Hunting for new Phone

[MGully88]

I've been a lurker for some time around these forums and did endless reading a few years back when looking for more than a phone right out of University and found this site to be of great help. I decided on the Audiovox SMT5600 and have loved it. Now its time to begin the hunt again my contract is up and after a few hard years my 5600 has a constant buzz when on the phone.

I am an IT consult that travels very frequently and like to minimize the amount of stuff that is with me.

Current uses/what I like on the 5600: talking, calender, SMS, lite internet reading, gmail/gmaps and listening to music (1 gb microSD). I ALWAYS carry my phone in my pocket, the size is right but any bigger and I may have issues. Service provider is Cingular/ATT, love the unlimited media plan that can be setup ;-)

Future uses/enhancements:
corporate email (do I want to always be connected??)
tasks lists
heavier internet use
possibly video
custom developed apps (I have a personal expense tracker that i've been developing but cannot for the life of figure out how to switch the input mode in WM2003 when a different text box is selected if anyone has any guidance throw it my way)
Wi-Fi would be nice but I don't know how much value it would add.
I used to have flip phones and always liked the small factor.
Would consider a different carrier.

The two phones that have really caught my attention so far are:
HTC S710 - love everything about, similar size to my 5600, feature rich, Qwerty keypad. Don't know about the sliding action and the price.
HTC Star Trek - like the flip and that still but uses WM5. Price is right if I can figure out how to be a new customer at AT&T.

I know you guys will hound me for this but if the only thing thats really holding me back from grabbing a iPhone is price which gets negated because the S710 is similar, corporate email possibilities, hate iTunes and openness. I've never owned an iPod but the phone's wow/coolness has got me thinking serious about it.

So there it is if anyone would like to take a stab at Match Making lets here it. I appreciate all feed back.

[Mike Temporale]

custom developed apps (I have a personal expense tracker that i've been developing but cannot for the life of figure out how to switch the input mode in WM2003 when a different text box is selected if anyone has any guidance throw it my way

Press the * key and it will cycle through the input modes. ;)

As for what phone, I would go with a Vox. And you don't have to change carriers. Get an unlocked one from MobilePlanet.com or what have you. Then pop in your existing SIM and away you go.

[Mike Temporale]

Oh, and I wouldn't get a Star Trek. Unless you get the Cingular version, which I don't even know is offered anymore. The HTC version has less memory and a smaller battery. :P

[MGully88]

Thanks for the info.

I realize that you can change the input with the * key but I want it to be numeric when the user moves to a different text box. The app is nearly worthless if you need to press the * key four times before you're able to input info, its a speed/usability factor.

[Mike Temporale]

Oh, you mean setting is from code. Yeah, it can be done. I can't recall the command off hand. I'll see if I can dig it up...

Yup, here it is (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.windowsce.forms.inputmode(VS.80).aspx)

[MGully88]

I've tried that and a number of different versions of that code. I've been working on getting it to work on my 5600 which is WM2003 using Visual Studio 2003 but I just upgraded to 2005. I'm still having issues with actually using that command. I'll try later today see what happens in 2005.

[sracer]

After owning my Audiovox SMT5600 for 2.5 years, I just recently upgraded to the T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur). It is an awesome upgrade. If you like the vox 5600, you'll love the Dash. Yes, it is a little wider than the 5600, but it is thinner, uses a microSD card (that does NOT require removing the battery to swap), better camera, WindowsMobile 6, Mobile versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

The nice thing about it is that all of my apps from the vox work just fine.

[MGully88]

Mike - I still get an error when compiling:

"The type or namespace 'InputModeEditor' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)"

any ideas what I'm not doing to get it to work? I've added all the references that are identified in the How to.

[Mike Temporale]

Ah, right - you're workin on WinMo2003. I don't think these worked on that release. You might need to do an API call. Or wait until you upgrade your device. ;)

http://www.modaco.com/Change-Input-Mode-CFNet-t108360.html