Smartphone or Pocket PC?

[Guest earthdan]

Hi,

I'd like to buy a device which:

1. is a phone

2. I can receive and send e-mail on (in UK and overseas)

3. I can browse the internet on (in UK and overseas)

4. will allow me to upload/download e-mails from/to Outlook on my XP desktop with the minimum fuss and maximum control

5. has a decent sized and good resolution screen

6. will read all major file formats (Word, Excel, PDF, etc)

7. can fit in my jeans front pocket

8. has been on the market for less than nine months

9. I can use anywhere (I guess within a GPRS area)

10. If it doesn't have a qwerty keyboard, then it should have some other quick means of creating text, e.g. handwriting recognition (is that generally quite fast?)

Also, can anyone recommend a provider too? I won't use the device much for calls, so can be on quite a low call tarrif, possibly with a data provision as I'll probably use it more for e-mail/web. Don't want to pay more than about £30 per month. Don't want to pay more than about £150 for the unit itself.

I really am a novice on this subject, so if anyone can give me any advice, that would be much appreciated. There seems to be so much out there - I can't cope!

Thanks in advance.

[Guest bennish]

ETEN M500, dude.

2.8 inch screen (nice and big for a small device), quad-band gprs (every country in the world), email (outlook), internet, good resolution, word, excel, all that stuff. It's been on the market less than 9 months, and i can fit the thing in the little change pocket of my jeans (slides in snugly, but also sits nicely in a normal jean front/side pocket). Also has handwriting recognition (the best i've ever tried, it runs WM 2003SE and the recognition on older versions sucked). Also an onscreen keyboard.

As you can tell I own one. I've owned a Toshiba e740 pocketpc, was too big and slow. Owned an mpx220, was good but no touchscreen. This is the best one I've had :o

[Guest TigerNet]

Smartphone: C550

PDA/Phone: HP6515

...IMHO...

Cheers

Nick

[Guest Xenzo1990]

Orange SPV M500 or T-Mobile MDA Compact

Also, you can use phonepad for texts, because it is really quick if you wanna do it one handed.

The onscreen keyboard however, I find to be faster than any other method.

The handwriting recognition isn't that great, it works, but you need neat writing, or you need to train it to read your writing and even then it makes mistakes.

[Guest mupwangle]

You can't get the ETEN M500 in the UK at the moment I don't think (supply issue). I've read reviews that say the build quality isn't as good as the HTC magician (JAM, MDA, Orange M500, etc) but it is a wee bit faster. (remember that the Orange M500 is not the ETEN M500)

I'm about to buy an Orange M500 in about 5 minutes - once I decide ona deal. I would've got an S110 (HTC Magician with 64Mb RAM upgrade) but the deals aren't so good and it's on o2 or voda (both of which I've fallen out with!)

[Guest earthdan]

Thanks guys.

It seems that it's between these:

i-mate Jam

Qtek S110

T-mobile MDA Compact

O2 XDA Mini

Orange SPV M500

They all seem pretty much the same to me, except the SPV M500 apparently weighs 10g less than the others...and 20g less than the MDA Compact.

Any of these I should avoid?

I guess it might come down to the provider and who has the best deals. I want to keep my monthly bill low (no more than £30).

Thanks.

[Guest earthdan]

I'm going for the Orange SPV M500. Off to get it tomorrow.

Thanks for all the advice.

:o

[Guest bennish]

I got my ETEN M500 from the UK.... lucky timing! Glad I managed to get it before there was a supply issue...

[Guest mupwangle]

Out of your list, the only one that is any different (other than networky stuff and cosmetics) is the S110 (the S100 is identical to the Jam). It has a 64Mb upgrade but I couldn't find it on as good deals as the others.

I suppose it doesn't matter really. Bought a 1gb SD card for £40. ;-)

(Should get me M500 by the end of the week)

[Guest earthdan]

Out of your list, the only one that is any different (other than networky stuff and cosmetics) is the S110 (the S100 is identical to the Jam).  It has a 64Mb upgrade but I couldn't find it on as good deals as the others.

I suppose it doesn't matter really.  Bought a 1gb SD card for £40. ;-)

(Should get me M500 by the end of the week)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, that's exactly what I intend to do. I guess that if you back up all your important stuff to the SD card, loss of data isn't an issue if the battery goes flat. Is that correct?