Database Info

Himalaya or Blueangel?

Hi I'm new to these forums, yes I've already done loads of searching and reading the wiki entries, this sounds like a really tight community with really knowledgable people doing stuff that would take microsoft a year to release in a patch themselves.
Anyways I currently have a motorola v300 and i'm feeling the need to upgrade to a gsm pda phone. I would be using it mostly as a phone on a rogers gsm network and for a device to watch movies and pictures on and maybe a bit of surfing. So the himalaya and blueangel look pretty promising and they both offer WM5 upgrade. I was just wondering which one you'd recommend? I guess I'm already kind of leaning towards the blueangel because there seem to be more new ones hanging around on ebay plus the wifi which would be fun to mess around with. But does the himalaya offer better support for WM5? I just noticed more documentation on WM5 for himalaya than for BA (but did notice a himalaya wm5 version to install on BA). Do you think WM5 performs about equal on both?
I was also considering the universal but I think it's a bit out of my price range, and I've read it's kind of slow/buggy? It looks really nicely designed though.
Thanks for your input.

Although I own neither (I have a good old Wallaby), I'd say go with the BlueAngel as it seems to have more features including WiFi and a pull out QWERTY keyboard. Both devices have the same spec CPU and memory so in theory WM5 should perform equally but I haven't seen it for myself so I can only say 'in theory'.
Regards,
Neil.

Blueangel!! first of all it has much better sound through loudspeaker and much more batterry life!! go for BA!!
i have used both BA and hymalaia. BA was the best. But the only problem i have is:
the bluetooth range is only 4 meters when connected with a handsfree.

Don't even think, get blueangel

OK So NO Mobile 5 for my JAM/S100 BUT is it worth upgrading?

The JAM/S100 still has a faster processor than the new Orange M600 / S200 / Jamin.
I've had my S100 for a year now and my contract is nearly up, I am tempted to upgrade to the M600 but not sure it will really be worth it?
Are there any apps that can give my existing S100 the same functionality as M600/S200 ?
Most wanted features would be:
1. Outlook Photo sync and display when calling (I've tried some software but you have to assign photos seperate from outlook)
2. Sync Media files (Movies etc) like WM10 does
3. Push email (maybe mail2web works with WM2003 ?)
Other nice features that the M600/S200 has that would be worth a possible upgrade are:
USB2 (much faster media transfer - or is there STILL active sync bug?)
Quad band (I don't really go away except on hols when i leave it at home!)
2mp camera, (I have a seperate digital camera)
Wifi. I have wifi at home but cannot think of a reason to use it , I can just put it in the cradle!
Any one out there upgraded from S100 to S200 ? who would like to comment on speed / improvements etc ?
Thanks

OK So no replies then ?
I've decided to take the plunge and get the Orange M600.
I got it as a free upgrade and also managed to increase my inclusive mins
from 180 (Family plan) to 200 Xnet + 100 landline + 100 texts (Non family plan) for the same monthly price (£25)
Nice.
Lets hope the M600 does not dissapoint.

I have a Wizard (QTek 9100, MDA Vario) now and a Magician (S100, MDA Compact) before. The Wizard is as fast as the Magician, only the reboot needs some more time 'cause WM5. I have no problems with ActiveSync and Wifi nor anything else. I don't want a new WM2003/WM5 flame thread, but i think WM5 has many improvements. I loved the Metal case of my Magician, the Wizard is thiker and feels not so "stable", but it is also a good device. But the Prophet (S200) has the same size as the Magician.

Ok after long deliberation I have canceled my order for the M600.
I was waiting for Orange to have stock, during that time I have had a chance to play with my girlfriends new Pink Charmer (Mda 2 on T-mobile) and was dissapointed by the general reaction time and that it didnt play my movies as well as the S100 !) - I belive this phone has the same processor as the M600.
SO I have switched to Easymobile as they were doing a deal for £21 airtime for £1, its like a pay-as-you-go contract and I will probably PORT over to T-mobile when the next best MDA comes out (S300 anyone ?)..
Until then I have bought a 4gb MMC card for my S100.. ;-)

Did the 4 GB Card work?
The next MDA will be the Vario II (HTC Hermes), and he has a 300 Mhz Procesor.

Yup memory card worked fine..
it was a
Adata 4GB 200x Turbo MMC 4.0 from Ebay cost about 70 pounds.

I dont think its the actual phone which is slow but the ROM, a friend of mine has a MDA Compact II which I've played around with, which i thought was a bit slow compared to my M600 flashed with Imate Rom. Plus the MDA doesnt have the softkeys as the key config is still adapted to the old WM2003 style.
I also used to have a Magician and I can say that I am extremely happy with the upgrade and dont see any difference in reaction speed (apart from video playback, just need to reencode the video to 320x240). Plus the feel of the casing on the M600 is so much nicer, has kinda a rubber fell to it, giving a better non-split grip.

My feeling on the matter is that, yes, WM5 would be pretty hot, partly because it's more mature and handles a lot of things better, but mostly because it would finally allow proper A2DP outside of windows media player (most of my music is AAC, hence the frustration).
The wifi would only be a big boon to me because I like to use my handset for Skype, and swapping out cards is a pain. However, the different (though, perhaps not actually slower, in real-world terms?) CPU does not run any version of Skype that currently exists (they're working on it, I gather), so that wouldn't really help.
I like the look of the Hermes (Wizard + BT 2.0 + Xscale + 2Mpx cam) as my next handset, though I'm severely tempted by SE's W950i (4Gb internal memory, QVGA touch-screen, thin~).
I think that Windows Mobile based phones probably won't be really ready for the prime time for another generation or so

bobgorila said:
CPU does not run any version of Skype that currently exists (they're working on it, I gather), so that wouldn't really help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skype works fine one my Prophet! voice calls too.

I guess they sorted it without telling me? Man, they're mean.
Also, I just remembered: the Muse!

Re: OK So NO Mobile 5 for my JAM/S100 BUT is it worth upgrad
gregory_marsh said:
Most wanted features would be:
1. Outlook Photo sync and display when calling (I've tried some software but you have to assign photos seperate from outlook)
2. Sync Media files (Movies etc) like WM10 does
3. Push email (maybe mail2web works with WM2003 ?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For push-mail I use VGSMail. It's an imap client. So you need an imap mail account, it doesn't work with pop accounts. http://www.vgsmail.com/ppc/
Regards, M

I upgraded my Magician to a Prophet (free upgrade and £130 on eBay for the Magician) and yes it's a little slower but not so much. In the Prophet forum there's a thread about overclocking the Prophet whick makes a huge improvement when running Skype and TomTom.

New Phone - Help me decide: Prophet, Magician, wizard, TyTn?

So my phone (SPV m500) was nicked and even though Orange could see who has my phone (IMEI + SIM network tracking) they won't tell me anything or do a thing about it and the police even though they were happy to take my report, "don't really get involved with stolen phone enquiries"..WTF?
I have looked at the Vario on T-Mob, XDA mini S on O2, SPV M600 on Orange and want some advice from seasoned users as to which phone and company comes up trumps.
I need built in wifi, a decent-ish camera, very very small amount of internet useage, the ability to stream audio to a headset (mono if poss) and cos I only make a small number of outbound calls, a very cheap 12 month package. Any ideas?

Re: New Phone - Help me decide: Prophet, Magician, wizard, T
phatphat said:
So my phone (SPV m500) was nicked and even though Orange could see who has my phone (IMEI + SIM network tracking) they won't tell me anything or do a thing about it and the police even though they were happy to take my report, "don't really get involved with stolen phone enquiries"..WTF?
I have looked at the Vario on T-Mob, XDA mini S on O2, SPV M600 on Orange and want some advice from seasoned users as to which phone and company comes up trumps.
I need built in wifi, a decent-ish camera, very very small amount of internet useage, the ability to stream audio to a headset (mono if poss) and cos I only make a small number of outbound calls, a very cheap 12 month package. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm partial to the TyTN/Hermes/Vario II, but it ain't out yet, so have got a monthly contract that I can cancel at anytime in the meantime.
If you wanna stream audio, for good quality, stereo or mono, make sure the device does A2DP.
If you'll be using data, the £7.50 for relatively unlimted data bundle on Tmobile is hard to beat.

Thanks for that
The only problem is I need it now, and I just got back from visiting the carphone warehouse, O2 shop and T-mobile shop and all of them had no clue about the Hermes/TyTn/VarioII and looked at me like I had just questioned their parentage!
Is the vario/XDA mini S a good choice as it's available on a £20 per month contract (all I really need) for £49?
The SPV M600 (prophet) is always out of stock and much more expensive to buy and you have to have it on a expensive tarif.
Which one is better/worse?

phatphat said:
Is the vario/XDA mini S a good choice as it's available on a £20 per month contract (all I really need) for £49?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a bad deal, but again, make sure you get unlimited data - maikes such a device much more usable. Having to curtail my own data usage with O2 by disabling push email, turning off images on browsing etc, is a PITA.

Good point(s), but is the 02 XDA mini s a better handset than the Orange SPV m600?

New Phone
phatphat,
I just received my new Atom, and I frickin love it!!!!!!! I went from a Magician to the Atom and what a difference. Way better sound than on the Magician, both through the earpiece and on the built in speaker phone. A little smaller phone physically, and WM2005 rocks. My phone came pre installed with the newest Rom so no issues there either. I have read some negative stuff about the Atom, so I was a little concerned. That all dissapeared when I used it for the first couple of days. I never thought that a phone could ever top the excitement I first fealt when I used my Magician for the first time, but the Atom topped it......by far!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Todd

New Phone
phatphat,
I just received my new Atom, and I frickin love it!!!!!!! I went from a Magician to the Atom and what a difference. Way better sound than on the Magician, both through the earpiece and on the built in speaker phone. A little smaller phone physically, and WM2005 rocks. My phone came pre installed with the newest Rom so no issues there either. I have read some negative stuff about the Atom, so I was a little concerned. That all dissapeared when I used it for the first couple of days. I never thought that a phone could ever top the excitement I first fealt when I used my Magician for the first time, but the Atom topped it......by far!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Todd

I know what you mean about the first time you get a magician, (which was also the first PPC phone I had).!
I am considering the Prophet, but I'm not hearing great things about O2 even though thay have some cheap deals for tarifs/handsets, and orange want £179 for an m600.
I see the spec are quite similar in terms of functions (BT, WM5, Wifi etc) but Is the prophet/atom much better than the Wizard(XDA mini s / vario)?
and what are the technical differences between the Atom and prohet? (i know they are based on the same HTC reference but are there any differences in features/performance?)

Tytn/M3100 vs Jamin/M600

OK - due to a change of jobs and the time coming to upgrade anyway, I am looking to get a PDA phone. Previously been a nokia user.
Was looking at the Jamin, but then along came the Hermes.....
New place is all Terminal Server based so not sure if i will be able to sync with Outlook. May still want to use calendar on phone independently.
As far as I can see, the pros and cons are as follows :
Jamin - thinner - more likley to fit in pocket whereas Hermes will be a bit bigger.
Hermes has keyboard however - and jog wheel - useful especially if I use the calendar without syncing and have to enter data. (suppose i could sync with my home pc calendar and enter that way tho.) How much do people really use the keyboard on it? odd friends with them tend to say not much. But not having a keypad still concerns me.
Hermes is faster/newer, but uses micro SD cards and mini USB for headphones. Jamin uses SD and 2.5mm jack. Jamin can be overclocked a bit (seemingly with no great impact on stability) but should make it reasonable.
Both have wifi, both vibrate I assume and both can have MP3 ringtones.
I am currently on orange and their current plans suck quite honestly. Obviously T mobile have web n walk or whatever, but I still remember the days of one to no-one and have concerns - A phone with poor reception is useless to me. (mind you not sure the Jamin is available on other networks?) How much data would I really use anyway whilst out and about.
Hmmmm. Its all a bit too much and most of the shops near me don't have examples I can go in and pick up to see what they are like to even hold.
Any advice or things I have missed would be greatly appreciated.

I currently use M500, unlocked to use with T-Mobile Web'n'Walk.
I upgraded to M600 (again, unlocked it to use with T-Mobile), but it wasn't even capable of scrolling through pdf documents, so I've just got rid of it.
So, if there was a choice between M600 and M3100, I'd go for the M3100 due to the extra processor speed, even though I've never been keen on the extra thickness caused by having the thumb-board.
Another major reason for preferring the M3100 is that the M3100 has 3g and is capable of 3.5g, the best the M600 is capable of is Edge.
If I do get the M3100, I will of course unlock it and use it on T-Mobile web'n'Walk.
Incidentally, I was a loyal Orange customer for nearly 10 years, but I refuse to pay their data charges. I have had no issues with T-Mobile coverage, but then I am in London, so woulldn't really expect any problems.
Regards

Well I love my Jamin which I had for almost 3 month now. (Used regular Motorola for phone and iPaq for PDA before that).
I have a long commute on a bus each day, and it makes it pass quite fast, listening to MP3 and surfing the web at the same time.
For all my daily uses I never had a speed problem, and I never overclocked it. Although I don't use navigational software and Skype.
Yes, the full SD is a plus, but if I had the choice now I would probably choose the Hermes because of the 3G and the faster processor.
Mainly I would have suffered the microSD because the device is newer overall, but I like gadgets.
As for the keyboard, I used my PDAs for over year and a half for various stuff and never felt the need for it. Unless you intend to type word documents or very long emails, the virtual keyboard will do just fine.
Personally I would prefer a phone pad like on ASUS 525 (not out yet, unfortunately).
Well that's just another opinion for you.

Still not decided
Cheers guys, although I am still in a quandry.
I guess the remaining key questions are:
How much of a hassle is the lack of a normal headphone socket on the Hermes?
Given that I have finally concluded that I can live without a keyboard is the jog wheel on the Hermes worth the extra thickness - I have heard it is great for quick and easy use.
How much would I notice the slower speed (not bothered re Skype) - I have heard that people who have not had pda phones before notice the speed the most.
Any experiences advice welcomed again.
Cheers
C
How much would I really use the data part whilst out and about (as wifi at home) - could get a good deal with say vodafone if you exclude the data element. Am still worried about T mobiel coverage - I live in Kent and work would take me round the country once or twice a month - reception then would be useful.

Just seen main tytn thread about possible new Orange data oackage - may answer one of my questions.....

OK - the unlimited GPRS off peak only bundle is not what I was looking for.(Orange- you really don;t have a clue about this data stuff...)
Am still in a quandry, have been watching the tytn threads as well. Cost is also an issue at the mo, and looking at the other threads the device cost may be a bit steep for me.
Seems to be quite a few suspect handsets around with dodgy keys and screens that lose alignment. Byt the time the device comes out on Tmobile and Orange (imminent I know) and then gets out of stock and back in etc it will be months before I got one anyway. I am now thinking it would be better to get a Jamin on Orange and just not really use the data during the day too much. Just sign up for 12 months and look again next year.
Would be able to use existing and cheaper SD cards. 2.5mm jack is good. T mobile reception for the data still worries me as I would be travelling a bit. Hopefully most of the bugs are now ironed out of the
Jamin, and it is thinner.
Any other hints/advice would be appreciated.

A warning to Australian Jasjam (hermes) buyers

i wanted to have this posted on this forum, i found reference to this very issue in the whirlpool forums and thought it would be good to have this here.
i recently (under a week ago) got an Imate Jasjam (hermes) from Telstra in Australia, it comes preloaded with a few things pool etc and Imate suite with 30 days trial.
i removed all the crap i could (like the games it comes with and the antivirus/ imate suite) but was checking my bill online today and came across 3 international SMS charges to the UK (which i didnt make cause i dont know anyone there), it was to the number +447736592312.
According to Whirlpool this issue went back to december with jasjam buyers experiencing the same problem (thankfully i only had 3 charges) which was eventually pinpointed to the preinstalled version of Imate Suite. because i removed it the same day i got it it only had time to send the 3 messages.
so if anyone gets a Jasjam make sure you remove the preinstalled Imate suite as soon as you activate the account. (the suite fairly useless anyway)

phones
Hi St3v3 and everyone else here, If I have posted this in the wrong area, please feel free to move it...
This is the first time this dog has posted here, I've done a bit of reading, very interesting stuff, and some very knowledgeable guys here !
OK, at the moment, I have a old Nokia 6385 CDMA (telstra, in australia) which I will be updating soon, as the CDMA network is supposed to be closing within less than 12 months. I like the 6385, its a good tough phone and has fitted the car kit I have had for many years and I run a proper external antenna on my vehicle (none of this "coupling" crap, its a real proper RF connection. Many of the places I go with the fire service/emergency services needs it)
Which brings me to my question. I imagine that I am going to need to go to nextg (I call it nextCDMA !), and accordingly would like a phone that can do the following:
HAve the field test diagnostic mode like the nokia has.
Has a proper external antenna port, and handsfree cradle that goes with it that properly connects the external antenna to the phone.
Good audio quality on a call
Im not into ringtones/games and all that wank value stuff - its a phone.
From looking around, the jasjam (do you guys call it "hermes" ?) seems to be able to do these things (may have a bit of extra wank value, but thats ok)
Any thoughts or suggestions from users of the jasjam, or other phones ? Just bear in mind, my 3 main essentials are: Field test mode, external antenna socket and good audio quality.
Should I wait to see if any newer nextCDMA phones come out, such as a nokia one ?
I did have a GSM phone (sendo brand) that had a program called "celltrack", which was like field test, only better, with real time graphs etc. It worked on the symbian6 o/s. Something like that would be very nice. Also, I do actually write software, and maybe could experiment with my own, as long as it will take applications made in VB.NET ?
Any help or advice on phones is appreciated, before I go out and buy one !!.
Thanks in advance from the little dog.