I'm keeping my eye on it, too. A friend has the 730 and loves it, and despite Verizon's hassles with WiFi, I'm tiring of Cingular's coverage. Now that I see that the 730 can be hacked, I may go ahead and jump, or I may wait to see if the 6700 can "be fixed." [Chances are I'll jump soon, as I have virtually zero patience anymore].
I would have jumped already, except that WM5 isn't on the i730 yet. The 6700 would ship with WM5, which makes it attractive in that regard. I also like the idea of the landscape keyboard, since the buttons are bigger. The i730 ain't bad, but the buttons do feel a bit small.
Quote:
I guess all I'm saying is that coverage area is at the top of the list for me, and I'm also ready for a converged device.
Coverage is always the most important thing. Apparently, Cingular has finally integrated the AT&T network fully in New York, so I'm going to give it a shot. As it stands, Verizon works great at home but only so-so in the office (works fine at my desk, but not everywhere else), so I'll have to play around for a bit before I figure out the ultimate solution.
Of course you could still connect the phone to a wi-fi router/laptop and share the connection.
Right, and this is far greater a problem than someone writing NAT routing code for the Pocket PC. Besides, a Pocket PC isn't going to last long as an access point; sustained WiFi and EVDO will kill the battery very rapidly. I just don't want to have to suspend the phone, in case I do get a call while I'm surfing on WiFi.
I'm keeping my eye on it, too. A friend has the 730 and loves it, and despite Verizon's hassles with WiFi, I'm tiring of Cingular's coverage. Now that I see that the 730 can be hacked, I may go ahead and jump, or I may wait to see if the 6700 can "be fixed." [Chances are I'll jump soon, as I have virtually zero patience anymore].
I would have jumped already, except that WM5 isn't on the i730 yet. The 6700 would ship with WM5, which makes it attractive in that regard. I also like the idea of the landscape keyboard, since the buttons are bigger. The i730 ain't bad, but the buttons do feel a bit small.
Quote:
I guess all I'm saying is that coverage area is at the top of the list for me, and I'm also ready for a converged device.
Coverage is always the most important thing. Apparently, Cingular has finally integrated the AT&T network fully in New York, so I'm going to give it a shot. As it stands, Verizon works great at home but only so-so in the office (works fine at my desk, but not everywhere else), so I'll have to play around for a bit before I figure out the ultimate solution.
--janak
Thanks for the feedback in both areas, Janak. I guess I should have the patience to watch some reviews of WM5 use in a converged device, which is what it is primarily designed for. I know I've been disenchanted with it on my x51v, because a lot of my previous single tap operations are now multiple tap operations. But, it might be more appealing in button operation than in tap operation. So, I guess I should really absorb some reviews.
It's good to hear that Cingular has finished recoding the AT&T satellites. Cingular gives me great service in Atlanta but it bit the bullet in the hills of TN last week (where comrades were at least occasionally getting Verizon service). But that could just be that the GSM frequencies are not as mountain tolerant.
Thanks again for giving me reasons to be more patient than my normal nature is.
Word is that Verizon will allow EVDO tethering with the new Blackberry coming out in the coming days, the 7130. It will only connect through USB, but you can use that device as a modem instead of the PC Card for the $59.99 monthly charge.
In the images of the brochure for that device on some boards, it's actually listed as a feature of this phone.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Personally I think the contrast between the black and silver looks pretty cool! For me the issue is that damn horrible external aerial! if they got rid of it - I'd buy it!
__________________ Mitchell Oke - Gear Diary Editor MacBook Pro, Self-Built Media Center PC on 22" LCD
Samsung i600 "BlackJack", HTC Universal, Microsoft Zune
More pictures over at pdahonehome now and the wifi, cell radio issue has already been hacked and appears to be working without problems. The back of the phone is also black. It actually looks pretty good.
2. I'm willing to pay the $59.99/month laptop plan. But Verizon won't sell it with a phone -- only with the PC cards. I have an officemate who tried, very, very hard to get a tethered setup, and they flat-out refuse.
--janak
Verizon is a "for profit" company, in the past they could not tell the difference between PDA network traffic and a tethered device, so they didn't officially support it. (you could download modem drivers to enable this with most of the pda's, but they pulled back from offering them.) The inital release of the i600 had a modem driver on the installation disk, they later removed that.
They have now implemented changes to the network, phones and billing system so they can monitor usage, and when the new BB comes out it will be the first pda to be offered with a "tethered plan option", my understanding is it will cost extra, but most people that want to tether and geet EVDO will pay.
Also since EVDO is "DO" data only, you can still recieve voice calls while tethered.
I personally don't care that the wifi is "crippled" it's nice to have, but I don't by a phone edition device to worry about wifi. Most applications can be done well over 1xrtt, and EVDO. Then again when shopping for a house a requirement for me was strong Verizon Coverage...I haven't used my home access point in about a year.
Verizon refuses to cell a data plan with a phone, but it works anyway. They can't stop you. I went into a store and proved this, then asked them to sell me the proper data plan. They really tried, but couldn't do it in the system. The net result is that I have unlimited data for $15, because that's the most they could charge me on a phone. I tried to be honest and pay what's fair, but they can't do it.
Linear Mode
