First Year of Smartphones

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.pdastreet.com/articles/2003/1/2003-1-2-Smartphones-Come-of.html">http://www.pdastreet.com/articles/2003/1/2003-1-2-Smartphones-Come-of.html</a><br /><br />James Miller at PDAStreet.com has written a <a href="http://www.pdastreet.com/articles/2003/1/2003-1-2-Smartphones-Come-of.html">nice article</a> about existing PDA/phone hybrids. The article sums up features, price ranges and general comments.<br /><br />"While advances in general PDA design were either slow in coming, Palm OS 5 and integrated wireless, or didn't pay immediate dividends in terms of performance, Pocket PCs with Intel's XScale processor, the smartphone or PDA/phone hybrid came into its own in this past year. ... Microsoft left no stone unturned by attacking the smartphone from the PDA first/phone second side with its Pocket PC Phone Edition operating system and mobile phone first/PDA second side with its new Windows Powered Smartphone OS."<br /><br />The image below illustrates some of the prodcuts mentioned in the article and I have placed them in order of looks (left to right, top to bottom). Agree?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/pdaphone_01.jpg" />

[Daniel]

I would pretty much agree although I think that the i330 should be further down the list! The SPV or is that the other HTC SP, might go first too.

That Blackberry sure is ugly!

Daniel

[JonnoB]

That Blackberry sure is ugly!


Agreed... but it supports the iDEN direct connect. I use Nextel now and I love that feature. It, and free incoming calls are some of the major reasons I have not yet purchased a PPC PE yet. The other being I have yet to see any PE version have 65k color and dual slots for my memory and WiFi needs.

[Abba Zabba]

I dunno about anyone else but I love my t68i. I would prefer not to use a PPC PE. But if there is ever a GSM version of the new 5450 then count me in as a new PPC PE owner. :D

[JonnoB]

I dunno about anyone else but I love my t68i. I would prefer not to use a PPC PE. But if there is ever a GSM version of the new 5450 then count me in as a new PPC PE owner. :D

There will be (56xx series) but sans the WiFi - which really is dissapointing :(

[Abba Zabba]

I dunno about anyone else but I love my t68i. I would prefer not to use a PPC PE. But if there is ever a GSM version of the new 5450 then count me in as a new PPC PE owner. :D

There will be (56xx series) but sans the WiFi - which really is dissapointing :(


Seriously, I wish they would integrate WiFi as well, but i guess that's asking much. I think too many wireless interfaces :idea:

Dah Well :roll:

[GregWard]

As a 9210 owner (amongst others!) I'd put it lower down the "attractiveness" scale when closed (it's really ugly!!!!) BUT higher when opened and turned through 90 degrees (ie PDA mode). Like this it is a really good "form factor" - especially for things like reading word docs/spreadsheet files and typing quick notes in meetings etc.

I wish a PPC manufacturer would copy the design (or Nokia try out the MS OS). Even better - there was a prototype device I saw once that looked like a 9210 but with a pull out keyboard (ie as well as the two halves of the clamshell - so you got 1. screen, 2. mousepad/functions keys and 3. keyboard) and built-in video conferencing!!!! :D

[kdross]

Well, as both an avid Pocket PC fan and a Sidekick enthusiast, I feel the sidekick should be much igher on the list.

Flame me if you must, but the Sidekick is a great product. It's small, it's incredibly easy to use, and it does what it sets out to do (keep me connected 24/7) very well.

[Janak Parekh]

Well, as both an avid Pocket PC fan and a Sidekick enthusiast, I feel the sidekick should be much igher on the list.
Indeed, you have to see it in person to appreciate it. It's a very, very well-engineered device. If only it had Outlook sync released by now :(

--janak

[Daniel]

I dunno about anyone else but I love my t68i. I would prefer not to use a PPC PE. But if there is ever a GSM version of the new 5450 then count me in as a new PPC PE owner. :D

There will be (56xx series) but sans the WiFi - which really is dissapointing :(

Yeah, totally ripped off. Although, if some of the battery life stories of the 54xx are to believed we'd probably get about 15 minutes of use with Wi-Fi + GSM + BT running. Let's hope that HP fixes the battery issues and makes it a little less hungry. I guess you could always buy 2 extended batteries.

Daniel

[golfingtigger]

If only it had Outlook sync released by now :(

--janak

Amen brotha! I absolutely love mine and I have to admit that I don't use my Compaq iPaq 3830 as much as I used to, but it is a pain having to import all my information from Outlook to the Web Desktop.

Every Sidekick owner out there will agree with me about the backup method though. One thing I hav to rave about is that a hard reset only erases your SK temporarily. In a few minutes, everything is restored wirelessly through the mobile phone provider!

[bandersnatch]

I just had to pipe up about the Sidekick, too. Very rarely have I ever bought a gadget that has so completely fulfilled my expectations. It's amazingly well designed, especially considering that after rebate it's $99!

Of course, I still carry my 568, because it doesn't sync to outlook. Even if it DID sync I might leave my 568 at home for short trips, but would still take it with me to work and on trips. The Sidekick can't replace the general functionality of the PPC, but for communications and web it's awesome.

[edxavier]

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a Sony Ericsson P800 now? I can't seem to find them anywhere in stock...

[Janak Parekh]

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a Sony Ericsson P800 now? I can't seem to find them anywhere in stock...
It's very, very hard to get one. Check out the Sony Ericsson forum on www.howardforums.com - a few people there have it, and a couple of vendors post there, but you're going to be paying a premium...

I'm watching the device closely, and may get one when it is a little more available (and thereby become a dual-PDA person)...

--janak

[dh]

It would have been really interesting if all the Smartphone photos had been the same scale so we could check out the relative sizes of them.

The Smartphones on the market right now have a lot of nice features but none gives me what I would be looking for.

My ideal would be the Samsung I500 (a new Palm Clamshell design) with OS5 (sorry PPC guys), 320 x 320 transflective screen, SDIO and BT for good measure. :lol:

Right now the choices for 2003 seem to be the I500 with 16mb, no expansion and 66mHz or Kyocera 7135 16mb SDIO and 33 mHz. Both with OS4.1 or older and lo-res screens. Where I live there is no GSM so that rules out the XDA. I also don't like the Treo mini keyboard.

On the P800, I did see a company selling them for $2,800.00 a couple of months or so ago. The P800 would have been nice with Palm OS5 and the goodies from the Sony NX70.

[GregWard]

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a Sony Ericsson P800 now? I can't seem to find them anywhere in stock...

expansys.com are selling the import version and claim to have them in stock. They also say the "normal" version will be 14 days.