Develop Bugs

My 6 month impressions/review - long

I am very unhappy with the latest (1.40) ROM update and this has finally pushed me to this post. I thought I would provide some general thoughts/comments after about 6 months of use. I keep hoping and praying that each ROM release will actually fix some of the devices more serious issues but it never seems to happen. Certain things actually get worse through the updates.
Overall the level of integration and the sheer amount of things our device accomplishes is staggering. However, the reliability and robustness is terrible, about as good as an "alpha" release, but certainly not a production device. You may argue that I should be happy with what I have and I guess I am because I keep carrying my PDA2K. I love not having to carry so many devices but almost always feel like I have the worst of each. My "relationship" with my device is absolutely love/hate.
As background I use my device as a phone, camera, video camera, mp3 player, movie watching, internet, e-mail, gps/navigation, games, Metro subway maps, weather, pdf reading and of course all the std. windows goodies like Excel, Calendar, Contacts, etc. However, the device performs most all of these functions poorly. As a small bit of background I am not a programmer nor hardcore techie but do consider myself a power user and am comfortable with registry editing, ROM upgrading and most features/functions of all of the standard software. I do also install a fair amount of 3rd party applications. I do not see how you can get by without doing this. I use the device for work as a sales professional and also for personal use.
The phone is much less robust and reliable than almost all cell phones I have previously owned, just buggy in general, often not functioning despite a good signal and often will not connect nor hang up properly. The camera is plain terrible, nowhere even close to a decent 1MP camera, good only for a small caller ID photo taken in perfect lighting conditions. Networking in general is almost unusable: Bluetooth during navigation always disconnects when a call comes in, WiFi will almost never start with out a soft reset, and sometimes the same with GPRS. General system stability/robustness: terrible! With a device such as this it should not be possible to have spontaneous hard resets where you loose ALL data. I have them fairly often (without Sprite, I would truly throw my device away). I have also had spontaneous loss of SD card data. MS Voice Command is fantastic, except the first use of every day always requires the name to be repeated twice. The built in e-mail software is really poor, the invisible items that show up in various mail folders which require a complete cleaning out of all mailboxes to fix is beyond annoying. The long 20 second or so delay when opening the Calendar to show days with appointments really causes me delays at the most inopportune times. I suppose I could go on and on but I will wrap up this summary/gripe session
Again, the level of raw capability, variety of useful programs and integration is truly amazing. The speed when operating well is fine. However I am often nearly crippled by hard resets, poor phone, WiFi, GPRS and Bluetooth, usability and robustness and the need for soft resets. I guess this is the price one pays for being on the cutting edge, but again I can not help but feel this device is nowhere close to the reliability and performance any reasonable user would expect. From spending a lot of time on this board and other similar ones I expect to hear some quite similar echoes of my thoughts.
I do eagerly look forward to some similar comments (or different), fixes, general experiences or suggestions from the community.

Well put, some of the issues I have, some not.
Lets have a look at the hardware.
Well the case is metal which is great as it can take some punishment however the Keyboard, well.....
My Keyboard has a life of its own, I have the device in my hand and talk on the phone and it drops down. I pull the device out of my pocket and it comes out first screen then keyboard. I never use the keyboard as me fingers are to big so given a choice I would not have it.
If you hold the screen in one hand and the back plate in the other you can turrn the whole thing a good 3mm as its so loose. You can even lift the screen up away form the Keyboard at the bottom of the device and stick a piece of carboard into as a form of a break to stop it dropping.
Sound of calls is bad, tiny and to low.
Yup its a love/hate relationship and I love to hate the thing.
I too look forwared to a device that has camera which is useful (I still carry around a small 5 meg sony).
The only thing I feel that is realy good about owning a BA is this board, if I had not come here I would still have a german CE and be reseting the bugger every day.

love it
Probably, I am cheap and easily pleased.
I bought my IIs almost the same time with yours. I too have updated my ROM to 1.40 (stockROM 1.4Asia). Only the barest software I need are installed to maintain stability: KBattery, psShutXp, AgileMobile, Skype, VCard, Pcoket TV, GSPlayer, and Avantgo. For games, I only installed Smartfall, Chess, and BF Mines - not much of a gamer. IIs is too expensive for me to destroy its button playing games.
I love it very much except for some performance hiccups like restarting by itself. However, this only happens when I am using skype or agilemobile for sometime. Hard Reset rarely happens. in six months, I only remember it to happen to me once and I could not remember what I did then.
I love it because I could check my email whereever I am either thru WIFI or GPRS. In fact, I use to check my email thru XDAIIs rather than waiting for my PC to start in the morning before leaving the house. With so many "leaking" free WIFI around, no phone should be without.
I f---kng HATE the keyboard. A week after I bought mine it was already broken. Yes, it will open on its own. It was repaired though free of charge by Brightpoint Philippines. Now, I barely open it because constructionwise, it is so flimsy and I know will easily be broken again. Now, I know why they remove the keyboard in the IIi.
Will buy it again. YES, It is so neat and convenient that I could do emailing, IM and chat on the go. Of course, it is a great electronic photo album to show my family pictures to friends with MP3 background playing.
Before this phone, I was using NOKIA 9210 Communicator. It was a great phone during its time. WHAT I WOULD REALLY WANT NOW IS A NOKIA COMMUNICATOR 9500 RUNNING WM Ver.5. DREAMING....

So you guys say that the keyboard is a piece of s**t?
I'm asking because I'm going to buy BA or Nokias 9500. And if the keyboard sucks a** i'm not gonna buy BA, because I need the keyboard because I do lot of work in MSN and in IRC. So the phone must be capable to these specific applications. I know that Nokia 9500 is...

When I was still using my old trusty Nokia 9210, I sent literally hundreds of text messages per day. I love its built in keyboard. It was a breeze typing text in that old phone. I could even schedule sending text messages - what a neat feature.
The tiny keyboard of IIs is hard to use. Even painful to the fingers after long use. Now I sent few text messages because it is very hard to do so with the tiny keyboard (II's rehabilatated me, I am NOT text addict anymore). The tiny soft keyboard using the stylus is just as difficult to use.
If you will do lots of typing, I recommend you buy one of those external keyboards. Although, personally, I hate carrying extras like that. I dont want to look like Inspector Gadget carrrying with me that external keyboard. My Bluetooth suffered same fate. I dont carry it anymore. Too troublesome carrying two gadgets.
I use my IIs mainly as a communicating device (which should be) so the killer applications for me are:
Agile Mobile for IM like ICQ, MSN, AOL and yes YAHOO.
Skype for VOIP (yes, it works for me just dont expect quality calls. It's free who am I to complain)
AgileMobile will run on both Nokia 9500 and IIs BUT the SKYPE will not.
That is the deal breaker for me why I decided to go for the XDA path. Every one and then, I still do glancing look at that Nokia 9500 though.
If you will go for the XDA path and cannot wait anymore, get the IIi. The keyboard really sucks. Hard to use and easy to get loose.
If you go for Nokia path, please lend it to me sometime (hehehehe)

xcalibur said:
The tiny keyboard of IIs is hard to use. Even painful to the fingers after long use. Now I sent few text messages because it is very hard to do so with the tiny keyboard (II's rehabilatated me, I am NOT text addict anymore). The tiny soft keyboard using the stylus is just as difficult to use.
If you will do lots of typing, I recommend you buy one of those external keyboards. Although, personally, I hate carrying extras like that. I dont want to look like Inspector Gadget carrrying with me that external keyboard. My Bluetooth suffered same fate. I dont carry it anymore. Too troublesome carrying two gadgets.
I use my IIs mainly as a communicating device (which should be) so the killer applications for me are:
Agile Mobile for IM like ICQ, MSN, AOL and yes YAHOO.
Skype for VOIP (yes, it works for me just dont expect quality calls. It's free who am I to complain)
AgileMobile will run on both Nokia 9500 and IIs BUT the SKYPE will not.
That is the deal breaker for me why I decided to go for the XDA path. Every one and then, I still do glancing look at that Nokia 9500 though.
If you will go for the XDA path and cannot wait anymore, get the IIi. The keyboard really sucks. Hard to use and easy to get loose.
If you go for Nokia path, please lend it to me sometime (hehehehe)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's the thing...those are the programs I would also use plus I need an IRC client (Nokia has s2putty which is great), so this is going to be a real hard decision.
It seems in a operating system level, Windows/qtek9090 kicks Symbian80/Nokia9500 ass, because Nokia has a pretty slow processor and Symbian80 is a little bit greedy, but so is windows.
Nokias online time should be better than Qteks so that's important fact (going to use Wlan a lot). Nokia also has much better keyboard if I have read reviews right.
But...Qtek/WM2k3 has a lot more apps if I'm right and it's hardware is better than Nokias.
But the bigges issues are still on the fact that how does the device handle Instant Messaging and IRC environments. In IRC i'm in a few VERY active channels so would like to know how well does the BA handle IRC messaging, viewing etc....
Is the keyboard slider going to loose very easily? I have read that in some models it's big issue? Or is this only problem with branded phones(i mean like T-mo etc)? Qtek 9090 is the only one which they sell here in Finland.
xcalibur, yeah sure i'll borrow you the 9500, if you come to visit Finland someday =)
The above fact is the only thing keeping me away from ordering BA...

I don't want to keep on ranting against IIs.
Yes, the keyboard will easily get loose. We have here two units and it is the same. I talked to the Brightpoint service people, they say almost all IIs they repaired is about the loose keyboard.
And yaiks, I noticed now that my IIs keyboard is misaligned by a millimeter or two. I cant stop looking at it now. I hate it.
Consider also after sales service of XDA there in Finland. These things do break down. I am sure Nokia will have superb service there in Finland as they have already excellent service here in Philippines. In fairness, Brightpoint too has good service here though their location is not so good.

My keyboard experience
I have had no problems with my keyboard. I like it, use it and it has not developed any problem with the keys themselves nor the sliding mechanism. Perhaps you guys talking all about Nokia vs HTC could move that topic to a separate thread?

Keyboard's great! However, other than for impressing your friends this phone is horribly unreliable. Also, windows is not as polished as Symbian. You will find yourself installing so many 3rd party apps (which make an already unstable handset even less stable) just to perform basic phone functions.

In my opinion, XDA IIs is truely an ingenius device. However, Ias much as I hate to agree with most of you, I share the same sentiments of hating/loving it.
I really dislike the part whereby I receive/dial a call and no sound comes out of it. Also when my IIs hang the moment I exit from Bejeweled 2. I dont use a bluetooth headset, so the bluetooth bit doesnt affect me so much. I also detest the so very prominent gap between my keyboard and screen.
However, on the other hand, my IIs had helped me in so much many other ways, so much so its advantages exceeds its disadvantages. Despite the small keyboard, it had been extremely useful, and having compared with the onscreen keyboard and Transcriber, I personally found that it is so much faster and efficient to key text with the keyboard. Despite haing mid-sized fingers, with good practice, keying in text can be so much of a breeze. I especially liked its soft touch and blue iluminous glow.
Also, the calander feature of Microsoft CE is great. With appropriate 3rd party software, and its extremely ease/stability to sync with Outlook, my contacts and appointments are always at my fingertips. Tho the ringer is quite soft, I have no problems with it as I have always been using traditional ringing ringtones, which are much louder than fanciful mp3 music. Besides, I can see that O2 is doing its fair share by providing support thru O2 connect as well as the after sales service. O2 plus beta had been a great software. I had used it to replace phone alarm and pocket plus. I especially liked it phone profile feature and the part whereby my IIs vibrate upon receipt of call response. I no longer have to hold my device against my ears waiting for the other party to pick up the call.
Another comment is that the screen is clear and even using 10% backlight, I can view the screen to great details, even under sunlight conditions. The extra 4 hardware buttons for today, messaging, IE and OK had been great and it had aid me in single-handed operations with my device.
Overall, all I can say is, its been a great device. You choose to hate / like it. Cheers. Just my two cents worth...

I also came to the XDA series from the Nokia Communicators and have always been looking for a communicator with MS OS.
Can't wait for the Universal

a wonderful use of keyboard! + comments abt XDA IIs overall
hi all,
i have a very very good argument in favour of the keyboard on XDA iis and a big -ve for the absence of it in XDA IIi:
i live in india where the roads at times tend to be a bit bumpy. on such roads keying in with a stylus becomes frustrating! (those who have tried it will know). it is on these roads that u appreciate the inbuilt key board the max.
2ndly, by the grace of GOD, till date i have had NO SOUND issues with my XDA IIs.... so no probs about that..
with 1.40 update i have seen that wifi wont connect usually without a soft reset but thats not very bugging! also there is some camera application brightness control bug and thats also ignorable.
But overall i think that XDA IIs is overall a very good buy... better than XDA IIi and Mini.... NOKIA is ****ty in front of this and looks more of a brick!
i suggest you all not to load any 3rd party apps for password lock and dialler except smart dialling included in mini rom. and must haves are pocket plus, pocket informant,pocket music, skype, phonealarm, alarmtoday and 1-calc. dont forget norton anti-virus and sprite backup as the very very very imp. 1st loads.
All the best to XDA lovers... LONG LIVE XDA IIs... Doom to Nokia!

At one point I used to carry an iPAQ 3870, a mobile phone and a collapsible keyboard. With my suit on, some people thought I was a bodyguard due to my swollen breast pockets. I also also had a Navigator 3000 GPS sleeve and the WiFi CF card.
The iPAQ made me love the Pocket PC. However carrying two or more devices was cumbersome.
I then discovered the Blackberry. Look mum, no wires. Over the air synchronization using the GPRS network was great. The keyboard is also excellent. No GPS and a lack of good application was a minus. Furthermore any interesting application would be pricey.
… but I still missed the Pocket PC.
Then came the Blackberry Connect embedded in the Blue Angel. That is the best of both worlds. My dream was to have a Pocket PC with push email and WiFi with an embedded keyboard.
The cherry on the cake came with Skype. I use desktop Skype a lot and I love it. As I am an international self-employed consultant, my cellphone bills amount to at least £300.00 ($550.00) a month. Skype on the BA will save me money but I need to find a good noise cancellation headset. So what if the sound quality is not that good, my customers would expect that from a roaming mobile phone anyway.
As for the camera, at its current resolution it is a gimmick. I would rather have a lighter BA with no camera. My 5.1 Mega Pixel camera will have to stay.
I agree with everyone that says the keyboard has a bad build. The MDA III and the XDA IIs I have seen at the T-Mobile and O2 shops had the keyboard sliding out on its own as soon as I picked up the device. I had already arrived to the conclusion that the keyboard will break down even before reading this thread.
I know that I will miss the stability of the Blackberry software but the advantages I get from the BA far outweigh the disadvantages.
I don’t thing anyone of us on this board will ever find a device that is perfect in every aspect. This is technology.
I will be moving from the Blackberry to the BA XDA IIs this weekend and I am sure that most if not all on this board will encourage me.

i agree with you
hey,
i agree with you fully... no technology can be perfect... but still XDA IIs is the best bet!
just a doubt: how did u manage to get a BA with blackberry connect? any software for that available for asian users too?

Re: i agree with you
studdocs said:
just a doubt: how did u manage to get a BA with blackberry connect? any software for that available for asian users too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile MDA III supports Blackberry Connects. The XDA IIs should support it soon. I will be using the XDA IIs but I am hopping to use the MDA III software.

hoping 4 the best!
i am just hoping that XDA IIs supports it soon!
the earlier the better!

You have two choices...
1. Purchase an old used XDAII and upgrade it to WM5.0. Very stable and flawless communications and Bluetooth.
2. Wait for the new WM5.0 devices this summer.
(my 2 cents)

I fully agree with the love/ hate, as per others - I to have experianced neumerous resets, lock ups no sound etc. after two weeks I returned it to the shop and swapped my XDAIIs for another one (it was clearly faulty) - loaded it up with exactly the same applications as the previous one and since then I have only experianced the no sound issue twice in the last month, my unit runs on the "stock" O2 firmware loaded in using Corporate mode. I love the flexibility of the device and my ipaq-4700 is now rarley used as the XDA does everything I need of it with the addition of the phone functionality - great idea and concept, but I still feel it is nowhere near the level of maturity that it should be - Mike

Hi guys,
could you guys tell me where can I download for the latest firmware for my O2 XDA IIs that are going around currently? and is it true that updating firmware will results data losts ? thank you

A hard reset will allways result in data loss, but if you back it all up onto the SD card you should be able to return the unit to the same condition - note I say "should" its probably wise to re-install the lot from scratch to gain the true performance, as yet I have not tried the 1.140 ROM but I am tempted - you don't state whice service provider you are with - try their web site for a download to see if you are upto date - my philosopy is that the service provider should provide a functional device, in pratice the HTC unit is a bit hit and miss - but if you load up anything other than official firmware then taking it back and complaining is out of the window - I am on my second handset from O2 and this apears to work OK - at least it does for the demands I make of it, this includes running bespoke "home" created software scripted using Labview and it performs quite well - mike

T-Mobile Dash vs. MDA

Hi all, looking for some respected opinions.
I currently have an MDA (owned less than a month). I jsut saw the Dash is coming out the 16th, and was wondering hwo the two compare?
I love the calendar and wifi functions of the MDA, though the Dash has that too. The smaller form factor and available QWERTY keyboard (without sliding) seems appealing (plus it's more pocketable). How do they compare in processor speed, power consumption, etc?
Thinking of trading my MDA in for the DASH.
BTW, anybody have any side by side shots of the two?
Lastly, any major disadvantages to using Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition other than editing DOC's? I really don't edit DOC's or XL's that much, so not too concerned about that. As long as there is the ability to take notes, etc. I can always transcribe later.
Thanks!!

They have the same proc specs. Although the OMAP on MS smartphone OS will be much zippier than on full Pocket Pc OS. If you dont mind not having the touch screen and the ability to create and edit dos, I say go for it. I have been using the demo at my store and love it. The only thing is the keys are very cramped in comparison to the MDA. Every now and then I hit the wrong key or two keys at once. Hope that helps narrow it down for you.

Thanks Mike
I don't suppose you could snap a couple of side by side pics of the two units together? If not, could you give me an idea of the size & weight? I think the main thing for me is that I want something a bit more "pocketable" than the MDA.
Thanks!!

I have owned both.. and I HATED the MDA after 2 months of use. It was slow, had a poor battery, terrible tendencies to freeze up, and was a pain to use one handed. Although its not the biggest smartphone around, its a brick compared to the Dash. The Dash has been rock-solid as far as reliability, speed, battery, faster wifi beacon, etc. My ONLY complaints are that it has no flash, and that the screen isn't as reflective as the BB Pearl, so its tough to see in sunlight.. just liek the MDA. Save the $100 and go with the Dash. I have yet to come across any feasible tasks that the Dash CANT do which the MDA can.

Wolvereen said:
Thanks Mike
I don't suppose you could snap a couple of side by side pics of the two units together? If not, could you give me an idea of the size & weight? I think the main thing for me is that I want something a bit more "pocketable" than the MDA.
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure I can snap some tomorrow at work for you.

Here are some pics that compare the MDA to the DASH. I took these using the dash, so you can kinda see the photo quality as well. Here is the link:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/michaelflorio82/album/576460762319737097#page1

is the dash a pda also like the mda?
Also, how much is the price of the MDA III OR IV?

is the Qtek 9000........ the tmobile mda iv? is this useful in the usa?
Thanks

mikef1182 said:
They have the same proc specs. Although the OMAP on MS smartphone OS will be much zippier than on full Pocket Pc OS. If you dont mind not having the touch screen and the ability to create and edit dos, I say go for it. I have been using the demo at my store and love it. The only thing is the keys are very cramped in comparison to the MDA. Every now and then I hit the wrong key or two keys at once. Hope that helps narrow it down for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so the dash can not be used as a pda( open exel .......etc) correct? download programs ...........and others! Also, why is so hard to get the MDA III OR IV THRU T MOBILE?
Thanks

If those are pics taken from the dash...that is not bad at all.
Anyone know if you are able to hold down a key for a sec and it will type in the alternative?

Just got my Dash today. I also have an MDA. I have to say it is pretty slick and much quicker than the MDA. The only things that I miss a little, but can deal with it for the size factor, is the touch screen and the ability to edit office docs, which I really didn't do that often. Does anyone know how to turn off GPRS without having to go into com manager? On the MDA just holding the END key did it. On the Dash, this locks the keyboard...Otherwise it is fabulous!

Just picked up my Dash. The form factor is excellent and it is very easy to use. I used an MDA for about 9 months while and just switched to a Nokia E70 a month ago. I'd have to say I am glad to be back to WM5. Symbian is promising but much too buggy, at least on the E70. Also, the email functionality is much better on the MDA/Dash. As for the MDA's touchscreen, I don't really miss it since it's easy enough to navigate around once you get the hang of it.
I don't really know what programs and customizations are out there for this thing yet, but I'd like to find a weather plug-in and will try Google Mobile Maps in a bit. I've already found that Home Screens from the Moto Q work well on the Dash. This website was extremely helpful when I was setting up my MDA so I'm hoping the Excalibur community picks up and we get some more apps and customizations in the near future. Cheers...

mikef1182 said:
Here are some pics that compare the MDA to the DASH. I took these using the dash, so you can kinda see the photo quality as well. Here is the link:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/michaelflorio82/album/576460762319737097#page1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the pics! Yeah, never liked the MDA's thickness (aka brick-like thickness) and that slide out keyboard that you can't operate with one hand and have to wait until the slow processor catches up to switching the screen to landscape. No dice, MDA. It's all about the Dash.
Im very happy with my current iPaq 6945 but if I I had to pick a Smartphone, it would be the Dash.

yes the Dash will I dont think the s620 will tho.. oh and I also own both the Dash and the MDA. I personally like the Dash better if not for anything else but for its compact size. After carrying the MDA on my side for almost the last year it can feel pretty bulky. but after getting the Dash I hardly notice it on my hip. Also you can view word, excel, ect.. documents but you cant edit them like you can on the MDA. For me that isnt a big deal. I usually only view them anyways, it can be a pain to edit a document you cant entirely see. Oh well that is my 2 cents worth..

FallN said:
Thanks for the pics! Yeah, never liked the MDA's thickness (aka brick-like thickness) and that slide out keyboard that you can't operate with one hand and have to wait until the slow processor catches up to switching the screen to landscape. No dice, MDA. It's all about the Dash.
Im very happy with my current iPaq 6945 but if I I had to pick a Smartphone, it would be the Dash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, what's the deal with the whole software thing. Doesn't the fact that it is WM5 mean that even though there is no software for it, you can still install softare designed not for the smartphone specifically? My understanding is that even though it's a smartphone, any WM5 and most Pocket PC based software will work on it. Is this correct?

Is this phone good enough for my dad?

Hey all,
Just as topic states do owners of this phone think this device is good enough for 45-50 year old IT Professional? My dad doesn't like to tinker, he just wants the device to work. Primary use is phone with light messaging and possibility of push email either with Exchange or Blackberry connect.
I am having hard deciding between this device and Samsung Blackjack.
Thanks for help!

yes
But ONLY if you are in an EDGE area. GPRS is too slow compared with UMTS EDGE works perfectly for e-mail and sync use.
Excalibur Keyboard is much better than samsung and E is gerally faster in day by day use (Both are AKU3.0 devices)
Some good applicationd are branded with samsung, like a wonderful business card OCR (Get a picture of the business card to have all infos stored in contacts)

I would say the S620 is an excellent device for primary use as an email, PDA, texting machine and secondary use as a phone. Since mine seems to be broken I haven't had a chance to try it as a sole phone and email device although I think it will be fine for this.
Personally, I have been using a K-Jam as my data device, PDA, GPS etc and Moto V3i as my main phone. For occasional email use you may want to look at www.movamail.com set up on a phone handset like the V3i - I haven't used it much but it looks fine for keeping up with incoming email although obviously you wouldn't want to do much outbound email on a phone keypad.
Now, if I could just get my S620 working....

Except for that damn touch strip, I'm very happy with mine. If it's T-Mobile, they have a 30 day return policy, so you're safe in that case. If not, I'd check the return policy, if there isn't one -- skip it. Sounds like he's particular about his devices, and he'll gravitate to his preference on his own -- wait until he does and get him a leather case for it

I went for Samsung Blackjack as that is better for phone functionality

sergiopi said:
yes
But ONLY if you are in an EDGE area. GPRS is too slow compared with UMTS EDGE works perfectly for e-mail and sync use.
Excalibur Keyboard is much better than samsung and E is gerally faster in day by day use (Both are AKU3.0 devices)
Some good applicationd are branded with samsung, like a wonderful business card OCR (Get a picture of the business card to have all infos stored in contacts)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If he just wants to be able to IM and get e-mail he doesn't have to get EDGE. I use simple GPRS on t-mobile in the US with no problem. Even browsing the web doesn't take to long. On top of that both devices have Wi-Fi when you really need the speed.
But EDGE never hurts, just don't think you need to make the extra $ addon to your plan for those things.

here's my advice
Now I am HTC loving windows mobile fanboy, but your dad sounds like mine, just get him a blackberry, it does basic emailing and nothing he can screw up. save calls for you from him. That bieng said the dash is by far and away the easiest and most stable windows mobile device i have owned(tornado,wizard,dash,wallaby) have not tried tytn, but I would get hime that, he will love the keyboard and there is a ton of touch buttons on side, along with the stylus, which can help.

justinstafford said:
Now I am HTC loving windows mobile fanboy, but your dad sounds like mine, just get him a blackberry, it does basic emailing and nothing he can screw up. save calls for you from him. That bieng said the dash is by far and away the easiest and most stable windows mobile device i have owned(tornado,wizard,dash,wallaby) have not tried tytn, but I would get hime that, he will love the keyboard and there is a ton of touch buttons on side, along with the stylus, which can help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking more of a Palm Treo maybe even a Windows Treo. Palm however is a bit more simplistic

I personally did not like the Blackjack's keyboard. I think the Excalibur is a great choice for Tmob. But I would suggest the 8525 if on Cingular. It guys would love the UMTS. I constantly get 1 MB and above transfer in my area.

I have the Dash (on Cingular), the iMate K-Jam, and have used the Blackjack.
If you want the PPC OS, the 8525 (TyTN) is the way to go.
If you want the Smartphone OS, I'd have to say the Dash is the way to go. The blackjack supports UMTS, but that's all that it has going for it. The Dash has WiFi, better keyboard, and much better community support. If he's not constantly browsing the web, the UMTS is worthless.
-Mc

O2 XDA Orbit or HTC Touch? User Opinions Wanted Please!

I am going to invest in a new phone imminently and have narrowed it down to two devices.
The O2 XDA Orbit and the HTC (or TMobile MDA) Touch.
I already asked this question in the 'Touch' forum a little while ago and the general opinion, unsurprisingly was to opt for the Touch. So - sorry for cross-posting, but I am interested to hear the thoughts of Orbit users - given the choice, would you choose to keep your Orbit, or swap it for the Touch, and also - Why? what is it about your device of choice that you think makes it better than the other?
Thank you.

xxxxchrisxxxx said:
I am going to invest in a new phone imminently and have narrowed it down to two devices.
The O2 XDA Orbit and the HTC (or TMobile MDA) Touch.
I already asked this question in the 'Touch' forum a little while ago and the general opinion, unsurprisingly was to opt for the Touch. So - sorry for cross-posting, but I am interested to hear the thoughts of Orbit users - given the choice, would you choose to keep your Orbit, or swap it for the Touch, and also - Why? what is it about your device of choice that you think makes it better than the other?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would stop with my orbit as it got keys on it and can be updated to touch rom later on. using b&b 3.7 now and find it very easy to use and a lot better then o2 wm5 rom I was using.. only thing I would like is a side slot for the minisd card and it to have a faster cpu.

The touch is nice to look at I guess, but go back to carrying a separate bluetooth GPS receiver again? No way.
Built in GPS = instant access to applications like Windows Live Search and Google Maps without messing about with a second device, not to mention always having Tomtom available, even if you didn't expect to need it.
Touchflo is OK, but I see them recommending you add spb Mobile Shell. ??? Well if you did that to an Orbit you wouldn't need the stylus so much, so I don't see how adding third party shell enhancements = The touch is good.
So yeah maybe we are biased, but I see nothing the touch can do that the Orbit can't, yet I can see things the Orbit does that the Touch can't. Theres already a Beta ROM for the Orbit that uses a modified Touchflo, so we will probably soon have their defining feature on our devices too.

Gajet said:
The touch is nice to look at I guess, but go back to carrying a separate bluetooth GPS receiver again? No way.
Built in GPS = instant access to applications like Windows Live Search and Google Maps without messing about with a second device, not to mention always having Tomtom available, even if you didn't expect to need it.
Touchflo is OK, but I see them recommending you add spb Mobile Shell. ??? Well if you did that to an Orbit you wouldn't need the stylus so much, so I don't see how adding third party shell enhancements = The touch is good.
So yeah maybe we are biased, but I see nothing the touch can do that the Orbit can't, yet I can see things the Orbit does that the Touch can't. Theres already a Beta ROM for the Orbit that uses a modified Touchflo, so we will probably soon have their defining feature on our devices too.
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hold on if it dont have satnav they no way I get it. haveing tomtom on your phone is a god send.

Eten is better, or ASUS. don't buy HTC.

biou said:
Eten is better, or ASUS. don't buy HTC.
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Such a well thought out and constructive arguement. Your many different reasons behind why Eten and Asus is better have left me with lots to think about.

Eten is much reactive, and Asus's GPS is more proforment and the the processor is more speed. my experience with HTC is that HTC uses slower processor, the compatible battery for HTC is rare, and the HTC's battery need to be charged every day. my ancien Eten M600's comptible battery left me 4 days for 1 charge.

conversely, i'd never buy a current eten product cause its just not pretty. the orbit looks fantastic, but i'm definitely no touch fan...nasty...
i don't know about the touch, but the orbit is pretty slim with built-in gps(the good module too) and i need hardware buttons. personally, i can't go without a touchscreen, but nor can i handle all touchscreen like the iphone or touch either

esthetically, i'll buy iphone.

biou said:
esthetically, i'll buy iphone.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this, but as I mentioned in my first post, I have settled on either the 'touch' or 'orbit' - iPhone is totally different.
Thanks for the opinions so far. I'm still interested to hear what it is about each phone that users think set it apart from the other.
I'm leaning towards buying an orbit at the moment.

You got only 2 choices!!
TOUCH is my suggestion if you don't use GPS thing.
For me, it's just a kind of toy that will waste your battery.
Find some reviews on the web and you'll see.

iphones and ipods usually just scream "i'm a sheep!" to me, minus those few users that have always had $500+ phones or actually NEED the capability to carry 60gb of music somehow.
i'm not too informed on the touch, but its mostly software that will also slowly make it into the orbit it seems, but that's just speculation of course

One good thing about the HTC Touch is the complete flat screen.
On Orbit, it is a bit deepend, and you have borders and many place where dirt can hide

Go fore it
Hi. I have an HTC P3300 and i love it. I use an official WM6 and i like Spb´s Mobile Shelle mutch better than Touh software...
I would buy the Orbit (or HTC P3300) any-time becouse of the super GPS feature.
..... but i also would like to defend the HTC Touch (just a little) - If i dit nok use the GPS offen i would without a doubt choose the Touch. I just bougt one to my wife and i is so nice. The design i wery WOW (atleast i think) and it feels so light i your hand (actually there is no more than 18g. difference, but i feels like a lot more.. I love the dessign of the Touch
... Just what i think
I syncronise with my Laptop (Vista) using Bluetooth and here is a list of the programs i use on my HTC :O)
- WM6 Officiel eng. (LINK)
- Spb Mobile Shell v1.5 (use the pro now screen)
- Spb GPRS Monitor
- Spb Backup
- Spb Weather
- Spb Time (It will wake you up even thoug it´s on "Silence")
- HTC Homeplug
- PocketRAR (like WinRAR)
- PHMRegEdit (to edit the reg. database)
- TomTom v.6.03.0
Cheers

neither
neither As I've got both I say wait invest in the kaiser its worth the wait

I bought a Dash to use as a PDA only. Was this a good idea?

Hey,
I just bought one of these on ebay with the idea of using it as a PDA only. Can anyone tell me why this would be a bad idea? Like, ... it will still turn on and I can use it without a sim card, right?
The reason I went with the Dash was because I wanted something with:
wifi
bluetooth
skype capabilities
PIM
thumbpad
mic
stereo out
can play mp3's / video
expandable memory
cheap $$ <150
I looked at the Treo 650, the Mylo Com-1, Tungsten C, etc.
I also looked at a few without thumbpads like the TX and the dell pda and stuff.
I decided on this thing because it is really small, runs wm6.1 which seems to have an active community of developers, has an active community of users with useful forums like the one I am currently posting on.
This presents me with the obvious problem that this is not really designed to be a PDA... it is a phone, after all.
So, the question I present to you is this. Was this a good idea? Will I find the neutered phone too annoying for daily use as a PDA?

tidixon said:
Hey,
I just bought one of these on ebay with the idea of using it as a PDA only. Can anyone tell me why this would be a bad idea? Like, ... it will still turn on and I can use it without a sim card, right?
The reason I went with the Dash was because I wanted something with:
wifi
bluetooth
skype capabilities
PIM
thumbpad
mic
stereo out
can play mp3's / video
expandable memory
cheap $$ <150
I looked at the Treo 650, the Mylo Com-1, Tungsten C, etc.
I also looked at a few without thumbpads like the TX and the dell pda and stuff.
I decided on this thing because it is really small, runs wm6.1 which seems to have an active community of developers, has an active community of users with useful forums like the one I am currently posting on.
This presents me with the obvious problem that this is not really designed to be a PDA... it is a phone, after all.
So, the question I present to you is this. Was this a good idea? Will I find the neutered phone too annoying for daily use as a PDA?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are getting what you want and cheap, pretty much is a personal digital assistant, you will want to put a sim in it but you can get the phone unlocked here @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=355789
So as to use any network except 3.
All in all i think you will be impressed with your purchase.

My opinion.
If I were you, I would have have purchased a PPC...
Touchscreen and a better selection of programs are the benefit.
The Dash is great for a smart phone, but not so great as a plain old PDA.
Again, my opinion only.

In my opinion your a GENIOUS THE S620 IS FREAKING INCREDIBLE YOU CAN HACK THIS THING TO DO ANY DAMN THING A ppc can do PLUS ITS THE SMALLEST OUT THERE HECK AN EXTRA BATTERY IS 5 BUCKS IT RULES.....sorry for the caps I just Love THIS Smartphone

I LOVE my dell axim x51v, awesome audio, video support. skype works well, SD and CF slot, so you can get a frigging lot of memory on there. And the community "has been" pretty active and the ROM is much better then the original.
But the dash is great for what you want. however if i did use my dash for audio/ video purposes, i would be disappointed by battery life, speaker placement, and cost of microSD.
I need to find something similar to sliding panels for my x51v, and I'd be set.

Due to a shipping error my dash JUST arrived today (~$110 shipped). My accessories have been arriving slowly over the last week, so I was able to test everything pretty extensively.
I bought a 2gb microsd card ($5 shipped) to load up with roms for dual use between my homebrew wii (with microsd-> sd adapter) and my dash. I also bought an 8gb micro sdhc card(~$25 shipped) and a 3.5" headphone adapter (~$6 shipped)
I put some music on the 2gb card as I think I need an update before I use the sdhc. I played some mp3's with the WM software. Nothing fantastic - definitely not as good as a standalone mp3 player, but this could just be the software. I will try tcpmp later.
I turned the phone off in connection settings, turned the wifi on and set that up with my home router. My hope is that disabling the phone will mitigate some of the battery life problems I've read about using the wifi. I browsed around with ie a little bit. It was pretty quick. I will need to install a better web browser - i've seen a few mentioned here.
Other than that... i'm not sure where to begin. I'll need to load up one of these custom roms, install some applications, get syncing working with ubuntu, set up email, etc.
My initial impression is that this was definitely the right choice. I had never actually seen one of these until I opened my box today. I used Sizeazy.com to compare the size of the dash to other devices before I ordered, but I did not realize it was this small! The keypad is going to take a little while to get used to. But yeah, I think this is going to work pretty well as a PDA.

it was a good deal man

Seems like a great deal. The Dash is great for value, flexibility and connectivity.
A touch screen WM6 Professional with similar or more features and a slide out keypad would be better as a PDA. But it could be tough to find, especially without a contract, for the price of a Dash.
As mentioned above, you can get the Dash to do much of what a WM6 PDA can do. But I find my self wanting a WM6 PDA more and more.
And as for a browser, definitely install the Free Opera Mini. It's among the best.

i just dl it (opera). it does work a lot faster. i kept trying to log in here to reply. i would thumb in my username and password and it would say i was logged in successfully, but, when i clicked the link to redirect me back to here, i wouldn't be logged in! after 5 tries i remembered to refresh the page (it was loading from cache).
thanks for the tips!
let me know if you think of anything else that might be useful to a new dash owner.

tidixon said:
i just dl it (opera). it does work a lot faster. i kept trying to log in here to reply. i would thumb in my username and password and it would say i was logged in successfully, but, when i clicked the link to redirect me back to here, i wouldn't be logged in! after 5 tries i remembered to refresh the page (it was loading from cache).
thanks for the tips!
let me know if you think of anything else that might be useful to a new dash owner.
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Click to collapse
Maybe a few games to keep you busy while you are bored.