Hey guys, what are some good alternatives to the HTC TyTn II. I had the ATT TILT for a month and a half and have found that I barely ever use the keyboard. So my next phone will not need a keyboard but definitely need touchscreen and GPS. Anything cheap or reasonable price? I see the Touch Cruise but I don't like the styling too much and it's pretty expensive. I am looking to spend around $400.
you can get an htc touch (not cruise or dual) on ebay for very reasonable....excellent phone
Neither of those has GPS, though. Among the current batch of HTC devices with GPS, if you don't like the Cruise looks, the best one is the TyTn II. The Touch is great, but it has no GPS, no 3G and only 200 Mhz (and that's making sure you get the second version as the first one had only 64 Mb RAM).
HTC will be announcing new devices on May 6th. I think your best bet is wait and see
I most likely will not have enough money at all for the new HTC phones that are going to be announced on May 6th. Current limit is $400 =(. That actually is a very large sum of money for me to spend on a phone in my opinion. But yeah, GPS is a must have for me as well as touch screen for the GPS programs. I really don't need 3G at all, not even EDGE or GPRS lol. I do need wi-fi though.
d810 is your champ then! i used the trinity and it's excellent!
Yeah I was looking at the trinity as well. But the only thing that made me look for something else is because of the 64MB ram. I had the TyTn for a while and it was sluggish compared to the TyTn II and I am assuming that part of it was due to the ram. The TyTn II allowed me to have many more program open and not have to constantly worry about closing programs.
Hmm. Wifi+GPS+128 Mb rules out most current HTC hardware. I think only the TyTn II and the Cruise fit your needs. Add the $400 limitation and you're out of options.
Why don't you keep the TyTn II anyway? even if you don't use the keyboard (which I love) all in all it's a good device. So I suppose you want something thinner, don't you? Have you considered (gasp) another brand? For example Asus has some interesting GPS phones, although I think the ones with 128 Mb have a keyboard too, and I have no idea about prices.
Yeah I have checked other devices and the Eten devices catch my eye but the main problem is 64MB ram that most their devices have. Some of theirs have VGA screens and I am assuming with a VGA screen you would want more ram because the applications for VGA typically take up more space.
Related
Hi there all - I currently have a MDA Compact III through T-Mobile and am due an upgrade next week. I don't mind moving networks. Whats better than what i currently have? Does anyone know if there are any new PDA's out on the market shortly? If so, what do they do and should i hold on or just go with whats out there now! I'd really appreciate your help and i'm totally open to all options.
Cheers and thanks for reading
Regards
Daddy H
yep the mda compac IV, stay that few extra months, itll bring the price of the device down, its also known as the HTC Touch Diamond. Comes out in june sometime on sim-free, probably july on T-Mob.
If you wait those 2 months, yoll probs get some loyalty bonus or at least a discount.
Definitely the best phone ive seen thats upcoming
Rory
Thread moved to general as this is not NEWS for most of us that is.
I might be wrong, but the Diamond doesn't have qwertry, memory card slot or a flash on the camera right? Hardly an upgrade from the previous MDA range. In fact that seems massively lower spec than the MDA Vario II to me. aGPS and VGA screen do look a treat though.
It is pretty, but if I wanted pretty I'd get an iPhone. Also, the back is hideous and looks like it would be seriously uncomfortable in your pocket.
I have an i-Mate 9502 (pretty much brand new out) which is lovely, but until i-Mate get their arses in gear with patches/updates it has no SDHC support and it doesn't play videos so well (no worse than the MDA 3 mind). These features are supposedly coming though. It looks a bit like a sidekick which you can either take or leave.
Sony Ericsson X1 is what I'm waiting for with baited breath, although its looking like its not going to be out until the end of the year now :/
I hid money from the wife just so i could save for the raphael as long as my money doesn't corrode waiting for it.
If you can cope without the external memory card slot then the Touch Diamond (MDA COMPACT 4) is definitely the one for you: particularly given that you currently use a non-qwerty MDA Compact 3. The interface looks superb and the only drawback seems to be the lack of a memory card slot. There is no flash on the camera either, but IMHO you wouldn't buy a Winmo device for its camera anyway as they're all crap!
Another advantage is that its release on the T-Mobile uk network is imminent.
The Raphael should also be released on T-Mobile given their record of releasing wizard and Magician upgrades but you could be waiting an awfully long time for something that may not offer you any more benefits than the Touch Diamond. Its size and weight will certainly be greater too.
As regards other networks, well in the UK there is no advantage of going to another network for your windows mobile devices as no-one offers as much choice as T-Mobile, nor as good a package as Web n Walk.
leoni1980 said:
If you can cope without the external memory card slot then the Touch Diamond (MDA COMPACT 4) is definitely the one for you: particularly given that you currently use a non-qwerty MDA Compact 3. The interface looks superb and the only drawback seems to be the lack of a memory card slot. There is no flash on the camera either, but IMHO you wouldn't buy a Winmo device for its camera anyway as they're all crap!
Another advantage is that its release on the T-Mobile uk network is imminent.
The Raphael should also be released on T-Mobile given their record of releasing wizard and Magician upgrades but you could be waiting an awfully long time for something that may not offer you any more benefits than the Touch Diamond. Its size and weight will certainly be greater too.
As regards other networks, well in the UK there is no advantage of going to another network for your windows mobile devices as no-one offers as much choice as T-Mobile, nor as good a package as Web n Walk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera on my 9502 is excellent! Obviously not as good as an N95, but definately useable. I could happily take it on a day out instead of a camera.
"Also, the back is hideous and looks like it would be seriously uncomfortable in your pocket."
it's just paint it's not a real "diamon" crystal shape
Thanks for all your replies!!!
Cheers All for your comments - as a matter of interest, does size matter? I know the qwerty keyboards are bigger and bulkier but are they worth it?????????? what extra do you get ?
Cheers Again
Daddy
as a matter of fact i've been using the fingertouch onscreen keyboard most of the time with my universal, however if you do a lot of typing it's very useful to be able to turn to a qwerty keyboard. from experience of owning a Universal, Athena and Tytn 2 i would say that the tytn 2's keypad easily beats the Athena's mushy and unlit metal jobby, though the Athena is the best for touchscreen typing owing to the screen size and shape of the device. if you only send quick texts, and quick email responses and you're not bothered about expanding the memory of your device beyond 4gb then i'd say the Touch Diamond is the perfect upgrade for you. let's face it, if you're happy with your mda compact 3 is it really worth taking the chance of a bigger or vastly different device when you've got a natural upgrade(the Diamond) already around the corner waiting for you? it might not be to everyone's taste but the Diamond DOES look like a slick and capable bit of kit which you could do no harm by trying out.
Cheers Leoni, just ordering my HTC Touch now. thanks for all your help!
Regards
Daddy
Hello guys...
After some technical problems with my Kaiser (now in service), and after realizing that I don't really use the hardware keyboard all that much (a major criterion when I chose Kaiser), I was thinking of trading it for the ETEN Glofiish X800. I'm tempted by the 500MHz processor and the brilliant VGA screen, however are there any opinions on how well it fares in other issues? GPS, overall speed etc?
Thanks in advance,
t
if you don't want a keyboard anymore, you should maybe also consider the HTC Touch Diamond...very small and light, nice vga screen, gps, 4GB internal memory, etc.
Hmmm you could be right, I didn't think of that. Its processor is running @ 400MHz instead of 500, though, and a full €100/$160 more than the X800, so I'm not sure how it compares. One big plus is the wealth of custom ROMs lying around - haven't seen anything for the ETEN device...
Thanks for the advice
btw, don't forget to consider the iPhone 3G too...maybe not so interessting if you have a lot of windows mobile specific applications...but for normal use like mail, phone, calendar, etc it can be interessting.
anyway, before buying any new device, I can advice everyone to wait like a month or two, untill the iPhone 3G gets available everywhere. I hope the prices of many other windows mobile devices will drop after the 3G introduction.
the diamond and 3g are very comparable device, still the diamond costs 500euro and the 3g will be something like 300euro (without contract) in Belgium. so i expect htc will have to drop theire prices to concurrent with apple.
Ah no, not interested in iPhones! Not only do I need the Windows functionality indeed, but I have developed a certain anti-anti-establishment feeling against it, I just hate how 'hip' it has become
Still competition is good nonetheless. Now, I wonder, why on earth hasn't the TyTNII come down since its launch, at least in Greece? Still going for €800!
i too still prefer windows mobile because of some applications I couldn't live without...but after playing for a while with an iPhone I was really impressed with its responsiveness and stability. It couldn't nearly do as much as what I can do with my windows mobile device, but the things that the iPhone could do were working very well, very smooth. And that's something I can't say from my pocket pc. But anyway, I already got used to the many crashes and softreset that it now doesn't really bother me anymore
So have I, have used Windows for so long I'm all too used to it The firts major disadvantage of the iPhone would be the GPS functionality - what would I do without my iGo?
So, anyone with an idea about the ETEN vs HTC?
eten FTW! i just wished it had a BIGGER vga screen like the iphone! but the gps sirf III kills that iphone AGPS for sure! plus i hate mac stuff!
just wished our x800 had more internal RAM! 64 is not enuff!
I had an X800 before I got my Touch Cruise and I have to say, the only thing better than the TC is the VGA screen, other than that, it kept developing a Micro SD problem where the locking mechanism would break and the SD card wouldn't lock in place (I had one replacement unit, and an attempted repair, and it seems other people have had the same problem) It is also significantly slower than my TC (when you press a menu option in TomTom, you can see the menu layers change it is that slow!). Couple that with the recessed screen so it's almost impossible to press the x button without using the stylus, and I'm much happier with the touch cruise than the X800. I won't buy another E-Ten device as they seem to have very poor after sales service, and almost non-existent support for European users!
I have been using a TyTN/Hermes with WM6 for a year now. As my warranty is ending, I'm thinking about switching to another device and letting this one on eBay while it's in good condition.
I liked the TyTN but if I have to cope with a slide out keyboard I'd rather have no keyboard at all. I'd love to have a frontal keyboard for quickly typing stuff (something I loved on my Treo 650), but no keyboard is fine, too.
I do a lot of web browsing using Opera 8.65 and 9.5 and my TyTN is a bit slow so I'm looking for a device with more RAM than this one.
Here's some stuff I need:
-Wi-Fi
-Frontal keyboard or no keyboard (no sliding mechanism)
-128mb of RAM for Opera
And some stuff I'd like:
-GPS
-VGA
As for data speeds, I don't care. Same goes for bluetooth and battery life.
My current interests are the upcoming Treo Pro (probably too expensive) and the HTC Touch Enhanced but I don't really know what's on the market right now. The Treo 750 was perfect except it has no Wi-Fi and I don't pay for data right now.
I'd like something I could get for under 250$ on eBay, if possible.
i was gonna say the diamond till i saw the price range.... i would have to say that the htc touch is my recommendation, but no wifi in CDMA, and less memory with GSM but with wifi
Well, if you want a fast, I mean fast, device, get the Touch. Will do everything you need, except it has no WiFi and is QVGA. Judging by what you want, you'll have to cope with something your not looking for.
You might actually want to look at some smartphones. The s740 is HTC newest one, based on diamond design scheme, 256mb ram is totally monster (and maybe even overkill) and has dual keyboards.
no other smartphones from HTC seem to match your specifications, and the s740 definitely wont meet your price range. Actually, very few phones do, unless they're carrier-subsidized, which may be a better option than ebay.
if you have alot of money, id say get a samsung omnia
I like the touch for the price, but if I have to go for higher prices, I will ask for GPS, frontal keyboard and horribly fast hardware.
The Treo Pro might be just that, but it's not out yet...
EDIT: The Rogers HTC Touch has Wi-Fi, 256mb of ROM and 128mb of RAM, suits me pretty well and I'm still trying to get one on eBay. They are almost getting rare! There's the Asus Galaxy too but they are nowhere to be found.
EDIT2: If I can find the Touch, I'll go for it, but did anyone switch from a TyTN to a Touch Enhanced?
EDIT3: Little did I know about the existence of the Touch Cruise!
Well after 3 or 4 weeks with the Touch Diamond I'm going to sell it and buy something else.
The battery life is a bit poor but liveable but the looks of the phone and the user interface don't bother me so I think that's the Diamonds main selling points negated.
What I wanted was like my HTC Elf but more powerful and 3G connectivity.
I thought the Diamond would offer that and does in a way but I just feel that the processing power and RAM is wasted somewhere (VGA?) as it just doesn't impress.
After a few days using my wifes old blackberry I have become a hard keyboard convert so now the brief includes a keyboard.
The phone has to run slingplayer well and basically I'm not looking for a fashion phone just something with good performance and capability. Built in GPS too. TBH I'd rather QVGA as VGA seems overkill on such a small screen.
I've shortlisted the Kaiser.
And the HP IPAQ 914c. I've no experience of these but the spec looks good.
All advice and suggestions welcome.
Ben.
well between the 2 you have shortlisted i would say go for KAISER
its a very nice phone ,has a very good forum here at XDA ,and many interesting projects are going on for the phone
i just bought my kaiser on ebay for $230 the only problem i have had with it is that it is just not as stable as my old tmobile wing/htc herald. but gps is nice and it is way fast. i was going to buy an imate ultimate 9502 but i could not come up with that much money
Thanks.
It is a bonus with the Kaiser that lots are available on ebay.
Just noticed the Touch 3Gs specs are good apart from no keyboard. Should be even quicker than the Kaiser?
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.