New Phone/Which One

I am about to buy a new phone and wanted to get some input. I am wanting to
get a PDA or possibly a smartphone. Right now I am looking at possibly the
Samsung Blackjack, Treo 680 and Blackberry Pearl. I will mainly be using
the phone for email and text messaging and internet and of course calls.
Thanks.

SH

---

› See More: New Phone/Which One

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 01:28:04 -0500, Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>It is alleged that shadow claimed:
>
>> I am about to buy a new phone and wanted to get some input. I am wanting to
>> get a PDA or possibly a smartphone. Right now I am looking at possibly the
>> Samsung Blackjack, Treo 680 and Blackberry Pearl. I will mainly be using
>> the phone for email and text messaging and internet and of course calls.
>
>Get the Treo.

Brand new, and I personally think it's better to wait until the early
bugs are found and fixed.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

shadow wrote:
> I am about to buy a new phone and wanted to get some input. I am wanting to
> get a PDA or possibly a smartphone. Right now I am looking at possibly the
> Samsung Blackjack, Treo 680 and Blackberry Pearl. I will mainly be using
> the phone for email and text messaging and internet and of course calls.
> Thanks.
>
> SH

I just got a Nokia E62 and like it a lot. It is great for the purposes
you state.

The only drawback is no camera. CNET has a good review.

Dave

Of those, I would recommend the Treo... If mobile Internet is important
you may want to hold out a few months for Cingular's upcomming 8525:

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/1...spotted-again/

Since it will be a "G3" enabled Pocket PC phone, it will potentially
have much fast download speeds than the current EDGE enabled
Smartphones and PDA Cingular offers

Don't let the Cingular brand name fool you, the 8525 will be an HTC
product rebranded, they produce quality phones and PDAs....

If you want to save some money and you're ok with EDGE speeds and
you're looking to sign a new contract, keep an eye out for special
offers on the Cingular 8125 PDA, the 8525 is its replacement and
Cingular will probably be doing special promotional discounts... After
the 8525 is released, the 8125's will probably be available for 1/2 off
on EBay. This happend with the Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone (still a
great phone), when it's replacement, the Cingular 2125 was released in
early 2006.








shadow wrote:
> I am about to buy a new phone and wanted to get some input. I am wanting to
> get a PDA or possibly a smartphone. Right now I am looking at possibly the
> Samsung Blackjack, Treo 680 and Blackberry Pearl. I will mainly be using
> the phone for email and text messaging and internet and of course calls.
> Thanks.
>
> SH

Ok, now why did you choose the Treo 680 over the Blackberry Pearl. Is it
the operating system or user interface, etc. I looked at the Nokia E62 and
it is a nice phone. But I was wanting something a little smaller. I really
like the Blackjack but that battery life issue is what is holding me back on
it. Thanks.

SH

On 23 Nov 2006 03:59:31 -0800, [email protected] wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>shadow wrote:
>> I am about to buy a new phone and wanted to get some input. I am wanting to
>> get a PDA or possibly a smartphone. Right now I am looking at possibly the
>> Samsung Blackjack, Treo 680 and Blackberry Pearl. I will mainly be using
>> the phone for email and text messaging and internet and of course calls.

>I just got a Nokia E62 and like it a lot. It is great for the purposes
>you state.
>
>The only drawback is no camera. ...

I personally consider that a plus! I don't want to waste money buying a
crappy camera I won't use, and that won't be allowed into some of my
more security-minded clients.

My main objection is the form factor.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On 23 Nov 2006 07:31:27 -0800, "RMZ" <[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>Don't let the Cingular brand name fool you, the 8525 will be an HTC
>product rebranded, they produce quality phones and PDAs....

All is not roses -- there are many hassles with HTC phones.
See <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

At 23 Nov 2006 15:53:49 +0000 John Navas wrote:

> All is not roses -- there are many hassles with HTC phones.
> See <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>

What hassles?

The page you sited lists a few helpful, though certainly not mandatory,
tweaks.

Certainly not something to indict an entire brand of excellent WinMo
phones!



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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 13:27:17 -0600, Todd Allcock
<[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>At 23 Nov 2006 15:53:49 +0000 John Navas wrote:
>
>> All is not roses -- there are many hassles with HTC phones.
>> See <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>
>
>What hassles?
>
>The page you sited lists a few helpful, though certainly not mandatory,
>tweaks.

I advise lurkers to read it for themselves -- it actually details a
great deal of hassle:

How I setup a Verizon XV6700 PDA phone without going insane.
...
The XV6700, out of the box from Verizon requires considerable
updating and hacking TO BE CONSIDERED FUNCTIONAL. [emphasis
added] This was not my idea of a good OOBE (out of box
experience) ...
...

I've chatted with the author, and he was pretty unhappy about the setup
experience.

>Certainly not something to indict an entire brand of excellent WinMo
>phones!

Based on the above and other feedback, I personally consider them works
in progress, suitable for geeks, but not really ready for prime time.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

At 23 Nov 2006 23:23:38 +0000 John Navas wrote:


> I advise lurkers to read it for themselves -- it actually details a
> great deal of hassle:
>
> How I setup a Verizon XV6700 PDA phone without going insane.
> ...
> The XV6700, out of the box from Verizon requires considerable
> updating and hacking TO BE CONSIDERED FUNCTIONAL. [emphasis
> added]

....considered functional by THE GUY WHO WROTE THE WEBPAGE! (Emphasis, as
well as text, mine!)

> This was not my idea of a good OOBE (out of box
> experience) ...
> ...
As an owner of the GSM version of essentially the same phone, and none of
his problems, it sounds like his problems could be with Verizon's
customizations than HTC's actual hardware. (My MDA didn't have volume
issues, nor was the AKU2 upgrade necessary to make the phone "functional"
although it did add push e-mail.)

>
> I've chatted with the author, and he was pretty unhappy about the setup
> experience.

While I certainly prefer my MDA "tweaked" it was certainly "functional"
before the AKU2 ROM and before I ever attacked it with a registry editor!
> >Certainly not something to indict an entire brand of excellent WinMo
> >phones!
>
> Based on the above and other feedback, I personally consider them works
> in progress, suitable for geeks, but not really ready for prime time.

Depends on your expectations I suppose- I visited a close friend of the
family for Thanksgiving and found she'd recently upgraded to a Cingular
8125. She is no geek- she hasn't performed a ROM upgrade, or even added
any 3rd party software, but loves the unit "out of the box" for it's
Outlook PIM and e-mail capabilities. I was tempted to do the AKU2
upgrade for her, and suggest a bunch of (IMO "necessary") registry tweaks
but decided if she's happy with the device as-is, why should I screw that
up?



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"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 23 Nov 2006 07:31:27 -0800, "RMZ" <[email protected]> wrote in
> <[email protected]>:
>
>>Don't let the Cingular brand name fool you, the 8525 will be an HTC
>>product rebranded, they produce quality phones and PDAs....
>
> All is not roses -- there are many hassles with HTC phones.
> See <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>

The above link produces a UTC Starcom review not a HTC Hermes review. I
don't think there is a comparison except for "TC" in both names.

I picked up my 8525 six days ago. I'll have to admit I was overwhelmed,
rather than underwhelmed and I've been designing systems for cellular
devices for 47 months. There are so many features, I couldn't grok in a day.

My first complaint was the weight, but I adjusted quickly. The size is a
good balance between screen and capabilities. The slideout keyboard, for me,
is perfect. I'd like a little more room for the soft keys on the slideout
keyboard, but unlike Bonnie on CNet, I don't have long fingernails. Most of
DFW has 3G in place. Many sites pause a little when accessing a URL for the
first time, but then downloads sometimes are so fast as to be scary. The
only Wi-Fi spots I found were locked.

On a 3 day business trip, I used the Telenav routing option with a Holux
SiRF III Bluetooth GPS. When it's working, it's correct to feet, but when it
doesn't work, it's a pain to deduce a way to restart. I'll test PDA based
maps next, rather than thin client routing. The best thing about Telenav is
it's error recovery. If you stray ~100 feet from 'trak', it alarms, then
immediately downloads a new route.

While voice reception was chopped inside a cabin in Uncertain, Texas, a walk
out the dock to about 50 feet over the swamp produced a 'G' connection with
email and Internet browser working as well as EDGE in the DFW metroplex.

You can debate the Palm OS vs Mobile 5 etc., but the bottom line for me is I
can spend 5 minutes with a Windows user, then walk away knowing they will
get some immediate productivity.

The most confusion for me was the camera. I have two digital cameras. The
8525 camera supports 2Mp stills, video, action snaps, stitching, zoom,
borders, ........ It took me a day to become comfortable. The downside is
the macro/normal switch tends to move from handling resulting in blurred
pictures detectable with review. With this kind of detail, some products
claim OCR capability of printed sheets. I'll be testing that this weekend.

You get >4X power from the 8525 for $200 more than a Blackjack. It all comes
down to wants and needs.

Thurman
AM Services, Inc.

At 24 Nov 2006 07:31:35 -0600 Thurman wrote:

> The above link produces a UTC Starcom review not a HTC Hermes review. I
> don't think there is a comparison except for "TC" in both names.

....and the fact that HTC accually builds the Starcom-branded unit, much
like they built your "Cingular"-branded one...



--
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It is alleged that SAH claimed:

> Ok, now why did you choose the Treo 680 over the Blackberry Pearl. Is it
> the operating system or user interface, etc. I looked at the Nokia E62 and
> it is a nice phone. But I was wanting something a little smaller. I really
> like the Blackjack but that battery life issue is what is holding me back on
> it. Thanks.

I don't think John has a Treo, I think he has a Motorola something. I
have a Treo 650, but I don't yet qualify for an upgrade price so I'm
probably going to wait a few more months before upgrading to the 680. I
went with the Treo when I switched carriers, I was using a Kyocera
PalmOS smartphone before, and a Sony Clie PDA before that.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #9. I
will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary.
If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labeled "Danger:
Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead
trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it.
Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labeled as such.

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 12:19:14 -0500, Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>It is alleged that SAH claimed:
>
>> Ok, now why did you choose the Treo 680 over the Blackberry Pearl. Is it
>> the operating system or user interface, etc. I looked at the Nokia E62 and
>> it is a nice phone. But I was wanting something a little smaller. I really
>> like the Blackjack but that battery life issue is what is holding me back on
>> it. Thanks.
>
>I don't think John has a Treo, I think he has a Motorola something. I
>have a Treo 650, but I don't yet qualify for an upgrade price so I'm
>probably going to wait a few more months before upgrading to the 680. I
>went with the Treo when I switched carriers, I was using a Kyocera
>PalmOS smartphone before, and a Sony Clie PDA before that.

I've used the Treo 650 extensively.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 07:31:35 -0600, "Thurman" <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On 23 Nov 2006 07:31:27 -0800, "RMZ" <[email protected]> wrote in
>> <[email protected]>:
>>
>>>Don't let the Cingular brand name fool you, the 8525 will be an HTC
>>>product rebranded, they produce quality phones and PDAs....
>>
>> All is not roses -- there are many hassles with HTC phones.
>> See <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>
>
>The above link produces a UTC Starcom review not a HTC Hermes review. I
>don't think there is a comparison except for "TC" in both names.

My experience is that this is fairly typical of HTC smartphones.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>