Eten M500 Pocket PC Phone Available in UK

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=18930' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modul...ewtopic&t=18930</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The M500 is a Windows Mobile 2003 (second edition) based device running a Samsung 400Mhz Processor. It sports 64Mb Ram and 128 Mb Rom, with a QVGA screen. It has a quad band GSM phone allowing it to be used on all world wide GSM networks. It also utilises GPRS Class10, which makes it an all round performer and competition for the new band of O2 XDA devices. . . As the Eten is SIM free there is no contract subsidy for the phone, but Easy Devices are selling it with a price tag of £370.13 which makes it comprable to top end PDAs."</i><br /> <br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/large_etenm500.jpg" /> <br /><br />We've <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35966&amp;">posted on the M500 before</a>, so if you want one, you can now get hold of one in the UK from <a href="http://www.easydevices.co.uk/pp/PDAs/Pocket_PC/ETEN_M500_SIM_FREE_PDA_PHONE.html">Easy Devices</a>. It looks nice enough, but I can't say I'm particularly blown away by the specs however. What about you guys?

[Kowalski]

this device cant compete with i-mate jam or xdaII. give me a reason one should buy m500 instead of XDA IIi

[Phillip Dyson]

this device cant compete with i-mate jam or xdaII. give me a reason one should buy m500 instead of XDA IIi

From their site (http://www.etencorp.com/products/Communication/500.php).

Some people may like the asthetics better.
130 MB user accessible memory
Voice command
USB host cable (Not sure if this is a miss print or not. I couldn't find a reference to it actually haveing USB host capabilites)

Granted I'm not that familiar with the XDA IIi specs.

[stevelam]

this device cant compete with i-mate jam or xdaII. give me a reason one should buy m500 instead of XDA IIi

Because it is very cheap for a Sim-Free device

[powder2000]

Knowing that the samsung processor on my ipaq 1940 seems to work pretty dang fast at 266 mhz, I would imagine this being a pretty snappy ppc. I see no reason one wouldn't want it.

[Ratel10mm]

It does look nice, but no WiFi? Even though my wifi drives me nuts, when it's working, it's great - and a definite need on my next PDA.

[encece]

This was definitely the must have device for US users about a month ago because of the 850 band. But the iMate has since come out with a 850 band version.

I was torn between the two and decided on the iMate JAM since smartdevicesdirect was low on M500 quantity.

If I has a chance to do it again...I may have gone for the M500 due to the extra memory.

That said...I am still very happy with my Jam! :D

[Darren Behan]

I just got one of these in the US from SmartDevices after my PDA2K developed button problems and I didn't want to send it to Dubai to fix. I have to say that for the most part I am very happy with it. I personally don't miss the wi-fi as I found that I hardly ever used it. For those of you who do then this obviously isn't for you. It's pretty peppy little device from my few weeks experience.

There are two things that I am not so thrilled about I have to say: 1) Signal reception is definitely less than the PDA2K, so far it hasn't been too much of an issue but I'm keeping an eye on it as it is noticable. 2) Bluetooth headset volume is terribly low. I've tried it with a BlueTrek and the Nexklink Bluespoon Chameleon and both are essentially unusable. I have a Jabra 250 that I need to try it with still [EDIT: Works perfectly fine with the Jabra]. Hopefully a patch will be forthcoming from Eten but as with all of these guys, who knows?

Also for those who care, it does not work with TomTom bluetooth GPS software. It does work with other GPS packages but if you want to use what you have then you may wish to look elsewhere.

Despite it's shortcomings, I still like it but that may be cause it's new and noone thinks their newborn is ugly or stupid...Check back in a month or so and we'll see what I have to say then.

db

[Damion Chaplin]

OK, this may be a stupid question, so forgive me if it is, but what's the advantage to having a SIM-less phone?

Seems like it's infinitely easier for me to take my SIM card out of my current phone and stick it in my new phone, rather than calling my carrier to get it activated... Am I missing something?

[encece]

It's not simLESS.
It's SIM Unlocked.

Which means you can use it under ANY GSM network.

You still need a SIM card...but the phone is not locked to just AT&amp;T, Cingular, etc.

[vicott]

Knowing that the samsung processor on my ipaq 1940 seems to work pretty dang fast at 266 mhz, I would imagine this being a pretty snappy ppc. I see no reason one wouldn't want it.
I'm with you on this, I also think a Samsung S3C2440 400MHz (iPAQ h1940 was using S3C2410 processor) might outperform a Intel PXA270 416MHz. At has more ROM than i-Mate JAM. And over here in Singapore, it's slightly cheaper than i-Mate JAM. Oh, and I also notice this price tag of £370.13 is higher than what we get in Singapore :devilboy: It's selling for between US$620 to US$650 over here. Initially, the launch price was US$605. Check out this page (http://www.trendsmobile.com/main2/showdetails.asp?ProductType=&amp;ProductID=99251). But I-mate JAM is still attracting more attention because of its design and cool factor

[Darren Behan]

Interestingly, I got around to trying the Jabra 250 on it and it works perfect. Don't know why it would work differently with different headsets as the headsets worked fine with other phones but in any case at least 1 does. Unfortunately, it's the oldest and biggest one I have!

db

[Coe62]

Now you have the headset working - does this device support boice dial over bluetooth - the iMate Jam does not

[jimsparkman]

I just got one of these in the US from SmartDevices...
db

Darren,
I'm thinking about getting the M500 from SmartDevices and am also in the US... what AC Adapter came with the unit? Do they have US AC Adapters available and extra travel adapters?

Thanks.

- Jim