discuss article: 3G Smartphone smackdown

Dieter Bohn · 10/05/2006, 02:39 PM

You'll pay for 3G, but you'll only use the EDGE!

Tastypeppers · 10/05/2006, 02:48 PM

Nice summary of the choices on the market.

I'm going to give the T-Mobile Dash a shot when it comes out on the 16th of October. Yes, it has no touchscreen. Yes, I like the touchscreen. But I want the full OTA Exchange Server 2003 sync.

surur · 10/05/2006, 03:26 PM

Regarding bluetooth 2.0, the HTC TyTn does already have bleutooth 2, you don't have to wait for the HTC Trinity to see if WM5 can do it or not. Even more damning, the HTC Prophet, out since the beginning of this year, also has bluetooth 2.0. Only Palm is the lagard.

Surur

surur · 10/05/2006, 03:49 PM

Also the E61 is hardly Nokia's first smartphone. It may be their first Treo-like smartphone, but they have multiple other designs, like the N70.

Lets not forget about the grand daddy of 3G WM5 devices, the HTC Universal. Its still has the best keyboard, highest res and biggest screen, and fastest processor.

Also, I'm surprised no blackberry fans chipped in to say that there are a number of blackberry apps.

In the end, its a pretty incomplete article.

Surur

Overthrow · 10/05/2006, 03:52 PM

Tastypeppers, I'm also on T-Mo, and I'm curious to see what the Dash / Excalibur will be like. It looks kind of heinous, but I'm officially holding back judgment until I hold it in my hands, which probably won't be long now. I stayed away from the Excalibur in the article because it's not 3G.

Surur, I'd be very happy to see BT 2.0 in the new Palm phones, but I haven't been able to figure out if the BT 2.0 support on the HTC phones is an addon to MS's WM5 BT stack from HTC or if it came aboard one of the AKU updates directly from Microsoft. Do you have any info on that?

edit: Surur, this article is about new smartphones.
2nd edit: java or brew apps do not a smartphone make

bcaslis · 10/05/2006, 04:07 PM

The TyTN does have 2.0, but it doesn't have EDR. I've tested one with a MacBook Pro (BT 2.0 + EDR) and the data transfer is no faster than BT 1.2. So to be honest BT 2.0 by itself doesn't bring alot to the party if you don't have EDR support also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by surur

Regarding bluetooth 2.0, the HTC TyTn does already have bleutooth 2, you don't have to wait for the HTC Trinity to see if WM5 can do it or not. Even more damning, the HTC Prophet, out since the beginning of this year, also has bluetooth 2.0. Only Palm is the lagard.

Surur

ivy · 10/05/2006, 04:48 PM

I'm surprised by this sentence about the BB Pearl "there is no way to extend the capability of the phone through 3rd party software".
On handango site, there is quite a number of 3rd party softwares for BB

Overthrow · 10/05/2006, 04:51 PM

Ivy and Surur (and any Blackberry users), I apologize. My wording is unclear there. The meaning I'm trying to convey is that you can't extend the OS, all you can really do is install sandboxed Java applications. The Blackberry OS is not extensible in the way that Palm OS, Symbian, or Windows Mobile is extensible.

surur · 10/05/2006, 05:51 PM

Extending the OS (e.g. adding A2DP) is not necessarily important for some-one who just want to extend the capability and role of the device e.g. by adding list making and expense tracking software.

Surur

Antoine of MMM · 10/05/2006, 06:28 PM

I wanted to counterpoint this but I will let the devices spoken about speak for themselves:
SE P990i - not US frequencies, more style, much better camera and wifi
E61 - wifi, UMTS (euro), best web browser on the market
E62 - ur right, its neutered, and even without 3G will bang the web faster because of its nice browser
BB Pearl - size, style, push email without thinking about it; extending the OS is for folks like us, most just want a phone that helps them stay connected without having to admin it
BB 8707 - push email about tops it for most; but that system sells the device, not the other way around
i600 - its better than the 750v ok
Trinity: battery life might be an issue, so to no keyboard, but its stacked in a package the same size as the Treo, uhmmm...
TyTn - slightly plumper with a keyboard and more stacked in it, uhmmm...
750v - specal sauce's expiration date is coming soon, Palm needs true differentiation, not just the best smartphone form factor on the market

And that coming from a guy who likes his 650 quite much, uhmmmm...

Overthrow · 10/05/2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by surur

Extending the OS (e.g. adding A2DP) is not necessarily important for some-one who just want to extend the capability and role of the device e.g. by adding list making and expense tracking software.

Surur

Surur, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Sure, I installed a J2ME finance app on my old RAZR, but it couldn't ever hook in to an API that would pop up due bills on my calendar app. I couldn't replace my menu screen with a different launcher / today screen.

It may be just a semantic difference, that we each hold different meaning for the word smartphone. Even though I could install J2ME apps on my old RAZR, or my old Nokia 6800 with qwerty keyboard, or my SE t610, or my SE w810, I wouldn't call any of them smartphones. Certainly none of them are ever getting A2DP.

Overthrow · 10/05/2006, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antoine of MMM

750v - specal sauce's expiration date is coming soon, Palm needs true differentiation, not just the best smartphone form factor on the market

And that coming from a guy who likes his 650 quite much, uhmmmm...

I agree with you 100%.

One of my Palm worries will be fixed when their low end gsm phone comes out, but I hope they keep ramping it up, no more "one new phone every 2 years" stuff.

oalvarez · 10/05/2006, 07:27 PM

funny....no mention of the size and weight savings had on other devices (Pearl)...just the limitation of 3rd party software.

i wonder if the writer ever contemplated the fact that some people don't need 3rd party software? yes, for some people the devices offer enough out of the box.

Tastypeppers · 10/05/2006, 07:32 PM

I have (up to now) insisted that my phone must have a QWERTY keyboard. This is based on my experience with an MPx 220.

I'm kinda wondering whether I should be a bit more openminded and see if one of the smaller smartphone devices (sans QWERTY) is usable given predictive text and all that jazz. I am hip deep in emails and text messages (far moreso than voice) on my phone, so I am a bit dubious. Still, I might take a Pearl or an SDA for a test drive. . . . .

Overthrow · 10/05/2006, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oalvarez

funny....no mention of the size and weight savings had on other devices (Pearl)...just the limitation of 3rd party software.

i wonder if the writer ever contemplated the fact that some people don't need 3rd party software? yes, for some people the devices offer enough out of the box.

Hello, oalvarez! I did consider that. I also mention in the article that the Pearl would be quite successful. I'm not comparing the 750v to the Pearl, though. It is outside the realm of the article; it was mentioned as an illustration of the limitations of the Blackberry OS. One of my wife's closer coworkers just upgraded to the Pearl because of the possibility of mp3 ringtones. On a smartphone, that's a $15 program. With the Blackberry, that's a new phone purchase. The Blackberry OS *is* enough for a lot of folks. A lot of businesses also prefer it because it is not as extensible. All of this, however, is outside the realm of this article: the Pearl is not a 3G smartphone. I am not comparing it to the 750v.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tastypeppers

I have (up to now) insisted that my phone must have a QWERTY keyboard. This is based on my experience with an MPx 220.

I'm kinda wondering whether I should be a bit more openminded and see if one of the smaller smartphone devices (sans QWERTY) is usable given predictive text and all that jazz. I am hip deep in emails and text messages (far moreso than voice) on my phone, so I am a bit dubious. Still, I might take a Pearl or an SDA for a test drive. . . . .

I haven't played with the Pearl yet, but hope to soon. Engadget mobile panned the keyboard for texting, and TheRegister.co.uk wasn't exactly glowing about the phone in general.

I have a friend that has the T-mo SDA (he gave me a Dell P4 in exchange for my unlocked RAZR). His SDA had stability problems, and he ended up rebooting his phone every morning when he woke up. He also reported the screen as highly scratch-prone -- if you like the SDA, get some screen protectors for it. His credit card and driver's license scuffed the screen past usability.

oalvarez · 10/05/2006, 09:00 PM

i have owned them all, no joke. for an individual who needs email, phone, internet, and contact/calendar info, the smaller devices are a slam-dunk over the heavier ppc/treo type counterparts. if you want to watch TV/Movies and play 18 holes of golf on your pda, then they're possibly not for you. but holy cow, why in god's earth would someone want to lug around a brick when they don't have to is beyond me. must be that shiny chrome trim around the treo screen, i think that could be it!

did enjoy reading your article nonetheless.

hostage46 · 10/05/2006, 09:37 PM

It's been over three years since I began my Palm experience. I was an evangilist for the 270, 300, 600 and 650. Hardcore business user, started on AT&T, endured the Cingular transition, travel the US, EU and China.

I run a small supply chain solutions company we have 20 Treo 650 and a few 600 users, we're on the run, in the trenches smart phone users.

I've looked at dozens of smart phones and given them less the 5 min to reject them in favor of the treo,

Today I opened the orange box to find a Nokie E62.

I pulled it out of the box, put it on the charger for 30 min and took it for a spin.

I used it as a modem to download the Outlook synch software to my laptop, then quickly installed that via the most intuitive sync software that makes the plam stuff look bush league.

Noodled around a figured out how to pair my Jabra, what a delight to be able to use VOICE DIALING

, just push the bloody button, say the name and that's it.

All of my outlook function sync. The screen is like a mini laptop, browsing the web is simply unlike anything I've ever seen on a phone. In Dallas, the edge network seems to make a difference.

All this talk about wifi, the edge connection is infinetly faster then ever on the treo, and the Cingular data package is $15 per month cheaper then the treo for unlimited data. That alone pays for the phone in less then a year.

This phone has been available to the 20 users in my company for 36 hours, by Monday eveyone will have converted.

Tastypeppers · 10/05/2006, 09:42 PM

Overthrow and oalvarez,

Thanks for the feedback on the Pearl and SDA (Overthrow) and the general utility of the smaller device over the brick (oalvarez).

I might just give a smaller device a shot and see how it goes for text/email. I mean, there are probably 10 or 15 people on the planet who do at least as much keyboard work as me and survive perfectly well without QWERTY.

oalvarez · 10/05/2006, 11:34 PM

for me, and i would think for a good portion of users out there, these devices simply need to get you by until you're in front of a laptop/pc at work/hotel or the like. all of this tv/movie/game/grazillion email-calendar-note third party software usage is for someone that i am not, i just need to be able to phone, attend to emails, access my calendar/contacts, and browse the internet if time ever permits. and that my friends is probably the needs of most pda/phone users out there. the question becomes "which device do they want to be able to perform those functions on."

i prefer small and light, you can have big and heavy in my place.

dimensiondvdrob · 10/06/2006, 01:02 AM

regarding the Pearl and 3rd party software: I've owned a Treo 650 and now I've converted (happily) to the BB Pearl. I, like oalvarez, do not need to watch MobiTV and edit WORD and EXCEL documents on my PDA, since for me, it's too cumbersome on such a small device. But, what I do have loaded on my Pearl is Splash ID and Handmark Express. These programs are invaluable to me and as far as I know, these are 3rd party softwares that work just like for the Treo 650. But I am with oalvarez, I do not need such a large device (comapred to the Pearl) to carry around just to SMS, email and check scores on Express or carry passwords in Splash ID. And, by the way, the SureType keyboard is awesome! No need to bash it for SMSing, since it's great for that and also emailing. No problems here using SureType.