So I finnally got my 256MB Memory card and I feel "free" like the wind!". I am no longer restricted by the 32MB of memory, well, Here's the review:
T-mobile's Pocket PC Phone Edition (Xda) specs:
Hardware Specs:
Processor: Intel StrongARM 206MHz, 32-bit
Memory: 32MB Flash ROM, 32MB RAM
Memory Expansion: SD card/MMC (does not support SDIO)
Display: Color Reflective TFT LCD (240x320 pixel), 3.5in diagonal, 12bit, 4096 colors
Battery: Lithium-Ion Polymer, 12 hrs battery life, Phone: 4 hrs talk, 100hrs standby
Input/Output: IrDA Infrared port, USB sync, AC Input jack, Stereo earphone jack
Wireless capability: GSM/GPRS integrated phone:
GSM network Dual band 900/1900
GPRS Class B
Size: 5.1 x 2.8 x .7in (18 x 73 x 129mm)
Weight: 7.1oz (201 g)
SO browsing around I found this deal for Amazon.com and I said "gotta grab that".
I got the phone and the first impression of the phone is "whoooa...how classy!". The phone has gorgeous looks, It has this chrome/titanium finish. It seems like it would be too bulky, but feels better than the I-300, yes, the I300 feels more like a phone than the Xda, but it still feel alright to use it as a headset. The phone is wider, but slimmer/thinner, making it feel less bulkier than the I300. Actually one of the things that I didn't like about the I300 was the stubby antenna, when I used the phone naked in my pocket pants it used tilt to the side, and it looked really funny in my pants, when people saw me they had probably though "is that your phone, or you just happy to see me..." anyway bad joke, let's continue
Well, this phone it actually feels more confortable to use in my pants front pocket. since is wider and slimmer feels just right, and since the antenna is smaller and thicker does look bad if it tilts to the side.
Anyways enuff with aesthetics and let's move on. One of the things that blew me away is the screen, the quality is beautiful! It is exactly as the other pocket pcs. For us, I300 users, this screen is as if we where to change cars from a Yugo to a Lamborghini Diablo, ok, maybe I'm exageratting but the screen does looks awesome, HUGE difference to the washed out colors from the I300. This has a Reflective TFT LCD, and it looked to me that I has the same screen quality of the Clies and other Pocket PC. One of the cool things, is that on regular day hours you can turn off the backlight to save battery. By the way, the screen is readible in direct sunlight, very much unlike the I300.
One of the neat things about this phone is where the stylus is located, is right in the antenna, I don't know about you guys, but I think thats actually that's a great idea to put the stylus, makes it very easy to pull out.
Another cool thing about this phone is the neat integration with between the software and the actual phone. I guess as much as people complain about Microsoft you have to give props to MS for trying to set a standard for phones and PDA to blend in. I think that's the problem with PALM, so far, we have been tru 3 phones (Kyo6035, Sam I-300 and Treo) and all of them have different phone integration and are 3 completely different beasts. Hopefully with MS that won't happen. Yeah is true that the Thera and the Xda are also different, keep in mind that these two are just the 1st generation phones and hopefully with the dawn of the Smartphone 2002, that problem will be solved.
Anyway, as I was saying, the phone integration is excellent, at least far better than the one that I had seen in my previous phones, the Kyo and the Sam, one of the neatiest things is that when you are listening to music with the Media Player, if there is a call, the volume lowers and then the ringer starts tru your earphones, and then you can just press the button in the earphones to answer the call. Once you are done with the call, the music continues, but shame that It doesn't continue right where it left off, but rather like if it continues in the background playing and then restores the volume, It is a quirk, but I can live with that.
Among other phone integration things, is the little windows that pops out everytime you recieve a call, and the capability that you have to use regular WAVs to make ring tones!.
The earphones are really cool, although I rather use regular headphones for music, since everytime I use earphones, they fall off my ear, and they don't feel/sound as good as the reg headphones. But, I resolved that issue putting some eargels from the JABRAs eargels that I had, they fit perfect and now they don't fall off my ear. This earphones feel high quality, they have this on/off button, and also they have a volume thingy, very cool.
The case, unlike previous factory cases, it is a good quality case, I guess balance the $500 price tag, is made out of soft leather and fit the case perfectly, is a cool case, and very usable for a while, but people complain that the metal thingys from the botton, tend to chip the paint off the phone. Solution, get some small soft medical Steri-Strip and stick it there. Problem solved!
Ok, so, lets make a review why to choose this phone over the other contenders and inmediate future contenders:
Treo's famous thumb keyboard. Check. I used the
Full Screen Keyboard and works wonderful!
I-300/Treo Picture caller ID. Check. There is a beta already for a program called
Caller2Picture . I have still have to try it though.
SDK. checked. Unlike the I300 there is a SDK for the phone and new apps keep coming and coming!
I300 Skins. This phones has any skins that you can create. The dialpad, the Today screen, anything. very much skinable, It even has PocketBlinds, kind of what windows XP does for the regular windows GUI.
Size, I still think that this is better that any other phone that will come available in the next 6 months, sizewise, I think this phone is smaller than the new Kyocera, and problably thinnier than the new Samsung I330, not the Bluechip though.
Voice Dial. Although is not included with the phone, there is a Beta program called
NeuVoice Navigator, which has full voice recognition and not only you can voice Dial, but you can also open up programs and files, just by saying it!. And also, there is Via Voice, which reads to you text, like emails and stuff.! neat huh!
There is even the "FingerDial" of the Xda, called
Mobidial , but this Beta program goes a step further and you are able to assign pictures to each button, specially cool when you are doing Speedials!!!!
There are some issues with the phone regarding the paint and stuff, yeah, I'm aware of that, and it worries me, but you know how it is, the search continues for the perfect case for the phone. Actually, my Dad's phone that is a motorola, has this cool rubber covers, I wonder why nobody has come out with rubber covers like this one, that would be the perfect protection for the Xda.
One of the few CONS of this phone is that only has 32MB of RAM, for Pocket PC, this is very low, if you load a couple of high quality games and a couple of songs, you are done with your memory, and the way PocketPC administer the memory is not really the most efficient, so you will have a pretty much the same problems that you will have with your Windows desktop pc, slowness of the system and Crashes with your smartphone. The solution?, get either the upgrade to 64/128MB memory RAM from
PocketPCTechs , or just get more SD memory card. I choose the second, the 64MB upgrade is tempting, but is too expensive ($129) and the 128MB is even better, but still too much money ($299!!!!). I just bought a 256MB SD card from
DealCat for $119 shipped and boy I feel free like the wind!!!
. I have now TONS of programs loaded on the memory, 4 complete CDs of music, one 1 hour video and I still have memory to spare, this is just incredible!.
Let's talk about the inmediate known difference from a PALM user to a re-new PocketPC user, (re-new because I had the Velo Windows CE machine). The way pocketpc handles programs is not the greatest, yes is multitasking, but most of the programs when you close them, they do not close, they "smart minimize" which is a pain becasue drain your memory, but you just click on one of the icons in the Today screen and close all, is bothersome, but I can live with it.
Other things that bothered me, at least at the beginning, is that when you have to Hard Reset your machine, in the Palm, you just hook it up in the cradle and it will ask you which profile and then went ahead to restore as if you had it last time you had sync it (well, almost). With the PocketPC, every time that I had to hard reset and then sync again, It will create a new "Paternship" which made it a pain, there was a point that I had 4 different User names in my PC. Until I realized that I had to activate the Backup thingy (is not activated automatically), so I guess I wont have problems anymore, I haven't test it yet, and another plus is that you can back up everything to the SD card. Cool, so far I haven't had to hard reset, but It seems that I'm protected for the future.
So, that's it the phone is pretty stable and I love it, I keep adding programs and trying out new things. There is a forum for the phone
here and is cool because since the phone is used Worldwide, you are not subject to a specific market, but for a wider audience, hence, programs and accesories are made pretty fast!. I will post updates and if you want clearer photos let me know, these where shot in a hurry, at night
Other review see
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Review & Comparison of the Pocket PC Phone (Xda)
Great info yorch !
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