New CDMA PPC Phone, With Keyboard?

[Janak Parekh]

Ryan of <a href="http://www.jusspress.com">Juss Press</a>, whose project we just mentioned, took one <i>very</i> interesting picture at <a href="https://secure.sdtelecom.org/events/eventdetail.cfm?event_id=10A530ED-675F-47A8-9615-A7D5E203B2D6">GadgetFest</a> in San Diego: a new Hitachi PPC that might be coming out for the Sprint Vision network. Can you say camera, thumb keyboard, and 1xRTT all in one?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/new_Sprint_PPC.jpg" /> <br /><br />I don't know about you, but I'm drooling already. In my opinion, this trumps the Treo and the announced Tungsten W. By far. I'll keep you posted if I find any more details on this device.

[JonnoB]

Looks like a great device. Would also be nice to have numbered buttons positioned like a phone as well.

[Mike Temporale]

I don't know.... It looks HUGE. 8O

[fgarcia10]

Is there anymore information on this devise? I can't wait for a PPCPE to reach Sprint networks/users. :(

[Janak Parekh]

Is there anymore information on this devise? I can't wait for a PPCPE to reach Sprint networks/users. :(
I did a bunch of web and news searches last night, but it's not so easy if you don't have a model number - Hitachi has a standard candy-bar style phone for Sprint Vision, and that dominates the results. :(

Hopefully we'll get more detail as the product nears the market...

--janak

[shawnc]

I don't know.... It looks HUGE. 8O

I agree, VERY large. Unless this has built SD / MP3 capabilities, I don't know how it's better than the Treo.

[jpaq]

Does it come with its own trailer to pull it behind you?
8)

[JMountford]

Yyyah, whatever. It is just vaporware as far as I am concerned. Hitachi just introduced their first Phone ever. It is for sprint. Everything I have read says nice phone poor user interface.

To go a step further, build in thumb keyboard is an awesome idea!! But hey could it be a little unobtrusive if not being used? Jonno mentioned Number keys. As I understand it PPCPE uses a touch dial interface so why would you need number keys?

This thing does seem scary big. I like my phones small!!! Which is why I am avoiding PPCPE as it is. I think we will see the Samsung i700 fairly soon after the beginning of the year and it looks beautiful AND has a build in camera and SDi/o. I just wish that PPCPEs that hav built in cameras could do video as well as still. I am ready for on the go video phoneing.

[Birdman]

Why do they try and throw the kitchen sink into these things? I may be wrong (and I admit I am often wrong) but does anyone really see the benefit (notice I didn't say does anyone NEED) of having an integrated camera in these things? I would readily give up the integrated camera for smaller size and lower price.

[JMountford]

looking at the picture I did notice the speaker phone button right in the middle of the green and red buttons. NOW there is smart thinking!!

[Bob Anderson]

This thing does seem scary big. I like my phones small!!! Which is why I am avoiding PPCPE as it is.

I hear what you are saying, but this isn't just a phone! In a few years, I'm sure, what I hold in my hand as a phone will be similar (in features) to what I hold in my hand today as a PPC, until then, remember that MSFT is distinguishing the differences in market's needs... PPC, PPC PE, and SmartPhone...

[shawnc]

Why do they try and throw the kitchen sink into these things? I may be wrong (and I admit I am often wrong) but does anyone really see the benefit (notice I didn't say does anyone NEED) of having an integrated camera in these things? I would readily give up the integrated camera for smaller size and lower price.

A agree. I don't know when it became a good idea to integrate a phone/PDA with a camera. Add's too much size with limited functionality.

[Underwater Mike]

I'd settle for -- and prefer -- a decent Bluetooth-enabled phone from Sprint. I wonder which will take longer: receiving the Axim I ordered almost a month ago or getting a BT handset from SPCS?

:?

[GQ19]

#1: that thing is freakin UGLY and BIG.. who would want to put that thing to their face? i'm not sure if it has BT but if it does that would be a plus as you could use a BT headset and get by. but in my opinion i can't see carrying that thing around.. why not get the iPaq 5450 and get a SonyEricsson T608 (coming soon) which utilizes 1xRTT and BT and use the Sprint network that way.. thats the best bet.. and Sprint's unlimited data won't hurt either.. ;-)

[JonnoB]

No DPAD.... !

[Underwater Mike]

... get a SonyEricsson T608 (coming soon) which utilizes 1xRTT and BT and use the Sprint network that way

Zowie! Hope this thing actually comes to market before I retire in about 30 years. Of course, now that I just bought a bunch of cables and stuff for my 5350... :roll:

[sub_tex]

As I understand it PPCPE uses a touch dial interface so why would you need number keys?

Speed of entry.

I can open my phone and dial a number by feeling out where on the number pad i am.

With the dialing being software based (even with big buttons on screen) it's just not as quick.

For one, there's no tactile response so you know you pushed that key.

It's a reason why i like the clamshell palmOS phones coming from kyocera and samsung. They're definitely more phone than pda.

[scottmag]

As I understand it PPCPE uses a touch dial interface so why would you need number keys?

Speed of entry.

I can open my phone and dial a number by feeling out where on the number pad i am.

Bingo! I rarely look at the keypad on my Nokia 8260, it's very easy to find the keys quickly by touch.

Of course on a good smartphone with all one's contacts in it, pressing the number keys to call someone is less important. But I get VRUs and automated systems all the time and do not want to press those tiny, hard to find numbers on an alpha keyboard. For SMS and email on the go the keyboard would be great. But I'm just not ready to lose the easy of touch-dialing with the keypad.

Scott

[Marty1781]

I don't know.... It looks HUGE. 8O

I agree, VERY large. Unless this has built SD / MP3 capabilities, I don't know how it's better than the Treo.

Um, all PPC devices have some sort of expansion card slot and mp3 playback is a feature inherent to the Windows/PPC OS.

[shawnc]

I don't know.... It looks HUGE. 8O

I agree, VERY large. Unless this has built SD / MP3 capabilities, I don't know how it's better than the Treo.

Um, all PPC devices have some sort of expansion card slot and mp3 playback is a feature inherent to the Windows/PPC OS.

Um, not all PPC devices have built-in expansion slot. Um, MP3 playback without external memory is useless because of file sizes. Um.......

[Ed Hansberry]

Um, not all PPC devices have built-in expansion slot. Um, MP3 playback without external memory is useless because of file sizes. Um.......

All new ones do. The last that didn't was the iPAQ 3700 series that went out of production in late 2001/early 2002.

[shawnc]

Um, not all PPC devices have built-in expansion slot. Um, MP3 playback without external memory is useless because of file sizes. Um.......

All new ones do. The last that didn't was the iPAQ 3700 series that went out of production in late 2001/early 2002.

Some of us are still holding on to the older units until we settle on a new model :wink:!

[Marty1781]

Um, not all PPC devices have built-in expansion slot. Um, MP3 playback without external memory is useless because of file sizes. Um.......

The point was no one is going to release a device with all the bells and whistles like the Hitachi and then not put an expasnion slot on it thereby severely limiting its functionality. Like the previous poster said, all current PPC models have an expansion slot, there is absolutely no reason to think this one wouldn't. And as previously mentioned, of course it has mp3 playback, that is a feature inherent to the PPC/Windows OS.

[shawnc]

Um, not all PPC devices have built-in expansion slot. Um, MP3 playback without external memory is useless because of file sizes. Um.......

The point was no one is going to release a device with all the bells and whistles like the Hitachi and then not put an expasnion slot on it thereby severely limiting its functionality. Like the previous poster said, all current PPC models have an expansion slot, there is absolutely no reason to think this one wouldn't. And as previously mentioned, of course it has mp3 playback, that is a feature inherent to the PPC/Windows OS.

Um, really.........I thought the point was sarcasm!

[Marty1781]

well you thought wrong (again).

[Robotbeat]

64 MB, which has become pretty much the standard for PPCs, is plenty for music playback (well, you would only really use about 50 MB for mp3s, but yeah). If you use PocketMVP (http://www.pocketmvp.com/), you have the ability to play ogg files, which, when only half the files size as mp3s, sound at least as good. I encode 36kbps (16-bit stereo 22KHz, "0" quality) ogg files which sound better than the 64kbps (16-bit stereo 22KHz) mp3s I used to listen to. Heck, even back in the day, when I had my e105 (3 or 4 years ago?), I encoded my WMAs at mono 32kbps so that I could listen to a whole CD on my 32 MB of integrated RAM (I didn't have an expansion card).

Anyways, the point is, any Pocket PC really has the ability to function reasonably well as an mp3 (or WMA, OGG, etc.) player.

BTW, I recommend PocketMVP (http://www.pocketmvp.com/) for all your music playing needs, as it allows my e115 (same H/W as e105, which also has an older version of PMVP available) to play back high-quality VBR mp3s, whereas before any mp3 encoded at higher than 128kbps would skip on my e115 (when I used Windows Media Player). PMVP works great for video, as well. The playback performance of video on any PPC with PMVP is much superior to WMP, on the order of at least 4 times the performance (look at PocketMVP (http://www.pocketmvp.com/) to see what I mean... they aren't exaggerating, either).