From a techie point of view, an ideal handset should make your life easier. Apart from making and receiving calls, it should support other features that makes life more meaningful to you.

I won't put my money on a phone if it does not support the following features:

Wide Display Screen
This needed for browsing the internet or reading downloaded ezines or ebooks on your cellphone. The wider the better. A 640 x 200 pixels is the best, but a 240 x 320 display screen is ideal.

Java
I wouldn't touch any cellphone that does not support java. I can't even imagine using a phone without java. With java, I can download java applicationj and games from the internet and install them on my phone. Java makes my phone more like a computer.

GPRS
With GPRS, you can browse the internet on your cellphone. The wider your phone's display, the much better you will enjoy the browsing. With GPRS, you always have internet with you whenever there is a coverage.

With a bluetooth enabled phone, you can transfer files between your phones and your PC. Also, you can synchronise your phone's emails and contacts with Microsoft Outlook. Above all, as explained in a previous post, you can browse internet for free on your cellphone using your bluetooth enabled PC as a gateway. Forget about infrared. Infrared is old school.

MP3 Player
Ability to play MP3 music is one of d great features in today's handsets. For all music lovers like myself, MP3 player is a must feature to consider before buying any handset.

Memory Card Slot
If you want to upload lots of music and photos into your phone, download and install several java application, then your phone must have a memory card slot to enable you to upgrade the memory that came with the phone. Phones that supports SD card or MMC are better since these cards are cheaper than the other types.

USB Connection
A USB connection will enable you to quickly connect your phone to your PC and quickly transfer files to your memory card. The files can be either MP3 music, photos, software, etc.

Document Viewer
Most recent smartphones have the capability to view Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. With large or expanded memory, your cellphone can be transformed into powerful handheld computer. That means you can download and read emails that have Word or Excel attachments.

Size / Shape
Now, a highly good and functional cellphone need not be too bulky or look like weird. Otherwise you will not enjoy it, nor be able to carry it around with ease and confidence. The size should be moderate, and the shape should be fine.

Other Features
The features mentioned below will make your phone great, but they don't necessarily make a good phone, in my own opinion.

Camera
A camera is a good feature in a phone. It is ideal for taking those occasionally rare picture like running into an old friend or school mate, or just when the groom is about to kiss the bride in a wedding programme, just before your friend cuts his/her birthday cake.

A word about Camera Phones
I notice that most people use the camera on their cellphones only the first few days of purchase; after that they never use it again. So what's the heck in carrying a camera phone?
Except for the new megapixels camera phones, you can't print most of the picture taken with your camera phone. And if you need to print megapixels pictures, why don't you buy a good digital camera? That is much better than a camera phone. And I bet you that you won't go to occasions trying to snap people with your camera phone. That will be very amusing.

FM Stereo
How I wish every cellphone has FM Stereo. I guess not everybody likes FM Stereo. If you have MP3 player on your phone why would you need an FM Stereo? The answer is the two are different in functions and purpose.

MP3 As Ringtones
This is a cool feature for any phone to have. You can use this feature to create unique ringtones for your phones. When your phone rings, people around you will turn their heads and look at you with envy.

Phones That Support These Features
The Nokia 6230,6260, 7710, 9500 and the Sony Ercisson S700i, K750i, W800 supports all the above features. Only Nokia 6260 and 7710 have Document Viewer.

The Nokia 9300, 9500 and Sony Ercisson P910i also meet the above criteria except that none have FM Stereo.

The I-Mate( JAM, PDA2, PDA2K) and PalmOne Treo 650 PDAs support all the above features, but none of them have FM Stereo. Also only Treo 650, PDA2K can have MP3s as ringtones.

Question
Anyone agree or disagree with me that the above mentioned features are important in a phone? Your views are welcome.

[I]Visit http://diakim2..com for the concluding part of this post.[/I]

Well daikim these features you mentioned and more will eventually become the standard of every handset. But this time I'm more interested in them doing the obvious i.e making a call.

Demmy, fortunately most handsets can do this basic function of making and receiving calls. We are now in an era where people want their handsets to serve multiple purposes.

I was actually refering to telecoms with that statement. For example roaming is still expensive from where I am and even ordinary calls on mobile are cumulatively costly. So lets the phone companies rectify these flaws then we can talk of other services those incredible features require.

hvae you looked at the smart phone's that are combination of a phone and a pocket pc?

There are far more titles available for pocket pc than java and usually these programs are of a much higher standard.

The Pocket PC or PDA are quite a standard on their own. Usually, they are faster as they have higher processing power, what with the flexibility of their having a touch screen. Until recently when the Pocket PCs are being incorporated into GSM, most people that I know who use Pocket PCs also carry a cellphone as well. I think the drawback on the Pocket PC is the awkwardness of making/receiving calls on them due to their flat shapes.

the issue of functionality as it regards phones is very subjective to the individual that is using it and the environment it is being used. Presently we do not have in Nigeria a service provider that fully supports the features on these phones and some individuals have some mobile IT gargets that they would not need a phone order that to make and recieve calls.

I think the area consumers should be more intrested is the area of quality of service rendered by these providers and the price we pay for it.

My own preferences for phones are looks over function.

My phone requirements are:

Good Battery life.
Ease of use during calls
Slim phone, I hate bulky phones
Blue Tooth
MemoryCard

as for all the rest they are nice to have but for me not essential.

as long as i can make and receive calls and get and send text messages, i no need fancy phone.

stababy check this out

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-110.0.html

It's all good as long you can perform some basic function on your phone. Here in Nigeria, I think it won't be advisable wasting so much money on a phone like that if you can easily get this done on your laptop but we will still get there so watch your back.

thanks for this post man. now the phone i want to buy most definately is a nokia6230i. checkout http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/nokia-6230i.htm but man i still love camera phones, and would still be proud taking pictures with it in public

Nothing compares to the nokia s60, s80 and s90 phones and the new n-series. They come with almost all the features you need in a phone.And whats so interesting is that most of these features can be installed into the phone. Nokia conecting people!

@ diakim

I'd have to disagree with some of the essentials here, bearing in mind that this was posted five years ago.

I've never used FM on a radio, neither have I used the MP3 as a player. I'm one of those people with a separate MP3 player and digital camera, so it was never that important to have them on a phone. In fact, I only use my phone's camera where having a camera would be tricky. Yes, I'm one of those with a phone camera who hardly uses it! As for MP3s, I only use them as ringtones, nothing else. I've never sought out nor bought a phone with FM radio, and I don't know anyone who has. Different strokes for different folks you could say.

GPRS makes sense in the current environment, and a suitable screen for web viewing. However, there's a Nokia 7710 knocking around which the network provider (a) didn't think existed and (b) didn't have the settings for. This was true 5 years ago and is still true today; fortunately a solution was found.

The one thing I have always wanted my phones to have is Bluetooth and a memory card slot. Surprisingly in the past 5 years I've only acquired one memory card even though I've had about 5 or 6 different phones. Ironically they all used different formats (Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia).

Good post though.