9 replies to this topic

[gerryr]

Well after over a week with my S300 I though I'd write down my thoughts on it for any would-be purchasers of the phone.

I've had smartphones from the SP3 up and a couple of months ago took the leap to PPC ala HTC Prophet.  Theres no denying the Prophet is a great device but I quickly (2 months) realised PPC form factor aint for me.  Found txting an nightmare and the volume of the phone was poor enough too, made speaking around any noise very difficult.

I've never owned a flip phone so its all new to me but I find the S300s build quality very good.  The hinge is solid and I feel like if I drop the phone its not going to smash into pieces, the rubbery texture at the front would help here.  Its extremly light too, especially after coming from the Prophet I find myself checking my pocket to see if its still there (so far so good!)

The keys are very nice to use although you have to hold it right.  For the 1st couple of days I found it very hard to hit the space (#) key but I've got the hang of it now, just hold the phone fairly low.

As I said volume was one of my reasons for moving from the prophet and I'm happy to say the S300s earpiece is excellent.  I even have it at the 2nd loudest setting and can hear everything clearly.

Screen is on a par with the SP5, excellent if your coming from a non-QVGA screen!

The batery life was a bit of a worry seen as its a fairly low powered capacity 750mHa however as a test I ran the phone for over 2.5 days without needing a charge.  I had bluetooth always on with some small usage.  GPRS always connecetd again with some small usage and maybe 20 mins call and a played 5 or 10 min of video.  Not alot of use but still 2.5 days aint too bad.

One annoying thing is the lack of storage space.  Even with PIE files deleted (or moved to the storage card) and all media files and programs on the storage card I only have just over 5MB of space on the phones memory.  As my Outlook a/c grows this may be a problem.

Well I'm crap at writing but theres some of my thoughts on it, feel free to as any questions about the phone.

l8r
gR

PS- When we gonna get a Startrk section mods??

[sporkguy]

2.5 days is pretty decent! I only manage about 1.5-2 days with my Vario, and about the same on my SP5 - obviously depending on how much I use either.
I'm a heavy texter (read: 30-40 a day) so I quite like the keypad on the Vario. I've had a 6630 before, and didnt like how low the keypad was on the phone - sounds like you're experiencing the same thing with your S300.

Still, it looks like a cracking little phone - certainly a worthy flip rival to the V3 for us Smarties!

I'm sure Paul will add a Star100 dedicated area soon enough

[awarner]

5MB of space does not sound good? what preinstalled apps are there?

[fluffcat1]

sporkguy, on Jun 27 2006, 18:43, said:

Still, it looks like a cracking little phone - certainly a worthy flip rival to the V3 for us Smarties!

I'm sure Paul will add a Star100 dedicated area soon enough

So what changed your mind?

http://www.modaco.co...pic=239844&st=0

sporkguy, on May 18 2006, 17:51, said:

hmm. its a damn shame its butt-ugly

And it's 'official' codename is now STRTrk...

fluffcat1, on May 18 2006, 20:27, said:

http://www.htc.com.tw/news/index.html

For what I assume to be copyright / trademark resons it's the HTC STRTrk now although the official pictures are still labelled 'startrek'.

"08 May 2006, London: HTC, the global leader in Microsoft® Windows Mobile® based devices, today launched its greatly anticipated STRTrk handset. Available in black, silver or pink; it is the first music-focused clamshell Smartphone to pack great entertainment features into an ultra slim, design-led shell as well as offering the option of syncing into the office to update emails and documents. "

"Availability:
The HTC STRTrk (Qtek 8500) is available from week three June, 2006 from key distribution partner, 20:20 Logistics, Europe's largest independent Sim-Free handset distributor. RRP is £á499 (inc. VAT) "

Richard

[gerryr]

pre installed is the clearview suite but they don't appear in the remove programs list so I assume there part of the ROM (and so will still be there after a hard reset ??)  Also some bubble poppin game (as well as the standard smartphon one... cant get enough of them bubble popping games lol )  

Might try a hard reset see if things improve, although I remember the tornado had the same issues....

[cerij]

Perhaps you can give me some information about the Strtrk / Qtek 8500?

How long can you make the external display stay on before it times out?

When the external display has timed out, can you make it illuminate again by pressing one of the buttons on the front of the unit? i.e. you could then quickly check for SMS etc.

Thinking about it, do you get an SMS notification on the external screen?

Thanks.

[gerryr]

sure can!

The choices for external screen time out are from 5 seconds to 30 seconds

Yes, press an external button once and it lights up the external display.  Press it twice and it starts media player.

Yes you get an envelope icon on the external screen if you have a message.

let me know if you've any more questions
atb
gr

[nickcornaglia]

Battery life is still a bit more than a day for me...but I am polling POP3 mail every 15 minutes, and Newsbreak every hour. And FizzTraveller every 12 hours.

[PaulOBrien]

Bet you'll start missing Pocket PC OS soon tho... We know you encece

P

[nickcornaglia]

Actually...I definitely like Smartphones better than PPCs.
Unless there is a piece of indespensible software that comes out for PPCs only....I can do everything with a Smartphone that I can on a PPC.

The smaller hardware fits me so much better. And the Strtrk feels more like a "phone" than any other smartphone I've owned. (I did have the MPx200 flipphone too....but that was really cheap feeling in comparison).

Software is my biggest hangup. I need more more more Smartphone software. I have more core apps like PIM apps, email, Newsbreak, media players....but I want more...and I'm just not seeing it coming fast enough.