking

Brands

• Sony-Ericsson – I would prefer one of these because I have the memory card that fits into some of them, and I like their phones for toughness and compatibility
• Nokia – I hate Nokia’s, mostly because I think they are made poorly and break way too easily. Having said that, I would consider one if it had good reviews
• LG – No. Just No. Don’t you know that LG stands for Lousy Goods? (or as LaLa says, “Life’s Good, when it works)
• Samsung – I have heard good things about Samsung phones, so would consider one.
• Motorola – Not a fan of the Razr. Do they make anything else?

Style

• Candybar – Yes please, yum yum, but also, yes please. I prefer this style of phone as there is less to break and no moving parts
• Flip-phones – Annoying to answer and how many people have had flip-phones where the flippy bit just doesn’t work properly?
• Slide-phones – I would consider one of these if it was made well, but prefer not to have to move anything to dial a number
• Touch Screens – Yes please, but don’t know if my budget will extend that far.

Price

• I don’t want to go on a contract if I can avoid it, but would consider it if I got a good enough deal with the phone.
• I am currently on Virgin Mobile’s 10c/min, 10c/text pre-paid deal. It’s bloody good, but I still use $50 a month (automatically charged to credit card). I like pre-paid because it’s easier to manage and I’m not tired into anything, but similarly if I can find a good contract with decent rates, I would think about it
• I would spend up to around 300-400 on a phone, buying it outright. eBay has pretty much every phone you’d ever want.

So, recommendations? What should I go for?

I have done a little bit of research and here’s what I am liking at the moment.

I raved about the Sony Ericsson k850i a while ago.

It’s the model up from mine and features most of what I want, but no WiFi or GPS and is a bit bulky. Also, my 4Gb Memory Stick would not work in it.

It is only about $250 – 300 on eBay though.

There’s the Sony Ericsson C902. It has HSDPA Web Browsing, radio, 5 Megapixel Camera and looks pretty.

They are also releasing the C905 later this year which has a 8.1 Megapixel camera and looks very pretty.

I wouldn’t mind a good quality camera on my phone, but it always lacks zoom, which is a pain. I have a 8 megapixel Lumix camera that I love, but it’s very bulky to take out on the town.

What about Nokia’s? Is the N95 any good? I hear people raving about it. It has a pretty screen, and GPS and WiFi, but it’s going for around $500 on eBay or free on a $49 cap at Three Mobile.

Argh. Too many to choose from and there are new ones every month.

Anyone out there willing to share their ideas on what to pick out of the mobile phone haze?

Help!