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Hi everyone, I am in the market for a new Pocket PC style phone with a QWERTY style keybaord on it. Through my research I have found out that all QWERTY style Pocket PC's are also phones.
So after looking around at a number of models out there the i-Mate JASJAR phone really caught my eye. However, also while looking around I found this site and figured I would ask an active community what my best choice would be. I will buy from anywhere in the world if it will be cheaper in the end.
I have a plan with Fido currently and a sim card in my LG phone working at the moment.
The things I need in a Pocket PC Phone:
Hardware
- Fido Canada Compatability (GSM ~1900) for phone
- WiFi (802.11b) for data
- Bluetooth support
- SD Card Slot for my 1gb card
- USB port to connect to computer
- Decent processor and RAM.
Software
- Windows 2005 (or whatever the latest is)
- General Word / Excel Applications
- MSN Messenger
I'm not used to looking up information about phones and cross compatibility, and being in canada all I am used to is being screwed up the rear with cell phone costs and locked phones. So thats why I am coming here for help.
Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Thank you all in advance.
Antonio the Knight of Ni.
Hello,
If all you you need are those listed, basically you can pick any PPC that is offered today by the cell phone providers today in North America, as it will be cheaper than buying an unlocked one. Mostly the providers today offered one of the Wizard varians, like in the USA, most of the providers (Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint), all of them carry of the Wizard varians, with price around US$350 for 2 years contract. Full price without contract here is around US$500.
I'm an owner of i-mate Jasjar (Universal). Compared to a Wizard, Jasjar/Universal is much more expensive here in North America, because no provider carry it, thus we have to buy full price.
Compared to Wizard, however, Universal has the following:
1. Processor is twice/more faster technically.
2. Screen is VGA, compared to Wizard (QVGA).
3. Heavier, bulkier, etc.
4. Universal is wow when used as a mini laptop, but Wizard is wow when used a mini PPC and phone.
I can tell you, I'm always impressed with my Uni when I read PDF doc, emails, remote connecting to my PC, watching videos.
All of your requirement can be easily fulfilled by a WIzard instead of a Universal.
Well, I am willing to spend up to $800 so I dont have to be in a contract, and my goal is to get it to work on my Canadian provider Fido. So, the phone is going to have to be unlocked in order for me to beable to use it on my provider as they dont sell any pocket pc phones, only their parent company rogers does but I am on a grandfathered contract with fido that gives me unlimited calling, so i would like to maintain that.
So, as far as unlocked phones go, your saying that the Jaspar is probly the best call? Excuse the pun.
In the market
I am in the market for a ppc phone as well and I have come down to a decision between the Universal and the Wizard, but I would like some user feedback about both models. I noticed the Wizard has a 200mhz TI cpu and the Universal has a 520mhz intel cpu. What is the actual performance difference between the two? Does the wizard use its clock cycles more efficiently closing some of the gap or is the universal really 2.6 times faster? What about the resolution difference? I think this might be a big selling factor for me. Does it make a big difference? I know on a computer I can't stand to use anything less than 1600x1200. The bottom line is it looks like it is going to cost me twice as much for the universal as the wizard is the extra money worth it? I am looking at using T-Mobile here in the states. They only offer the MDA(Wizard) and not the MDA Pro(Universal) but I think either way I will probably pick one up off of ebay and try and save some money. Thanks in advance for your help.
Last year, around Oct-Nov, I was in the same place you were today. I had the plan that I did not want to lose. I did not want to sign any new contract.
I want unlocked Pocket PC so that I can use it when I travel to Asia and any where. And I decided I would not mind to pay the full price. My budget was... however, I pushed it all the way to over $1000 in order to buy the best.
I considered that single invesment to fullfill at least many years to come needs, therefore, go with the most advance one, rather than buy a cheaper one, but half way.
That's the whole reason I was finally decided to get a Universal. But if you ask me to share my opinion with you today, after using Universal more than 6 months, I think it was not the best decision I made with the purchase. Do not get me wrong, I learned and experienced many new things since I had my Uni, and its extremely well built and nice device, nothing like it really. The screen especially, may be the best you will ever see in any Pocket PC. But for daily use, for phone, for carry around, for many occasions, I do not use it, simply its not pratical. I usually swiched back to my old one. Then I would blame myself, why did you buy it if you do not want to use it? Sad
Most of the time now I leave my Uni at home to be used with my home wifi. I have seen many ppl are happier with their decision to get a smaller scale one like Wizard or Prophet. Prophet is about the same size with the Wizard, except its thinner as it has no keyboard but better button layout. They do not mind even though the screen is a quarter than the Universal and the processor speed is half of the Universal as well. And indeed, for daily practical use (phone, email, notes) it does serve the purpose. Absolutely, when you want to browse the web, then smaller screen is not as good as VGA like Universal Smile When it comes to size and easy carry, smaller size is better.
Hope I'm not making your more confused. But if I can re-decide I would pick a Prophet instead. Since I have decided with a Uni, I'm happy to live with it as I do not want/cannot afford a new one right now.
KJam and Jamin (Wizard and Prophet) are identical in term of hardware spec (procesor, memory, etc) but has different apperance.
KJam/Wizard is thicker because it has a keyboard, Jamin/Prophet does not have one, but Jamin/Prophet has a better button layout that will allow single handed use of the device.
The last thing which is very important to know as well, KJam/Wizard use Mini SD, Jamin/Prophet use SD (Full size). Many ppl (like myself) will not buy something that use mini SD as I have invested quite a lot in big size SD card and would like to continue using the same card.
keep in mind that canada and a lot of the US uses 1900 and 850 freq for cellular
that being said, the wizard will work in more places than the universal because there are places that are 850 only and the universal doesn't have it
but if you want more pda features, then you'll have to give up some possible reception
Here, check out this link:
http://www.htcamerica.net/products/default.htm
Here you can find all the Wizard variants that are being offered in the US market, by each cell phone provider. Canadian providers are also listed here.
I signed up for service with T-Mobile a week ago and just got a crappy $10 Samsung R225m for the time being. I decided I will get The Universal and if I know I am going somewhere out in the boonies where I will need 850mhz analog I will grab the samsung. Is cloning your sim legal? Like let us say I want to have multiple cards in case something happens or if i want a data telemtry device in my car which would be used rather infrequently to share everything.
Wait a minute.... I was just looking and the Universal doesn't have EDGE does it? Does anyone in the states know how widespread T-Mobile's EDGE coverage is? How much of a difference does it make in speed?
Hello. Due to signal strength issues, I'm considering returning my Hermes and getting a Treo 750 from AT&T. The thing is I'm concerned because I read CNet and they gave it a 7 from the editor yet I believe the people only rated it a 4.2. My wife has one and she loves it, and I've also seen other forums where people swear by them. On the other hand the salesmen at AT&T all collectively hate it. But that could be possibly be related to the whole commission thing. So I really don't know what to think of this phone.
From dealing with hers I already know that I won't be able to use 1-Calc because of the square screen. I use 1-Calc everyday at work. I know that it is a little bit slower than the Hermes, and the camera isn't as nice, but overall everything seems to work properly.
What are your opinions of the Treo 750? I only have 14 days left to make a decision and only one chance to swap out the phone then I am stuck with it for 2 years per AT&Ts contract.
It's a GREAT converged device. I bought a TyTN and was gonna sell the 750.
NOT!
The TyTN is a better PDA but as a converged device it's nowhere near as nice.
It's a great PDA but is lacking in phone functionality.
The salesmen most likely hate it because they are ramping up for the iPhone.
It's definately not a commission thing...they make the same on all their phones. It's more likely that they like regular phone devices and have a lot to choose from.
My wife had the 750 and loved it until she got her Blackberry Pearl and 8800. She's not into adding programs and tweaking like me, so she really wants something more simple to use.
While at one time I wanted a 750, I no longer do. I don't like the smaller screen, which also doesn't have as good of resolution and color as other devices. That's probably my biggest complaint. Other than that, it's a pretty good device.
You are going to hear lots of different responses.
I love my Treo 750. I love the UMTS coverage and the HSDPA(hack) coverage. I love the reception I get, I never drop calls (unless I step into my elevator) and signal strength is never an issue.
I bought the 8525 (TyTN) prior to the 750 and returned it. I personally hated not having a real keyboard and the 750 is lighter, not by much but it makes a huge difference in your pocket. It is not as fast but does everything I need it to do and either way, I dont use a crappy 1.3 or 2.0 MP camera. I don't mind the screen size either, it works for me.
I had the Pearl and loved it, but hated SureType. When the 8800 came out, I went to buy it but couldn't leave 3G, so thats why I have the 750.
I won't badmouth other phones because I think they are all great, but I liked the call quality on the 750 over the TyTN, but thats just me.
HSDPA coverage... are you on AT&T/Cingular?
Trypticon said:
HSDPA coverage... are you on AT&T/Cingular?
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Yup. HSDPA coverage with the treo 750 HSDPA Hack.
Trypticon said:
Hello. Due to signal strength issues, I'm considering returning my Hermes and getting a Treo 750 from AT&T. The thing is I'm concerned because I read CNet and they gave it a 7 from the editor yet I believe the people only rated it a 4.2. My wife has one and she loves it, and I've also seen other forums where people swear by them. On the other hand the salesmen at AT&T all collectively hate it. But that could be possibly be related to the whole commission thing. So I really don't know what to think of this phone.
From dealing with hers I already know that I won't be able to use 1-Calc because of the square screen. I use 1-Calc everyday at work. I know that it is a little bit slower than the Hermes, and the camera isn't as nice, but overall everything seems to work properly.
What are your opinions of the Treo 750? I only have 14 days left to make a decision and only one chance to swap out the phone then I am stuck with it for 2 years per AT&Ts contract.
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The simple answer to this would be when was the last time a salesman actually knew as much as anyone who comes and does their research on these forums or treocentral? Only a select few phone salesmen I've seen actually visit forums like these, and they're usually the ones you can talk to who'll help you out. They're also the ones who pick the better phones, usually.
Personally, the treo 750 has to be the best WM5 phone I've ever used namely because of Palm's tweaking to greatly enhance the usability of the device, especially with one hand. Sure I wish the screen was bigger, but WM5 has a better use of fonts and cleartype than PalmOS did, so that helps make up for it.
Well thanks everyone.
I've made my decision. After messing around with the software and such on my wife's phone and hearing what you guys had to say, I am going to do it and now I'll be sure about it. Tomorrow I'm going to go return my paperweight 8525 and pick up a Treo 750.
That HSDPA hack, you mean using that app from fit4cat to enable it right?
Lol yeah you are right about the salesmen. I guess cell phones are a lot like computers (my area of expertise). A lot of times I go into computer stores and ask questions while shopping just to see how many wrong answers I hear. Most of those guys haven't the slightest clue.
Trypticon said:
That HSDPA hack, you mean using that app from fit4cat to enable it right?
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You don't need fit4cat to enable it. I got it from a friend who runs gadgettech.
http://www.gadgetech.info/treo/hacks/hsdpa
All the "hack" does is put a 5k program in the device windows folder and its shortcut in the start folder. All it does is tell HSDPA to turn on.
Nothing fancy - HSDPA is fully integrated and ready to run in the 750; Cingular in its wisdom has not seen fit to turn it on yet, perhaps due to internal network planning.
My 750 runs at 3G speeds most everywhere in Texas.
Yeah I installed the cab today it works great, and after a few adjustments the 750 kicks ass.
Trypticon said:
Yeah I installed the cab today it works great, and after a few adjustments the 750 kicks ass.
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Wait until it gets WM6....it's gonna be that much faster and that much better.
I have a contract Mobile thats just run out I have to keep contract so have to upgrade (gotta get anything you can for free right). Ive currently got a nicely customised Orange SPV M700 Running WM6 and about 32gb worth of memory cards (mostly 4gb SDHC, cheers for the patch ). Ive tried many Im not limited by network as I always get a complete new contract as you get better offers, and all work about the same. I have tried the iPhone and quite frankly its VV disapointing, got some really nice features, nice and thin but TBH I think I get better sound out of my M700, which I have hooked up to my amp for my morning alarm, however I love the browser its 1000 times easier than anything for WM phones, and the switch for switching between landscape and portrait is good (although my brothers sometimes crashes when doing it???), but overall it just cant be advanced and just doesnt have the support it needs. Ive also had a play with the Athena (well T-Mobile Ameo) and it seems slightly better than the M700 but its huge not something I can just carry round in my pocket.
So basically I have 2 choices just buy a phone that is selling well on ebay and make some money back, or upgrade my M700 to something else but what???.
Also Im tempted to just change my M700 for the white versioon and sell the black version I have just for a change cause I've yet to see any good replacement housings for the M700.
Upgrading Orange SPV M700
I can't suggest what the best phone is to upgrade to as I have recently taken out a contract on an Orange white M700 having had a M500 for 18 months and I am very happy with the phone. I did see a T-mobile windows phone with a slide out keyboard which looked quite nice, but I don't know the specs. By the way where did you get WM6 from as I have still got WM5 and I understand WM6 is a lot better?
Take a look through the Trinity section of this site, I know the phone your talking about its the TytnII I am tempted by it but it looks a bit fat for my liking...
Hey, ive been a long time user of windows mobile phones, and currently i'm using an HTC advantage and I would never go back to anything smaller than my nice large vga screen . My GF is in town and i'm letting her use my older TRI-BAND touch dual. Shes lovin it....the only problem is shes heading back to alaska in a week or so, and unfortunatly the tri band makes the phone not work in the part of alaska where shes at. When i was up a few months ago my advantage had good signal (roaming of course, but with tmobile that dont matter). So i'm lookin to get her a quad band phone..touch screen, windows mobile and a full keyboard because she doesent like the soft keyboard too much. I thought about the new quad band touch duals they just released in the US, however I dont really want to spend 500 on another phone. Looking for any reccomendations as to what phone would be good for my girl. Thanks for any help!
How 'bout a Wizard?
touchlasvegas said:
Hey, ive been a long time user of windows mobile phones, and currently i'm using an HTC advantage and I would never go back to anything smaller than my nice large vga screen . My GF is in town and i'm letting her use my older TRI-BAND touch dual. Shes lovin it....the only problem is shes heading back to alaska in a week or so, and unfortunatly the tri band makes the phone not work in the part of alaska where shes at. When i was up a few months ago my advantage had good signal (roaming of course, but with tmobile that dont matter). So i'm lookin to get her a quad band phone..touch screen, windows mobile and a full keyboard because she doesent like the soft keyboard too much. I thought about the new quad band touch duals they just released in the US, however I dont really want to spend 500 on another phone. Looking for any reccomendations as to what phone would be good for my girl. Thanks for any help!
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You can still find Wizards in good condition or refurbished, for about $150, or even a few left new for $200 or less, like this one.
The built-in stereo speakers, though small, have decent sound, which is a plus - much better sound than a Kaiser, for instance!
Thanks, i was actually thinking about a wizard as they are kinda tried and tested...very good rep for a phone. Only thing that I was curious about is the size and thickness of it..say compared to the touch dual..I dont want her to have to walk around with a brick...
How do the Herald, or the Hermes compare to the Wizard? alot of people seem to have started with a wizard..and then moved on...some to a wing(herald). Her fav color is blue...and the herald appears to be mostly blue which is kinda cool too.
can anyone who has had, or seen the herald, or the hermes give me a brief pro/con compared to the wizard? there all pretty much the same style, but im not sure which would be better. Thanks again for everyones help!
I had Wizard and Hermes.
Quick and dirty face to face hardware:
Size: the same.
Materials, assembly, "feel": Wizard is much better.
Hardware known problems: Hermes a LOT, screen aligment and connector, Wizard few.
Data connection: FAST using HERMES, SLOWER in wizard,
Camera: 1.2 wizard, 2.0 Mp and macro switch Hermes .
Battery life: much longer in WIZARD
SW... choose the rom you want!
thanks for the comparison sergiopi! Now the "herald" is the same as the "wing" correct? I found some side by side shots of the wing next to a wizard..and the wizard looks fat, and I'm thinking that the thinner wing would fit in my girls hands better.
how about the s710/s730 htc (vodafone v1415/orange spv e650 in the uk) its a smartphone but has qwerty keyboard aswell. dont know if thats any use
well i was lookin at the "wings" mainly because it has a faster cpu, but i hate to take her away from the touchscreen. She wants a hard keyboard, but shes getting really used to the touchscreen interface. I'm leaning twords the HTC Herald...aka wing. Looks like they can be had for around 250 on ebay. Any major negatives about the wing?
They suffer from most the same problems as most ppcs. The processor is inadequate as always, and the camera isn't particularly good, but the same could be said of alot of ppcs.
One thing is, the screen is still inlaid, so blah. The coating feels really nice, but is easily scratched
Wings trumps Wizard
touchlasvegas said:
well i was lookin at the "wings" mainly because it has a faster cpu, but i hate to take her away from the touchscreen. She wants a hard keyboard, but shes getting really used to the touchscreen interface. I'm leaning twords the HTC Herald...aka wing. Looks like they can be had for around 250 on ebay. Any major negatives about the wing?
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I think you're on the right track - the Herald would be a good choice - it is thinner than the Wizard, and "cuter" in blue, and it has a better camera - otherwise most of the specs are same as Wizard. It also has the hardware keyboard numbers laid out like a regular cellphone, which is a plus (the Hermes also has this, plus faster processor). The only thing I don't know is if it has stereo speakers (but for serious music listening, she'll want to use a headset of some sort anyway), and infrared (seems to be a dying feature, but it was useful on my Wizard I thought)
So if you can spring for the increased cost of the Herald over the Wizard, I think it's a great choice!
Thanks Cush, i ended up getting a new unlocked herald off ebay for 269.00. The processor wont be much of an issue to her because she wont really be playing games...or for that matter probably will never even hotsync it to a computer. ( that will be my job as i set it up for her ). Mainly music and texting. Thanks for all the tips!
Hey guys,
I bought a BlackBerry Bold 9000 last tuesday, and I am thinking about getting the AT&T Fuze. I was just wondering what would the benefits would be if I switched besides having a touch screen. I heard that the Fuze runs slow and that my blackberry is a lot faster. I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the Fuze (or Touch Pro) vs the Bold. I am not sure what device I want to have for 2 years or so. I figure since you guys use them everyday you would have some good input.
- Dan
AEDan1977 said:
Hey guys,
I bought a BlackBerry Bold 9000 last tuesday, and I am thinking about getting the AT&T Fuze. I was just wondering what would the benefits would be if I switched besides having a touch screen. I heard that the Fuze runs slow and that my blackberry is a lot faster. I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the Fuze (or Touch Pro) vs the Bold. I am not sure what device I want to have for 2 years or so. I figure since you guys use them everyday you would have some good input.
- Dan
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Click to collapse
well imo:
-better operating system: wm6.1
-more broader range of applications available
-vga screen
-tv-out
-memory expandable to 32gig's (when ofcourse 32 gigs cards become avail )
-a whole array of developers cooking roms/creating apps for device/os
-288mb of ram
-built-in gps (not sure if this exists on bold as i know nothing about blackberry phones or their specs, don't care)
ultimately it boils down to your taste. I have always hated blackberry's and never will own one. I know pretty much the whole corporate usa is hooked on blackberry's but i am not for them ... i'ld rather have a device that runs on windows and has flexibility in terms of app development and expansion.
hope this helps.
I went to the AT&T store thurs and played with the bold and didnt like it one bit. First off, you can't customize the bold near as much as you can with the fuze. Secondly, the community(XDA) for the fuze is much better than the bolds community(crackberry). Lastly, the range of different apps is much larger for the fuze than for the bold. Ohh yea if you want to create word docs on the bold you would have to buy the pro version of docs-to-go(~$70) where as you can do that for free on the fuze with office mobile. The list goes on as to how the fuze beats the bold.
Dude, you're in the middle of XDA-Developers, the website every mobile blogger gets tons of information from because it's all available here, the place where there are always tons of developers working on different software to improve/fix/enhance the Windows Mobile experience on HTC devices, and you're asking why the Fuze would be better than a Blackberry?
Point made.
hahaha agreed
and yes the bold has gps but from what i see its either at&t software or google maps that can be used. while the fuze can use google, live search, TomTom, igo and garmin software (additional purchase required for the last three)
if you are a blackberry user, u will love the bold, cause its a decent upgrade to whatever you were using before. other wise just get the fuze, much higher celing.
If he's not convinced by now, look at this review:
http://gizmodo.com/5075236/att-blackberry-bold-review-best-blackberry-yet
They call it the "best Blackberry yet" and still have bad things to say about it. 2 different browsers for WiFi/3G, seriously?
my opinion
im a long time windows mobile user, i got the fuze the day it came out, after constantly playing with it and the software and settings and apps, 4 hard resets in a week, my wife who has a curve said checkout a blackberry, after i got up off the floor from laughing i said why not, hmmmm faster processor, 1gb on board storage, up to 32gb card, i said why not, went to att the next day and swapped for the bold thinking why am i doing this, well after a week i cant put it down. the reason there arent many hacks or roms is because you dont need them, my battery lasts for days not minutes, never locks up or even slows down, downloaded nav4all works perfectly and links up wayyyy faster than my fuze, i keep my phone in my pocket and my fuze even with mortsaver would call people on its own, never happens with the bold, the only difference really is fuze had a 3.2 mp camera and the bold is 2 mp, instead of hours editing the registry finding fixes wondering why my weather isnt working constantly hacking it, i spend hours actually using my phone, wow!!! what a concept, the email is flawless, i tried for over a year to get my company email on my tilt and never did, set it up in about 30 seconds on the bold. the fuze ruined my 4gb memory card the first day i had it, lucky for me i had it backed up, put an 8gb in it then at times it was there or not there, took it out put it in my bold no problems at all!! music player smokes windows media player and it has a 3.5mm jack, the bluetooth also hooks up faster with more options to my car stereo than my fuze did. basically when i read your posts i could only imagine the answers you would get at an all wm website, but remember you always have 30 days to swap it out if you dont like it, (i did keep my tilt just in case) so id say take the bold for a spin you may be really surprised what you find, dont think ill be going back to the tilt!!!
mbslink said:
im a long time windows mobile user, i got the fuze the day it came out, after constantly playing with it and the software and settings and apps, 4 hard resets in a week, my wife who has a curve said checkout a blackberry, after i got up off the floor from laughing i said why not, hmmmm faster processor, 1gb on board storage, up to 32gb card, i said why not, went to att the next day and swapped for the bold thinking why am i doing this, well after a week i cant put it down. the reason there arent many hacks or roms is because you dont need them, my battery lasts for days not minutes, never locks up or even slows down, downloaded nav4all works perfectly and links up wayyyy faster than my fuze, i keep my phone in my pocket and my fuze even with mortsaver would call people on its own, never happens with the bold, the only difference really is fuze had a 3.2 mp camera and the bold is 2 mp, instead of hours editing the registry finding fixes wondering why my weather isnt working constantly hacking it, i spend hours actually using my phone, wow!!! what a concept, the email is flawless, i tried for over a year to get my company email on my tilt and never did, set it up in about 30 seconds on the bold. the fuze ruined my 4gb memory card the first day i had it, lucky for me i had it backed up, put an 8gb in it then at times it was there or not there, took it out put it in my bold no problems at all!! music player smokes windows media player and it has a 3.5mm jack, the bluetooth also hooks up faster with more options to my car stereo than my fuze did. basically when i read your posts i could only imagine the answers you would get at an all wm website, but remember you always have 30 days to swap it out if you dont like it, (i did keep my tilt just in case) so id say take the bold for a spin you may be really surprised what you find, dont think ill be going back to the tilt!!!
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I agree about the reason there aren't any hacks for the BlackBerry and the CrackBerry community looks downs on hacks lol!!
I currently have a curve and and the CB community is like 1 huge family..
Man I can't wait to get my fuze!
I'm so excited about getting it!
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