Should I upgrade from a V551 to MPx220?

[Guest jerryksf]

I'm in my first 30 days with Cingular and have a V551. It seems like a good phone. But I'm not sure if it's going to do everything I want as easily as I want it done. I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure things out. I'm looking at the MPx220, but not sure that I need so much.

Here's my basic list: I want to be able to:

Bluetooth sync with Outlook using "Categories" to define which contacts go into my phone.

Pull pictures off my phone onto my computer.

Maybe play a few MP3's

Download ringtones and maybe a game or two.

I want a phone that is going to last about 3 years or more.

I don't want any issues with phone volume, people have a hard enough time hearing me and sometimes me hearing them. I know there have been posts about this with the MPx220, but I don't know if that's just because people have altered the firmware.

Here's what additional equipment I have:

Motorola PhoneTools 2.0 (I haven't tried using it yet)

USB Bluetooth dongle

Jabra FreeSpeak 250 headset

I should also mention that I have a Zire 72 PDA and use that for my primary PDA needs.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[Guest arogntbastrd]

Bluetooth sync with Outlook using "Categories" to define which contacts go into my phone.

-You can do that and also sync via infra-red or the data cable that comes with. Though for larger files like movies you're gonna need a reader/writer. It syncs your calendar, contacts, tasks, and inbox from outlook

Pull pictures off my phone onto my computer.

-yes, moving stuff from phone to computer and vice versa is really easy. The pictures won't win any awards but still serviceable in a pinch. I went to the car show in houston a few days ago and took about 100 pics. most are decent, especially for a phone. zoom is not your friend, pics will be very grainy if you zoom too much

Maybe play a few MP3's

-again yes, and it can be more than just a few with a mini sd card

Download ringtones and maybe a game or two.

-very doable, but what i like a lot about this phone is that you don't have to d/l them. you can cut clips from mp3s or use other sound files on your computer and use those as ringtones. there are various threads on how to do that and what files work best for that in this forum

I want a phone that is going to last about 3 years or more.

-i'm not going to speculate on that. 2 year contract committed so as long as it lasts those 2 I'm happy. Then I'll get whatever's cool in 2 years

I don't want any issues with phone volume, people have a hard enough time hearing me and sometimes me hearing them. I know there have been posts about this with the MPx220, but I don't know if that's just because people have altered the firmware.

-volume is on the light side but for me and I have the latest firmware straight from cingular. that's only really an issue for me if i'm in a loud environment. a couple of times i haven't been able to hear calls and i'm scared that's what people are talking about but then i say "i can't hear you" and the person on the other line does something, asks "is this better" and it always is, so apparently it hasn't been the phone's fault

As far as additional equipment. I've read that there were sync issues with sony vaio laptops with built in bluetooth but that there weren't problems with usb dongles, so you should be fine. I don't know about your other stuff but I can say that the sound quality on my motorola bluetooth headset is very good

Though it's not a "simple" phone, the phone will do all those things you said you wanted and I've found if you're techno-savy enough to want a device like this you probably won't have too much problems figuring out how to work it. Especially with forums like this available

Edited February 9, 2005 by arogntbastrd