Time for a new phone

[PrinceofWands]

My Treo 650 has been awesome, but I think it's time to upgrade since my contract is expiring soon. Of course there's the 700p and the new 680, but I've been out of the market for a long time and not paying attention to what else has come out. Anyone have recommendations?

Requirements:

Bluetooth
non-windows OS (preferably palm or an open development platform)
largeish, especially the screen
full keyboard
camera & video w/sound
mp3 and/or ogg support
SD preferred, but not a deal breaker

 

[loup garou]

With those requirements, you're pretty much limited to the 2 devices you listed and the Nokia E62.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: loup garou
With those requirements, you're pretty much limited to the 2 devices you listed and the Nokia E62.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: pulse8

Originally posted by: loup garou
With those requirements, you're pretty much limited to the 2 devices you listed and the Nokia E62.

yep.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Ok, so I guess I haven't missed that much after all. I'm pretty surprised, would have expected more development along these lines. Oh well, Treo upgrade it is.

 

[daveymark]

any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: daveymark
any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

A few reasons. I like to toy around with custom software but have only done so in open environments. Microsoft is the devil. I haven't had good luck with any MS products other than office (and passable luck with XP-pro), so I use as few as possible.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: daveymark
any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

A few reasons. I like to toy around with custom software but have only done so in open environments. Microsoft is the devil. I haven't had good luck with any MS products other than office (and passable luck with XP-pro), so I use as few as possible.

Feel free to buy whatever you want, but I would advise you to at least try out a WM5-powered device. They've come a long way and are very useable day-to-day. For some people (like myself), the feature set is irreplaceable. I use a HTC Wizard (Cingular 8125, TMobile MDA, Qtek 9100, etc.) and these are the reasons I love it:

1) Exchange ActiveSync. I can sync with my Exchange mail provider, get push mail updates (that come in faster than they do on the desktop usually), and keep my contact list and calendar in sync between the two, wirelessly and immediately.

2) Slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Out of the way when you don't need it, right there when you do. The phone even detects when it's out and reorients the display accordingly.

3) Microsoft Voice Command. To the best of my knowledge, none of the phones with built-in voice recgonition have functionality on the level of this. It announces incoming calls, by name if they are in my phone book. I can also ask the phone to call people by saying something like "Call Bill Richards on mobile phone." It also works over Bluetooth - because let's face it the Wizard isn't a small device. I like to keep it in my pocket whenever possible. Other commands it recgonizes are along the lines of "What day is it", "What time is it", "What are my appointments", etc.

And in case you didn't know, Microsoft now makes available all their tools to develop for their mobile platforms free-of-charge. You can write software for a Pocket PC or Smartphone in the language of your choice by simply downloading the correct Visual Studio Embedded version.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: daveymark
any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

A few reasons. I like to toy around with custom software but have only done so in open environments. Microsoft is the devil. I haven't had good luck with any MS products other than office (and passable luck with XP-pro), so I use as few as possible.

And in case you didn't know, Microsoft now makes available all their tools to develop for their mobile platforms free-of-charge. You can write software for a Pocket PC or Smartphone in the language of your choice by simply downloading the correct Visual Studio Embedded version.

I didn't know this last part, that's pretty sweet right there. I still doubt I'd buy a MS product though. I've stood very firm boycotting them (mostly) for many years and it would be a shame to ease up now - though if they've truly changed their ways then I might have to consider it.

 

[daveymark]

Since you have never tried a WM phone, you have nothing to base your reasons on. I suggest you try one out for 2 weeks (tmobile offers a 2 week NSA trial). It own't be perfect, but I've tried other smartphone OS's including palm, symbian etc and WM5 has the most features, and is more robust.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: daveymark
Since you have never tried a WM phone, you have nothing to base your reasons on. I suggest you try one out for 2 weeks (tmobile offers a 2 week NSA trial). It own't be perfect, but I've tried other smartphone OS's including palm, symbian etc and WM5 has the most features, and is more robust.

I have a LOT to base my reasons on, just not directly related to the phone OS. Corporate boycotts need to extend over all company activities to be meaningful. Walmart could offer $100 plasma tv's, I still wouldn't buy one because I won't shop there. Ideology is the most important part of a persons life. It supersedes everything else, including phone choice. In my opinion at least.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: daveymark
any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

A few reasons. I like to toy around with custom software but have only done so in open environments. Microsoft is the devil. I haven't had good luck with any MS products other than office (and passable luck with XP-pro), so I use as few as possible.

And in case you didn't know, Microsoft now makes available all their tools to develop for their mobile platforms free-of-charge. You can write software for a Pocket PC or Smartphone in the language of your choice by simply downloading the correct Visual Studio Embedded version.

I didn't know this last part, that's pretty sweet right there. I still doubt I'd buy a MS product though. I've stood very firm boycotting them (mostly) for many years and it would be a shame to ease up now - though if they've truly changed their ways then I might have to consider it.

Out of curiosity, from what platform are you posting right now?

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands

Originally posted by: daveymark
any reason for the non windows OS requirement?

Dash > *

A few reasons. I like to toy around with custom software but have only done so in open environments. Microsoft is the devil. I haven't had good luck with any MS products other than office (and passable luck with XP-pro), so I use as few as possible.

And in case you didn't know, Microsoft now makes available all their tools to develop for their mobile platforms free-of-charge. You can write software for a Pocket PC or Smartphone in the language of your choice by simply downloading the correct Visual Studio Embedded version.

I didn't know this last part, that's pretty sweet right there. I still doubt I'd buy a MS product though. I've stood very firm boycotting them (mostly) for many years and it would be a shame to ease up now - though if they've truly changed their ways then I might have to consider it.

Out of curiosity, from what platform are you posting right now?

I'm currently booted into xp, because I'm playing a game with no linux compatibility. I buy an xp license for all my non-work and non-server systems because it's the only way to get the games I play. Other than that the only MS product I have is an older copy of office because I haven't found a suite to compare yet. While it's not a perfect boycot its the only way I'd get through school at the moment. I do stand firm at work though. Absolutely no MS products there.

Even my game and office crutch is about to disappear, since I will not be upgrading to vista ever. As soon as I'm not gaining anything by sticking with xp, I'll convert completely to other options and be done with it.

And yes, I realize the hypocrisy. I said it wasn't perfect, but at least I try.

 

[imthebadguy]

700p FTW....just upgraded from the 650 over the wknd....high spd net is ballAr

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: imthebadguy
700p FTW....just upgraded from the 650 over the wknd....high spd net is ballAr

I can get the 680 for about $165 with cingular. Would you say the 700p is enough better to justify the cost increase?

 

[bearxor]

To be completely honest, WM stomps just about anything out there right now and probably will until a new major rev of POS. My personal phone of choice is a 700wx right now. I tried a HTC Apache (CDMA Version of above mentioned Wizard) and found it very lacking. Having used every previously released Sprint WM device, I thought it was the worst one I had ever used. Luckily - they switched me out for a 700wx which has been fantastic.

Now, the Treo 680 and the 700p are basically the same thing, except the 680 is antenna-less and GSM, while the 700p has the antenna and is CDMA. So if you're on Cingular, you basically have no choice but to go with the 680. Sprint and Verizon users choose the 700p.

To be completely honest, if you have a 650 right now I wouldn't upgrade. There's almost nothing other than a minor POS software rev bump and a small memory bump to get you to upgrade. If you're dedicated to POS (and there's plenty of peopl that are) I wouldn't upgrade until the release of POS 6, which is looking more and more like Q1 '08.

That's just my opinion though. Wife uses a 650 and we looked at a 700p but just couldn't justify it. Check out the phonescoop comparison:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/compar...B%5D=638&id%5B%5D=&id%5B%5D=&id%5B%5D=

Good thing Cingular doesn't have a wide-spread WCDMA implementation yet. Something tells me when Cingular gets more than 30 markets rolled out we'll see a new Palm phone (700 probably) with a higher-speed modem. EVDO is a good reason to upgrade from a 650 to a 700 on the CDMA side, but my wife doesn't do internet access at all, soooo...

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: bearxor
To be completely honest, WM stomps just about anything out there right now and probably will until a new major rev of POS. My personal phone of choice is a 700wx right now. I tried a HTC Apache (CDMA Version of above mentioned Wizard) and found it very lacking. Having used every previously released Sprint WM device, I thought it was the worst one I had ever used. Luckily - they switched me out for a 700wx which has been fantastic.

Now, the Treo 680 and the 700p are basically the same thing, except the 680 is antenna-less and GSM, while the 700p has the antenna and is CDMA. So if you're on Cingular, you basically have no choice but to go with the 680. Sprint and Verizon users choose the 700p.

To be completely honest, if you have a 650 right now I wouldn't upgrade. There's almost nothing other than a minor POS software rev bump and a small memory bump to get you to upgrade. If you're dedicated to POS (and there's plenty of peopl that are) I wouldn't upgrade until the release of POS 6, which is looking more and more like Q1 '08.

That's just my opinion though. Wife uses a 650 and we looked at a 700p but just couldn't justify it. Check out the phonescoop comparison:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/compar...B%5D=638&id%5B%5D=&id%5B%5D=&id%5B%5D=

Good thing Cingular doesn't have a wide-spread WCDMA implementation yet. Something tells me when Cingular gets more than 30 markets rolled out we'll see a new Palm phone (700 probably) with a higher-speed modem. EVDO is a good reason to upgrade from a 650 to a 700 on the CDMA side, but my wife doesn't do internet access at all, soooo...

Good info. Yeah, I used to be on Sprint but their customer service finally pushed me over the edge so I'll never deal with them again. Which sucks...though their coverage wasn't that great around here either. So far I'm uber happy with cingular customer service and coverage, though they don't have a small enough plan for me so i end up paying way more than I should have to - especially for the data packages.

 

[ArJuN]

Samsung BlackJack