Best Smartphone? The E200 of course

[Guest Alex_le_brit]

I just know I'm going to get flamed for this but here goes.

Was sat in the pub last night with a mate and he asked me why I haven't upgraded my E200 and why I hardly ever get seen with my Universal. I said it was because I reckoned it was the best phone around. Now before the flames start here's the two reasons why.

The hot swapping SD card slot and the "serial" port on the bottom.

I guess I could stretch the argument to say the SPV or E100 were the best, but the E200 had bluetooth which just made it for me.

So why are these two features so excellent? Well because of the potential they had which was wasted - probably given how close Orange, HTC and Microsoft were by Orange more than anyone else.

Remember how excited we were when we saw beta test photos of an E200 with a wifi card? Yes they might have been fakes for all we know, but the potential was there if we had SDIO for a whole range of peripherals based on the SD slot, just like PPCs have. But of course the C500 came along and that potential was killed off before it could even get started.

Secondly the serial port. Remember the Elektex flexible keyboard? I still use mine, and still love it. Ok I could use a bluetooth version on the C500, but it needed a stand, and extra batteries and of course it was more expensive. But again along came the C500 and it was a mini-USB slave, so bye bye peripherals before they could even get started.

So who cares? There's smartphones now with keyboards, and there's 2GB mini SD cards, and there's built in wifi too. So yes, now it's not such a big deal BUT imagine if the C500 had kept the peripherals ability of the E200, we'd have had wifi much much sooner, and because that serial port on the bottom had the ability to control your smartphone it could have been used. Look at all the iPod peripherals there are and imagine if the smartphone had been sold properly, widely. There might have been Smartphone controllers by now, speaker systems you just dropped your phone on, who knows, my car has an iPod compatible stereo, so I can control one using the steering wheel mounted controls, imagine how much better if you could control your phone using the same?

So in the end and after a few beers we decided Orange killed the Smartphone before it even got started. They marketted it at business people, not at media hogs, and with HTC changing the ports, they killed the chance of accessories.

Pity, if they'd done it our way, who really would have cared about the iPhone?

[Guest Confucious]

But they were never made use of so the E200 was a brick.

Now the C500 was a nice phone.....

does anyone care about the iPhone?

[Guest Alex_le_brit]

Well that was our point... for whatever reason, all those good bits were missing in the C500, who knows why? Conspiracy theorists might say it was because Orange didn't want you able to add a whole load of peripherals onto your phone, especially not wifi.

Pity though, I'd sure love to have Smartphone integration in my car instead of iPod integration.

[Guest jimbouk]

Someone somewhere made a very definite decision to develop ppc's with all of the above and to keep such things off smartphones.

I would still have the c500 over the e200 any day. The e200 was just too slow and ungainly. I have one here if anyone wants to buy it though!

[Guest Confucious]

Could it just be that no one wanted these features?

Wifi kills the battery, so I never use it on my universal and maybe people just wanted smaller devices so the connector (and SD card) were dropped in favour of a smaller form factor?

Just a thought...

[Guest medenblik]

If the iphone does everything APPLE says it will do, and if there is no ISSUES or Problems with the iphone. I think the iphone will be a great device, and I would take one if they give me one to use :)

I think the first ones will have issues and bugs, just all new phones.

[Guest Alex_le_brit]

Could it just be that no one wanted these features?

Wifi kills the battery, so I never use it on my universal and maybe people just wanted smaller devices so the connector (and SD card) were dropped in favour of a smaller form factor?

Just a thought...

It could be, but then I'm interested to see the bluetooth folding keyboards that popped up for instance. As for SD, yes I'd agree with you on that, although at the time when the C500 came out I remember I could get a decent SD card but only a half decent Mini SD card.

Anyway it was just a thought, perhaps I'm unusual in that I've always hoped that eventually a smartphone will replace my other gadgets so for me the truly Smart Phone would have a decent camera in, and be able to integrate with other systems by having maximum connectivity.

Perhaps the difference is phones are "disposable" and i-Pods aren't?

[Guest jimbouk]

There are many variable that dictate the handset a user chooses:

1) Function

2) Form

3) Cost

4) Peer Pressure

5) Company Directive

6) Network Subsidised Handsets!

So often the device that the consumer ends up with is a compromise of some or all of the above.

The really hardcore amongst us will use a phone that isnt as user friendly as another so that we have access to other functions. I recall using the SPV and SPVe200 even thought they were so slow and buggy so that I could sync my calendar and emails (something that the then faster smarter nokias could do anyway!!!!!)

[Guest Blakey]

Hmmm, my old E200 was my first smartphone experience. It's one I've kept although my Moto MPX220 is my backup phone of choice these days.

I've been giving serious thought to what makes the best phone for me recently and this is what I have come up with:

• Form Factor - it has to be small. My current m600 is a great size - big enough screen to be useful, small enough form to fit comfy in my pocket. I ditched the Universal due to its size. It doesn't need to be as small as a smartphone. But anything bigger than the m600 is too big for me.
  
• Syncing email, calendar and contacts with MS Exchange. With direct push deffo. As far as I know this is not available on Nokias and SEs.
  
• Applications - I use TomTom, MemoryMap and MobiPocket reader on my m600 and would not go to a phone which didn't support these apps.
  
• Music - I currently have 52 albums on my 4GB SD card as well as the entire road system of GB. It also needs to support BT stereo. My m600 does this after a tweak.
  
• 3G - I have TMob's WnW package so surf a lot. My m600 doesn't have 3G and I miss that aspect of my Universal.
  
• GPS - I currently use a BT GPS dongle and connect via BT. That works great for me. But clearly built in GPS would be even better.
  
• Camera - this is my BIGGEST gripe with PPCs and smartphones. Why oh why can we not have a reasonable quality camera unit in one of these phones? I'm not after 10MP loveliness, just 2MP would be fine. But it needs to have autofocus and a fast enough shutter speed to be able to capture someone moving without everything being a total blur. And a flash. The SE K750i camera would be fine. That would do all I need for a digital camera and it SHOULD be available. Why is it not?
  

You'll note that I haven't included WiFi in the list. I never use the WiFi on my m600 as it kills the battery and I'm happy to simply use GPRS to get what I need. 3G would be much better of course and 3.5G better still.

I'm due an upgrade as late as November. I wonder if this specification machine will be available by then? The m700 is 90% there. All it really needs is a quality camera with my above specs and I'm away.

Chances?

Cheers

Blakey

[Guest Confucious]

For me, the bigger screen of the universal and the wonderful keyboard more than make up for the size! I agree with you on wifi but 3G is a must - 3.5G would be better. As for camera - Yes, a good camera would be nice. But the only ones with decent cameras are SEs and we all know that Sony make digital cameras so have the expertees - I don't think you're likely to see a decent camera on an HTC phone.

Different people want different things from a phone, my Universal is being repaired and I'm using a C600 - a great little phone that I have push email and full outlook sync on, it's great, but I miss the easy internet browzing of the Universal which most people don't like because of the size AlexLebrit has his preferences because he wants different things from his phone - we all do! I doubt if any 2 people will agree on what makes a "perfect" phone.

I think most people agree phones are getting better - Alex doesn't, but I believe he is in a minority, that doesn't make him wrong or anyone else right, it is all very subjective. I love my Universal:wub: and my next phone is like;ly to be either a Tosh G900 or an Athena (even bigger than the Universal ;) ) - so maybe I'm just wierd!

[Guest Blakey]

The Universal was a great phone. Two of my pals have them (one is my old one which I sold on to him). I think they are great and are virtually laptop replacements. But as mobile phones which you can just chuck in your pocket when off down the pub they are simply too big for me. That was really the only problem I had with the Universal. And of course the camera issue.

I'd cross over to the Darkside (SE/Nokia) if their phones had Exchange syncing and were able to run TomTom and MemoryMap. But of course by paying for PPC versions of those pieces of software I have tied myself into the PPC platform somewhat.

Still hoping for a good camera on a PPC...

[Guest jimbouk]

I know the camera isnt amazing but the Hermes is the perfect compromise for me. Its got everything the universal has (except the VGA screen) plus HSDPA and is only marginally bigger than a "phone".

I have always been amazed at people who use a Universal as an everyday phone - particularly when you see them talking on one without a headset. If I know I need a big screen then I take my laptop.

Having said that the new HTC Advantage/Athena looks like quite a gadget... but I would want to carry a c600 or something like it as well... which kind of defeats the object.

[Guest chucky.egg]

The E200 was without doubt the worst smartphone I ever had the misfortune of using.

The E100 was better, and the C500 was in a different league again.

The smartest smartphone in all of smartland is no bally use if the thing freezes, reboots, or just does it own thing.

I've been back and forward between Smartphone and PPCPE for a while, but I think I've come to the conclusion that all these features which PPCPE users love (and I love too) don't make up for the fact that mine is meant as a phone first and a PDA second.

I'm looking forward to the Vox (why no 3G though?) and would like to try a Blackjack, and whilst I'd love the functionality of a PPCPE I want it in a Smartphone form factor.