MDA iii Vs MDA Compact

[Guest yelp for help]

Greetings fellow species,

I would greatly appreciate some feedback on this topic. I am ripping my hair out as to which one of these products to purchase. They have just been launched in the UK, and documentation and knowledge seems very limited from the retailers and network operators themselves.

I would love to see one of those big tables that compare feature by feature but cannot find anything. Right, from my knowledge, the only differences so far from the two hansets are things like:

MDAiii Vs MDA Compact

-the obvious size difference

-MDAiii only has the slide out key pad

-MDAiii has 128MB RAM where as the other has 64MB

-MDAiii is quadband whereas MDA Compact is triband

-There is full WiFi capability on iii but you need a card for Compact?

-Compact won't have Blackberry touch button stuff?

That's about all the difference I know. In terms of similarities, are these true?

-Software and applications are exactly the same

-Processing speed is similar? 400 MHz on MDAiii and 416MHz on Compact?

-Camera is similar maybe more powerful on the Compact?

-Sat Navigation is possible on both?

-Would there be accessories such as car kits available for both models?

-And finally what is the best bluetooth headset for these models?

Any information, advise, links to info/tables would be gratefully received.

Many thanks and Regards,

helper yelper

[Guest inspectorgadjet]

Well there used to be a very informative review here but for some reason most of it is missing now. It compared every little detail of the phones. I don't know what happened to it.

[Guest yelp for help]

Well there used to be a very informative review here but for some reason most of it is missing now. It compared every little detail of the phones. I don't know what happened to it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

oh shizzle! that's the kind of thing I would have been after... does anybody else have any comparison details or any answers on the above?

cheers btw inspector :lol:

[Guest Chaser81]

-Software and applications are exactly the same

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The pre-installed stuff is pretty much the same, except that the MDAIII has Clearvue Powerpoint Viewer/Editor and the Compact doesnt.

-Processing speed is similar? 400 MHz on MDAiii and 416MHz on Compact?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats right, 400MHz X-Scale for MDAIII and 416MHz Belvedere for the Compact. A mate of mine who has the O2 version of the MDAIII commented the other day when playing with my I-Mate Jam that it seemed much faster than his device (though that might be because of the crap he has installed on his).

-Camera is similar maybe more powerful on the Compact?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Compact/Jam has a 1.3 Megapixel camera compared to a VGA camera on the MDAIII, so yes, technically its more powerful. In reality, in anything less than bright light conditions, both cameras are awful.

-Sat Navigation is possible on both?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, possible and works very well on both.

-Would there be accessories such as car kits available for both models?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is a Parrot carkit (CK3300?) available for the Compact/Jam already, its been discussed in this sub-forum before, do a search. Dont know if there is one for the MDAIII but I would imagine there is.

-And finally what is the best bluetooth headset for these models?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They will all work, though there are too many models to go into here in terms of what is the best one. The Compact supports Bluetooth V1.2 so getting a headset that supports this version (Such as the very good Motorola HS850) would probably be a good idea so that you can take advantage of the range and reception improvements.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

If theres enough interest i'll try knocking together a comparison of my m2000 and mda compact sometime next week...

[Guest mjheathcote]

Bottom line is size.

You can use the Compact more like a phone, rather than a PDA.

Mike.

[Guest yelp for help]

Thanks for the breakdown Chaser, and other comments guys. Appreciated

I take it the m2000 is another name for the MDAiii? Monolithix, that breakdown of products you were referring to sounds great! Would be ideal...again, hopefully there's interest to justify your efforts...

I'm curious as to the use of the keypad. If it's something that the user doesn't use much then there really isn't much difference between the two. You can use the stylus/pen on both (I hope!). Also, I do believe there is WiFi differences though, as the Compact may need a card of some sort, SD or something so that's an extra cost.

I was thinking of getting the MDAiii on an upgrade through T-mobile, and perhaps getting the Compact through one of the deals mentioned on here, and I could use that for work. Then if necessary I could switch around sims if say one priceplan had a gprs bundle and use the handset that was more powerful or more features.

For SatNav, do you just need to download software or do you need to setup somthing in the car as well, like a gps point or something?

Also I recall briefly reading on this forum that some had a lot of problems with bluetooth headsets with the MDAs, so there's only certain ones I should go for. As Chaser mentioned, I may need to go for that supports V1.2

Oh, if anyone knows any retailers that have MDAiii's in stock, that would be great (as T-mobile are out of stock).

cheers