It’s that most wonderful time of the year… when yours truly starts shopping for a new phone!

I’ve been very spoiled on my recent trip around the world by the N86 graciously loaned to me by WOMWorld — some reviews are coming soon, promise! As such, N86 variants comprise two of the three choices for my next Nokia. Read on for my pros and cons of each, and let me know which one you’d pony up for and why.

(Note that for me the Linux-powered N900 isn’t really an option at this time — mostly because I can’t get a 3G signal on it in Canada but also because it’s currently missing some key features, like SyncML server support, Java, etc.)

#1 Black Indigo Nokia N86 NAM — $450 CAD with free shipping from Newegg.ca

Pros: 850 MHz 3G support, cheapest option of the three.

Cons: Not white, possibly less firmware updates.

Maybe it’s the metrosexual in me but I find black phones kind of blah, plus they don’t so good under the protective cover of a cheap crystal case. And if memory serves me correctly North America-specific Nokias often lag behind in terms of firmware updates.

Still, this is the most sensible pick of the three, and Newegg is a reputable online dealer, right?

#2 White Nokia N86 Euro — $465 CAD + $25 shipping from Mobile604.com

Pros: Possibly quicker/more firmware updates, it’s white.

Cons: No 850MHz 3G, never used dealer before.

The jury’s still out on whether or not I need the extra band of 3G in the bustling metropolis of Toronto. I don’t care so much about voice calls (they can fall back to EDGE and still be fine) but I’ve noticed the odd hiccup in grabbing a 3G data signal. And who knows when I’ll be snowbound in a remote area of northern Canada and need to Tweet for help…

I do think the white colour is very classy, though. But I’ve never had any dealings with Mobile604. Are they legit?

#3 Nokia N97 Mini — $570 CAD with free shipping from Newegg.ca

Pros: Quad-band 3G (see below), QWERTY keypad, possibly more future-proof.

Cons: Touch-screen, bizarre colour combo, lower-spec camera, most expensive of the three.

Despite all the shortcomings I was actually set to grab the first-gen N97 as a memento of the 24/7 tour I went on last summer. But then I heard rumours about this guy and held off.

Now it’s here and I’ve mixed feelings about it. I’m really not a fan of touch-screen devices, mostly because of my dislike for the constant reapplication of screen protectors and such. Steve Litchfield says that touch interfaces are the future, though, and right now the new beta of Opera Mini looks like it would work great on this thing.

I was impressed with the keypad during my quick play with one in London last month, but I actually think the mini is still too wide in landscape mode for my thumbs to comfortably reach across it. And I have big hands, really I do!

Quad-band 3G is also a plus, and I could live with the slightly lower-res camera. If I could get one here in white for a reasonable price I might give the Mini more serious consideration.

Update: The Mini does not have quad-band 3G — read this thread on the Howard Forums for details.

… So that’s where I’m at for a handset to see me through the arrival of 2010. Which one would you pick?

As you already know from previous posts I’m quite enamored with text messaging. But given that SMS costs effectively nothing for carriers to provide I find myself infuriated by two things:

1. The surcharge for sending and receiving international texts — up to 60¢ per message using my carrier.
2. That I can’t send texts at all to friends on some international networks.

There’s no shortage of dubious web-based “free” SMS-sending sites out there, but leave it to BBC’s Click to find something better — it’s not free, but it’s worth every penny of the few cents per message that it costs.

It’s called FishText.

Here’s FishText installed on my E71. It’s a Java app, and thus works with almost any mobile phone and OS.

And here’s where it leaves those free SMS sites in the dust. FishText brilliantly connects to your mobile’s built-in address book, so using it is almost as easy as your on-board texting app. Replies are sent back to your number, or to a “virtual” UK number that you set up with the service for an additional cost — which can be useful for screening potential SMS spammers, for example.

Texts exchanged between FishText users anywhere in the world are free, provided that the recipient has the FistText app running on their handset to receive it.

While FishText is not a free service the highest price you’ll pay per sent message is €0.03 — you can top up your account in €5.00 increments through the app itself with a credit card, or use PayPal on their desktop website.

I’ve tested FishText with international friends and can tell you that the service works as advertised, with no ads, spam or other ills. If you’ve friends in faraway places with whom you’d like to trade texts at a reduced rate, FishText is the app for you!

If you’ve been reading this site for over a year then (1) hey thanks, and (2) you’ll remember that Mobical was the very service that got me started on my quest for a worthy PIM 2.0 solution.

Back then Mobical was a beta service, and just like Gmail the trendy beta tag remains. But a lot has changed since the last time we looked at it. And for the better…

Like the recently-reviewed Funambol, Mobical installs on your device as a proper SyncML client.

And unlike Funambol, Mobical will let you sync more items, including notes and texts. I’m not so concerned about web bookmarks, as I mostly use Opera Mini anyway.

But the big news can be found on the Mobical site — you can now export all appointments and contacts to a file on any desktop computer!

Contacts can be saved as a vCard while calendar entries can be saved as either .ics or .vcs files. No notes or text exports are available as of yet; fortunately there’s an excellent alternative on Nokia devices for the latter.

This feature addresses my number one complaint with the myFUNAMBOL portal and vufone — that your data is locked up on their servers once its uploaded there — and puts Mobical way out in front. It would also seem to put Mobical ahead of Nokia’s own Ovi Sync, as Nokia’s online PIM service doesn’t seem to have any export functionality either.

I’m also pleased to report that previous issues syncing data back to my handset appear to have gone away — although some of my contact’s phone numbers may have been mixed up on the return trip. I’m still investigating that.

It’s not perfect, but it does seem like a viable solution to bypassing the traditional computer sync  altogether, so long as you’ve got a fat data plan or a free WiFi signal for your handset…

Making a clean break from vufone, my last-reviewed PIM 2.0 suite, I’m now going to show you what a web sync app looks like when it conforms to open standards. It’s called Funambol.

Now I’m probably going to get myself in trouble here for speaking out of my own ass, so kindly correct if I get this wrong. But best as I can tell, Funambol is actually a platform upon which at least three separate products are built:

1. The Carrier Edition – for service providers, portals, carriers and device makers
2. The Community Edition – an open source sync solution for devices connected to Linux and Windows servers. (This, by the way is where I’m stumped. By “server” do they mean a computer, a web server or both?)
3. The myFUNAMBOL portal – an ad-supported introduction to the Funambol platform. I think.

That last one is what we’ll be looking at today. myFUNAMBOL also includes push email — that’s where the ads come in — but I’ll be reviewing just the sync part.

Here’s what Funambol looks like installed on my E71. You’ll find it in the Sync Folder of your S60 handset.

I should point out that it’s not actually an installed app, per se, but rather a bunch of settings for connecting to a standard SyncML server.

At present, the myFUNAMBOL portal will sync with your handset’s calendar and contacts only…

… Though as you can see, SyncML can also support the syncing of notes, texts and bookmarks from your web browser.

Syncing happens over-the-air via whichever data connection your phone supports, and your data ends up here, on the myFUNAMBOL web portal.

Kudos to the Funambol team for correctly choosing the white-coloured handset as their default E71 icon.

Another nice touch is that you can make a Skype call to any of your contacts just by clicking on the phone number. I had no idea about this until I found my cursor hovering over an entry quite by accident.

Unfortunately this is where the love ends for me and myFUNAMBOL. Like vufone there is no way to export your PIM data to a desktop computer file. Such a feature will be important to you if, like me, you’re running Linux on your desktop computer and wish to bypass local sync entirely, but still want to back up your data.

Of course, myFUNAMBOL may well be just a technology demo and this is probably where the Community Edition of Funambol steps in — I just need someone to explain it to me…

(Click here to read the first post in my ongoing search for what I call “PIM 2.0″…)

I first heard about vufone from a very highly-regarded S60 software blog. They gave the app their highest rating, 5 out of 5 stars. Me? I’m honestly not as impressed…

The first thing I noticed about vufone is that is doesn’t seem to use the standard SyncML protocol, and is instead a standalone installation. This is potentially worrisome in that there may be other data heading up to vufone’s server when you sync your phone.

However, vufone is to eventually become a paid service, which is good because the company will have a sustainable business model and therefore won’t need to sell your data to third parties. Whether they’ll do it anyway is another question altogether…

vufone also gives you the option of uploading your personal media to their site — once there, you can share it with other media sites like Facebook and Flickr.

Furthermore, you have the option of exporting your calendar to your Google account, which is important because there is currently no way to export your PIM data directly from their web site — in other words, contacts and text messages are apparently theirs to keep. That’s bad.

Even worse is that, for me, the service doesn’t work with my 650-plus address book entries. Here’s a screen grab of my E71 attempting to sync them to vufone — the app consistently crashes at this point.

I turned to vufone’s online forums for help, but after a very prompt first reply my issue has not been addressed any further.

And so, for not adhering to open sync standards and generally not working, I’ll be looking beyond vufone for an online sync solution…