Smart Phones...

[Gurm]

So I'm a T-Mobile subscriber. And I'm irked that not only are the coolest phones not available from T-Mobile, but the entire US market is like 5 generations behind the European market!

I could import a European phone with GPS that's nice and slim with a fast processor and VGA screen... for like $500-$600. OUCH!

*sigh*

Guess I'm stuck with 5-year-old technology masquerading as "the newest and best".

(The usual price of a smartphone around here with service agreement is $200-ish...)

I guess I could always see what Sprint and Verizon have, and try to get an unlocked one. Bleh.

Any suggestions?

The device I _really_ want is the O2 XDA, also known as the T-Mobile MDA Compact III. It's awesome.

[degrub]

Happy with my Nokia E61, errr E62 US Cingular Quad band GSM +WCDMA. Got mine unlocked (E61) and bought a Sam's CLub Cingular throwaway for $20 for the sim card,
Works great anywhere in the world , including Japan. Decent PDA and MP3 player to boot. Takes up to a 2 GB memory card.

[Paddy]

I've never found a smart phone that did all i need. I've had or played with most of them. Nowadays I like my phone to be a phone and my PDA to be a PDA. Give me something small that works anywhere and I'll be happy.

[Helevitia]

I've owned the Treo 650 and the Moto Q and they both have huge shortcomings in the name of bugs.

the O2 XDA/HTC Hermes/HTC TYTN that you are thinking of, looks great, but it doesn't have Windows Mobile 6 yet. I'd hold out for a phone that can run Windows Mobile 6 or they upgrade the HTC Hermes to mobile 6.

[Dr Mordrid]

All I want a phone to do is remember my numbers, log the calls, do caller ID, have vibrate only and stay connected. The rest is clutter.

[Helevitia]

A good calendar program is nice to have as well. And of course, the ability to sync and backup your contacts and calendar stuff.

[Nowhere]

BTW Doc, Motofone is finally available here, so I guess in the US now too. You will love it, I guess (oh, and it's dirt cheap...I'm thinking about replacing my ancient (really ancient), failing Nokia)

[Jessterw]

I'm with Doc on what I want in a phone and I've been eyeing the Motofone since the first press release. Sadly, I've yet to find it anywhere here in the US.

[Jammrock]

The HTC phones are up-to-date in the US, or released shortly after their Asia/Europe counterparts. You just have a carrier that doesn't cater much to a business crowd so you get shafted on smartphone selection. When the HTC Titan (aka Sprint PPC-6800 or Verizon VX-6800) hit this summer in the US it will have most if not all of the foreign smartphones have, save for the new, slick 800x480 (?some high res solution that is just barely hitting market?) screens.

[Paddy]

The only feature i look for is the ability to synch contacts /calander with outlook.

[VJ]

I have the HTC TyTN. The device is quite nice (I like the formfactor), but I have had my share of hardware issues (keyboard failure, display failure and now touchscreen alignment issues). I'll send it back for the touchscreen issues when they release the new firmware (as to have it upgraded at the same time). Still, the formfactor is

Coming from a Symbian phone, I must admit that in some aspects I found it a step back. For instance: on the Symbian I could choose the account via which mails are sent, on WM5 the outgoing mailserver is linked to the mailaccount (which is annoying when you use different wifi networks and a 3G network, each with a different outgoing mailserver). I also preferred the menustructure of the Symbian (menu key yields a 3x3 icon layout in which you can customize the order).

If all you need is a phone with synchronisation capabilities and a lot of available software, look no further than a model that runs Symbian.
I went with the TyTN, as I wanted to runs some specific software (PocktFMS) that is only available for Windows Mobile. Had it not been for this software, I might have gone for a non-Windows device.


Jörg

[VJ]

I could import a European phone with GPS that's nice and slim with a fast processor and VGA screen... for like $500-$600. OUCH!

FWIW, In Belgium the common "subscription + phone" is not allowed by law. The upside is that phones are never locked; the downside is that we always have to pay full price for a phone.


Jörg