Smartphone 2003 versus Pocket PC Phone Edition

[Guest RussellH]

I've been weighing up the different Smartphone options available with Orange, and still don't feel anything quite fits what I'm looking for. The SDA phones sound great, but I'd really rather stay with Orange. The E200 came close, but the bugs were too much for me. The C500 looks great, but isn't great for games. The recently announced E2000 could be the answer, though this runs Pocket PC Phone Edition. I've searched the internet to see the basic differences between the two operating systems, but thought I'd see what Modaco experts familiar with both think. Is the same sort of software available? Can you navigate around without using the stylus? Anything else majorly restricting about the phone edition? Thanks.

[Guest Pigo]

Have you concidered the M1000?

It's a PDA with Phone capabilities

Pigo

[Guest RussellH]

M2000 will have more features, so I thought I'd wait and see what everyone here thinks of it when it arrives. Was just curious really about the differences in operating systems. For example, if programmes are developed by the experts here, will they work on both (I suspect not). If not, is there as much software available for Pocket PC phone Edition?

[Guest Twain]

I've got the xda 2 and the c500, the xda 2 having similar but not exactly the same os as the m1000due to the carriers.

Pocket pc phone edition is pretty reliant on navigation using the stylus which means very little one handed use! apart from a few things like answering, and once u get the hang of it u can also make cals single handedly.

If you look on handango or somewhere similar you can find loads of programs, if there is something you want on one platform you can normally find the same or an equivalent for the other platform, but the ppcpe version is normally much better and much more usable due to more power and bigger screens. only major downside of the ppcpe devices is their size.

It was so nice going back to the c500 from the xda 2, the size and weight slowly gets annoying.

You just need to weigh up if you need the power and size screen the ppc has.

My xda 2 is pretty much redundant now using it purely as a video player, with my c500 being my main phone, music player and camera.

Hope this helps :)

[Guest Confucious]

I guess it depends what you want it for. The C500 would be ideal but if you want games then there are some problems (although I am getting addicted to jawbreaker). The screen on the c500 is smaller than on a pocket PC as well. apart from that I think it's as near perfect as anything I've seen, it is a phone (nice and small) that does lots of other things as well. if you want a PocketPc that is a phone as well then get one, I want a phone that does most of what my PocketPC does as well so i got the C500 - and I'm very pleased with it.

Horses for courses and all that...

[Guest RussellH]

Thanks chaps. Can you navigate around on the M1000 / M2000 using the joystick, or is the stylus the only option. Everything else about the M2000 sounds great, but having to use the stylus could be rather restrictive or inflexible at times. My perfect phone would have been the E200, if only it did everything it was supposed to.

[Guest Dade]

The joypad can be used for a lot of the navigation tasks. I tend to use my fingers for most other things. The only time I used the stylus is when I am writing a lot.

[Guest RussellH]

Thanks again Dade. Sounds better all the time. Is it safe to assume that the biggest difference between Smartphone 2003 and Pocket PC Phone Edition is the number of bugs? I've seen very few complaints about problems on handsets running PPCPE, but page after page of bug lists for the E200, C500, etc.

[Guest Dade]

There are several differences between the OS's. The M2000 has 2003se which has things like Landscape screen support and different view modes in Pocket IE (the same as in Smartphone 2003). One of the things I like about Phone Edition is the fact that it runs standard PPC apps. As you probably know there are millions of games and apps out there for PPC.

For me the best thing about the M1000/M2000 is the nice big screen!

[Guest Dade]

BTW, its very easy for developers to port stuff from Smartphone to Phone Edition. I know several devlopers that are porting games and apps. written for Smartphone over to Phone Edition. I suspect we shall be seing them here soon.

I have had every Smartphone from the original SPV to the C500 but since having the M1000 Ive not really considered anything else. I didnt like the C500 at all!

[Guest theanarch1st]

what about the Motorola MPX? will it be as good as the M1000 or M2000? worth waiting for it? or should i just upgrade to one of those 2 instead?

i really like the look of the mpx tho so it could be the deciding factor neways