Mobile interfaces

[Col]

I'm looking at a few new phones at the moment. They all look really nice. I know I have mentioned that I want a new phone a few times on here but haven't been able to afford it. Currently I can get £15 off a phone if I buy from the Vodafone Store though.

So here's the main purpose of this topic really, to get your opinions. From your previous phone experiences, what do you think of:
- touch screen interfaces?
- classic keypad interfaces?
- QWERTY keyboard interfaces on phones?
- Symbian S60?
- Symbian S40?

Phones which have caught my eye, if you have any input on them: Nokia C3-00, Nokia 7230, Nokia 5230.

To replace my ghastly Nokia 5200.

[Joey Propane]

My first touchscreen phone was my G1 (which I got near release). I felt it was perfect as I also had the backup of a full QWERTY keyboard if I didn't get along with the touchscreen. At first I was pretty dependant on it, finding the on screen keyboard quite difficult to use even in landscape mode (which frustratingly required the keyboard to be swiped open to initiate in the early stages of the phones firmware). As time went on though I found myself using the keyboard less and less and finding the additional thickness and bulk it created more and more of a annoyance.

My best mate is a proper touchscreenaphobe though, absolutely cannot be convinced that it's the way forward (especially with more and more phones sporting large 3.5"+ screens) so even though he doesn't particularly like the Blackberry interface he felt he "had to get one" because they were pretty much the only new phones out at the time that came with a proper keyboard.

There are times I do miss a proper keyboard with ALT and shift keys though, mainly when entering URL addresses or other things that require many symbols and numbers, and I absolutely do miss having a trackball (trying to tap exactly between 2 letters or numbers in a small block of text, long URL or email address to correct a mistake can be infuriating beyond words sometimes).

Could I live without a touchscreen phone nowadays though? No way, a standard number keypad would drive me mad in days.

And as for Symbian, i'll never be touching it again after having an N95 for 18 months. >:/

[Col]

Well I would like to upgrade from the standard 12-button classic keypad which is why I like the Nokia C3. The C3 seems to get mainly positive reviews except for the fact it runs Symbian S40. What is so much better about S60?

For multi-tasking on the move I'd rather have a laptop.

[Mr. Grapes]

S40 isn't Symbian, just nokia's standard OS. S60 is Symbian.

I've been using a Nokia e71 S60 handset for a while and it's been pretty good. one of the better nokia phones of recent times.
apparently it's replacement e72 isn't so good...