PDA/Smart Phones - which one?

[Helevitia]

I've had my Nextel phone for almost 2 years now(November) and it died on me a few weeks back. I am using a crappy phone to hold me over until I get a new one.

My fantasy would be to have :

-EMAIL that doesn't require a server.
-A meeting program that syncs with something other than outlook.
-SD or CF slot
-bluetooth
-wifi
-touchscreen
-mp3
-decent meeting program
-purty screen

Video playback would be nice but not necessary

Browsing in landscape mode with browsing speeds that don't make me want to poke my eyeballs out with a pencil because it will be less painful.

Is there such a phone? I don't think anything syncs with other meeting programs?

I could care less about a camera, but it wouldn't bother me either.

Wow, after looking at my list, I think I'm screwed.

I know about the P910a and the Treo 600. I also know that the Treo 650 comes out in a month or so. I know of most of the others in this category. Anything new on the horizon that I should look at?

BTW, this is NOT for work.

[lecter]

Well, I'd say the Treo650 is going to be the most polished smartphone on the market. Of course, it has no Wifi...then again, I find GPRS browsing (or CDMA in your case?) more useful, you can surf the net anywhere at decent speeds.

[Terrafin]

hey helevitia,

Sorry to hear about your phone dying... but i bet a part of you was glad it died, to get a new one

i had a Tungsten T1 when it came out... but wanted a phone/pda so i got the treo600...

its a good phone/pda but some things that i hate about it is the slow processor, 206mhz i think, no bluetooth/wifi, crappy screen...

but on both palm devices i have had there has always been problems...

T1 - constantly resetting of touchscreen/stylus positions,

treo600 - resets on small bumps/impacts..., speaker problems, screen always comes on when getting a phone signal (which i hate because my battery goes flat fast!)

but lucky i have got a 3 year warranty... so ill send it back soon enough...

anyways i was thinking about getting a new one and even though i would have liked to stay with a palm based pda/phone i was thinking of getting the XDA IIi or IIs

* Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition Software for Pocket PCs
* 3.5" Transflective TFT-LCD 240 x 320 pixels, 65K Colour,
* Size: 125(L) x 72(W) x 19(T) mm
* Processor - Intel PXA263 400 MHz, memory - 96MB ROM, 128MB SDRAM
* GSM/GPRS
o Internal antenna, Quad band, 850/900/1800/1900
o GPRS class 10
* Infrared, USB, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN (802.11b)
* Colour CMOS 0.3Megapixel camera, with mirror
* 205 grams with battery, expansion: MMC/SDIO
* 12 buttons, 5-way rocker, slide-out 39-key QWERTY keyboard
* 1490mAH LP battery
* Standby/PDA/Recover/Talk: 168/17/72/4
The Xda IIs is expected to retail with an RRP of £449 or less at certain outlets.

heres a link

http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4000

[lecter]

The XDAs are very nice feature-wise, but they're very bulky for my taste....the Treo fits into a jean pocket, these do not.

[Helevitia]

Wow! That is a very nice looking pda phone! Looks like everything I could want except for the blackberry connect? Is that the blackberry email service that requires a server? If so, that just sunk this deal.

Plus, it looks like it might only be sold in the UK? But I guess since it is quad band, I coudl buy it and it should work here in the US right?

Thanks for the link

BTW, my buddy has a Treo 600 and he is always complaining about it. The speaker phone has a horrible echo(is that your problem?).

[Helevitia]

Another fault I see is the 65K screen. I could live with that though.

[Wombat]

You know Dave, I'm looking for the same phone as you. I'm not going to find it though. The technology is not quite there yet.

So, I'm willing to split the two items. I'll get a bluetooth capable phone, and then the PDA can use it for internet access. That way I also only carry what I want.

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Wombat
You know Dave, I'm looking for the same phone as you. I'm not going to find it though. The technology is not quite there yet.

So, I'm willing to split the two items. I'll get a bluetooth capable phone, and then the PDA can use it for internet access. That way I also only carry what I want.

I alwasy dismissed the idea of having two devices because I would have to carry around both of them.

But I may have to rethink my decision. Maybe having 2 devices wouldn't be so bad?

[lecter]

Yeah, that's what I'm doing at the moment (Tungsten T3+T68i) and it's a very reliable and cost-effective combination. The thing is, sometimes (especially when I go out in the evening) I don't carry the PDA with me and I miss its capabilities (a picture I may want to show off, an MP3 while in the cab, etc.). That's why the Treo seems nice, it's small enough so that I don't have to "carry" it, but also very capable as a PDA. They seem to have fixed all the little niggles with the 650, if I were you I'd wait a few weeks for the first reviews to come in and make a decision then.

[Jammrock]

Like lecter said, what for the Treo 650 Any lack of WiFi can be overcome with an SD/IO WiFi card.

[Helevitia]

I frequent Brighthand for all of my pda and phone news lately. Funny enough, they give out more info about the Treo 650 as of today. If rumours are correct, it won't work with the current palmone SD wifi card Other than that, it seemed to be the pda phone to get.

EDIT: Oh and it is expected that they will unveil it on Oct. 25th.

http://www.brighthand.com/article/Where_Is_the_Treo_650

[Terrafin]

Originally posted by Helevitia
Wow! That is a very nice looking pda phone! Looks like everything I could want except for the blackberry connect? Is that the blackberry email service that requires a server? If so, that just sunk this deal.

Plus, it looks like it might only be sold in the UK? But I guess since it is quad band, I coudl buy it and it should work here in the US right?

Thanks for the link

BTW, my buddy has a Treo 600 and he is always complaining about it. The speaker phone has a horrible echo(is that your problem?).

glad i could help out a bit

the xda IIs is nice... i will probably go for it as size doesnt matter for me, i have big hands

not sure what a blackberry service is... i dont really do much surfing or emailing through network services as here in australia it costs a fair bit... and i dont have the money though with wifi, i should be able to set something up to do it a more cost effective way, syncing to a desktop... and such...

i can relate to your friend... that was one of the problems with tre600 but it was fixed with a palm firmware update... (for me anyways...)

http://www.palmone.com/us/support/downloads/treo/treo_600_updater.html

tell your friend to try that... but tell him to make sure he backs everything up, i use i think backup buddy, its saved me soo many times, stupid treo... hehe, but if that doesnt work id suggest to send it back...

[Helevitia]

BTW, I've also been eyeballing the Sony Ericsson S710A. It looks like a really nice phone but I am deathly afraid of buying anything with the name Sony in it. If I can't find the PDA phone I want, this phone should serve most of my purposes and it will probably save me a few bucks. Anybody have a Sony phone? If so, do you have any problems with it compared to other phones you've had?

[Terrafin]

maybe though if i complain enough about the treo600 faults and send it back... i might get a treo650 in return...

one can dream...

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Terrafin
maybe though if i complain enough about the treo600 faults and send it back... i might get a treo650 in return...

one can dream...

Just wait until they come out and then complain