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Is the Polaris a big upgrade to the Artemis?

Hi
I want to upgrade my XDA Orbit (Artemis) to the XDA Orbit 2 (Polaris / Cruise).
However when comparing the two PDAs i see that theres not much difference... I already have TouchFlo on my Artemis, got navigation software, memory is not a problem, etc.
The only things that are new is the hard flush screen, the 3MP camera, 3G and...er...thats all i can think of!
So anyways my main question is, those people who have upgraded from the artemis to the polaris, is it worth paying £150 (or $300) for those few extra features? Is there anything I should know that makes the polaris significantly better than the artemis?
Thanks...

100% faster CPU.
More memory is always better for performance and it has 100% more memory too.
Also, given that all the cool apps are included in ROM in means even more memory is free to boost performance.

& you can sell it on eBay for approx. £350 if you arn't impressed.

Yh on eBay they are selling for huge amounts of money... £350
I recently bought a 22 inch monitor for my computer. I spent £140.00 on it but now I think its time I sold that along with my XDA Orbit and bought a XDA Orbit II.
They don't look as nice with the silver front. Why didn't O2 keep it black ;( Lol
The speed is a bonus aswell, I don't know why they used a 200Mhz processor for the orbit 1? Thats just really stupid in my opinion, just makes the PDA...well slower lol especially when it was the latest PDA of its time and the previous ones had like 400Mhz processors. It makes it stand out, but not in a good way.
Anyway I will try to sell my orbit to friends and not on eBay because on eBay they go for really cheap now!
As for the monitor I'll try get that sold....man I really regret buying it in the first place now, i bought it weeks before the orbit 2 was released - the money i was saving TO BUY the orbit 2! I just got impatient lol...
Does anyone know where I can get an orbit 2 for £300 ? or can anyone predict when they will dramatically fall in value on eBay (and start selling for like...£280-£320)
Thanks!
(P.S. - "& you can sell it on eBay for approx. £350 if you arn't impressed." -- I doubt i wouldnt be impressed with a PDA like that lol

My single reason for the upgrade from P3300 to Polaris was iGo 8 Try to run this one on a 200 Mhz CPU with 64 MB RAM. It's unusable. On the Polaris it rocks
Last but not least: The Polaris IS much faster even than Meschle's fastest ROMS for the P3300 And that with stock ROM. I can't imagine how much bigger the difference will get when Meschle gets a Polaris

Well the 3G sold it for me! But the faster processor and extra memory were plusses too.

Yh his ROMS are fast and if the factory Polaris ones are fast... pheeww.... thats gonna be lightning LOL
Just took a look at eBay - If I were to sell my Artemis i'd get about £135-£145 UK Pounds (one UK Pound is two American Dollars).
A massive decrease from when I last bought it. They have just plumetted in value... should I try to sell my Artemis A.S.A.P. and get what I can from it and not have a PDA for 2-3 months (to wait for the value of the Polaris to decrease) and then buy the Polaris?
I can try get about £180 for it from friends - some are not aware of the massive price decrease LOL.

Ok just gave my XDA Orbit 1 (HTC Artemis) to my friends dad who is going to try it out for a few days. If he likes it, he will pay £180 for it!
Wish me luck! Hope that it doesn't break or somehow mess up and that hes pleased with it and wants to buy it! I regulary see my friend and his dad and if he buys it and then something goes wrong hes going to come to me with the questions!
Yas

HTC Touch Diamond £42.50 monthly contract 12 months

HTC Touch Diamond + T-Mobile Flext 35 + Web N Walk
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168252
HTC Touch Diamond + T-Mobile Flext 30 + Web N Walk
version: £37.50 Monthly,
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168250
HTC Touch Diamond + T-Mobile Flext 20 + Web N Walk
version: £27.50 Monthly
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=168247

500 pounds? Not very cheap, particularly not for a device with a measle 4G storage only and still not known GUI performance (the demo was VERY slow). How much data is in the package? Flat rate 3.5G?

Guess it depends how you look at it!
£420 - £470 to buy the handset only with no data tarrif
Or you can pay on the highest contract (total £500) and get flex 35 and unlimited interweb access.

Menneisyys: the standalone prices are really not indicative.
£474.95 for the Diamond, but £494.95 for the TyTN II (Kaiser).
Does this give a true indication of the hardware in each?
So hopefully the contract price should tend towards being free-ish, quite soon.
V

vijay555 said:
Menneisyys: the standalone prices are really not indicative.
£474.95 for the Diamond, but £494.95 for the TyTN II (Kaiser).
Does this give a true indication of the hardware in each?
So hopefully the contract price should tend towards being free-ish, quite soon.
V
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Click to collapse
Ouch! 500 pounds for the Kaiser? That's expensive... I think I stick with the, in amlmost all respects (except for being one-device converged), far superior Nokia N95 + iPAQ 210 combo

i trust Nokia will fade out very soon.. because they failed to keep the technology up to date.

Your having a laugh aren't you, the majority of people out there couldn't give two hoots about the tech in their phones, they are all fashion slave gimps, so long as their phone is small pretty and goes ring ring in the handbag/manbag they are content !! nokia will be here for a long time yet !

Dun know about that really....
Tech is out of date??
I didnt realise that was the case. The N series and E series line of phones are surely pushing tech in the same way that HTC etc are?
My N95 is much less powerfull than my ameo or Vario 4 or even a HTC touch.....but does web viewing and multimedia 10X more comfortably.....

Toshiba TG01 - fighting against the Touch HD?

Hey guys,
its the second day of the cebit and the second day of me visiting it!
Just came home from the afterwork party. It was great!
But most important, i just got information of the PRICING of the TG01 in Europe.
A guy from Microsoft told me, that the TG01 will come out for around 400€
considering it has the snapdragon cpu, a WVGA 4,1" Screen it is REALLY good.

seems like a fair price for this bad boy device if true...

Prices dropping with successor models?

Hi,
does someone know the usual price policy of HTC concerning new models? Do previous ones become cheaper once a new one is available?
I'd be particularly interested in the Diamond, as the Diamond 2 will be available soon and I'd like to know whether I could expect a price drop soon.
Thanks.

lutent said:
Hi,
does someone know the usual price policy of HTC concerning new models? Do previous ones become cheaper once a new one is available?
I'd be particularly interested in the Diamond, as the Diamond 2 will be available soon and I'd like to know whether I could expect a price drop soon.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It´s logic that prices goes down with the launching of new models, I don´t know if HTC has a policy and don´t really think so...
But let me give you an example of how the prices "down"
At least on my country, one of the lastest countries in the world to recieve any new model of almost anything.
Now days the actual price for an HTC S621 (Excalibur) is around $357USD!!!, X-peria is $1214USD (Just to give some examples)
With this example you can see that here lowing the prices does not apply
Maybe in other countries where new models arrive soon as they are launched you can see a sensitive decrease of the prices.
Just my point of view.

orb3000 said:
It´s logic that prices goes down with the launching of new models, I don´t know if HTC has a policy and don´t really think so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thats why I am asking. I wasnt actually thinking of a real strict policy but rather about how HTC respectively most of the vendors acted upon the availability of a successor.
Did the prices usually decrease quickly once a successor was out or did they remain stable? I am asking because I want to get a Diamond but wouldnt really like to have a sudden price drop within two weeks.

i am thinking the same thing but with an experia

The prices apparently do not decrease with a new version. I just looked whether the price of the Diamond's predecessor, the Touch, dropped in price and it did not.
However right now I am seriously reconsidering anyway if I am getting a Diamond after having read http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=439410

supply and demand
I'd suspect that htc stop making
devices when newer ones come out

Yes that´s correct
But that is happening on the first world countries where consumism is more faster.
On other countries like mine due to the late arriving of new models we have a 2 year delay making the "old" models still being here sold as new and at impresive high prices.
I´m sure other countries behaive similar.

yep, it depends wich country your in if the price is going to drop. That's why ebay is a good reference for purchase with it's many different international sellers.

Here in Hong Kong Definitely price of a previous model will drop if the New Model comes out.
Just to give you some numbers for a HTC TOUCH HD.
When the HD was released here in HK it has costed initially ca. $930USD now HD will be sold for ca.$650USD. Most likely by the time Touch Pro2 will be coming out, the price will drop further ca.100-150USD.
However HTC made smart move and did not announced the TP2 is a direct succesor of HD but atleast it is almost the same just differences of Keyboard, miner screen issue and the camera. Therefore I believe here HK any new buyer will sure go with the TP2 which will put pressure of HD price.
With this years economy situation and other WinMo device manufacturer coming up with better devices ,HTC will be needing to droping the prices. Just Today I have seen the new Asus P835 just for ca.420 USD which has almost the same specs. like a HTC HD
Therefore as others also meantioned if you are in a country in which those new devices will be released on day 1 then I would say it is worth to wait for few more weeks.

Thanks everyone.
A price drop is also what I would have imagined, however as mentioned previously it doesnt seem to take place - at least here in Europe. The Diamond's predecessor, the Touch, started at EUR 410 and is now down to EUR 310 (when the Diamond was introduced it was at EUR 340). The Diamond at the other hand was initially available for EUR 500 and is now down to EUR 380.
So the price drop is rather equal, even with the Diamond not having yet a successor out.

Xiaomi phone can't be legit

So, as someone living and working in China, I've been super excited following up on the Xiaomi Phone. When they released the price as 2000 RMB (about $310 USD), I knew it had to be fake, or there was some serious funny business. The numbers just don't add up.
Engadget recently had a review of the Xiaomi phone and had it benchmarking near the Galaxy S 2 in several tests, so I think it makes sense to compare these two:
SGS 2 Advantages: Super AMOLED screen; 4.3 inch screen (vs 4 inch); forward facing camera; 1080p video recording (vs 720p); onboard storage (16 GB vs 4 GB); slightly smaller footprint.
Xiaomi Advantages: Price; processor speed (1.5 Ghz vs 1.2); battery (1930 mAh vs 1650); GLONASS and GPS tracking; highly customizable UI out of the box.
In China, the SGS2 retails for about 4300 RMB (about $670 USD). So how does a phone which is in the SGS2's ballpark retail for less than half the price?
It gets even more peculiar. Here are some questions Xiaomi hasn't cleared up(or at least I haven't seen their responses yet):
1) Xiaomi uses a Qualcomm processor and a LCD screen from Sharp (Japanese import). So they can't be using local parts to save costs, how are they able to offer the phone at only $310?
2) Local competitors like Huawei and ZTE who have much more experience in manufacturing (and much more leverage with suppliers) have yet to produce a phone remotely like this. Also, their closest local competition in terms of specs is something like the Huawei Honor, a single core phone that retails for about $400. Yet Xiaomi, which has never produced hardware before is getting better deals than these guys on components? Samsung also does component development in-house, but Xiaomi is getting better pricing than Samsung?
3) Xiaomi was originally a software developer. How did they pull a piece of impressive hardware like this out of nowhere?
4) Why retail for $310? They could sell it for $500 and it would still be way cheaper than an SGS2. Hell, I paid more than 2000 RMB for the crappy 2 year old Nokia I'm still using over here.
My Chinese is OK so I've been trying to read more on the Xiaomi forums, but I haven't really gotten any new information, other than there's something like 300,000 preorders already. I figure there's got to be some serious funny business going on. Probably:
a) ridiculous free loans and/or development assistance from the government to built up national prestige; or
b) copying another phone's internals verbatim; or
c) fake components of some kind
It looked really smooth in the Engadget video, so I'm inclined to be believe it's option A. Good for consumers I guess, but probably lousy if you're a Chinese taxpayer. Any ideas on why the price is so low?

Smaller companies tend to do these kind of things.
However I'm interested as well.

I believe that it's one part 'a' and another that generally huawei and zte have primarily been marketed for export (to SE Asia, India, EU) but the government is really trying to subsidize local start ups to fight imports (like HTC, Sony, etc...) and get Chinese to spend their money on Chinese things. But if a Chinese phone were 3000 RMB and a Korean or Japanese phone was also 3000 RMB, no one would get the Chinese phone for obvious reasons.

so basically you just made up a thread without any evidence and full of speculation accusing Xiaomi not being legit.

india are making ARM Cortex 9 phones with 4 GB for only $35
if they can do it, so can china
lol

Mmmhmm .
I don't why people have so much comments , no offence though .
Forever living in my Galaxy Ace using XDA App

I support you , and do your know meizu'M9 or MX?

hehe
it is good for everyone. thank you!

AllGamer said:
india are making ARM Cortex 9 phones with 4 GB for only $35
if they can do it, so can china
lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously?

cdesai said:
Seriously?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, there is a post with the pictures and spec here in the forum
aprox 5 days old
it's made for the india school system

Hi it's my first post and I have no exact figures to support this other than a simple comparison to another industry.
I remember hearing from someone that the mark up on mobile phones (this was a while ago) was a few hundred percent. Remember that it doesn't cost 800 dollars to make a phone and the people that usually make it in third world manufacturing companies or places with poor working conditions only get paid a few dollars an hour to make your 800 dollar phones.
our
My comparison industry is optometry. The following information comes from someone I know who is an optometrist:
"Frames like Gucci and Prada cost $3 per frame to make. In the stores you pay $500 dollars to buy them. That is an insane mark up. However they can't retail it cheaper because of an agreement in place to prevent the devaluation of the brand."
I am sure the same thing happens in the cell phone industry.
Just thought that this might put the legitimacy of the phone in perspective.
Thanks for your time.
andao79 said:
So, as someone living and working in China, I've been super excited following up on the Xiaomi Phone. When they released the price as 2000 RMB (about $310 USD), I knew it had to be fake, or there was some serious funny business. The numbers just don't add up.
Engadget recently had a review of the Xiaomi phone and had it benchmarking near the Galaxy S 2 in several tests, so I think it makes sense to compare these two:
SGS 2 Advantages: Super AMOLED screen; 4.3 inch screen (vs 4 inch); forward facing camera; 1080p video recording (vs 720p); onboard storage (16 GB vs 4 GB); slightly smaller footprint.
Xiaomi Advantages: Price; processor speed (1.5 Ghz vs 1.2); battery (1930 mAh vs 1650); GLONASS and GPS tracking; highly customizable UI out of the box.
In China, the SGS2 retails for about 4300 RMB (about $670 USD). So how does a phone which is in the SGS2's ballpark retail for less than half the price?
It gets even more peculiar. Here are some questions Xiaomi hasn't cleared up(or at least I haven't seen their responses yet):
1) Xiaomi uses a Qualcomm processor and a LCD screen from Sharp (Japanese import). So they can't be using local parts to save costs, how are they able to offer the phone at only $310?
2) Local competitors like Huawei and ZTE who have much more experience in manufacturing (and much more leverage with suppliers) have yet to produce a phone remotely like this. Also, their closest local competition in terms of specs is something like the Huawei Honor, a single core phone that retails for about $400. Yet Xiaomi, which has never produced hardware before is getting better deals than these guys on components? Samsung also does component development in-house, but Xiaomi is getting better pricing than Samsung?
3) Xiaomi was originally a software developer. How did they pull a piece of impressive hardware like this out of nowhere?
4) Why retail for $310? They could sell it for $500 and it would still be way cheaper than an SGS2. Hell, I paid more than 2000 RMB for the crappy 2 year old Nokia I'm still using over here.
My Chinese is OK so I've been trying to read more on the Xiaomi forums, but I haven't really gotten any new information, other than there's something like 300,000 preorders already. I figure there's got to be some serious funny business going on. Probably:
a) ridiculous free loans and/or development assistance from the government to built up national prestige; or
b) copying another phone's internals verbatim; or
c) fake components of some kind
It looked really smooth in the Engadget video, so I'm inclined to be believe it's option A. Good for consumers I guess, but probably lousy if you're a Chinese taxpayer. Any ideas on why the price is so low?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'd get the M9 or M9x ( or something.. Quad Core? HELLOOOOO )
I don't see why someone would get a device ONLY for Miui, most phones out there have a build of MIUI.

You really think that $600 phone costs $600 to make?
The markup on electrical goods from brand names can be over 200%

My point is not really related to the idea of a markup, I KNOW all cell phones have a dramatic markup, and I read not long ago an iPhone 4 costs about $180 to make, while they retail for something like $600 out of contract.
I'm more interested in a) How did this company come out of nowhere with this sort of hardware? and b) They don't NEED to sell it for 2000 RMB for it to be a hit. They could have sold it for $400-450 and it would have still been a hell of a lot cheaper than a Galaxy S 2.
That, coupled with the fact that the big guns in China (Meizu, Huawei, ZTE) are not even in the same ballpark with specs or price, is really weird.
If i can demo one and it works well, i'll definitely pick one up, but there must be some serious funny business behind the scenes.

Why must there be funny business?

Well, you can build a cheap phone if you want.
The question is: can you sell it cheap?
Operating costs, brand advertisement etc. They have no problem there, they just build a phone having no ad space on western media.They can do it, they are smart enough.Plus: we enthusiasts are their advertisement plan, we buy it for cheap, all our friends will buy it.
It's a win win scenario.My 2 eurocents.

andao79 said:
My point is not really related to the idea of a markup, I KNOW all cell phones have a dramatic markup, and I read not long ago an iPhone 4 costs about $180 to make, while they retail for something like $600 out of contract.
I'm more interested in a) How did this company come out of nowhere with this sort of hardware? and b) They don't NEED to sell it for 2000 RMB for it to be a hit. They could have sold it for $400-450 and it would have still been a hell of a lot cheaper than a Galaxy S 2.
That, coupled with the fact that the big guns in China (Meizu, Huawei, ZTE) are not even in the same ballpark with specs or price, is really weird.
If i can demo one and it works well, i'll definitely pick one up, but there must be some serious funny business behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is risk. Do you risk spending $300 on a new unknown brand or do you spend $450 on a noname brand when you can get a well known brand for $600?
There is obviously going to be a greater curve of buyers the lower the price you go and finding the balance is where your marketers need mettle. I think the current price is going to be very good to get users into buying the phone. Obviously, if they can become the new HTC, their markup is going to increase hugely.
My concern is going to be: at ~$300, what is the customer service going to be like? HTC's is mediocre here in the UK, but if Vodafone, Orange et al resell this phone, it's going to be VERY attractive to us as the carriers are held responsible until end of warranty.

russ18uk said:
The issue is risk. Do you risk spending $300 on a new unknown brand or do you spend $450 on a noname brand when you can get a well known brand for $600?
There is obviously going to be a greater curve of buyers the lower the price you go and finding the balance is where your marketers need mettle. I think the current price is going to be very good to get users into buying the phone. Obviously, if they can become the new HTC, their markup is going to increase hugely.
My concern is going to be: at ~$300, what is the customer service going to be like? HTC's is mediocre here in the UK, but if Vodafone, Orange et al resell this phone, it's going to be VERY attractive to us as the carriers are held responsible until end of warranty.
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Click to collapse
Just to clarify, the retailer is responsible until you have had a reasonable amount of use out of it irrespective of warranty
The law doesn't care about warranties, they're in the best case an agreement that the device will be repaired without the need to take legal action, and in the worst case used to illegally convince consumers they have no rights.
Take my Sensation, afaik it has a 12month warranty.
Say the screen dies after 18 months, I'll be demanding O2 repair or replace it otherwise I'll be contacting trading standards as being a phone provided on a 24 month contract I should be able to expect it to last at least 24 months and more especially considering the price when new.
I love being a consumer in the UK

Xiaomo said:
I support you , and do your know meizu'M9 or MX?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes~ Meizu much better than xiaomi

kerwin_pig said:
yes~ Meizu much better than xiaomi
Click to expand...
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WHY DID YOU DIG UP OLD THREADS
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