Wifi Smartphones, Which one?

[Guest AFC MAGIC]

I hope that this is in the correct section.

I am looking to get a new smartphone with WiFi, and as Orange have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that the C600 shouldn't have this function, I(we all) have to go elsewhere to get wifi enabled smarthpones, now this is where the problem comes.....as far as i can tell there are three smartphones with Wifi.

QTEK 8310

Imate SP5

Imate SP5m

Here's the question.

What, if any, are the differences? (other than Design) There doesn't seem to be much from spec sheets but they have different prices. and as these prices are quite large i don't really want to be getting the wrong one.

Any help would be appreciated.

Allan

[Guest shadamehr]

The difference is the logo of the company on the front nothing more.

Let me quantify that a bit though...

The SP5 and the SP5m are different in that they are the same device, BUT, one is in a business like form factor with a dedicated contacts button and messaging button on, the other is a different design, with music control buttons on instead.

System-wsie they are the same though.

The same principal applies exactly for the qtek - 8300 and 8310, are just like the sp5m and the sp5 - but the same applies - 8300 is the music phone, 8310 the darker businesslike one.

Thus a qtek music phone 8300 is IDENTICAL to i-mate sp5m except for the label, and likewise the 8310 identical to the sp5.

Edited November 11, 2005 by shadamehr

[Guest AFC MAGIC]

The difference is the logo of the company on the front nothing more.

Let me quantify that a bit though...

The SP5 and the SP5m are different in that they are the same device, BUT, one is in a business like form factor with a dedicated contacts button and messaging button on, the other is a different design, with music control buttons on instead.

System-wsie they are the same though.

The same principal applies exactly for the qtek - 8300 and 8310, are just like the sp5m and the sp5 - but the same applies - 8300 is the music phone, 8310 the darker businesslike one.

Thus a qtek music phone 8300 is IDENTICAL to i-mate sp5m except for the label, and likewise the 8310 identical to the sp5.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your reply

as i turns out i was thinking about the 'music' version as i use media player all the time and have a C550(so used to having buttons)and as i have just spotted a Grade 'B' sp5m on expansys, (and grabbed it as there was only one)for almost a ton off the normal price, will be trying this one.

can't go wrong ;) .......(i hope, lol)

Thanks again

Allan

[Guest leoiden]

how about wifi smartphones for the united states of america mainly west coast california to be exact?????????????????

[Guest Pondrew]

The difference is the logo of the company on the front nothing more.

...

Thus a qtek music phone 8300 is IDENTICAL to i-mate sp5m except for the label, and likewise the 8310 identical to the sp5.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not exactly Shad.

The hardware is the same, but the software will differ in so far as each brand has their own own rom versions which may include extra features.

Remember the days when Imate Smartphone roms had text message character counters while the Orange ones didn't? Well although the differences are far less noticable these days there are differences. Sometimes a particular brands radio stack is better then the opposition, sometimes there's extra bundled software. The problem is coming across someone who has bothered to highlight the differences!

I expect the differences are minimal between the Qtek and Imate though contributions from others who have used both are welcome!

[Guest Socrates]

how about wifi smartphones for the united states of america  mainly west coast california to be exact?????????????????

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll second that question.

Has anyone tried a European sp5 or whatever on Cingular yet?

Edited November 12, 2005 by Socrates

[Guest shadamehr]

Not exactly Shad.

The hardware is the same, but the software will differ in so far as each brand has their own own rom versions which may include extra features.

Remember the days when Imate Smartphone roms had text message character counters while the Orange ones didn't? Well although the differences are far less noticable these days there are differences. Sometimes a particular brands radio stack is better then the opposition, sometimes there's extra bundled software. The problem is coming across someone who has bothered to highlight the differences!

I expect the differences are minimal between the Qtek and Imate though contributions from others who have used both are welcome!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Apologies - I took that as a given... my fault.

I maybe should have reminded the OP of it though. As it happens, I like the 'clean-ness' of the i-mate ROM, especially the UK English (NRE) one some people are now downloading, with the extra free memory when installed.

I am pleased I bought third party (if I can call a none UK operator phone 'third party').

My previous SmartPhones were all Orange affairs, but I never really used the Orange contract/SIm with them, always my O2 Online instead.

And it was always a faff and a limited sucess thing re-configuring them to work on a different Operator.

Contrast this with the ease of the i-mate unlocked phone, and a simple cab install for O2 settings.

Though I can lay claim to being the 'clever clogs' (/me trumpet, own blows), who had to work it out the HARD way, that there is a tiny error with the O2 UK contract cab file, where i-mate use an UPPERCASE O for O2 in the MMSC url for media messaging, and this needs changing to lowercase to work.

You can imagine how pleased I was to crack that one *lol*

[Guest JBW]

how about wifi smartphones for the united states of america  mainly west coast california to be exact?????????????????

I believe Cingular is going to release a version of the tornado on November 18th, or at least that was their original plan. Tmobile USA was scheduled for an october release and pushed it back to december so I wouldn't be surprised if cingular also had some delays.

The tornado will be sold as the Cingular 2125, which is a similar form factor to the C600, with the addition of a wifi antenna (that's the hump you so on the top of most of the tornado models out there). In my opinion this is a much better form factor than the qtek8300, as I rather dislike its keypad layout and addition of the media keys.

~JBW

[Guest schriss]

I believe Cingular is going to release a version of the tornado on November 18th, or at least that was their original plan.  Tmobile USA was scheduled for an october release and pushed it back to december so I wouldn't be surprised if cingular also had some delays. 

The tornado will be sold as the Cingular 2125, which is a similar form factor to the C600, with the addition of a wifi antenna (that's the hump you so on the top of most of the tornado models out there).  In my opinion this is a much better form factor than the qtek8300, as I rather dislike its keypad layout and addition of the media keys.

~JBW

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have Qtek 8310 which is identical to I-Mate SP5. But I-Mate probably bundles cheap case, Qtek doesn't. Qtek also won't give you ROM upgrade, but that's not a problem, can use I-Mate's.

Worst hing about all those Wi-Fi Smartphones is that you can't browse the local network like you can do on Pocket PC - this is a real shame (untim someone smart enough writes an application to browse local LAN)