Like James, I don’t think too highly of this and the forthcoming generations of smartphones. (I won’t say I have given up on them—-it’s more like the other way around.)
We are used to mobile handsets which fit into trousers pockets and don’t drag down our shirt pocket. This means they have to be small—-probably smaller than say a Nokia N-Gage. Until we have holographic display aka “Obi-wan please help!”, the screen is always going to be too small.
I like my Tungsten C very much, and is actually writing this on it on a 962 way home.
The Palm Tungsten W fails miserably in one way: the phone is only usable with the ear phone cord, which is fragile. Lose it or rip something off, and one has a virtually broken phone.
The Handspring Treo 600 is probably the most promising smartphone at this point in time. Size is reasonable, runs all the Palm OS software and very useful, so no surprised that they are selling like hotcakes. Still can’t get one in Hong Kong.
CSL 1010 is doing a special on the O2 XDA II. InfoSync claims a RSP of US$600. 1010 CSL claims a RSP of HK$6,688(!), but with a trade-in price of HK$4,888. I just don’t think the future of mobile handsets lies with Microsoft Pocket PCs.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kenneth // Dec 1, 2003 at 1:33 am
Since I was looking for a new PDA to replace my Palm V, the $1800 trade-in for the O2 XDA II sounds pretty good since I have old PDA laying around until I see that one have to join their $14x GPRS plan for 1 year and paid in advance and they rebate you monthly….. In fact, one is only getting expensive free service (probably one can’t fully ultilize) for the phone…. I end up picking up the iPAQ h4150 instead. The yellow tint on the h4150 when view from an angle is really a bit disappointing.
2 tin_the_fatty // Dec 1, 2003 at 9:05 pm
I didn’t pay too much attention to details of the O2 deal: it’s just (1) beyond my budget (2) I don’t want a PocketPC-based device.
As for the compulsory GPRS plan, James would be able to tell you that $14x doesn’t go very far as far as mobile data transfer is concerned, unless you are with a flat-rate service such as Sunday.
PocketPC devices are so Wintel-orientated that they are pretty much useless for Mac and Linux/*BSD users. OTOH I have played with a friend’s newer iPAQ, which takes CF, and he uses it as an MP3 player and a PDA. Suits him perfectly.