38 replies to this topic

[Tech]

i placed an order, almost, for this device from expansys. good deal on the O2B - accessories including bluetooth earpiece! shame didnt go through do to my existing almost expiring contract on O2 so I have to port my number to a different network PAYG SIM, then from that back to O2 when I place the order.

grrr

[Loki4]

  I've had the Cingular 3125 for a few months now, and I simply dig this smartphone. It has everything I need to function through the day. It would have been better if it did have 3G, but it really wasn't a big factor for me. With the Bluetooth, I do not have issues with the mini-jack or the placement of the storage card. But I do expect a change for the storage card placement in the next gen version of this phone. (If it ever happens.) My biggest complaint is still with Cingular. They really haven't supported this phone. When it came out, there was no form-fitting case, no car charger, no games, etc. Most of the Cingular Mall does not work, yet. (STILL doesn't!) That's just plain idiotic. All my software and hardware support came from other sources. The 3125 smartphone is an awesome piece of hardware and if you don't need the powerhouse of the PDA types such as the 8525 or Palm units, (and if you don't really need this 3G stuff), this is the only sound choice for a clam shell type. You people can keep your Dash-es and Blackjacks, t'ank you very much--have a nice day!!  

[mattbeale]

I've had my Qtek 8500 for a couple of months now and overall it's a brilliant little bit of kit. It's just a shame that I've already scratched it, right between the outer screen and the media buttons, because it is a mighty sweet looking phone.

For those that have used a Windows Mobile 5 phone before there is no need to go in depth into the features it has and doesn't have. There are obviously a few changes here and there, like the option to enable or disable the answer on open of the clamshell and configuration of the outer screen which allows you to choose from clocks, wallpapers, caller ID info and message count and even see "now playing" info from Windows Media Player, otherwise everything else seems to be present and correct and pretty much identical to every other Windows Smartphone I've seen.

Of course like any phone there are a couple of annoyances, the main big one being the battery life which as already mentioned is fine if you leave the phone idle, but if you use it for bluetooth or GPRS or Windows Media for MP3s then the phone will be dead in a couple of hours.

The camera software is also really rather atrocious. Even at lower resolutions it seems to lag the phone terribly which means that you will always miss those action shots no matter how hard you try. And I wouldn't even bother trying to take low light level pictures, they just turn out to be a dark, grainy unrecognisable mess.

There is one issue with the phone which I've come to despise. What is it? It's the mini-jack on the phone of course. It's not because it doesn't work but because the supplied headphones have a nasty habit of disconnecting. They don't fall out, rather they rock in the socket and cause the audio to be diverted to the loud speaker. I've lost count the number of times I've been listening to music on the way to work and ended up letting the whole bus listen to my tunes. Got many a weird look from that. I'll admit I haven't been given the opportunity to try other headphones with they could easily be at fault, but still it does get really annoying really fast when they won't stay put.

Despite the above I still love this phone. Out of all the phones I've ever had it's the one I like the most. Yes it has flaws but then so did my SPV E200. Definitely worth the £249 it cost me and better still most definitely a bargain at £200!

[sketchmasterx]

Personally for me the spec and the fact it's clamshell isn't enought to make up for the terrible looks!

I cant understand why smart phone manufacturers can only seem to make one good looking phone for every three rubbish ones!

(Only my opinion, i know most wont agree)

[PaulOBrien]

I think it looks great!

p

[pete_at_raspberry]

I would love to have one.

However, I can't justify spending that sort of money on a phone just cos I want it. I have a small company deal with Orange, and so if Orange did it I would get an upgrade to it. But Orange (UK) don't do it, for whatever reason, and so I won't.

Its just so strange. When I went to the MEDC event a few months ago, there were a few of these handsets kicking about, some of them even in use by the Orange guys. And yet, Orange have decided against them.

It makes no sense to me at all. True, there are other devices which offer better battery life, and more memory, and better cameras, but I want a clamshell WM5 phone. I don't care if its slightly short in other areas. Surely I'm not so rare in this point of view?

Oh well.

[PaulOBrien]

What's particularly weird is that Orange launched it in the Netherlands, but not their other territories.

Bizarre

P

[wwaveydave]

I had one, used it for a couple of months as a going out phone.
Ditched it because:-

Signal strength was poor compared to any other HTC device I've owned.
Keyboard is tough to use when drunk.
It's pretty slippery when opening in a hurry.
Battery usage is excellent when in standby but poor when using with push.

Now using a JAMin as a going out phone, apart from those hardcore evenings when the old faithful c500 comes out.......

[roma0803]

Well, most of it is said allready.

Battery life, internal storage and the weird mini-connector are my main points. My 8500 is RMA since the internal part of the connector came loose and was unable to sync or charge anymore. It's a weak part. Also A2DP sound is lousy and set to 40kbit sound. You need to tweak it to get better sound and also need OmapClock to make the phone handle it at a higher CPU speed.

Besides those points it's a decent phone with a great screen, the fastest Smartphone so far and the looks are good enough. I like it very much, but like more, I'd have better bought the Cingular version because of better internal memory and battery. Call quality is good, it's light anb build quality is decent (apart from the connector). I think it's my final Smartphone before I make the jump to PPC-Phone.... but that's what I said when I got my SP5m...

[wwaveydave]

roma0803, on Nov 28 2006, 16:05, said:

Battery life, internal storage and the weird mini-connector are my main points. My 8500 is RMA since the internal part of the connector came loose and was unable to sync or charge anymore. It's a weak part. Also A2DP sound is lousy and set to 40kbit sound. You need to tweak it to get better sound and also need OmapClock to make the phone handle it at a higher CPU speed.

If you think the A2DP sound is poor you not going to want to buy a Hermes!
Compared to most WM devices I thought the 8500 was actually the best A2DP experience I've had!

[Thumper Net]

The biggest problem i see with my orange version is no rom updates will come , cant see them developing one just for the dutch orange , the phone here is selling well which is good , but why no other orange network got it seems strange . i do not use mine and can see it going the ebay way very soon , as i prefer the M3100  

[Metoo]

Pretty much concur with what's been said already. Niggles about memory etc aside, the form factor is very pocket friendly and it's performed fine as my day to day out and about / down the pub no frills phone. The big keyboard is much easier to using for texting etc than the fiddly keys on C500/C500s I had previously.

As for the lack of traffic on the forum (and in xda-dev), I guess that's because HTC have not been forthcoming with any of the promised ROM updates or fixes, so there's just no hacking or tweaks to talk about anymore. The bugs and limitations are well known, so with no support in sight, people will have got rid, or carried on using it without fuss (as I have).

I've had an ebay sourced Martin Fields style Ultraclear screen protector on the screen, outer screen and camera lens since new, and the phone has stood up very well to the daily knocks. The only permanent marks so far are  on the metal battery cover, which does tend to scratch and dent very easily.

As I said, it's ideal for situations when you don't want to carry your expensive PPC around, but have the same Outlook data etc at hand. I've also found the battery pretty good when used as a basic phone too, without BT etc I can easily get 2-3 days use.

Edited by Metoo, 28 November 2006 - 11:25 PM.

[simon211175]

Okay, I've had mine for a couple of months now, and I have to say that paholman's review above is pretty spot on with how I feel about mine.

I had a C500, before changing to a Motorola A780 (I cannot apologise enough for this - it had built in GPS and the Mio A701 wasn't out then). I hated that, and after only 8 months changed to the 8500. This is my best phone ever, and believe me I've had lots of them.

I have no real gripes about the functionality of the phone, the GPRS disconnect "feature" through comm manager is the only real trouble, but it's not a problem and certainly not an 8500 feature.

here's my only real annoyance with this phone - again though I cannot say if this is an 8500 problem or a WM5 problem. As a seasoned themer, I expected to be able to theme all screens in this phone - in much the same way as on my C500. I cannot. The contacts screen and incall screens being the major issues. The contacts screen refuses to display an image, and the incall screen is hard coded to only display \windows\cprogback.png, so to change it needs this file overwriting. HTC and Microsoft both deny responsibility for these issues, so I guess I have to live with it. As a themer this is a big issue for me, but if you don't much care for a fully themed phone, then it's not going to affect the performance of the phone.


I would recommend this phone to anyone - I used to hate clamshells until I got this one, and my girlfriend hated WM phones until she saw this one.

[Zim]

i soo want one of these.. i think they rock.. tired of my c600.. this would make a cool replacement..

/me ebays

Zim

[PaulOBrien]

A2DP in general = rubbish on everything!

P

[Zim]

bah all £200 may wait till the new year.. zune will keep me going till then

[roma0803]

Paul (MVP), on Nov 29 2006, 16:25, said:

A2DP in general = rubbish on everything!

P

Ah, I didn't know that. Good to know. Though the unofficial A2DP patch for Tornado devices is pretty satisfactory.

[PaulOBrien]

I mean compared to good wired headphones...

P

[paholman]

Apologies for putting this in this post,aswell as the StrTrk area but all us owners of QTEK 8500 are disappointed with the slow reaction of the Camera, but I thought this was well worth sharing

I've just tried SpeedBooster from http://www.teksoftco...on=speedbooster
Free Trial for 16 days

After installing SpeedBooster, I loaded the Camera, then opened SpeedBooster, cranked up the level for the Camera to "Time Critical", then pressed the Action button to load the Camera. Took a pciture and the reaction of the Camera  appeared to be instant.

I'm at work at the moment, so perhaps my tests are inconclusive (or I'm completely naive), but if anyone else is willing to give it a try and see if their results are the same, go for it and report back on this post here  http://www.modaco.co...howtopic=248958

Edited by paholman, 29 November 2006 - 06:01 PM.