[SHC]

Originally Posted by jngold_me

I would definately take the odds against that!

He's doomed I fear: http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/campa...x_t/index.html :devilboy:

(NB: The car key is not to scale, it's the same height as a 4700)

[SHC]

Originally Posted by jngold_me

I would definately take the odds against that!

He's doomed I fear: http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/campa...x_t/index.html :devilboy:

(NB: The car key is not to scale, it's the same height as a 4700)

[lapchinj]

Well I do not consider myself a madman once I see the people who I'm up against. My wife thinks so and I do think that my memory is a little DORK'D but I don't qualify as a madman yet.

I started with the 3600 then to a 3700 and onto a 3900 series iPAQ which all worked very nice. But with a memplug sleeve for 2 extra CF cards it was truly a small brick. I could not put it in my shirt pocket which all my Palm friends did but had to keep it in my pants pocket. Always had a problem with holes (in the pockets) and of course it was hard to keep my pants up when I stuck to my diet. My Palm friends though I was a madman - for walking around with a brick.

Then came along my hp4155 which seems to be the best PDA I've ever owned and the one I've alway come back to. Small, light, BT and wireless and only one SD card slot which is the only issue I have with this PDA. Wanting to get a VGA PDA I finally bit the bullet and bought a Dell x50v. It's very nice and I really have no issues with this PDA. It has everything the 4155 had plus the extra slot. VGA makes it a little bigger but hey that's the price.

So naturally I ended up with 2 x50v's (that's another story). Even with all the bad press about WM5 I wanted to upgrade one of the Dells. The first one has OCN5 installed and works fine (kind of expensive for a GPS though). Anyway I installed WM5 and that was the end of my love affair with the Dell and WM5 and I was becoming a real madman (but for the wrong reasons). Never had a happy day since. Freezing seemed to be as common as snowflakes in a snow storm which just made me freeze over. I'm really not in the mood to go zap the WM5 ROM, go back to 2003 and reinstall all that software but sooner or later that's what's going to happen. So for now I went back to my trusty 4155 and loving it.

As for the Treo I love my friends Treo650 and so I've really considered buying a 700w but alas with no wi-fi or BT it's not going to be too soon so for now I'm staying with my 4155 and V710 (and all the wires).

Jeff-

[r@dimus]

Having reviewed the specs, I have yet to find a PPC phone that really peaks my interest. The screens on the Windows Smartphones are too small to serve me as a primary device. I always find the PPC phone devices are always lacking in some important feature or two. They either have square screens, or not as much memory as I would like, or they use the Micro SD card format that I currently have zero interest in.

After spending several months pushed up against the 64MB internal memory limit of my old HP 4150, moving to a Dell X51v with 256MB internal and a VGA screen was like a gust of fresh air. I'll tether a phone to the Dell before going back to a lesser device.

Besides, I hate holding PDA's to my ear.

[Cybrid]

From 2000-Current
My inventory of gadgets has exploded. I, like Raphael desired mobile connectivity for a looong time.
Kingston 56K modem
3Com LAN Card /now a Trendnet CF-100
Casio E-125 to Novatel Sage Wireless CDPD modem.
Casio E-125 to Samsung T-300 cable.(9.6Kbps)
Casio E-125 with Enfora Pocket Spider.(14.4Kbps)
Dell X5 to LG TM520(23.5Kbps) www.gomadic.com best investment for tethering
Dell X5 to LG5450
Dell X50v to LG5450
Dell X50v to UTStarcom 6700 with BT tether.
The near perfect combo of speed, screen and utility.

Still can't believe anyone'd take a 700W over the 6700. Like....dood?


Also note: I have switched phones on Telus' networks on a semi-regular basis. They are Verizon North. Why is it that people are having a hard time understanding subsidy=contract?
Note GSM operators up here also subsidize phone costs with contracts.

Simply buy the phone at full price. Activate on a month to month/no contract/no termination fee.
Then switch at will, sell one... buy another...jump carriers....no problem! Their subsidies are getting chintzier anyway.
My first cell phone had a 50% subsidy on 1 yr contract. Still cost me $450. Sony Zuma Silver.

Nowadays it seems like they subsidize $50 per year flat rate on any phone. You're better off splurging $150 to be able to tell them "bleep off" when you feel it warranted.

[Richard76]

I have been playing around with these gadgets since the days when they were called "Electronic Organizers", starting with a Rolodex back in the early 90's. Although I originally went through a series of Sharp and WinCE devices, my first truly converged device was a Treo 180 (which I still have by the way and it still works, except for the flip speaker).

Although the Treo 180 was a great "phone first" device, I was trying to sync my 2,000 some odd contacts and notes/histories from ACT. I reluctantly went back to a cell phone and a Dell Axim X5 (and a nice, big colour screen). Then I purchased a CF GSM module, allowing me to use my Axim as a phone too. However, it only had 1900 mHz and it was too bulky to use as a phone, so I ended up just using it for email on the road. Oh, and I also used it for SatNav in conjunction with a Globalsat CF GPS. This was a nice touch as it allowed me to stop having to use my eTrex portable GPS tethered to my laptop by way of a serial cable.

My next venture was back with Palm, the T|W to be exact. Less bulk than the Axim/card/phone combo, but I quickly tired of the silly (read afterthought) cover/speaker flopping around all the time.

Then, along came the perfect gadget...the PDA2k. Boy was that a nice unit for its time. In fact, so nice that about 4 months after selling my original unit I couldn't bear being without it so I bought another one (I'll tell you why in a minute). About 6 months into owning the Blue Angel I thought it would be nice to have something a little smaller to carry on the weekends without giving up too much.

Enter an Audiovox SMT 5600. Again, on introduction this was a great little smartphone. And I do mean little. But with a nice size screen considering how tiny it is. Good reception, great meadia player (WMP 10) but missing that all-important keyboard for text and email messaging. I just recently gave this one to my son as he was bugging me for an iPod. He is much happier with the Audiovox...dude.

Then along came the Wizard (aka iMate K-Jam or Qtek 9100). I purchased the Qtek because is was almost $100 less, came from the same manufacturer (HTC) and had a better warranty (2 years vs. 1 year) and less pre-loaded "garbage programs". The size of this unit was great and I preferred the keyboard sliding out from the side rather than the end as on the PDA2k.

Unfortunately for me, the introduction of Windows Mobile 5 introduced a whole lot of problems. Or more to the point, it was ActiveSync 4.0/4.1. For some reason I could not get it to play nice with my $5,000 Dell laptop running XP Pro (although it would work fine with my $600 refurbished eMachines PC running XP Home...go figure). Remember, an important part of a converged device for me is to be able to sync my 2,000 contact ACT database as well as all my notes and history items.

So, after a couple of months of screwing around with ActiveSync (even after getting my contacts on the Wizard by copying the Outlook .pst file over to my PC and syncing from there), I decided this "relationship" was over. I should also mention at this time that there were two other factors that weighed heavily on this decision.

First, after a recent change to my eyeglass prescription I found it was getting difficult to see the small print on the screen of the Wizard when it was mounted on my dashboard doing duty as SatNav (hence my purchase of the 2nd PDA2k). And second, I had the opportunity to play around with a friends' Treo 650.

This was tough. Here I was, a hardened, died-in-the-wool Windows user seriously considering the purchase of another Palm device. Well, after a couple of days of real-life trials with the Treo I was convinced. I had to get one. That was 4 months ago and the rest is history.

Oh, and by the way, I didn't give up on Windows (at least not yet anyway). I still use my PDA2k on a daily basis. Its primary duty is for SatNav with my Globalsat BT338 Bluetooth GPS with the awesome SiRf III chipset (I get a lock on 12 of 20 sats in my concrete basement!). And secondary use is for entertainment with music listening and movie watching topping the list.

As for my next device...well the jury is still out on that one. Unfortunately, up here in the Great White North (Toronto) we are still waiting for any kind of "high-speed" GSM. So, I may just wait until Rogers introduces something here in Toronto at least before looking for a new device that supports UMTS/HSDPA.

Cheers and happy transmitting!

[pheral]

Excellent article (i know, late reply, i'm new here so i'm only just reading this), great fun to read from the perspective of knowing nothing about many of these devices. For the sake of my wallet, i hope i'm not going to be as much chopping and changing!

And the media-nut in me has to have you change this: Quoting Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, "Must go faster. Must go faster!"

Because you're quoting him in Jurassic Park, not Independence Day.

I shall now take my pedantic nature elsewhere... :P

[uwaku]

Originally Posted by pheral

And the media-nut in me has to have you change this: Quoting Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, "Must go faster. Must go faster!"

Because you're quoting him in Jurassic Park, not Independence Day.

I shall now take my pedantic nature elsewhere... :P

Since you're being pedantic, I guess I can.
Goldblum used the line in BOTH movies, when escaping first from the T-Rex and then from the alien ships.