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21 March 2006

TECHNOLOGY New Phone

I have been a long devotee of Palm PDAs, having started with a Palm M130, followed by a Sony Clie T615 and then a Sony Clie NX70v. I replaced the NX70v with a Sony Ericsson P910 smartphone which just over a year old.

My phone has started to have to die a death and I am in somewhat of quandary as to what new phone to get.

Sony Ericsson P910i

In many ways this has been a very good phone / PDA, but I was disappointed with this after being so impressed with the ease of use and quality of software for Palm PDAs.

It looks good, has many functions and is not too large like some smartphones. I had hoped that the P910 would provide me with a suitable telephone, PDA and mp3 player, but the P910 has failed to meet my expectations in successful achieving any of these uses.

There are some specific complaints in that it does not sync smoothly with outlook (for example whole day events do not sync at all), the camera is so poor quality as to be useless even for drunk photos in the pub, pop3 emails are difficult to retrieve and there is only limited third party software available.

The one thing I have been sorely impressed with is the large screen for web browsing which using GPRS is fast or very usable. Whichever new phone / PDA I buy, it will need to have similarly good web access.

Now the phone has started playing up (not recognising the sim, buttons not responding or responding incorrectly and failing to keep charge), I decided its time for a change. The following are various telephones I have been looking at.

P910i Details

Sony Ericsson P990i

My first thought for a replacement was the updated version of the P910i, the P990i.

Unlike the P910, the phone has 3G, a 2 megapixel camera and improved Symbian 9.1 operating system. However, as is evident from the picture, for reasons best known only to Sony Ericsson there have got rid of the large screen – a real boon with surfing the web on the P910 and have replaced this with a second keyboard. This is doubtless part of an attempt to jump on the Blackberry push emailing craze.

I am somewhat tentative, especially given the smaller screen, to invest in another Sony Ericsson telephone given my troubles with the P910.

P990i Details

Palm Treo

I have had really good experience with Palm products in the past and have read some good review of the Palm flagship smartphone.

This has the benefit of the renowned Palm hotsync which allows you easily and seamlessly transfer documents, programs and outlook information to and from the PDA.

The Treo is only available in the UK on a contract with Orange. It took Orange some time after the Treo was released to include this with one of their contract packages.

I have some reservations about the web browsing capacity of the Treo and its size, but the main thing that holds me back from rushing out and buying a Treo is its lack of 3G and a rumour that a new Treo is going to be released.

Palm Treo Details

Nokia E61

I know very little about this phone, only having spotted it this evening. Nokia, however, have an atrocious reputation for feeling and being cheap, but I intend to find some more details out.

Nokia E61 Details

Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox T Series

It has to be said that this machine has a really crappy name. This smartphone, however, sports the same good looks and size as the P910.

The included Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera and GPS is an instant draw. I am very intrigued about the possibility of using the included VOIP to use the telephone effectively as a landline over my home wireless network.

The operating system is Windows Mobile 5 which feels me with some dread. I have a Mio 168 Pocket PC which I use purely for its GPS in the car, cycling and walking.

Pocket Loox T Details

Blackberry

Whilst on my higher rights course in London I was surprised that all of large city firm solicitors had Blackberries.

Blackberry have just released the 8700g which is in many ways a glorified PDA. They reportedly have excellent web and email capabilities, including push email – where email is pushed to the machine.

However, to make use of this feature requires a rather expensive subscription which is clearly based on business, rather than poor trainee solicitors like me.

Blackberry Details

Conclusion

Suggestions on which of the above telephones I should purchase or indeed other ‘phones I should consider are gratefully received. A discussion on what network I should use will come on another day.

posted by Matthew at 20:00

1 Comments: Tchrin said...

A colleague has just got himself an O2 XDA Mini S, and from what I've seen it's really impressive, it also looks damn cool, which is always nice. Certainly the best smartphone I've seen for a while. Oh, and it has a nice big screen.

I just did a quick google for it and got lots of results. Looks like its an O2 rebrand of another phone, but I can't seem to work out what its called originally. Maybe the HTC Wizard.

Heres a linkage about it -

http://www.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_mini_s-1274.php

12:32