i-Mate/HTC Phones

[Sphexi]

I don't like the selection of phones up here in Canada, being used to such a variety of high end stuff down in the States. Up here they're about a year behind, and even then you have to sign a 3-year contract to get phones cheap, their no contract pricing is generally MORE than you can buy straight from the manufacturer.

I've been eye-balling various HTC/i-Mate phones for years, but they only started getting GSM coverage in VT in the past 2 or 3, and I moved away when it was getting set up, so no go for me. Now I'm in a GSM area, fully deployed UMTS w/HSDPA 3G everything, and I'd like a phone. I like the idea of a Smartphone, something to play MP3s with and videos, more options than a normal phone, but don't want a PDA or Blackberry or any of that.

I've been looking at both the i-Mate SPL and the SP5m (HTC Tornado/T-Mobile SDA), but honestly don't know which to get. The SP5m/SDA has built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi, which means surfing the net in an area with open Wi-Fi doesn't use my carrier's data, and in turn no charge to me, and the SPL doesn't have that feature. But the SPL overall is a better phone, and has gotten better reviews. For the life of me though I can't find out who actually carries the SPL as a phone, or where to buy it, other than two on ebay.

The SP5m is also known as the T-Mobile SDA, and although I'd like the i-Mate version of it, I can get an SDA easily and cheaply, and just flash it with i-Mate's ROM and ignore the T-Mobile branding on it. Slightly older, but more features.


Anybody have either of these two phones, or live somewhere that has a carrier that sells the SPL (I think in Australia?), or have any experience with any i-Mate/HTC phones?

 

[intogamer]

I've had the sda(housing broke) and it is a bit bulky for a regular phone. You may want to look at Cingular's 3125 flip phone pda.

Regarding with brands you will find that the T-Mobile branded SDA will be cheaper as they are parted from contracts. Check out xda developers to see what you can do with unlocking and flashing.

 

[intogamer]

BTW if you're in a UTMS / 3G Area then the SDA is not for you. The SDA does not support 3G

 

[Project86]

I enjoy my Cingular 2125 AKA HTC Faraday. The 3125 AKA Star Trek is also really nice, if you are into the flip phone form. If you have never used a smartphone before, you will really enjoy the capabilities.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Project86
I enjoy my Cingular 2125 AKA HTC Faraday. The 3125 AKA Star Trek is also really nice, if you are into the flip phone form. If you have never used a smartphone before, you will really enjoy the capabilities.

The 2125 is similar to the SDA that I'm looking at, a little older though. Think of it as the little brother, the little impotent brother, of the SDA. No Wi-Fi, older firmware/OS version, no media buttons. That being said they work almost the same, and are both considered excellent phones. I really wanted the Wi-Fi, so I looked at the SDA. I'd love to get a SPL but I can't find them anywhere without spending $350+ and then shipping on top of that.

 

[erwos]

The SDA isn't bad, but doing messaging on the keypad on it is a killer. It should be a reasonable phone for playing media and such, though.

 

[Sphexi]

I ended up going with a Sony W810. Originally I really wanted a smartphone, and still do for the most part, but they're really hard to get ahold of up here. I saw one or two SDA phones on ebay, one ended up going for almost $200USD, the other for $150USD. After shipping, duty, taxes, whatever, I'd be looking at the $250-$300 range. I'd still have to shell out for unlocking the phone, getting a SIM chip ($30 up here), activation, all that jazz, and the phone wouldn't have any warranty on it to boot.

Can't really spend that much right now, but I really do need a phone now that I drive on the highway to work, so went with the Sony instead. And unlike Cingular, which ships the phone with a 128MB memory card, Rogers ships it with a 1GB card, and has a mail-in form for a free 4GB card (store sent it in for me, already got my confirmation number for it). It plays 3GP videos at 25fps, plays MP3s (no DRM either, weird for a Sony product), and it has all the features I'll actually use. Pretty impressed with it so far, and it cost me just over $100, including activation and all that.

 

[Kung Lau]

I just got the 3125 switching over to the "new AT&T" Never had a smartphone before, so it's an impressive device to me. Call quality was still my first priority and this phone does not disappoint in that department. I was considering the Sony Ericsson W810i as well but thought I'd give this one a try.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Kung Lau
I just got the 3125 switching over to the "new AT&T" Never had a smartphone before, so it's an impressive device to me. Call quality was still my first priority and this phone does not disappoint in that department. I was considering the Sony Ericsson W810i as well but thought I'd give this one a try.

The HTC phones have never had bad quality from what I can tell, just branding them AT&T/Cingular won't change that probably ...it just got to the point where I had to decide if I wanted to spend upwards of $200 on a used phone, or $100 on a brand new one with the accessories. I'm very happy with it so far.