My experience of upgrading from i600 to i730

[redman0]

Thought I'd share my experience so far of upgrading from the Samsung i600 to the i730 for those that it might help....

I used my i600 for about 13 months and really got a lot of use out of it. I work from home and have 3000+ contacts so the i600 was a huge step up from my StarTAC... I did have several 3rd party software titles on the phone like eWallet, SmartPhoneFind, and ListPro. The i600 froze usually once a day and often when I had missed calls, but it did improve my mobile capability so I just dealt with it. I wanted to upgrade to the i730 to hopefully get a more stable platform and bluetooth.

The data transfer went fine, I just made sure I did a final sync with my i600 and outlook, then partnered up my i730 and did a sync with that and easy as pie... I was amazed, 3000+ contacts in about 2 minutes (quite fast I thought, especially compared to the i600). I did find out that none of my 3rd party software would work, so I had to repurchase all of that (albeit, some was at a discounted "upgrade" price). But all the "NEW" software seems to run great on the i730, although, I didn't need to repurchase the SmartPhone find program because the i730 comes with a search tool that lets you look for words even in the notes sections of contacts and calendar events. I did have a lot of MP3's and other stuff on my SD card in the i600, so I just popped that in the i730 and it sees it just fine (that is after a second insertion, guess the first one didn't take).

So far I love the screen, it is beautiful! The phone is bigger and heavier than the i600, which I wish it was at least the same size, but the functionality and stability are quickly winning me over. The speakerphone is surprising loud on the i730 and is actually stereo, not that matters much with the speakers being only 1 inch a part. I am very sad that the headset only provides a mono audio optoin for phone calls, the i600 had the phone calls in stereo which was incredibly nice. I was very surprised at the battery life on the i730 so far, the standard battey has lasted me 2-3 hours of talk time, and I talked for over 4 hours on the extended battery, which is fine with me. Yes the extended battery sticks out a bit, but oh well, with all the functionality, I can live with it for now.

My antenna reception has been very good around the Chicago area, at least as good as the i600.

I hope everyone stays active and helping eachother with this phone. I am waiting for delivery of my BlueTake stereo bluetooth headset and looking at the Parrot bluetooth car kits... anyone with any feedback on either of those two options so far?

Cheers!!!!

[Janak Parekh]

Cool feedback. I've owned the i700 and i600 in that order, and yes, the i600 has very mediocre battery life even compared to the i700. I'm tempted by the i730, but I think I want to wait and see if I can get my hands on a WM5 device instead.

That, and the one thing I really like about the i600 is the flip. How are you carrying the i730?

--janak

[redman0]

I feel the i730 is a little big still, although that i700 on ones belt would definitely sound the fashion alerts... ;) but the dramatic improvement in performance and stability so far make up for the slight extra size. You are right, the flip feature of the i600 was really nice for keeping the size VERY reasonable, but I was soo frustrated by the daily hard resets (having to pull the battery), that I will settle for a little extra size, since really nothing else from Verizon in a Smartphone/PocketPC was even close.

So far I have used the stock belt clip, which is actually comfortable, but still a little big looking on one's waist, but too bad. I have also thrown it in my pants front pocket, but when I put it in my pants pocket, I do need to make sure I am wearing a belt or the phone does have enough weight to pull down the pants a little. I do feel the i730 feels a little fragile compared to the i600 which was built VERY sturdy in my opinion. I dropped the i600 many times, several times on concrete, and the phone received a few scuffs but seem to keep on working.

I am soo amazed at the speed of how all the programs run on the i730, how quickly I can find contacts by name, or even just a short phase to search for, which sometimes took 10-20 seconds on the i600. The Voice Signal program loads in just a few seconds and does a good job of picking out my spoken requests from my 3000+ contacts. I am ordering some screen protectors from PocketPC Techs, and I am keeping an eye open for other holster options that may not look as "plasticy" and shiney as the stock belt clip. I really like the new design of the i730's cradle, how it folds up and is much more compact for traveling. I did get a retractable USB cable from PocketPC Techs which works on both the i600 and i730, and that provides a very compact sync/charge option for traveling.

I really was hoping for the i730 to have a camera and WM 5.0, but so far I am really glad I made the move, it has already saved me time in my business, so even if I have to buy a new phone with a camera in a year or so, it will have paid for itself in my time savings and improved efficiency.

Good luck!

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

I really was hoping for the i730 to have a camera and WM 5.0, but so far I am really glad I made the move, it has already saved me time in my business, so even if I have to buy a new phone with a camera in a year or so, it will have paid for itself in my time savings and improved efficiency.
Good to hear. I already have a VGA Pocket PC, which is one of the reasons I'm waiting. And yes, the instability of the i600 is a bit frustrating, although I find I only have to reboot once or twice a week... maybe I'm using a smaller set of programs. ;)

Best of luck with your new toy. 8) Here's hoping that Verizon releases a WM5 upgrade for this device somewhere down the line.

--janak