01-12-2004, 08:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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AnexTek Pocket PC Phone At CES
For those of you who want a Pocket PC Phone with flip, another solution may be coming your way. We actually posted on this hardware before -- Legend is selling it in the Chinese market -- but it looks it will soon be available for North American and European carriers as well.
It's triband GSM, weighs about 5.5oz, has a 3.5" display and 64MB of RAM along with an SDIO slot. No Bluetooth, however. Here's more info from the company's product page.
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01-12-2004, 08:50 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 251
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MIA: CDMA
Why is it that all the smartphones or PPCPE devices are GSM?! :evil: Is it because the European carriers are a better market, and then the few and geographically challenged GSM carriers in the US also happen to benefit from that?
Is there licensing involved in CDMA that makes it less attractive? Is it more expensive/complicated to engineer? Sprint and Verizon used to be my friends--that has changed until they can ship bluetooth and multiple smartphones to choose from.
m.
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01-12-2004, 08:51 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 156
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Looks nice enough, but...
1. That top half of the screen is just asking for damage. Case required, methinks.
2. What happened to the letters on the keypad? No T9?! Here in Europe, we have this thing called text messaging, you know... 
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01-12-2004, 08:56 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Re: MIA: CDMA
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Originally Posted by mmidgley
Why is it that all the smart phones are GSM?! :evil: Is it because the European carriers are a better market, and then the few and geographically challenged GSM carriers in the US also happen to benefit from that?
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Not sure about "better", but it's certainly "bigger".
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Is there licensing involved in CDMA that makes it less attractive?
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Well, there's Qualcomm licensing. But that's not really the problem. The problem is that Sprint and Verizon refuse to sell phones that don't pass their stringent requirements. Most phone vendors throw up their hands in the air and skip it entirely, instead. In Korea, amazing CDMA 1xEV-DO devices are coming out all the time.
--janak
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01-12-2004, 08:57 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mike Wagstaff
Looks nice enough, but...
1. That top half of the screen is just asking for damage. Case required, methinks.
2. What happened to the letters on the keypad? No T9?! Here in Europe, we have this thing called text messaging, you know... |
Yeah, no letters on the keypad can be a problem but the bigger issue for me no Bluetooth. It was pretty much a done deal until I saw that last part.
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01-12-2004, 09:12 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 251
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MW> What happened to the letters on the keypad? No T9?!
A: PocketPC SIP. T9 not needed. I'd much rather use Calligrapher than T9 anytime.
JP> The problem is that Sprint and Verizon refuse to sell phones that don't pass their stringent requirements.
The basic idea there is to protect the network right? Keep it stable. It seems to have gotten out of hand to the point that it is HURTING the consumer, not helping. Is that due to generally poor product quality, corporate greed concerning earnings (meaning little/no expenses), or just bad luck?
m.
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01-12-2004, 09:16 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by mmidgley
Is that due to generally poor product quality, corporate greed concerning earnings (meaning little/no expenses), or just bad luck?
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AFAICT, it's more of their desire to control their networks. They don't have Bluetooth phones (T608 excepting) because they've actively avoided Bluetooth technology -- some think they fear it will mess up their pricing structures.
Compare this to GSM, where SIMs make it easier to get "non-carrier-approved" phones on a network. Phones on GSM networks are more like telephone appliances, i.e., you "plug them in" regardless of manufacturer or product.
--janak
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01-12-2004, 09:35 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 115
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Does that flip keypad go all the way back and rest against the back side of the PDA or is it removable where one could use either the hardward dialer and/or the screen keypad?
Or is that two different styles of phone? The lower section with the phone answer/end buttons looks a little wider/longer with the one on the left vs. the one on the right.
It would be cool either way.... but screen protection seems like a must.
I think this phone looks great!
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01-12-2004, 09:41 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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Oh Man, if this had bluetooth...It is what I've been looking for. Of course you have to be a little nervous about a company that has a typo in the first line of their product page, and hasn't figured out how to do the trademark symbol yet. :|
We'll have to see if this ever really becomes available. It supposedly has SDIO, so you could add a bluetooth card if you wanted I guess.
As far as the lack of phone choice on CDMA in the US. Both Sprint and Verizon have closed networks and feel that by limiting phone choice there is some benefit. In Verizon's case, who can argue with their success? But I would think adding leading edge phones with every possible option including bluetooth could be some way for them to gain much needed marketshare. They can always adjust their data plans if a the use of bluetooth on unlimited plans became a drain on the network. The lack of a bluetooth or reasonabley sized PPCPE device has kept Sprint from aquiring me as a customer for some time now. I ready to change today if they would just give me a little of what I want.
whydidnt
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01-13-2004, 02:02 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,725
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FYI: Problem with the RSS feed of this post. I get the following error when I double click on the post in SharpReader:
Quote:
phpBB : Critical Error
Could not connect to the database
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Linear Mode
