Top-to-bottom in one page
Anything that makes it easier to choose the right mobile phone is welcome, so the launch of Mobilesift.co.uk - a new mobile-phone comparison site - could turn out to be good news.
The site gives you a number of starting points - searching first by network, brand or type. Each option throws up an extensive series of named handset images, and this list reduces in real-time as you tick or untick boxes for the features you want.
There are six main feature categories - Data, Frequency, Connectivity, Multimedia, Imaging and Form Factor - with the first four having five tick-boxes and the last two having four.
Five further categories with a total of 16 tick-boxes are concealed by default - User Interface Operating System, Messaging, Voice Features, Memory - but can be instantly brought on screen by clicking a more> button at any stage.
As you'd hope and expect, each feature category has an associated explanation that pops up in a new window when you click on the question mark alongside it.
You can click on any of the phones shown in the listing to get details - something that's wise to resist until you've whittled down the list to a manageable number! - and to see where it's available. A further click takes you straight to any of the listed resellers' buying pages.
To us, the sifting process seemed ultra-simple but not without its shortcoming.
First, the site currently only covers contract phones, though pay-as-you-go coverage is promised "soon"
Next - and rather worrying - the site does not appear to cover all of the leading UK mobile stores as its home page would have you believe.
We didn't try to check all of the absentees but noticed immediately that the UK No.1 - Carphone Warehouse - isn't covered.
In addition, a site such as this will live or die by the accuracy of the information it provides, yet it's not hard to find phone details that are inaccurately recorded.
So, a suitable phone can disappear from the list if you tick a feature it does have but mobilesift hasn't include in the database. Others can appear in the list if they're wrongly entered as having a feature they lack.
As a for-instance, the Nokia 6230i will disappear from the list shown below if you tick the FM-radio box - yet this model does have FM radio.
(Click for larger image)
We were surprised to see that the site does not have any dedicated way for visitors to easily report inaccuracies they notice in the listings - apart from a contact link.
What's needed - and we'd think is relatively trivial to do - is to turn around the database front-end so that it presents a list of features that the visitor can tick to generate an information-error report.
Clearly, there are some question marks over Mobilesift.co.uk and to try to get answers, we spoke to its developer Andy James - who says he launched the site because of his frustration with existing comparison sites.
Andy told us,
Pay-as-you-go is
coming in a few
weeks. There have been some issues with the database and navigation but
I'm working hard on it.
As for Carphone Warehouse, you need to know that e2save is a Carphone Warehouse site and that's including in the listings. It's just that e2save is the easiest of the company's sites to work with and I will be adding other CW sites as soon as its practical for me to do so - it's just a matter of time.
If you're wondering about the financial model, then know that the revenue comes as a result of click-throughs from my site to buying sites, not from special deals.
What you also need to understand is that unlike some, well, most, other phone-comparison sites, Mobilesift will be trying to including all the biggest and best sites without giving preference to those with whom there are "special" arrangements!
I really am going to try to include as many buying sites as possible - without favour.
As for any errors - I do appreciate that the information being provided needs to be as accurate and complete as possible and I'm trying to devise ways that will allow people to give me good feedback without having to waste a lot of their time doing so.
This will probably be a two-tier arrangement, where visitors can do much like they can do now via the contacts link and just type in a few lines or, if they're willing, use a database-driven reporting engine.
Again, though, I'm working on this. The site does most of things I want it to do and which site visitors will want it to do but it is still in its early stages and I will be making a lot things even better than they are now.
As for Carphone Warehouse, you need to know that e2save is a Carphone Warehouse site and that's including in the listings. It's just that e2save is the easiest of the company's sites to work with and I will be adding other CW sites as soon as its practical for me to do so - it's just a matter of time.
If you're wondering about the financial model, then know that the revenue comes as a result of click-throughs from my site to buying sites, not from special deals.
What you also need to understand is that unlike some, well, most, other phone-comparison sites, Mobilesift will be trying to including all the biggest and best sites without giving preference to those with whom there are "special" arrangements!
I really am going to try to include as many buying sites as possible - without favour.
As for any errors - I do appreciate that the information being provided needs to be as accurate and complete as possible and I'm trying to devise ways that will allow people to give me good feedback without having to waste a lot of their time doing so.
This will probably be a two-tier arrangement, where visitors can do much like they can do now via the contacts link and just type in a few lines or, if they're willing, use a database-driven reporting engine.
Again, though, I'm working on this. The site does most of things I want it to do and which site visitors will want it to do but it is still in its early stages and I will be making a lot things even better than they are now.
Our take is that Mobilesift.co.uk is an interesting and worthwhile tool to help you choose a phone but, certainly, in its present form, not one you should rely on exclusively.
We'll be keeping an eye on the site, though, and will report back on any developments we notice or hear about. But, even if Andy does deliver all that he's hoping to, you as the buyer still need to take care.
Whatever methods you use to draw up a shortlist of likely phones, you'll still need to visit the makers' sites to double-check the accuracy of what third-parties are telling you about their features-lists. It also makes sense to gather as much info about hands-on experiences with the phones.
Check out Mobilesift's press-release on page two, then share your thoughts with us in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle
