Related
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
I cannot stop my self for writing this...
I 'm the happy owner of a BA (XDA IIs) after:
smashing 2 IPAQs 2210 in less than a month
losing my Lumix FX7 digital camera (same month)
and go swiming with my cell phone on me...
I'm a heavy user of GPS while biking so you can guess the heavy duty and stress i put in my electronics... (150kms/h on a handle bar mount for example)
Looking for trips and stuff to get more form my BA I have been able to compile a series of apparent failures or deficiencys and I looked like a great idea to post them here in a list form...
so the list starts...
The weakness
*Some users report that the screen starts whistling after 1 month or so of use
*Bluethoot under performing (actually I never been able to use the headset)
*Wifi Under powered (some blame the antenna location for both BT and WIFI)
*When on the bike craddle camera and record buttons constantly pressed by craddle grip (creating eternal lag)
*Power button apparently dies easily
*No data extension, so no possibility to use CF backpack
*Aparently unstable device in overall (some users report daily resets)
*Over billing of GPRS due to crappy implementation
*Stylus fall off the handheld (already lost 1 and dropped the 2nd several times)
*lack of support from the manufacturer (almost al updates are cooked ROMS (kiss the cook))
*Lack of accesories
*hard to find accesories due to the millions of names under the same machine is commercialized
*2.5 mm headphone jack
*sub performant IR port (also on the side not in front)
*Short Battery life
But you're still a happy owner?
I like my device overall.
The high-pitched sound eminating from my screen is annoying me, though.
However, in my mind, I truly do consider this device a beta device.
It's just not "tight" and "solid".
I am referring to the antenna. The loose stylus. The daily resets. The lack of support. The bluetooth problems everyone complains about.
To me, it sounds like this device is a work in progress.
Whistling screen aside, though, I do still like it more than other PPCs I've owned.
They are almost ALL beta devices!
Beta devices ???
Well I must agree with Mike about the Beta thing...
I am actually regretting having bought that µGPS from Holux a year ago... It is when all started for me lol
Anyway never paid 800 euros to be a beta tester before... :roll:
And yes I am happy with my BA
The only issue I've suffered from is teh sporatic "No Sound" issue when i make a call or receive one. Guess I've been lucky.
Before upgrading to rom 1.4 i pretty much had to hard reset daily, since upgrade (1 week ago) have only hard reset once, and only then as I was required to after installing a program!
The only issue I've suffered from is teh sporatic "No Sound" issue when i make a call or receive one. Guess I've been lucky.
Before upgrading to rom 1.4 i pretty much had to hard reset daily, since upgrade (1 week ago) have only hard reset once, and only then as I was required to after installing a program!
Pretty unhappy with my device also
Here is my review after 6+ months. No problems on the build quality, mostly stability/software issues. This device is soooo beta....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=23880&highlight=
I original bought the BA as a cheap way to get gps.
I rarely use it for gps but couldn’t live with out it during day today use.
However im very unhappy with the build quality within a couple of days the casing started to get scratched. It feels really cheap and im hating the ugly nav button. The idea of selling it in a years time will be a no go as by then it will be beaten up.
I haven’t taken it back to o2 as im sure they will say its normal wear and tear and not due to shoddy hardware.
I might loose the item soon :wink: and hopefully the nice insurance peeps will replace it with a 2i
Guys!!!
Looks like O2 has made differrent hardware alongwith the Asia ROM.I too use it on bike heavily....may not be at the speeds as mentioned above ,but 100 kms a day...about 1-2 hrs of GPRS, NO GPS, 3 Hrs of talk tme...with environmental condtions, most of them dusty, varying temperatures and other harsh conditions.But...here XDA 2s working fine....no such above complaints..
I like Blue Angle and I must admit thatn the hardware is excellent and is more stable than all of the HTC devices so far... :lol:
Mine comes from asia originally....
I bought mine in Malaysia (extremelly expensive compared to what you find in Ebay this days)
I paid the equivalent to 850 euros for it !
only to discover that is the same device that goes 2nd hand in ebay for 300 !!!!! (The names thing !!!! ) how can you guess that a qteck 9090 is an XDA IIs, which also is a Blue Angel, which also is a PDA2K bla bla ....
Atop whistling screen, constant crashes, loose styolus and the no sound in call problem, my XDA2s has scratched the kyyboard through normal use. It must be too tight or something.
Definately a beta. I'm surprised this passed EC quality control.
Im from the Philippines and I got my IIs a few weeks ago, Im a N9210 user for 4 years and I was thinking of getting a 9500, but the deciding factor was the stylus which the 9500 lacks since I was looking for a wifi Phone and the stylus was important for my use. so I opted for a IIs. THe main problem with my IIs now is the stability, as what many complain about!!!! the "no sound" problem is a real pain, but I still have hope for the IIs thanks to this site!!!
BTW i still have the old ROM version, Im afraid of upgrading coz I might have more problems than benefits.
Upgrade upgrade
2 path...\
Most of the probs go away when u use the beast in corporate mode with latest rom upgrade....
Hello guys,
I have long heard of whistling screens but never really understood what its really about - until last night. I heard it! It is sooo damn annoying. If I send my BA to i-mate Dubai, do they replace it for free? What are the costs? Please, if anyone can answer ASAP because I have under 1 month of warranty.
Thanks a lot.
c'mon, boys, help this mate... :roll:
z_rudy said:
Hello guys,
I have long heard of whistling screens but never really understood what its really about - until last night. I heard it! It is sooo damn annoying. If I send my BA to i-mate Dubai, do they replace it for free? What are the costs? Please, if anyone can answer ASAP because I have under 1 month of warranty.
Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never experience this "whistling sound" at all.. Im happy with my BA. 'no sound" problem? I just upgraded to the latest Radio and CE rom.. I tried also the WM 5.0, butI decided to go back to SE..
no probs at all
I have had my 2s for a whole year now. I have never really experienced any problems with it. (Except for the scratches and lost stylus pens though). I've yet to experience software problems and the so-called whistling screen. I, too, have tried upgrading to wm5 but I did not like the changes. I'm running on '03 SE with my own cooked extrom. :lol:
I like my 2s overall.
I think I'll live with it
Thanks anyway...
So if it's sooo bad what's good Pocket PC phone then, tell me, so I can decide...which to buy, I need a quad band, and one that is 100% perfect.
Hi
My PDA2K is falling apart (I have dropped it a couple of times which has not helped.
I need to replace it and I am wondering with what.
I could simply go for another PDA2K but really never want to buy from i-mate ever again so am looking at [email protected]'s XDAIIs and IIi or the T-Mobile MDAIII.
Which is the best or would you steer totally clear of this phone because of all its problems?
Robin
I've got an O2 XDA2s & a work colleague has the T-Mobile MDAIII. Persoanlly I'd use either agin depsite their known issues. I like having an all-in-one device & am happy to compromise to get it
I would definitely buy another XDA IIs, if mine died. The grey colour of the O2 device simply oozes more class than the silver handsets.
Quality has been good (except for the hard reset issue when removing the battery - which is easily solved by keeping the power cord in when changing the sim card). I would be tempted to hang on for the universal though....... NICE!
i simply cannot afford to buy a brand new one if mine died, id have to wait til i can upgrade again, but if i could, then i would buy another as i have already got my bro to get one of these, and also he is a driving instructor, so its useful for his appointments and stuff.
if i was close to my upgrade date tho, i would just wait and get the next xda
joey.
Personally, no. I've realised I don't need the organisation or programs of a PDA. I bought it for Skype, but that doesn't work. The build quailty is not amazing.
I'll be going back to standard Sony Ericssons next contract period.
Chris
I'm very disappointed with all PDA's.
As a long time user AND enthusiast, I'm completely dissatisfied with everyone available. Moving to the BA from a HP, I expected better innovation from the leading producer of WM based PDA's, especially after seeing what HP was producing with the 6500's. Now I just realized that HTC is producing the 6500 for HP...!?!
Why wont someone produce a quality device with a hires (vga) screen, good memory (128 RAM, not to mention the availability of multi GB micro drives), reliable phone (GSM), fast data (GPRS/EDGE), un-crippled Bluetooth (audio/voice), and a small form factor (Treo). It has to be possible. I paid $850 for the BA (unlocked), and it's ridiculously unstable, and can't do what my $50 cell phone can do.
Bitter, Bitter, Bitter...
I hear you man. Sometimes I wonder if I should have got a different Pocket PC so Skype would actually work.
All of them are crippled/broken/manufactured badly in some way. The BA has its fair share of problems, but the important thing is that they're no more than any other PDA (apart from maybe the keyboard).
Chris
Some guy at work has te iPaq hybrid pda/phone. Quite swanky. I recently have this descision on my plate. Keep my new XDA2s or swap for the slower, but better made and more stable SE P910.
I'm waiting for Nokia N91.
I will surely buy another Blue Angel. Wish they could makde the keyboard more stronger and add WM 2005 in it .
I am pretty happy with the stuff .
NO!
his hardware its really crap...
Robster said:
Hi
My PDA2K is falling apart (I have dropped it a couple of times which has not helped.
I need to replace it and I am wondering with what.
I could simply go for another PDA2K but really never want to buy from i-mate ever again so am looking at [email protected]'s XDAIIs and IIi or the T-Mobile MDAIII.
Which is the best or would you steer totally clear of this phone because of all its problems?
Robin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your phone covered by your house insurance.....was it you that dropped it? I would be suspicious and claim for a new one if you get my drift!
I would definetaly buy another one! It has had it's issues, but they all do to one extent or another. I use mine for my work all the time, and it has been the best unit that I have owned to date.
Later.......
i will never buy xda lls.
i hope i can change my xda lls to xda lli now.
but i have no money
Absolutely NOT. Sick of the instability, the poor support, the resetting 3 times a day and everything else that goes with it.
Never again!
I like the idea of an all in-one-device but...
1) phone is unstable
2) bluetooth is unstable
3) pda is unstable requiring resets
4) no UMTS
5) no "good" camera (0.3 MP ? come on! 5MP cam phones are out already)
6) no EDGE support
7) low memory
8) don't use keyboard as often as I thought
it is an OK device, but could use a lot of improvement.
I live the universal and I would give it a try if it were quadband
Until 3 days ago I would have said no. My 02 XDA2s was horribly unstable in all the ways described above.
I then had to try and find a replacement all-in-one. All I found that does everything this does that I need is the XDA2i (which from reading the forum sounds just as bad) and the Nokia N91 (out this Christmas at the earliest - I needed a handset NOW!)
I will take the keyboard of the XDA2s over the camera of the 2i anyday (all XDA cameras are limited by the crappy lenses anyway, no matter hoe good resolution they make them). The keyboard's really useful when doing things like entering passwords with greater accuracy or chatting on MSN.
I then flashed my ROM and radio to the latest availible and I have not had to reset yet in over 24 hours!
I was resetting my other XDA2s with 02 ROM 5 times a day!
Flash your ROM!! It makes this thing work to an acceptable level! Media Player 10 is great too, although the buttons are disabled which makes toggling the screen difficult. Album art and media centre synching make it worth it
Nope, I would not buy another BA. Next time I want to upgrade to get the HTC Wizard. Smaller phone with built in wi-fi and WM5.
With the BA:
I have never used the slide out keyboard
I am fed up with wi-fi choosing whether or not it wants to turn on
I am fed up getting the driver low memory message on BT
I am fed up with the phone locking up up so I can't call out and others can't call me without doing a soft reset or turn on/off BT every time.
Some of you are missing the point here! Let's compare to units that are already available, not things that have not arrived yet! With the right rom combination,this is an acceptable unit! Edge is new and very limited right now,and was not available when these came out.Stability issues can be resolved by cooking your own rom! Using reasons like that,as well as "I don't use this,or that feature", is not really the point,is it!
Just my 6 cents worth..... Later....... 8)
ill still buy ba or the upcoming one
this is the best i've ever had...i started from xda1 then xda2 now xda2s...that's why i love this site...and thanks t'all the people Here...lm working at night, n use my wifi w/o problems...use my verichat for chatting or agile, surf net...play my old school super nintendo (thousand selection)...use resco to ftp my website n upload/dowload mp3's ,files etc....listen my new remix mp3's w 2gigs while im in the gym ...ayt....
With the current selection of phones/pdas in the market today, I would still buy the same IIs I have....thats considering I can still aford one
Ok so right now I've got a motorola v300 and I want to upgrade to a pocket pc phone. I'll be using it mostly as a phone and to watch movies and mess around with at work or on planes or whatever. I'd like to use a BT headset and mess around with wi-fi but not grps. Anyways I live in Canada and will be using it on rogers w/ a sim card.
So the sx66 appears to be cheaper than the IIS and is available from more ebay ppl in the US. And if something went wrong with it and it were covered under the 1 year warranty I guess it'd be easier to ship it to a place in the states rather than the UK. A built in camera isn't a huge deal to me either.
The only thing is I read that the sx66 is rather slow with WM5, and also read that it's just as fast if not faster than 2003se. It has less rom than the IIS so does that make a huge difference?
So which BA would you recommend? Go for the cheaper SX66? Spend a few more bucks and get the IIS? As for the qtek 9090 i barely see any on ebay.
Also just a quick question about WM5 on the BA, does it actually have it's own version or is it just something whipped up based on the himalaya or wizard version? In other words will it recieve real patches/updates from MS or will it be up to the great people on these forums to fix problems with it?
Thanks in advance for your input
They're pretty much all the same internally except some have cameras and some don't. If you need the camera, get the cheapest BA with a camera. If you don't need the camera, get the cheapest SX66 you can. The SX66 performing slow in WM5 was just an initial issue because it didn't have a camera, but that has since been fixed.
Tikerz said:
They're pretty much all the same internally except some have cameras and some don't. If you need the camera, get the cheapest BA with a camera. If you don't need the camera, get the cheapest SX66 you can. The SX66 performing slow in WM5 was just an initial issue because it didn't have a camera, but that has since been fixed.
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oh ok, so you mean it's like the build was allocating memory to a camera that wasn't there or something?
i know spec wise they're pretty much the same except the iis has a bit more rom but does that make a huge difference performance wise? i'll be putting everything on a memory card anyways.
Yeah, something like that. The ROM was expecting a camera to be there, but there wasn't. I think the solution was to place files in there to make it think there was camera. Then it started behaving normally. I don't think the extra memory will make much of a difference unless it's in storage. On my device I show 60.30MB storage memory and 123.15MB program memory. With all the programs I run, my free program memory hovers around 80MB free all the time. So there's plenty of room.
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.
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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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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