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

Help Upgrade Device.

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...

Help!! Polaris, or Kaiser?????

Hi , cant decide which of these phones to get. I'm getting either on 02 uk, anyone help me to decide which is better? (orbit2 or vario III).
Thankyou.
Stu.

kaiser got keyboard
poraris got fm radio and is suppose to have a mouch touchflow'ish screen

Yup, it's pretty much keyboard versus no keyboard. If you don't need it, save yourself the bulk and get it with a flush screen.

Touch Dual
I um'd and ahh'd bought the Kaiser (loved it) and just 2 days ago got the Niki, suffice to say the Kaiser is going on eBay (well i'll give it a few days more).
The niki vs the kaiser, lacks wifi, gps and full keyboard.
But, its so so sexier and cool, feels good and is awesome.

depending how much I can be bothered to spend I was considering a Nike. The polaris looks sweet (Next generation Artemis??) but the one thing id miss is a hardware keyboard.
Kaiser should be coming into its own soon with the driver situation looking a bit brighter but Baring in mind the next Hermes/Kaiser type device wont be that far away methinks (TyTN III?).

"The polaris looks sweet (Next generation Artemis??)"
well it looks kinda like artemis but under the hood they are not related much
polaris is pretty much as stated the same hardware as kaiser without the keyboard
and with fm radio
htc dont truely run families like that
some may look kinda alike
and others may have 100% the same insides
.....

This Dutch tech news website has cought some info about the driver issue not being fixed with drivers, but with patches to boost performance. They do however mention that it all comes from unverified sources, so it could be just some rumour, but it could be true aswell.
Original post: http://life.tweakers.net/nieuws/520...-om-prestatie-van-toestellen-te-verhogen.html
An attempt at an english translation: http://www.google.com/translate?u=h...te-verhogen.html&langpair=nl|en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

A bit of clarification on vibrate (or lack thereof)...

Hello all:
I've been trying to do my homework dilligently to decide whether I buy a x7510 or not. To me, the lack of vibrate is a showstopper.
However, in one review posted on pocketpcthoughts.com, I read that the vibrate function is enabled when the keyboard is attached.
Is this accurate or not?
What does "keyborad is attached" mean exactly; does it mean "attached" as in "covering the screen", or "attached as in "typing mode"?
Thanks all for any hints here.

That review/opinion is not correct.
The X7510 does not have a phone vibrate function- these are generally built into the battery pack or on the motherboard.
The keyboard 'vibrate' feature refers to the 'haptic feedback' enabled on the X7510's hardware keyboard, which gives a small vibration and sound 'pulse' when any key is pressed, as the keys have no physical travel.

Thank you very much for the clarification !

It's still a good device!

Yes, I am sure it is a great device.
I am somewhat concerned though since I've used vibrate functions forever, and if I were to go with the X7510, I'd like to use it as a phone as well (with BT headset, something I've used for what it seems forever as well .
I have read about some workarounds (like recording a vibrating phone and use it as a ringtone), so I am still thinking about it. But the review at pocketpcthoughts threw me off a bit; I am glad you clarified.
My problem is that I am absolutely against ringing phones; they are so disruptive :-(
Do you use it as a phone? Do you have another workaround?
Thanks again...

IMHO
The xda universal is still the best pda on the market. I would never recommend purchasing this device (x7510). The phone features is 'average' at best.
Just me 2 cents

orinoco said:
Do you use it as a phone? Do you have another workaround?
Thanks again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The short answer is no- I don't use it as a phone unless in emergencies. I use mine mainly as a reference, research and media device, and my Diamond as my primary phone.
When I do use it as a phone, I use it with a BT headset. My Plantronics earpiece does have a 'beep' or 'vibrate' function so I simply have the ringer sound on the X7510 muted.
@youmeus: Granted, the XDA Exec/ HTC Universal was good in its day, but is very long in the tooth now. The processor and memory are both low and the GPS and 3G performance was pretty poor.
OK, it wasn't such a brick as a phone, but you do look a bit of a wally holding it to your ear, so it still really needs a BT headset. I used mine for a few months before changing to a Wizard/ XDA MiniS.
It's all in the eye of the beholder though

What do you need from the CD?
There's nothing on there that can't be downloaded from Microsoft .

to orinoco :- use the phone recorded vibrating buzz sound as advised by steve eagle post , it works pretty good , you can hear it for sure but u will feel the sound a bit if u are touching your device - only a bit though , dont expect the same as ordinary phone vibration .
to neilm :- yes u r right - it's a damn great device
to youmeus :- u r dead wrong , no way in this world this device will lose to your xda universal , x7510 of athena family is the king of pda , period ...
and please go back to your universal forum
thanks for reading , cheers to all athena owners - jimmunsw

My View
Hi Guys
I have a Universal and an Ameo (Athena) and using them both I would have to say that the ONLY place the Universal wins, is as a phone and its great keyboard. Dont get me wrong, the universal as a 4-5 year old phone is superb and some of the uni roms are as good as stock. It will do most of what you ask, but it lacks up to date hardware. The Athena as a laptop type replacement is exactly what it was made for, the phone is like a secondary item. HOWEVER if you use a styleI as a blue tooth addon the problem is gone If you switch the sound off then the styleI has a very quiet discreet ring. you answer the phone as you would a normal phone and the Athena stays in its case. I still look a bit of a prat using the Uni as a phone coz it is BIG, the Athena is only 15mm wider thats all. I only have both now coz the Uni is only making small bucks now, and you know how it is when its sitting on the shelf looking at you saying use me
Jay

Hi Jay- good to see you over here
I agree with your comments- the Ameo with BT headset is a good combination . Will you be getting an Ameo 16GB/X7510 then?

NeilM said:
Hi Jay- good to see you over here
I agree with your comments- the Ameo with BT headset is a good combination . Will you be getting an Ameo 16GB/X7510 then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its all about cost against what extra enhancements you get, so yes I would love to but the cost at the moment is a put off. apart from the extra 8gb, what would you say is better than the Ameo?
P.S dont tell the X7500 guys, I may get banned, talking to the X7510 lot and admitting to owning a Uni
Regards
Jay

responderman said:
P.S dont tell the X7500 guys, I may get banned, talking to the X7510 lot and admitting to owning a Uni
Regards
Jay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We all have our little secrets
TBH if I hadn't got an X7510 (XDA Flint) free from O2, I would probably not consider upgrading from the X7500 apart from the fact that it's newer and less battered
The extra 8GB is nice but not essential for me, and there is always the miniSD for expansion.
In some ways the X7510 is a retrograde step- the lack of a joystick is a total PITA as there is no way to manually navigate some programs without executing a screen click.
The keyboard is a big improvement, but TouchPal is so good that I very rarely use the physical keyboard. The X7500 ROMs by Michy et all are every bit as good as the X7510 ROMs- no surprise I suppose as the hardware is identical in most respects.

I'd second all the good reviews of the XDA Shift (HTC Advantage X7510 with an O2 case). I've had two, yes count them, two XDA Execs (HTC universal with O2 case) because I couldn't find a device which was as universally adaptable as the Exec for several years. (did you see what I did there?)
With the addition of an external bluetooth GPS receiver and a bluetooth headset I had everything I needed. A decent size screen, hardware QWERTY keyboard (which is a must for me as I'm a writer, in fact my last novel was written almost exclusively on the Execs) Sat Nav (via tomtom nav 6) games, phone, browser, media player, and all-round super gadget in a clam shell with tablet mode swivel screen! Then my second Exec broke (from extreme over-use) and I had no option of a replacement as O2 no longer stocked them :-(
Then I discovered the Flint...
It has all of the benefits of the Exec but with more memory, bigger screen, built in GPS, and funky magnetics to boot! Admittedly it has no vibrate function, and O2 de-activate the G-sensor in their ROM (both of which I'm certain are functions that can be re-activated with cooked ROMS -at least I'm sure I've read on this here forum of such things being achieved- am I right?), but the benefits really outweigh these small issues for me.
So as a user who sang the praises of the XDA Exec for several years, I can say that the XDA Flint is a superb progression and excellent replacement device, well worth the £50/month contract to get it free (which includes unlimited data and texts, and 950 mins! -no, I don't work for O2).
(HTC and O2-you can pay me later

Hi Thintin- glad you like your Flint.
The G-sensor thing with O2 is odd. Some examples have a working hardware even with the O2 ROM though it needs G-Sen or similar to activate it. But some examples need a new, cooked ROM to get the G-sensor working and a small number seem to have it physically removed.
As one of a small group of pre-release testers for O2 we had a number of discussions about this- O2's line was that they requested NO G sensor in the hardware build, but HTC only did that with a small number. My 1st one definitely didn't have it, not did it have a working sub display. A replacement had both working with the O2 ROM, though a colleague never got subdisplay working, and another colleague never got the Gsensor working.
O2's Flint ROM is actually pretty good. It's very basic, but all the better for that. However, Michy's Lite WM6.1 is so much better

NeilM said:
...O2's Flint ROM is actually pretty good. It's very basic, but all the better for that. However, Michy's Lite WM6.1 is so much better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm hoping my device falls into the category of having the g-sensor, my sub-display works fine (I'm assuming this is the display that can be seen through the keyboard's letterbox shaped portal when the device is closed?). Glad to hear that Mitchy's lite ROM is better than the O2 one because I'm planning on flashing it soon.

Great vibrate ringtone
This works like a charm...

Which Smartphone?

Hi Guys & Gals.
First, a thanks for the website. It's a good read, and I've got some useful info off it. Don't know enough in this field to contribute though.
I've got a generic "which phone" question for you all.
I currently have an Orange SPV C600 (HTC Tornado), upgraded to WM 6.1. I use it mostly for phone calls, e-book reading with Mobipocket (probably 95% of the time I actually use the thing for), and sat-nav using TomTom 5 and an external Holux GPSlim 236 (which I've had to re-solder the BT module, due to the dodgy batch of receivers).
The phone is now showing its age (I bought it 2nd hand almost 3.5 years ago). It won't always start TomTom (only about 20% of time will it start properly) , it'll randomly flatten itself overnight, hangs mysteriously etc.
I now want a newer phone. Money is tight though, so I can't justify spending large sums (e.g. >£80/$130) of money on a new phone, even on a contract (my mobile bill is typically £8 a month: £3 calls, £5 data).
I'm currently looking at...
SPV M700
SPV M3100 (Hermes?)
HTC TYTN II (Kaiser)
HTC Touch Diamond (1st version, only if going for silly money on ebay)
HTC Touch Pro (1st version, only if going for silly money on ebay)
Wish list...
GPS
3G
WiFi
Touch screen
Keyboard would be nice.
Better res than 240x320 would be nice
My thoughts on the list are...
M700
Can be quite expensive on ebay (can be cheap though). Fits all of the important stuff though. Not too old.
M3100
No GPS, but has keyboard. *Can* be bought fairly cheaply, because it's quite an old model now. I've borrowed an O2 XDA (which is AFAIK the Orange SPV M3000, which is a 3100 less the 3G and WiFi). Getting on a bit.
TYTN II
Has everything, but have read many bad reviews online about graphics performance (has this been fixed?) and battery life.
Allowing for the down sides, this (so far) is my favourite, in that it ticks all of the boxes.
I *think* I've even seen a video on Youtube of someone getting TouchFlo 3D working on it.
It's getting on a bit too, but Expansys still sell them new (oddly enough for more than a Touch Pro!)
Diamond
Gorgeous screen, No keyboard, no expansion, ticks all the other boxes. Main downside is the cost. Even a broken one went for £52 on ebay!
Touch Pro.
As Diamond, but including keyboard, got expansion, ticks all boxes. Even more expensive than Diamond.
Are there any other phones I should be looking at? Have I missed a point somewhere? Am I better of sticking with my ancient flaky phone and waiting for the Diamond II prices to push the Diamond prices down? I need help here!
Thanks.
Pete.

Welcome to forums
I think 1st you have to have clear what is your main use for a device, said that and taking your list, I would choose Touch Pro.
Also will depend on how much $ you want to spend
If you are looking for something much cheap include on your list Universal, it´s a great device!
Good luck,

if you already have an external gps you should get a wizard they are really cheep an pretty good. they are a lot more responsive than the specs would have you believe. also you can get a tytn II for pretty cheep these days and the battery life is really not that bad if the wizard had an internal gps and more ram i would pick it every time over the tytn II.

Hi.
Thanks for the feedback.
I'd discounted the Universal (SPV M5000), mainly for 2 reasons.
1) It's an old design (12 months older than the M3000, and about the same age as my current phone)
2) It's just too big. Even though it's got a good size screen, I need a pocket phone.
I'll be using the device mostly for reading e-books (it saves carrying around huge numbers of physical books!). I don't find the screen size of my current Tornado sized device a problem. The other thing I'll be using it for is sat-nav. Again, the screen size isn't an issue, because I mostly follow the voice navigation, not the screen. Finally, there's the normal phone stuff of voice calls and texts, occasional web browsing etc.
Ideally it'll be 3G. I'd really like it to have WiFi.
My budget is tight, about £80/$130
josefcrist: You've echoed my own thoughts. Do I keep my existing BT GPS receiver (which gets flaky when it's hot), and go for the Tytn, or do I spend a bit extra, and go for the Tytn II with built in GPS.
One thing that makes me nervous about the M3100 is the ease with which you can brick it. Upgrading my last phone was very easy, but the Hermes forums are full of people who've bricked their phones. I'm a constant fiddler, and if there's a chance of upgrading an OS, or cooking my own, I'll give it a go.
I've found that http://pdadb.net/ allows side-by-side comparisons of phones, so I can now compare my targets, and choose the most appropriate one (e.g. I now know there's been a change in processor from Tytn to Tytn II, both ARM based. The II has double the RAM and ROM.
This page compares my existing phone with the 3 main contenders in my list.
Does anyone here have a Tytn II? I've been using a Wizard (borrowed), and I find that even though the resolution's the same as my existing phone, the pixels have quite a gap between them, giving quite a pixellated appearance.
Many thanks,
Pete.