The specs on that phone are good- UMTS, BT2.0, WIFI, etc. A lot of people feel the 730/830 are too big and clunky.
That being said, I NEVER go by anything C-NET has to say. According to them, the MotoQ uses MICRO SD. C-NET is just one person's review of a phone. I believe their top smartphone is a blackberry. Look at this:
Their top smart phones. The only one I would even THINK about buying is the 8525. But those sideways keyboards really kill the phone, they really are a chore to use when you need to do something quickly.
i believe that is the next generation of the ppc6800 or xv6800. I can't wait till ppc6800 comes out. The spec on this phone is crazy. Also the fact it's htc phone, you can always rely on the people from xda to hack it. From what i understand, the actual phone name is call the hermes which include the HTC TyTN / XDA trion / MDA Vario II / VPA Compact III / SPV M3100 / Dopod CHT 9000 / Dopod 838 Pro.
The phone comes with support for a2dp. Not sure but it might include the HTC task manager.
i have sony ericcson ds-970 stereo headset which is bt 2.0. It should work nicely with ppc6800 because it's bt 2.0 spec.
I don't know this for sure, just what I heard. I searched for the link, but couldn't find it. Someone said this when it was first reported that Sprint and Verizon "announced" that they had the device, in their hands, and were testing. It was a couple of months ago, and they said that Sprint only tested the 6700 for 3-4 months, so they thought this phone would be ready by that date. But this is NOT in any way "credible." Just someone's educated guess
Geez, with all the tech out there, ain't it time for something bold?
It looks OK, but it's really not much more than a slightly tweaked Apache. Still, for domestic GSM/HSDPA, it's really the only choice for the moment.
Biggest drawbacks seem to be 400MHz (in this case from Sammy, just another ARM licensee), microSD (alas, this is the future), missing 2100MHz, the nearly obligatory horiz keyboard (unappealing to ix30 fans), and ah, that vaguely cheesy HTC fit and finish. The scroll wheel's an interesting hook for PPCs. We'll see if HTC got it right.
It does do 802.11b/g, but shows no advancements in memory or display/graphics architecture.
Wonder what AKU is embedded? At this point, we're lookin' for 3.2+.
In the end, this PPC really won't move us forward; many will concur it doesn't displace the ix30. Just another average $399 device. Better days are comin'...
Awright, here's a link to another review of the HTC Hermes/Cingular 8525.
Mark if they gave me the device, and paid me to do it, I would review them, heck if they gave me the device I would have probably reviewed it for them. I always laugh at people that do reviews, as many of them have no clue about the product, and they were just handed it, or told to pick something to review with no background or experience with them. I can see it now "Hey, you know how to use a cell phone right? Have you ever used a 'Palm Pilot'? Good take a look at this and write a review." Same type of things happened when the i730 first came out, many 'bad' reviews (not bad for the product, but just poor reviewers), and many sounded like they never used a PDA phone. Mark thanks for the props...
__________________
-Michael
Need help setting up your i730/i830 or other WM2003/WM5 Phone, as well as the other hacks I have done, check out the MRailing Guides and Links
Mark if they gave me the device, and paid me to do it, I would review them, heck if they gave me the device I would have probably reviewed it for them. I always laugh at people that do reviews, as many of them have no clue about the product, and they were just handed it, or told to pick something to review with no background or experience with them. I can see it now "Hey, you know how to use a cell phone right? Have you ever used a 'Palm Pilot'? Good take a look at this and write a review." Same type of things happened when the i730 first came out, many 'bad' reviews (not bad for the product, but just poor reviewers), and many sounded like they never used a PDA phone. Mark thanks for the props...
I found it hilarious that they rated the i730 as one of their top Pocket PC phones overall others, at 8.3, yet Bonnie Cha rated the i830 for Sprint quite low, 6 or lower if I remember correctly, because its big or bulky alone..she didnt mention almost anything it had..it was one of the worst reviews I had seen on Cnet. Her Mac Pro review was amazingly less informative than that. "Uhm it has a cool look to it...um..like what"?? While I overall like listening to their input (mostly people who have been there longer..that dood..james kim is it?) I agree that they have quite a few people, especially the newer ones, reviewing stuff that dont know about it and dont give as helpful info as they could. They also don't seem to know the difference between a smartphone and Pocket PC vs Pocket PC Phone Edition, but oh well. It lead me to the i730, and hopefull at some point the Archo AV 500 or 700..and for that Im grateful. I agree as well that you should have done the review though.
I finally got my 8525 and I think I can compare and contrast the two phones for you all. I have had the i730 since July of 2005 and have been using WM5 as part of the Friendly User Testing program.
Factory OS build is AKU 2.3 although a previous build before release it had 2.6 which can be installed on it. The radio also does support UMTS 2100 for European broadband.
What do I like over the i730
-Clean Lines, Internal Antenna, thinner (barely)
-Battery lasts longer then extended battery of i730
-This is actually a complaint with many Hermes users but coming from the i730 with Exchange ActiveSync this has been a noticeable improvement.
-USB sync and charge
-Phone dialer can use phone pad to look up contacts and 4 way rocker is used to look up call history and bring up speed dial. The latter is accomplished on the i730 with Dimension's phonehelper. However, the smart dialer might be available as a downloadable cab somewhere. This really gives the PPC a phone like feature that was missing from the PPCs that I have used. I thought I was going to miss the horizontal slider when it came to searching for contacts and dialing but I found that the dialer in the 8525 makes it even easier to use as a phone.
-Processor scaling works
-Native A2DP
-Native Tethering
-No crashing; I used to reboot 3 times a day, missed alarms, etc. I always thought it was phonealarm. However, I have my whole suite of apps stuffed in the 8525 and have not had to reboot once since Friday, that to me is amazing.
-Coverage is actually better for me. I commute from the burbs of Philly to Center City and had 4 areas where I had drop outs without coverage. None with Cingular. Amazing, since I thought I was going to be losing coverage instead I gained.
-International capability
-Army of hacker/developers at XDA forums
What I dislike about the Hermes/8525 or miss from the i730
-Dislike the cramped buttons near the four way and mail and email buttons at the top.
-Miss the software: Picsel browser, launcher/taskmanager, and Remote Control
-Miss the magnetic slide and solid feel, although the 8525 feels slightly better then the Wizard/8125
-Miss the multitude of programmable buttons, including 2ndary function for long press
-Miss the slider waking the phone from sleep mode
-Miss 4GB SD card, must buy 2GB microSD
-Miss Volume Control (i am sure the wheel can do something)
-I like the i730 stlyus
-The IRDA is on the bottom bad for remote control apps
That's about it. In a nutshell, I really do prefer the 8525 over the i730 now that I got used to the sideways slider, which does help with the typing. Phone functionality is so much better that I would recommend it over a WM Smartphone. Almost got a Blackjack, but I like the ability to do Skype. The button support is very weak which can be fixed with another app. Now I have a camera. Which makes for watching the Iversonless Sixers game from the floor seats more fun, especially when the dancers come out. Not that the pictures are great but it is a nice to have when you have something to snap. If you have any questions that I might be able to answer let me know. Who knows hopefully somebody will get Crossbow working on the Hermes then that will make it another plus.
Thanks for the review, Trinergy. It's very helpful. It sounds like a solid device. How do you find the call quality on the device to be?
Call quality has been good in fact better then the i730 because my boss could hear me on the 8525 yesterday at the game, where it was very loud. While using the i730, he always told me I mumbled. However, there is a difference between GSM and CDMA when there is not much signal. On the i730 with no bars showing I can still place a call and have a conversation. On Cingular and T-mobile phones 1 bar means choppiness. I am think it is because of the differences in technology. I firmly believe CDMA is better in real world use and technologically more efficient. The nice thing is that I haven't found many places where the phone didnt work. Cingular has the train tunnels underground covered in Center City Philadelphia. I could make calls in the tunnel and people were looking at me funny.
Its quite easy: 8525 provides the following over the i730:
Better voice quality....a lot better
Rock solid stability....no lockups, hangups, etc and soft reset once
and the phone is ok. With the i730, I usually had to soft reset 2-4
times b4 the phone would boot properly
With xcpusclaler, lock the processor at 500, then its just as fast as
the i730.
The horizontal keyboard is a breeze to use. I do miss the slider
function of answering, etc though.
The smart dialer, but not sure if I can get used to this system. Will
probably load voice command as long as I can use one button to
activate it-and the same with bluetooth.
The scroll wheel makes one handed operation even easier.
CAMERA! CAMERA! CAMERA! Wow, I really did miss that!
Jack for external antenna. Wow, haven't tried it, but at least its
available.
And since its with Cingular, better plans that cost less, cheaper data plans, and of course rollover minutes. Now I am not a fan of PTT, but at least that should be available soon as well. 8525 wins hands down!!!
Let be realistic The 8525 doesn't have much on the i730. BT 2.0 Data and calling and a camera. The stability issue well how many of you had any problems with the i730 in the first two months? It takes time to see how stable a device is. With a price tag of 400 and it being near 3 years newer i don't think it has anything on the i730. Now if they get the GPS working as well as a deticated GPS unit i may sing a different tune but $400 is alot of money for something that has to be overclocked to keep up with the i730. I think it's more a preference issue than it really be soooooo much better. It's a little and i do mean a LITTLE better then the i730.
Let be realistic The 8525 doesn't have much on the i730. BT 2.0 Data and calling and a camera. The stability issue well how many of you had any problems with the i730 in the first two months? It takes time to see how stable a device is. With a price tag of 400 and it being near 3 years newer i don't think it has anything on the i730. Now if they get the GPS working as well as a deticated GPS unit i may sing a different tune but $400 is alot of money for something that has to be overclocked to keep up with the i730. I think it's more a preference issue than it really be soooooo much better. It's a little and i do mean a LITTLE better then the i730.
The 8525 uses a Samsung processor, not the Xscale that is used in the i730/830. My understanding is that while the clock speed on the Xscale is higher, in real life performance, they are approximately the same.
According to the guys in the 8525 forum they have to overclock the Samsung processor to 500MHZ to get it as fast as the i730. I haven't seen any benchmarks on the Samsung 400 yet so i don't know for sure. I'm going off guys who have both of these phones.
Yes your right. A Intel and a Samsung processor of the same MHz the samsung is reportedly faster.
Here is a slightly more objective comparison, (but still subjective) since I've been using both for just a week now.
battery life.............about the same. as expected, backlight and phone use the most power-neither excels here.
signal strength........nearly the same, at least in my calling area. I live in an area with a weak signal for both and also work in a hospital. Both catch, but then both drop calls. Only thing is with GSM, I really do not like the searching for a signal once the signal is lost.
stability.................the Sammy seems to hang more, but seems to have gotten a bit stabler as time has gone by. The 8525 has actually hung a couple of times, but I don't know if its because I have been overclocking. And then when it does seem to hang, it usually recovers after a "short" wait where as when the Sammy hung, it hung. So though its early as NullKill has so rightfully stated, the 8525 seems a little better here, but only a little.
Performance: Is it just me? WM5 seems to take a lot more processing power and both seem slower than with WM2003. Even if the 8525 is not overclocked, speed is very similar though the Sammy seems slightly faster. But not by much. Still the Sammy wins slightly here.
Voice Quality: Here is where the 8525 wins hands down. The 8525 is easily clearer and louder. But then I think all Samsungs and even LGs just don't do well with the mic. As is obvious, I don't always use BT.
BT 2.0: Only seems a little better with less static and a bit better range. One thing I do like is that the 8525 reconnects with the headset quickly and conistently after the connection is lost.
In conclusion: NullKill said its really a matter of preference. As for preference, I actually prefer the Sammy. And I was really looking forward to the i760 with its hard dial pad right on the front of the phone. So, I have to agree with NullKill. The 8525 is only a little better than the i730 and if it weren't for Verizon, I'd have stuck with the i730, at least until the next generation of phones arrived.
The 8525 scroll wheel enhances one-handed operation even further.
Voice tags-though I thought I wouldn't like it, I've mapped voice tags to a hard button and it is awesome. So far with window down, driving on a freeway, voice tags has been 95% accurate. The other 5% may have been when I mumbled, which I do too often. Haven't tried it with bluetooth, so I'm not even sure if the headset can activate it. Would that be asking for too much? I understand that voice command is NOT considered compatible with the 8525, especially with regards to BT. Supposedly, MS is working on this.
SMS is not as easy as with the i730: requires a couple of extra steps when you're replying.
The hard keys now mapped to "calendar" and "contacts" cannot be programmed as they can on the i730. But I know there is software out there that can fix that.
Phonealarm has thus far worked flawlessly. ?????????????
Oh, this might be a big one. I understand that there already is a WM6 (Crossbow) ROM available for the 8525. It is unofficial and vanilla, which I just learned means that it is the OS only! Hmmm, maybe not such a big one.
Of course I will wait on this.
Again, the dailer disappears after making the call. What is up with this? Of course this happens on the i730 as well.
Missing my i730..........it might just be withdrawal pains
Anyone else want to contribute to getting MR the 8525 so we can get his support on this phone?
The hard keys now mapped to "calendar" and "contacts" cannot be programmed as they can on the i730. But I know there is software out there that can fix that.
This wasn't on the i730 either, but it's something that I included in the MRailing Phone Tools, which you can still run on the 8525, but you will just need to delete the SRS audio utility from the programs list, and then you would have the utility to change the keys, or you can find it elsewhere, the exact name of it is in the thread discussing the MRailing Phone Tools (it's a closed thread which should help you find it).
__________________
-Michael
Need help setting up your i730/i830 or other WM2003/WM5 Phone, as well as the other hacks I have done, check out the MRailing Guides and Links
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