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okay guys, been reading up for the past few weeks on the lastest PDA phones. i need to get a new phone, preferably windows mobile, and preferably wm6. here are my requirements:
1. 400mhz cpu or faster
2. 2 mp camera or higher
3. GPS - MUST have
4. tri-band GSM, wifi, video capture
5. small phone
okay those are absolutes. my preferences:
6. keyboard or numeric keypad
7. large screen
8. windows mobile 6
9. long battery life
10. 262k screen, 2nd camera for conferencing
more or less, the N95 kind of meets most of the requirements--except that the cpu is kinda slow and its not windows mobile. though the good thing about it is that its got video-out, where i can put a presentation on the phone and plug the cable onto the projector.
now, im trying to debate between:
a) the g-smart i300 (no keypad)
b) m700 (65k colors, side keypad)
c) P3600 (65k colors, no keyboard)
d) asus p535 (65k colors, no keypad)
e) X800 (65k colors, no keyboard)
f) asus p526 (65k colors, 200mhz cpu)
g) JAQ4 (65k colors, 200mhz cpu)
h) XDA orbit (65k colors, 200mhz cpu, no keypad)
i) hp 6915 (1.3mp, 65k colors, BIG phone, no upgrade to WM6)
as it stands, the N95 kind of trumps everyone with a 5mp camera, 30fps video capture, keypad, 256k colors, video-out, and relatively small form-factor.
the wife has the nokia, so i dont want another nokia and im partial to windows mobile (has to sync with outlook, nokia has issues). ive also used the N95 and it can be slow at times and can hang. otherwise, its a dream phone except that it doesnt run windows mobile.
the comparisons above make it look like the ETEN is going to win. ive owned an M500 before, and didnt like the overall experience (though the phone was kinda okay) due the the bugs, signal reception, and cheap chassis. so im kinda wary about taking an M700, though it looks like the only real and closest option to my requirements. other than the M700, i would have gone for the HP except that they announced there will be no wm6 upgrade (the M700 has the upgrade).
what do you guys think? any other options or other ideas i may have missed? any reviews of the abovementioned phones to dissuade or persuade me?
btw, the E90 is kinda too big for me, though i like it. its also not wm.
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia-phones-1.php
Nice first post ....
Ok sarcasm mode off.
I am sure you will get lots of recommendations on which phone to go for, but in my experience the only person who can decide this is you. You have a very demanding list of requirements and sound as if you just needed to write down your thoughts to help you decide.
Personally I have an MDA Vario II (Hermes) with a TOMTOM bluetooth GPS unit and this works well for me.
If you need the *best* built-in GPS, the P3600 isn't the way to go either. Also, it's pretty useless for A2DP, should you ever need it.
So maybe the upcoming Kaiser for AD2P since its native WM6? Same gps module as the P3600 though (not that it's that the gps is that bad, just not the BEST ie. SIRF III). It is supposed to be available in late June, or July.
there is only one good phone on the market today, but impossible to buy.. The benq p51 ..good cpu, enough ram/rom, gps, wifi, bt, big enough screen (320*240)..but most important a full qwerty keyboard and hotpluggable sdcard. 1.3 megapixel camera is enough cause 2.0 megapixel doesn't make that big a differents. And no i don't want a 240*240 screen. It's bollocks when you have to see a streaming movie.
umts and other high speed connections is not done cause not payable in europe. Waaaay to expensive. Just for a few business users.
-my first pda was dell axim x5 ..still a great pda..use it for streaming movies and occasionally surfing in my bed. still in great shape.
-now i have a htc p3300 ..very small..bad cpu for streaming, bad camera, screen is to small for confort.the only advantage is build in gps.
- now i want the benq p51 and i don't have any problem with it if it's the last one on earth it has everything i need.
all the others pda phone from htc and other brands are missing something from my wishlist
the benq p51 is one of it's kind but like i said..impossible to find and buy
greetz
Why it is not payable in Europe for umts?
At least T-Mobile NL, we pay fixed monthly for HSDPA access:
https://www.t-mobile.nl/persoonlijk...internet_email/wat_heb_je_nodig/tarieven.aspx
9.95 euro for 64 Kbps
19.95 euro for 192 Kbps
...
Unlimited access !
And without subscription is 0.24 euro per 100 KB ... or 2.4 euro per MB which is quite cheap.
kasperke said:
there is only one good phone on the market today, but impossible to buy.. The benq p51 ..good cpu, enough ram/rom, gps, wifi, bt, big enough screen (320*240)..but most important a full qwerty keyboard and hotpluggable sdcard. 1.3 megapixel camera is enough cause 2.0 megapixel doesn't make that big a differents. And no i don't want a 240*240 screen. It's bollocks when you have to see a streaming movie.
umts and other high speed connections is not done cause not payable in europe. Waaaay to expensive. Just for a few business users.
-my first pda was dell axim x5 ..still a great pda..use it for streaming movies and occasionally surfing in my bed. still in great shape.
-now i have a htc p3300 ..very small..bad cpu for streaming, bad camera, screen is to small for confort.the only advantage is build in gps.
- now i want the benq p51 and i don't have any problem with it if it's the last one on earth it has everything i need.
all the others pda phone from htc and other brands are missing something from my wishlist
the benq p51 is one of it's kind but like i said..impossible to find and buy
greetz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
I'll probably narrow it down to:
a) the g-smart i300 (no keypad)
b) m700 (65k colors, side keypad)
so which one do you think would be a better trade-off? higher screen color or side-keypad?
I need the keypad so when im driving i can punch numbers; a touchscreen works like hell when you do that. I need the color screen for playing videos and camera work. I guess the more important one is the keypad. Any bad reviews for the M700 from our current users? how about the gigabyte?
Forget those 2 ... and take a look into HTC Kaiser ..
htc trinity?
"high speed connections is not done cause not payable in europe. Waaaay to expensive. Just for a few business users."
not here
and i believe prices varies alot! in europe
here it's 1euro pr MB if you dont go flatrate
gogol said:
Forget those 2 ... and take a look into HTC Kaiser ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3MP camera, 2nd camera, I like it. slide-out keyboard, not too fond of that but I'll work. nice ROM but CPU not that great. That puts it a little above the M700. how is the NMEA 0183 GPS compared to the SiRF Star III of the M700?
bbobeckyj said:
htc trinity?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, as laid out the P3600 has 65k screen and no keyboard. id like one with keyboard/keypad.
Kaiser
is nice
though i think it's a bit ugly
and thick
and seem to be in the universal replacement
as in being closer to Advantage then a real pda phone
but apart from those issues it's everything i want in a phone
im not really one that cares for looks as long as all the functionality is there. the kaiser lacks screen resolution, otherwise its pretty good.
im now thinking about the HTC Nike, comparing whether its better to have a keypad than keyboard. i absolutely NEED the keypad, as in punching numbers while driving; but id also like a keyboard for when im doing wifi outdoors.
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=736
yeah nike is sweet but i just know that one day what ever stop the slider thing from going all the way and sending the top part flying and hitting a busdriver in the eye so he run his bus into a full school of handicap'd kids will brake
Its funny I have the same dilema I was thinking of the two I like the i300 because its smaller but no keypad but the m700 is bigger and slower. So I am pushing more to the i300 which one did you pic? Also I like that the i300 has internal message and windows 6 update. But the m700 has a bigger screen and I can watch more movies....
Hey guys, was just wondering... Most new HTC phones look awfully similar, just a somewhat different chassis and some random memory upgrade. Does anyone know if they change more stuff "under the hood" that isn't shown in the specs? I'm talking about better screens (brighter, higher contrast etc), faster memory and so on.
For example, I've got a TyTN atm that I love, but I've always thought the screen is a bit washed out and not as bright as most other phones. Also there is quite a lot of backlight bleed on it. I know there are hacks (vijay's stuff) to make the screen brighter, but I guess I wonder if HTC has done anything on the newer models? Mainly I'm tempted to get the Touch Cruise when it comes out with T-Mobile in the UK. Has anyone compared these two LCDs? Since the CPU speed is virtually the same, does that mean the phones are as fast or has HTC done other hardware changes to the Cruise to speed it up?
I guess what I want as a more responsive HTC phone with an iPhone quality display
Unfortunately Pocket PC displays aren't that good for the moment. At least for the qVGA ones. But VGA displays support high resolution of 640x480 and thats better than an iPhone or any others. These VGA devices are usually huge and heavy except for fre Eten models which sport VGA display on qVGA size! If you go for Eten, you cannot expect much customisation as xda-dev is away from them But eten makes good custom ROMs themselves..
Regards,
Carty..
Yeah, but I'm not just talking about resolution and DPI, what about colour reproduction and contrast? Besides, I can't get Eten phones with T-Mobile UK
And, does anyone know if the ROM/RAM read/write speeds has changed over the past few years? My _old_ HTC Tornado seems to have the same R/W speeds as my TyTN...
all pda makers oem their screen from various panel makers
and if prizing change they get other panels so it can variate even
between the same pda bought on different times of the year
about speed then it's pretty much up to the interfaces of the varous cpu's
omap, intel, samsung, Qualcomm
both features and speeds variate
my advice is to look at some benchmarks pocket mechanics can benchmark
and google have tons of hits on benchsmarks of pda's
yeah please
Hi all,
I was hoping to upgrade to Diamond when its out in the UK. But now the Samsung Omnia is out, I am a bit confused as to which one to go for. I invite everyone to give your opinion on it. I am sure there are many like me out there.
MY initial views are;
Diamond is a cool phone and the HTC have years of experience with WM phones. But it does have its own flows like HTC doesnt seem to know how to make proper camera and issues with video drivers. And their headphones are good for nothing. I really think these areas will be better with Omnia, at least the 5MP camera and the headphone quality.
On the other side, Omnia is slightly bigger and and heavier than the Diamond. And the display is Qvga? (I am not an expert on this). Both have GPS and Accelerometer and stuff.
So guys give us your opinion on this.
Cheers
Jugulator
I'm desperatly trying to source my Omnia from Asia as its not out here in the UK yet. I currently have a G900 and whilst the screen is spanking, its camera is rubbish and it doesn't have GPS, which i REALLY want.
As for HTC, having had 3 HTC devices and having had to return said devices 6 times in total for hardware repairs I will never, ever, ever buy a HTC device again. Oh and just to add, the guy that sits oposite me in the office has an orange branded TyTN, i mentioned the build quality to him about 6 months ago and he laughed at me and said his worked perfectly. Guess what, he finaly threw the thing in the bin today as the last of the front hardware keys gave up on him.
So, don't care if HTC make the greatest phone on the planet, i ain't buying it.
I like the specs of the Omni, but the UI does not appear up to par on the whole compared to that of the Diamond/Rafael.
http://samsungomnia.com/omnia-videos/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoaXA9un7YE
Thanks for the video. Interesting GUI. I definately like the design of the Omnia. The GUI looks a little bit slugglish and unresponsive at times. But with a large screen (although low pixel dimension), 5MP camera & 16GB max storage--it's hard to say no. The widescreen QVGA is disturbing for a feature rich phone like this. The iPhone hides the pixel dimensions nicely so I'm hoping this one will too.
I'm passing on the Diamond (because of the 4GB max storage) and hoping for the Touch Pro. If you can port TouchFlo 3D on the Omnia and have it be as fluid as the iPhone UI, I would seriously buy it.
VGA and QVGA
Could someone shred some light on the difference between VGA and QVGA? If this is significantly different, I would favour Diamond than Omnia, plus smaller size and weight. But at the same time I would like to try something other than HTC..lol.
Get the Rapheal it will be better than both the Omnia and Diamond.
This Omni phones got my eye, will add it to the review list on the Formal '08 smart phone comparison. Check my signature.
Hmmm touch choice, X1, Pro, or Omnia. Depends on the Camera I get really, no camer -> probably omnia, Good camera-> one of the others. 5MP is sick, and considering HTC Cameras are ****, it makes the 5 even better.
Rory
Go for the Omnia. If you look at the videos from youtube, the omnia opens apps REALLY FAST. It may not be as responsive as we should want, probably due to the screen, but the processor speed makes up for it. Not to mention the 16 GB storage and micro SD slot. It has XVID and DIVX support out of the box, so you know it will definitely perform well with videos. The 5 MP camera also s a huge plus. The only drawbacks I could think off is how good will the battery last in a day of use, and the wide QVGA screen which might not be compatible with most or all available apps yet.
I had a dilemma choosing between the Advantage X7510 and the Omnia, but in the end, I opted for the BIG SCREEN and good battery life of the X7510.
But with the choices you have given, go for the Omnia.
jugulator said:
Could someone shred some light on the difference between VGA and QVGA? If this is significantly different, I would favour Diamond than Omnia, plus smaller size and weight. But at the same time I would like to try something other than HTC..lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VGA is 640 by 480 screen resolution while QVGA is 320 by 240 resolution. Basically VGA screen have 4 times as much clarity and quality as QVGA screens, in theory atleast.
I too am thinking of the SGH-i907. I will be moving and need to switch to GSM and sense the i907 is going to AT&T that will work just fine for me. But I will have to use it in Verizon/AllHell network until I move. So I hope it will work ok. I think with the 8 or 16GB internal memory and the availability to use the external micro SD slot is nice. I guess to top it off they should have used a VGA screen but WGVA isn't too bad is it? What is the mp of the secondary camera? I am also wondering if Android can be ported to the i907?
Release Date: June, 2008
56.9x112x12.5mm, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional , 32bit Marvell PXA320, 128MiB RAM, 16000MiB ROM, 3.2" 400x240 color transflective TFT display, video out, Proprietary audio jack, GSM850/GSM900/GSM1800/GSM1900/UMTS2100, CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, microSD/microSDHC/TransFlash/SDIO, Proprietary port, Bluetooth, WLAN, GPS, A-GPS, FM radio, accelerometer, 5MP camera, AF, flash, secondary camera, 1440mAh removable battery.
Anyone know what version of Opera 9.5 the i900 is running?
I'm thinking between HTC Touch Pro and Omnia. If possible want to get both of them to compare. But still worry about omnia regarding below issues:
1. no support on forum such as tweaking, customize and cook rom.
2. where to download the rom update? Samsung will give new rom update to improve their performance or not?
3. inside the package seem not include the stylus and pouch. at samsung webpage indicate that is an optional.
4. how good is Marvell PXA300 series processor? Stable or not? Fast enough or not to handle such a bulky 3d software.
Samsung Omnia (i-900)
I just got the Omnia here in Singapore and so far, its great! You can turn off most of the "fancy" (but not so useful features to me) iPhone like features and you get a great WM6.1 device with 16GB storage (+ I can add another 8GB micro SD). The battery life is good and I can swap batteries if I need to. The camera is 5MP, with flash and the video is good.
For those of you interested, here's a good review of the Omnia:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2606&cid=24&pg=1
Cheers!
kiawey said:
3. inside the package seem not include the stylus and pouch. at samsung webpage indicate that is an optional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just went to a samsung roadshow in singapore yesterday
and i tried out the i900 there.
The lady told me the stylus is included in the package.
however it is nt like normal PDA phones where the stylus can be kept
'in' the phone itself. i900's stylus is hung outside like an accessory.
5 megapixel camera but doesn't seem to take photos like a 5 megapixel camera should. nokia's n95's camera seems better.
anyway, placed an order as the stock ran out by the time i got there.
How much you got it in Sing Dollar?
kiawey said:
How much you got it in Sing Dollar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will be $498 with a 2 year line contract with Starhub in Singapore.
luckily i have a $200 voucher and a phone to trade-in..
davechew said:
I just got the Omnia here in Singapore and so far, its great! You can turn off most of the "fancy" (but not so useful features to me) iPhone like features and you get a great WM6.1 device with 16GB storage (+ I can add another 8GB micro SD). The battery life is good and I can swap batteries if I need to. The camera is 5MP, with flash and the video is good.
For those of you interested, here's a good review of the Omnia:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2606&cid=24&pg=1
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for posting the review! I really like it. The only deal breaker now is the $1000+ (US dollars?) price tag. With the falling value of the US Dollar, that's a hefty price to pay for a phone (those included features are great). 2 year contract for $500? I hope. But there's still the Touch Pro.
Hea-to-head Review
Here's a direct review of both phones plus side-by-side photos:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_diamond_vs_samsung_i900_omnia-review-262.php
mphayvanh said:
Here's a direct review of both phones plus side-by-side photos:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_diamond_vs_samsung_i900_omnia-review-262.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent review. Seems unbiased and balanced, although, until someone has both handsets you can never be sure.
davechew said:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2606&cid=24&pg=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Connectivity: GPS with Navigation
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
USB 2.0
Wi-Fi
Features:
...
MS Office Document Viewer, Advanced PIM Apps,
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont think anyone in there right mind would call google maps "Navigation"? Also, MS Office VIEWER!? Reviews inaccurate from page one, not going to bother reading the rest.
After using my G900 (800 x 480) mobile for a year now, I can't say that High res screens float my boat. They are a massive drain on the battery and factoring in the physical size of the screen, really not that usefull in my opinion. Its seems to me like having a 1080p 32" tv, good in principle but unless its 46", you really don't see the full benefit.
I think i'm still looking at an I900 .... now if only they were in the shops in the UK!!!!!
p.s. Anyone from Singapore wana stick one on Ebay?
Hi,
I am a current HTC 7500 user (a huge device with a huge 5" VGA screen).
While I am enjoying the screen, I am suffering from everyday usability of the 7500.
So, being an ATT customer near the end of my 2-years contract, and not planing on switching, I am really interested in HTC Fuse.
I can't imagine browsing with Opera without a VGA screen. However, would it be possible to actually read anything online? The fonts already small on my 5" screen, and I would not like switching to larger font sizes, because it diminishes the advantage of VGA screen and violates web page layouts.
Could somebody share their experience with small VGA screens, and possibly post a screenshot or two?
Thanks!
I personally dont find it a problem, but then ive never used a device with a screen size any bigger, what i will say is, the version of Opera mobile that comes with it is very good indeed, navigation within the app is very similar to browsing on the iPhone and if for example you want to zoom in further you can use the touch sensitive dial which, is very effective.
Like i said before ive never had a device with a screen size any bigger than 2.8", the devices i had before this all had the same size screen (except the Alpine) but browsing on the the touch pro (Fuze) is by far the best experience ive had out of all of the devices ive owned.
Hope this helps.
If you know my H.264 bible (link to original HERE; note that it has the charts messed up. The latter, without problems, can be found HERE or in any other mirrors I've listed at the end of the original article; see the paragraph starting with "Cross-posted to"), you may be aware of that, so far, no Windows Mobile device was able to play back “high”- resolution H.264 videos.
I refer to videos 640 (or more) pixels wide; this, practically, also means it’s fully impossible to play back 720p (that is, 1280-wide) H.264 videos if you don’t disable bilinear filtering or CABAC at encoding time and deblocking at runtime. (Or, you don’t use the simple profile to create a video that is comparatively easy to decode and not includes any goodies like CABAC or bilinear filtering.) If you do all the available techniques to increase video quality, not any of the current Windows Mobile devices will deliver a stuttering-free video playback.
The new Toshiba TG01 with it brand new 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU seems to have changed this all. At the Toshiba booth of MWC, I had the chance to play with the forthcoming TG01. Incidentally, interestingly, at Microsoft’s booth, along with the HTC Diamond II (which I had the chance to play at HTC’s booth and, frankly, found it to be pretty mediocre), the device was behind glass and couldn’t be tested; no such restrictions existed at Toshiba’s booth.
I’ve tested the video playback and H.264 decoding performance with the 464 kbps H.264 video HERE (feel free to conduct the benchmark yourself to make sure I have the right figures). The benchmark, as can be seen in the following screenshot, resulted in a very impressive decoding efficiency: 148%! Again, this is around 100% on contemporary Windows Mobile PDA’s – that is, the speed difference is about 50%. It seems switching to the new platform indeed does deliver some substantive speed increase – unlike the case with the 206 MHz StrongARM -> 400 MHz Intel Xscale PXA-250 switch back in 2002, under Pocket PC 2002.
Gaming and 3D performance was equally good. The device has (enabled) 3D acceleration. I’ve made and posted to YouTube three different videos. THIS one shows a simple tech demo; THIS shows Prince of Persia in action (yes, I know it’s upside down; tomorrow, I take my tripod with me and make a far better video) and, finally, THIS shows a 3D sphere-alike GUI. Note that all these videos are 640*480; as soon as the Panasonic G1 HD or the Canon 500D (hopefully the latter with HD video) comes out, I upgrade to it. Until then, I can only make videos at 15 fps at 1024*768; this is why I've gone for the smaller, but two times faster VGA ones so that you can have a real picture of the speed.
All these three demos / games use the full WVGA screen estate (that is, 800*480) to render their content. Everything is crystal clear.
Note that there are some games that don’t seem to be hardware accelerated. Gameloft’s Asphalt4 is, unfortunately, one of them. I had the chance of playing it on the Samsung Omnia at MWC, on Gameloft’s booth and was really disappointed. It has low resolution and very bad, stuttering graphics – far-far inferior to the hardware accelerated, absolutely perfect iPhone version. Unfortunately, the situation is the same on the TG01 as can also be seen in THIS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRgu9CEcTAM&feature=related test video.
Now, I only wish the TG01
- Had a D-Pad on the front (there is a LOT of unused space on the face of the device – much more than on, say, the iPhone) to allow for playing games. This device would be an excellent gaming / emulation device – but the lack of a D-pad severely hampers this usage. Read: very few games that require a D-pad for control will be playable.
- Supported call recording (the Toshi folks I’ve asked stated the TG01, unfortunately, won’t allow for recording calls).
- Had a better camera – like that of the (better) Nokia N-series phones or the Samsung Omnia HD.
- Had stereo speakers – again, like some Nokia N-series handsets or the brand new Samsung Omnia HD.
Other, various Toshi shots (click the thumbnails for much larger shots)
(Note that I’ll try to post more tomorrow; for example, direct size comparisons with the iPhone etc.)
As always great report!!
Thanks a lot for bringing this!
Here is another nice game demo in the 2nd half of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUQD6XLw4ck
nice specs, lets see how the retailpart turns out, 1ghz with just 1000mAh + 800x480 4.1" screen sounds very much like the diamond -> battery dead after one day (if its used).
was the screen capacitive?
Any news on when it might be released?
sdlopez83 said:
was the screen capacitive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, unfortunately. I'll try to install Opera Mobile on it to find out more about the responsiveness of the screen compared to the iPhone.
Looks awesome. They say if they will make a US 3G version? If so (and maybe even if not) I will have to get one!
New video posted to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=484266 ; soon, I post some size comparisons with the iPhone 3G.
billu said:
Any news on when it might be released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I've read: 20th week (don't kno where, hopefully here in Europe, so it's on time for my birthday)
This just might be my next device! (or Touch HD because of the community, but hey, who knows how large the TG1 community will become)
Nice report, thanks
To my surprise, the battery is stated 1000 mAH, which is less than HTC Kaiser (1350 mAH) ... and they still say 11 days standby, 5 hours talk time. If that's true then it is amazing. Even though I am very skeptical.
And how about possibility to upgrade to WinMo 6.5? I know that WinMo 6.5 requires a hardware button, but I saw a button that in front It is not funny if it cannot be upgraded to 6.5.
Nope, you will not be able to upgrade the TG01 to 6.5 officially. You'll have to use a cooked rom.
Regards,
Carl.