rdaprix
03-03-2005, 06:47 PM
Well, I did it. I went out and bought the Blue Angel and have made the transition. As is always the case, there are a few things you find out after the fact that are good to know beforehand, so I though I’d pass on a few things I noted for those who are contemplating taking the plunge and are used to the XDA II.
The form factor on the Blue Angel is really nice. I bought it from “On the Go Sales” in Chicago, which means you’ll pay a little more--$899 as opposed to the $819, but they’ll help you configure your setting which is useful when you buy an unlocked device your carrier doesn’t support. (I’m on T-mobile, and they don’t support it, thought it works like a charm—I did that because I’m still under contract, but may migrate to Cingular who supports the device in the future).
First, from out of the box to set up and synced took about ten minutes. A breeze. If you’re familiar with the PPC, this will be a snap for you.
The form factor, as I said, is great and I like it, but it took me a bit to get used to the fact that the CD card is on top and the volume controls aren’t the round hard buttons but a slight switch that sticks out of an indent. Not bad, but recognize it’s not flush. The SD card doesn’t need to be re-formatted on the unlocked device, so no need to back up that bad boy, but be sure to save your old SD back up file to another PC or had drive and then delete it and back up your new device so you don’t accidentally restore the wrong ROM image and backup file.
The cradle for the angel is a little different. You will need to take a dremel to the front lip of your old XDA-II cradle to make it fit and re-use it—this is easy and saves you the cost of additional cradles.
The coupling at the bottom is the same, so you can use the old power chord with the adapter for the XDA power input and re-use those as well as the headphones you have.
Oddly, the power chord on the Blue Angel that goes into the cradle is a different size jack then the one that goes into the old cradle—not an issue if you have the adapters that go from that chord to the XDA input sans cradle, but what’s up with that? Keeping the jack the same would have been more logical.
If you have a sync ‘n go cable that also works just fine.
The case that comes with the device is OK, but horizontal on the belt instead of vertical, so you may want to buy the Peil Frama case so you can get at the keyboard without taking it out of the case.
The battery on the back of the Blue angel comes off with a quick clip as opposed to the screw in kind on the XDA II—I would have gotten the extra battery, but power consumption is not bad, and for my purposes it’s easier to use the sync ‘n go cable and tap the nearest laptop or use one of the chargers from a battery to XDA (there are two I know of—one from a 9-v and one from four AA batteries with a voltage regulating circuit).
Setting up the WIFI was painless and easy. The GPRS was just as it is on the XDA II and the unit will automatically look for a WIFI high speed connection first and then go to GPRS if it doesn’t succeed.
I think the volume is stepped down a bit on the speaker phone, but that could just be me. The keyboard is good, but I wish they had made it hard plastic rather than the soft touch keys—it’ll take a few years but they eventually can crack (the plastic covering the keys).
If you can get your carrier to insure the handset, I would urge it or get a rider on your homeowner’s policy.
Oh—I also have a goodlink license on mine, so it is my ‘blackberry’ and gets my exchange e-mail from work in addition to POP3.
It’s worth the $$. Go for it. And get the "screenguardz."
The form factor on the Blue Angel is really nice. I bought it from “On the Go Sales” in Chicago, which means you’ll pay a little more--$899 as opposed to the $819, but they’ll help you configure your setting which is useful when you buy an unlocked device your carrier doesn’t support. (I’m on T-mobile, and they don’t support it, thought it works like a charm—I did that because I’m still under contract, but may migrate to Cingular who supports the device in the future).
First, from out of the box to set up and synced took about ten minutes. A breeze. If you’re familiar with the PPC, this will be a snap for you.
The form factor, as I said, is great and I like it, but it took me a bit to get used to the fact that the CD card is on top and the volume controls aren’t the round hard buttons but a slight switch that sticks out of an indent. Not bad, but recognize it’s not flush. The SD card doesn’t need to be re-formatted on the unlocked device, so no need to back up that bad boy, but be sure to save your old SD back up file to another PC or had drive and then delete it and back up your new device so you don’t accidentally restore the wrong ROM image and backup file.
The cradle for the angel is a little different. You will need to take a dremel to the front lip of your old XDA-II cradle to make it fit and re-use it—this is easy and saves you the cost of additional cradles.
The coupling at the bottom is the same, so you can use the old power chord with the adapter for the XDA power input and re-use those as well as the headphones you have.
Oddly, the power chord on the Blue Angel that goes into the cradle is a different size jack then the one that goes into the old cradle—not an issue if you have the adapters that go from that chord to the XDA input sans cradle, but what’s up with that? Keeping the jack the same would have been more logical.
If you have a sync ‘n go cable that also works just fine.
The case that comes with the device is OK, but horizontal on the belt instead of vertical, so you may want to buy the Peil Frama case so you can get at the keyboard without taking it out of the case.
The battery on the back of the Blue angel comes off with a quick clip as opposed to the screw in kind on the XDA II—I would have gotten the extra battery, but power consumption is not bad, and for my purposes it’s easier to use the sync ‘n go cable and tap the nearest laptop or use one of the chargers from a battery to XDA (there are two I know of—one from a 9-v and one from four AA batteries with a voltage regulating circuit).
Setting up the WIFI was painless and easy. The GPRS was just as it is on the XDA II and the unit will automatically look for a WIFI high speed connection first and then go to GPRS if it doesn’t succeed.
I think the volume is stepped down a bit on the speaker phone, but that could just be me. The keyboard is good, but I wish they had made it hard plastic rather than the soft touch keys—it’ll take a few years but they eventually can crack (the plastic covering the keys).
If you can get your carrier to insure the handset, I would urge it or get a rider on your homeowner’s policy.
Oh—I also have a goodlink license on mine, so it is my ‘blackberry’ and gets my exchange e-mail from work in addition to POP3.
It’s worth the $$. Go for it. And get the "screenguardz."