I am trying to figure out, which GPS Phone to purchase and I am hoping that you guys can give me some insides of your user experiences with the P3600.
After some further research, I am leaning towards the P3600 rather then Eten or Pharos.
This poll is starting to confirm that the users are pretty happy with the Trinity.
It looks that the majority is quite happy with the P3600 - good to know!
Now, if HTC starts shipping units with corrected paint jobs, then I am in for one and will retire the Prophet.
Craic Dub said:
It looks that the majority is quite happy with the P3600 - good to know!
Now, if HTC starts shipping units with corrected paint jobs, then I am in for one and will retire the Prophet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who cares about some paint man!... I don't think any mobile phone that is put through daily use and abuse holds it's paint for very long...
It's about the tech inside; that's just awesome with this P3600 dude!
Moaske said:
Who cares about some paint man!... I don't think any mobile phone that is put through daily use and abuse holds it's paint for very long...
It's about the tech inside; that's just awesome with this P3600 dude!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, this is a very important issue!
I take good care of my gadgets, so that I am able to sell my stuff and re-invest in new toys a year later - that is a normal cycle in my eyes.
I currently own a Prophet and even after a year of daily use, the device is in excellent condition and I am planing on selling it for $300 in order to be able to buy the P3600. So, if the P3600 looks like crap after two month of use, then this decreases the re-sell value, which poses a problem.
On the positive side though, the P3600 seems to be a great toy and the paint issue really is just a cosmetic problem (which I really, really hope they will fix very soon)
"So, if the P3600 looks like crap after two month of use, then this decreases the re-sell value, which poses a problem."
The paint problem is subjective, I also bough a black P3600, in november 06, I have a minimal paint problem, when I tried to show it to my sis she didn't even see it, but it is there, it peeled of because of the memory card cover, when I opened it it scraped(i think that's the right word) a little bit of the paint.
My glossy screen protector worries me more than that tiny piece of paint, I miss the shiny screen lol.
I would purchase the HTC P4500 (HTC Kaiser) or the HTC P5500 (HTC Nike), which are currently not yet available..
So I maybe would have wait till they were released before buying the P3600.
They both got gps, fm radio,...
Kaiser no FM radio.... but it's not correct compare p3600 with phones that not available at the moment
Svenitos said:
I would purchase the HTC P4500 (HTC Kaiser) or the HTC P5500 (HTC Nike), which are currently not yet available..
So I maybe would have wait till they were released before buying the P3600.
They both got gps, fm radio,...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the look and specs of the Kaiser but I would not want to be the first one to go through a test cycle and subsequent bug fixes of a new released model.
The Nike is a smartphone right?
I see indeed that the Kaiser has no FM radio, weird, I thought I read somewhere it did..
Anyways, it has a built-in flash camera etc.
The Nike is a bit in between of pda and smartphone, I don't know what it really is.. It has a touchscreen, has a camera with built-in flash etc.
But if they wouldn't be releashed in the future, I would definately go for the P3600.
Let the future alone..
Making purchase choices, based on specs only, for machines that need months to come to market..... Get the real thing! By the time they are "stable" products, the P3600 would have been near 2 years in the market..... IMHO we, xda-dev readers, don't hold our machines that long...... just read most senior signatures....
Enjoy your 3600 as much as you can, this is TODAY the best PDA/PHONE/GPS/3G etc A-V-A-I-L-A-B-L-E
I really like my Trinity.
I've only had it for about 2 months now, but in general I'm very well pleased.
I hav't had any of the paintpeeling problems - I bought a white one and have put it in a silicon cover as I have a bit of a grip problem holding anything.
I did have a problem with a 4GB memory card, I kept a lot of media files ot it and Windows Media player wouldn't see the card and update its library. There are plenty of threads about that one and its easy sorted.
You can have a few problems with the GPS unless you manually configure the Comm port to 9 and the baud rate to 4800, after doing that, I get a valid fix withn 2 minutes, although the strength of the receiver is quite weak in comparrison to some other units and you can lose the fix. But hey, its a PDA not a garmin.
I am a bit dissapointed with video media playback, the trinity being a bit slow sometimes.
It has enough processing power for most things and is elatively fast enough.
the camera is decent for a PDA, way better than most phones.
Overall though - well reccomended, best PDA I've had so far. out of the 6 i've owned.
I think that my vote will change if HTC will not upgrate p3600 to WM 6. If so; I will never buy any HTC product in the future.
I have mixed feelings, I'm probably satisfied with it, but I'm not over the moon. I still feel it's quite slow for the apps that I need to run on it, and the RAM is a bit low too. In terms of the looks, it's pretty nice, I would like it to be a bit thinner but it's not that much of an issue.
If I had to get a device unconnected, I wouldn't have bought the Trinity, I probably would have waited about a month for something from the I-Mate Ultimate range...but the Trinity, aka M700 was the best thing I could find on UK Networks, which specifically has to be Orange for me anyway!
Related
Hey everyone,
I currently have a Wizard and am very happy with it. I am extremely tempted to buy a at&t 8525 just cause I have a huge amount of money to play with right now, and I would like to know what everyone thinks of their phones. Do you like it? What are your favorite ROMs? How is the battery life? Camera? Speed? etc etc. Please post something of a mini review. Much appreciated.
-Nstefanelli-
well, i love mine, the 3G and large keyboard buttons were a seller for me and my huge thumbs.
not a very detailed reply but thats my 2 quick cents
I've had little but problems with the Cingular and AT&T ROMs. I thought for a while that I had a defective phone, but it turns out they just don't know how to program well. If you do get it, just make sure you unlock the thing and get a better ROM.
I have used PocketPC phones for a very long time.
I had some really old one that I don't even remember what brand it was.
I also had a Hitachi G1000 and a Blue Angel.
I also have an 8125 (wizard) that is still in use.
The 8525 is the best, hands down. The main drawback would be that case seems the least rugged out of them all, but this might just be a perception issue -- it's smaller than the others and the battery door seems far too flimsy for its own good. However, there are hard plastic snap-on skins available for just a few dollars on ebay which eliminate this problem -- though these of course make the 8525 a little bigger.
The other drawback would be the MicroSD card slot. MicroSD is a BAD IDEA. These cards are far too small. My biggest fear is having the card pop out when I'm out and about and never being able to find the card again. If you make a device that uses a memory chip that is the size of a fingernail, you really need a door over it. Or, better yet, don't design devices that use them and let MicroSD die quiety....
Otherwise, the 8525 is nicer than the others in every measurable way. It's not much smaller than the 8125/Wizard, but it is more rounded so it feels smaller. I use the 8525 far more than I ever used the other devices, and as you can tell I've been sold on the technology for a good while.
Amazon had 8525s for $99 and $149 for a few weeks with a new plan or a renewed plan if you're eligible to renew. Totally unbeatable price.
Hi. I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I had checked the boards here for "real life" use of the 8525 before actually getting my own. Then I started watching for devices on eBay. Then one Saturday morning, I lucked out and was able to get a *really* !! great deal on a refurb from AT&T with a 2-year plan. The phone I got did not have the new ROM and - from what I've read - not so sure I'm going to upgrade until the WM6 comes out.
Having had the opportunity to play with it for 2 weeks, I really love the device. This is my first PDA phone, and use of the PPC platform - having come from the world of Palm OS devices. I'm a gadget freak, and this one has kept me up nights downloading new apps, playing, deleting apps, performing backups, and ultimate resets. I've hard reset the phone at least 3 times so far.
Not having played with other PDA phones, my biggest complaint is the internal memory - or lack thereof. I've encountered a couple of low memory issues, even though the few extra apps I was running were installed on the MicroSD. Wi-fi has been testy - it seems to find networks when I don't need them, but fails to find and/or connect when they are available (i.e., my office).
All in all, I love the 8525. And, am looking forward to more good things to come.
dKaye
I have come close to throwing this thing out the windows so many times
So many problems with mine. Freezes about once an hour. If not more. Randomly freezes. Sometimes it'll freeze when it's in standby mode in the case so I end up missing calls and emails and everything. WTF.
I have installed (most on my 2 gig card - ex. for SPB Shell, PP, PS, Diary and GPRS Monitor):
SPB Mobile Shell
SPB Pocket Plus
SPB Phone Suite
SPB Diary
SPB GPRS Monitor
SPB Pocket PC Tips and Tricks
SPB Air Islands
SPB Backup
Google Maps
Windows Live
Microsoft Live Search
PHM Registry Editor
Blue Point Studios Pocket Earth
DIVX Inc DivXPlayer
PhatWare PhatPad
NoviMedia NR Deluxe
Resco Picture Viewr Sync Module
Resco Photo Viewer
Resco Today Plugin
Resco FTP Add-in
Resco Explorer
Microsoft .NET 2.0
Aspecto Software WiFiFoFum
TomTom Navigator 6
Microsoft Voice Command
e-mobile Pocket Streamer
e-mobile HandiTV
Pocket Mechanic
Blackberry Service Connect
Webcamera Plus
Landware Shanghai
Landware Shanghai Tilesets
Landware Shanghai Music
Come to think of it... I think it's just really bloated with too much stuff?
nstefanelli said:
Hey everyone,
I currently have a Wizard and am very happy with it. I am extremely tempted to buy a at&t 8525 just cause I have a huge amount of money to play with right now, and I would like to know what everyone thinks of their phones. Do you like it? What are your favorite ROMs? How is the battery life? Camera? Speed? etc etc. Please post something of a mini review. Much appreciated.
-Nstefanelli-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After initially being enthusiastic about it, am getting more and more negative about my Hermes.
- the functionality is excellent, but that comes from WM 5/6 not from Hermes.
- the design (shape and color) looks somehow cheap - but that's of course a a matter of taste, other ppl might love it
- the manufacturing quality is miserable, absolutely cheapest plastic parts of any PDA/phone in this price category you can buy these days,
- the sliding mechanism is worn out (if not loosing its hold entirely) after a very short while.
- I suffer from the screen alignment issue + weird colors and fading white screen, The screen is fading, and if you touch certain points on the frame, you get weired artefacts, and such stuff.
- the camera is bad, it's not only that auto-focus is missing or that it has only 2 Mega, other build in cameras with the same specs deliver far better quality.
I see the Hermes based on an excellent idea, but cheaply designed and at least partially of shoddy quality .
randomtask16 said:
I have come close to throwing this thing out the windows so many times
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, considering the "official" price for an unlocked one without a carrier contract, Hermes is not a good buy.
nstefanelli said:
Hey everyone,
I currently have a Wizard and am very happy with it. I am extremely tempted to buy a at&t 8525 just cause I have a huge amount of money to play with right now, and I would like to know what everyone thinks of their phones. Do you like it? What are your favorite ROMs? How is the battery life? Camera? Speed? etc etc. Please post something of a mini review. Much appreciated.
-Nstefanelli-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Hermes..but if I was you, I would go for the HTC Kaiser! That will be my next device!
i really like it specially coz there are so many roms to put on it and ways to upgrade it.
furthermore, the people making them are ace and are so easy to use, unlike the other HTC machines which are less popular and their upgrades can be still confusing at times.
i really like this phone!
Moving from the Wizard to the Hermes was the best decision I have made in ages.
The Processor is faster and browsing is 10x faster
Bram87 said:
I have the Hermes..but if I was you, I would go for the HTC Kaiser! That will be my next device!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, Hermes is almost history. Softbank, for example, will stop selling it soon. There are better devices, from HTC but also other manufacturers now in the market.
I have to say it's the best phone I have ever had. Featurewise it is brilliant and I have never had any problems that I didn't cause myself .
In terms of it's build, well i dropped it onto a hard concrete surface from about 2 meters last week (it was one of those moments where the world seems to suddenly drop into slow-motion) and all that happened was a couple of scratches and the battery cover flying off. I just clicked it back on and all was fine.
All that said, I would probably be looking at the HTC Kaiser now which has the built in GPS and thinner size. Anyway, just throwing in my 2 cents. Hope it helps
I agree with Dinty. The best device I ever owned so far. The flexibility of the the device is amazing.
The device is just terrible. I keep having problems with the screen alignment.
I even replaced the device with a completely new screen, but to no avail.
With the new screen, the aligntment issue is a little bit less worse. Alot of times I can't close applications with the close button. It just seems unresponsive. The funny thing is, when I either re-align the screen, or click the start button once, I can close the application.
My girlfriend has the same device, and is also having the same problems.
We both have the 3.0 Black WM6 ROM.
I originally bought this as a business tool. However if I had my time again I would think twice before buying one.
Apart from the software lockups which have taken me the best part of 6 months to resolve, I now find that the quality of the product is questionable.
The stylus head fell off the other day (my second) and now stylii simply slide in and out without the ability to extend as you could do when new. So you get the situ where you slide the stylus out, then have to struggle to physically extend it before you use it. I now carry a non collapsible item in my pocket rather than go through this palaver.
As an innovative idea the Tytn is a great one; however its execution in a number of areas is rather poor.
WB
hi all looking at getting a trinity 3600 because i need stanalone gps, pda and a phone that takes my 3 sim card. just wondering b4 i take the plunge is there another phone that will meet my requirements that anybody thinks is better than the 3600 cheers
Other devices...
Well, the HTC Advantage can do all the same things, plus it has a VGA screen, but is a much more bulky device. The only other device I'm aware of that does all that the Trinity does is the Nokia N95. The Nokia has the advantage of a 5MP camera (only 2mp on the Trinity), but it doesn't run pocket PC (it's Symbian I think).
Other than that, I'm not aware of any others. The Trinity is a very good device, you'd be hard pushed to beat it!
Lee
but Advantage i read can only be used as a phone using a headset
it dont have a mic or something
polaris the upcomming replacement for Artemis but it's not out yet
another option could be Kaiser is another option if one is not bothered by the extre thickness the keyboard adds or even pref a keyboard
thanks for your replies the n95 i think you have to pay for the gps service I dont think it has a built in sirfstar 3 chipset or any alike so i would not go for that but i will have a look at the kaiser cheers
Yes, N95 runs Symbian, but no touchscreen. I've tried it a few days ago - much slower than my N73.
Other options
As of now the Trinity is one of the best PDA'a around.
Other phones that you can consider are the Asus P535/525 series and the Eten M700.
These phones have all the feature the Trinity has and then some more. Like all phones, the Trinity also has its fair share of problems.
I was about to buy the Trinity but holding out for the Kaiser, it has all the feature that I want in a phone.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Cheers,
Hiren
i'll wait for polaris or nike myself
dont want a slideout keyboard
polaris looks really good just took a look out in october ultra thin aswell says 3.5 in screen does that make the phone bigger than the mda 3 compact and is it defo 3g because it was the mda i wanted but only 2g
hi...
is there a better phone/pda? interesting question....
If you are using it mostly like a phone I wouldnt go for the trinity because of two issues:
* I need a quite strong GSM signal to get acceptable sound quality. People I call often complain about the quality of my voice when compared to a 'normal' phone. Maybe is my device, people in this forum say, but I tried some proposed remedies without success.
* Screen is nearly invisible outdoors on a sunny day
If you are using mostly PDA features, the trinity may be an interesting option. The rest of features work really well, specially GPS.
Beware a new (pricey) trinity version is to be released soon (or maybe already). Hopefully they solve these issues plus the paint peeling off thing. Then it would be the perfect phone.
Depends on what you value!
If you need the phone for business, don't get a PDA phone coz the reception is NOT 100% reliable...
What do you need the PDA for?
All in all, it might be better to get a TomTom GO, then a cheap phone with bluetooth that can connect to TomTom!
But as previously said, D810X is meant to be coming out, no idea when and how much though.
D810x is out in Australia as the HTC p3600i.
i think dell axim x51 is very good for gaming but it dont have a camera!
Polaris looks its gonna be great! I remember reading it only has 400mhz cpu :S
At the moment i have the universal, and uses it primarily for navigation and reading e books. have normal SEk810i for phoning.
i have been waiting for the omni, but date keeps pushing and no official responses has been made whether it comes or not.
And now i have found me a very nice offer that i can afford
Its the HTC Advantage X7500 and not the 7501.
How simple will the upgrade be to wm6 ?
and what other differences is there beside the fmradio (which doesn't matter to me)?
should i go for this or should i wait ?
One last note, the size of the athena doesnt scare me, i like big screen when reading and using navi.
I bought one 7500 couple of months before. The upgrade to WM6 was easy, but... I wouldn't buy it again - the microdrive makes me very big problems (it stops working in unpredictable times - not realiable) and also the GPS chipset inside is not SirfStarIII, be careful, if you need it for detailed measurements... :-(((
the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution
spzero said:
the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does everyone keep saying the shift does large screen GPS, None of the GPS solutions for Vista are as good as tomtom and the like for PPC and none of the pictures of the shift show it using the full wide screen when in PPC mode, this means that the 4:3 image in a 7" wide screen is barely over the 5" screen of the athena anyway.
Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts
charon72 said:
Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
welcome to the club
spzero said:
the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, the Shift cannot be compared to a Windows Mobile device.
I carry a Windows notebook computer as well as a Windows Mobile device.
Now, that I have an Advantage, I find myself using the notebook computer far less often. The long boot-up time of the PC, and the easy synch of my data along with nearly-instant "on" of the Advantage, make my Advantage my first choice nearly all of my away-from-office time.
charon72 said:
Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I congratulate you for making this wise decision. SHIFT is TWICE the area of Athena and three times the weight. It also is quite useless on the road because it has completely unacceptable battery life. Even if it has GPS, proper camera, MP3 player on the WM side, and voice call, it's not going to be worthwhile. Even if you don't mind lugging this phone along, you can't really use it worry free because anytime it's going to run out of power. Do you want Vista that badly? That's the real question. Even if you really really need portable VISTA, it is wiser to have ASUS eee PC, with an Athena.
In my mind there are two types of portability. The "body portability" and the "briefcase/backpack portabiliity". In first type of portability allows you to either put the device in your normal size pocket or a normal size belt pouch. The second category allows you to bring it along for holiday and travel, but you would not really need it to be carried on your body. Phone/GPS/MP3/Internet Browser/Camera/Radio should be converged into one device of "body portability". More serious work related and very infrequently used device such as VISTA could accept a "briefcase portabilty" as those applications typically requires much bigger screen and keyboard. These two types of device should not converge.
The real issue with SHIFT is not weather it can have phone, full WM6. It is the weight, size and battery life. Athena is the one to go for.
eaglesteve said:
I congratulate you for making this wise decision. SHIFT is TWICE the area of Athena and three times the weight. It also is quite useless on the road because it has completely unacceptable battery life. Even if it has GPS, proper camera, MP3 player on the WM side, and voice call, it's not going to be worthwhile. Even if you don't mind lugging this phone along, you can't really use it worry free because anytime it's going to run out of power. Do you want Vista that badly? That's the real question. Even if you really really need portable VISTA, it is wiser to have ASUS eee PC, with an Athena.
In my mind there are two types of portability. The "body portability" and the "briefcase/backpack portabiliity". In first type of portability allows you to either put the device in your normal size pocket or a normal size belt pouch. The second category allows you to bring it along for holiday and travel, but you would not really need it to be carried on your body. Phone/GPS/MP3/Internet Browser/Camera/Radio should be converged into one device of "body portability". More serious work related and very infrequently used device such as VISTA could accept a "briefcase portabilty" as those applications typically requires much bigger screen and keyboard. These two types of device should not converge.
The real issue with SHIFT is not weather it can have phone, full WM6. It is the weight, size and battery life. Athena is the one to go for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HERE HERE.
Very well put Eaglesteve.
I have, and will always have issues with the size of the Athena - as a phone I struggle to get along with it, and continually go back to my Hermes. The past few days with the Touch Dual ROM however I have warmed to it and think if you don't mind vociferous phone conversations or connecting bluetooth earphones it's actually a very good bit of kit.
I never use the keyboard as it adds bulk and isn't as nice to use as Fingertouch, I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon and I think web browsing is not as smooth and reliable as it should be, but you can't have everything I suppose.
If you enjoyed your Universal then I have no doubt you will be a happy member of the Athena club, and the Shift?!?! I wouldn't touch it with someone else's bargepole owing to 3 critical - and no doubt predictable - factors:
1 - It's too small to be a laptop replacement; too big to be a cellphone replacement.
2 - Owing to its expense and niche market, development will be VERY restricted.
3 - battery life is grimly short.
As previously stated, buy an EEE if you want a bit extra to go with your Athena - the cost of this AND the Athena is less than a Shift alone, with twice the battery juice.
leoni1980 said:
HERE HERE.
Very well put Eaglesteve.
I have, and will always have issues with the size of the Athena - as a phone I struggle to get along with it, and continually go back to my Hermes. The past few days with the Touch Dual ROM however I have warmed to it and think if you don't mind vociferous phone conversations or connecting bluetooth earphones it's actually a very good bit of kit.
I never use the keyboard as it adds bulk and isn't as nice to use as Fingertouch, I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon and I think web browsing is not as smooth and reliable as it should be, but you can't have everything I suppose.
If you enjoyed your Universal then I have no doubt you will be a happy member of the Athena club, and the Shift?!?! I wouldn't touch it with someone else's bargepole owing to 3 critical - and no doubt predictable - factors:
1 - It's too small to be a laptop replacement; too big to be a cellphone replacement.
2 - Owing to its expense and niche market, development will be VERY restricted.
3 - battery life is grimly short.
As previously stated, buy an EEE if you want a bit extra to go with your Athena - the cost of this AND the Athena is less than a Shift alone, with twice the battery juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether or not you find Athena's size to be a problem depends on how to use it. For me, I completely dislike the hardware keyboard. It's no where near as fast and accurate as Tengo software keyboard, so I don't have the burden of carrying it and the leather case.
Next, if you try carrying it with the pockets of your shirt or trousers, you will find it too bulky and heavy. The right way to carry this is to use a proper belt pouch. I have a self made one. I carry my Athena 24/7, even at home. The only time it comes off my body is when I shower and sleep. In my belt pouch I am completely unaware of its presence. I will not be able to do the same with SHIFT.
hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?
leoni1980 said:
hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
much much better
many more options
leoni1980 said:
hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
much much much much better. bigger hitting area, more accuracy, takes up less real estate, more comprehensive and complete in functionality than Finger Touch . I've posted a comparision somewhere under the thread called "Finger touch, much better than tengo".
To add to the idea of using an Athena along with an Asus, you don't even have to link them with USB for the Asus to get network access. Get the (beta) wmWifiRouter and your Athena turns into a portable wifi hotspot. Then your Asus, and anyone else travelling with you with a laptop, gets internet on the go.
techntrek said:
To add to the idea of using an Athena along with an Asus, you don't even have to link them with USB for the Asus to get network access. Get the (beta) wmWifiRouter and your Athena turns into a portable wifi hotspot. Then your Asus, and anyone else travelling with you with a laptop, gets internet on the go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey, thats what i do, and it works a treat. for anyone who cant be bothered to search ive attached it. just go to start, settings, connections, wifi, add new. give the new connection whatever name you like and make sure you tick 'ad hoc'. then just run wmwifirouter. simple.
And because of this program there is less of a need to hack the ee to add internal bluetooth like some have lately. I cant think of any reason, actually.
Wow, i am really amazed to how this thread has boomed since last night
My main reason for never even considering the shift is size and battery life.
and every night when i go work i bring my laptop anyway.
The job i do is nightguard for a mentally handicapped man in his thirties. this involves long hours sitting in a chair watching him doing weird stuff and sleeping on the couch. so i need a device to keep me company in the chair
and it has to be something i can flick shut at seconds notice in case he gets a seizure (bad spelling i know) or freaks out. and for theese reasons SHift would be very impractical.
i like the look of shift and would like to have it just for playing around with it, but i also know i would tire of it really fast, so i dont see a reason to waste my money on a shiny new toy i wont use(have plenty of those)
The athena is now 2 days old and bringing it to work now for the third night and so far it has fulfilled all my expectations and even more.
combined with mobipocket it is absolutely fabulous to read on, and i am even considering leaving the laptop at home
So far i am very happy to have made the transition from the universal.
And on a side note...
Now my mom can discard her old Moto A1000 cause i am giving her the universal instead
leoni1980 said:
I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is a 'Linux hack' ?
eaglesteve said:
I carry my Athena 24/7, even at home. The only time it comes off my body is when I shower and sleep. In my belt pouch I am completely unaware of its presence. I will not be able to do the same with SHIFT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you wear it when you have sex?
spacecat said:
Do you wear it when you have sex?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought everyone has sex with his Athena. No?
My contract runs out next month. I was confident I would go straight onto a Kaiser, but I have just seen the touch cruise !!! decisions decisons
Which way are the ROM cookers going to jump? I have to say the hard work of those guys really brought the best out of my hermes.
there are rom cookers for most of the devices
i would guess the cookers who pref keyboard will go kaiser
and others will go tc
Haha... I think I'd have to get another Hermes if mine ever died.
I don't like the shoddy video performance on the Kaiser, it's also not quite clear to me if the Kaiser can be folded out flat, which is far more useful if you aren't at a desk than the 'pop-up' motion. Also, I use a bluetooth Sirf Star 3, which is infinitely better than the crappy built-in GPS on the Kaiser.
The Kaiser (and my hermes) just seems to be beginning to feel just a little too bulky !
I'm sticking with the Hermes for awhile ...
I'm sticking with my Hermes for awhile too!
1. I already have a Garmin GPS 10 (Bluetooth), so I really don't need the GPS of a Kaiser. I run Garmin Mobile XT (& BeelineGPS) from my SD card, so space isn't an issue either. And this is all more than accurate enough for my Geocaching adventures!
2. I have a 2 gig microSD (soon to be upgraded to 4 or 6 GB), so I really don't need the extra memory of the Kaiser (especially with these memory freeing ROMs - thanks to our ROM Chefs!) Even with my GPS maps, I still have plenty of room on my microSD.
3. I just recently went from carrying a Motorola RAZR, Dell Axim X50v and Bluetooth Keyboard ... to carrying only the AT&T 8525 (a.k.a. Hermes 100). So, I'm still enjoying carrying only 1 device.
4. True it's sort of large, but not as much space as 2 devices. Besides, it's not that bad when I use the leather belt holster or place it in the hidden pocket of my Docker's Mobile pants (part of Docker's premium line - so I can wear them at work). It's small enough that it doesn't bulge out on my leg, so it truly remains hidden!
5. Also, as far as size goes, if the keyboard/thumbboard was any smaller, I think it would loose it usefulness.
6. With all of our cooked ROMs, we're getting all sorts of software-based advantages of newer models. Why pay more $$$ for the same stuff?
Maybe I should be a salesman for HTC?
sbetts000 said:
My contract runs out next month. I was confident I would go straight onto a Kaiser, but I have just seen the touch cruise !!! decisions decisons
Which way are the ROM cookers going to jump? I have to say the hard work of those guys really brought the best out of my hermes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you used your Hermes for video playback and want to continue doing so with your new device then you'd better steer clear of any of HTC's devices using the Qualcomm 7200 and 7500 chipsets!
Why ditch your phone just cause your contract is running out? Pay month to month and keep your Hermes!
I'm in same situation as you. However I'm going to hold out for the sony ericsson x1.
I went into o2 on thursday to see if i wanted to get out a contract for a kaiser.
saw the phone picked it up and the screen was abit loose.. wobbling when flat on the keypad. I had also read about the issues with drivers / choppy graphics and that was the decider.. i walked straight back out and got a hermes, and imo it feels alot better and more secure than the kaiser. so i would wait until they revise the design of the kaiser or something.
I'd have to agree that the few advantages of the Kaiser are not enough for me to trade in my Hermes. The video issues alone are incredibly crippling...I watch alot of video on my Hermes and to have to fight with video drivers on a $600+ device is unforgivable.
The Kaiser does have a 3.0MP camera, but the default camera drivers on HTC phones has always been ****. Cool Camera's software give much more control and was the software that took the photos from my Hermes from looking so-so to being very nice. I could only guess that the Kaiser's camera could only look even better running Cool Camera software on it.
The GPS issue isn't much of an issue for me. I don't use GPS too often, but it would be nice to have it built in rather than to have to get out the Bluetooth unit.
The tilting keyboard I've yet to be able to see as very useful. I don't put my phone on a table and peck away at my keyboard...I hold it and type with my thumbs. However, I could see it as being slick for watching videos.
But even with all that, I don't want to drop all that money for a phone that does the same thing mine does, just slightly better. A tilting keyboard, slightly better camera, and built in GPS simply aren't enough to warrant the cash required for a Tilt.
Even though it is being somewhat of a traitor around here, it was the Kaiser's lack of large enough advancements that caused to pick up an unlocked iPhone rather than a Kaiser. I figured I would have the Hermes with all of its Windows Mobile bad ass-ness, and the iPhone for music and video.
...and then Slide 2 Play with coverflow comes out two weeks later. Go figure. There went my reason for the iPhone. ; )
Hi
I am currently using a O2 Mini S / HTC wizard and love it.
For the past few years, I have just upgraded and sold the phone on Ebay... now I have been offered this :
600 mins + 1000 texts (dont care about)... and unlimited internet! for £20 a month.
I have been offered a variety of phones including the Nokia 5800 and LG renoir... or if I spend £100, I can get a x1.
I just have no idea.
I went to a shop to take a look and find it generally ok, but I think the keyboard feels a bit... bad...
My wizard only has a 1.3Mp camera, but I am very happy with it. It does not lie... if I see a picture on the screen, I press the button and it takes fast. Is the camera here better than the wizard?
Anyway, I have an Exchange server, and just love the way it syncs.
The other thing I was thinking of is getting the nokia and selling it, then using the sim card in my wizard, however it is not 3g, and obviously really slow.
All I read here is people upgrading / reflashing their X1, is it really that bad?
I am just in two minds and have no idea what to do. What would you do?... should I wait for HTC touch Pro 2?
Thanks
William
MY PERSONAL OPINION
Hated the X1 at first, was all hyped up and everyone was raving about how good it will be and it just wasnt so
It WAS slow, USED to crash all the time, and the ui was appauling. I mean i nearly got rid of it several times and even through it across the house once cause it crashed during a very important call.
Now its awesome!
The update has made a huge difference, the software, tweaks and addons supplied by the users of this site along with other sites have made the X1 into a really powerful piece of kit.
YOU CANNOT get it out of the box and fall in love it takes some tweaking to customise it to your exact spec and needs.
Trust me its not easy at first but it will get better as you use it more. Plus more updates and tweaks from all users that i am VERY GRATEFULL for will make it even better.
just my opinion
I dont think the x1 keyboard is bad, it takes time to get used to any small keyboard - and/or the keyboard beds in - either way I find the keyboard fine now.
The camera has never been much good on my X1 - loads of lag and blurred pictures in low light, that could be a hardware problem - there are some roms with a new leaked cam from the R3 firmware which SE has not released yet, I dont know if this is better or not - any others comment?
I like everything else about the X1.
I'm another one that hated the phone....but it was my first smartphone.I had used Sony Ericsson phones for years and couldn't wait for it.
Was sooo disappointed until I found XDA....and then learned about flashing, and then....YOU WILL PRIZE MY X1 OUT OF MY COLD DEAD FINGERS!!!
I'm using Jack's ROM which I love (Mainly because TFL3D fitted my personality)
My only complaint is that it can't play Xvid's natively (They require conversion).
I will hang around and get an X2 (Whatever it may be) as long as they keep the same size phone and resolution. (Iphone is too large width wise)
I think X1 is good WM phone, if not the best.
But I realized WM is poor operating system for phone, if not the worst.
I bought X1 2 weeks before Palm Pre announcement. If I could decide now, I would leave my old stupid phone and unconnected PDA .. and I would wait.
THJahar said:
Was sooo disappointed until I found XDA....and then learned about flashing, and then....YOU WILL PRIZE MY X1 OUT OF MY COLD DEAD FINGERS!!!
I'm using Jack's ROM which I love (Mainly because TFL3D fitted my personality)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have heard so many people say this and I am just thinking, I should wait for the HTC touch pro, that would require no hacking to get this working...
The only real positive I can see for having the X1 is the screen, but the HTC pro 2 is also a high res screen... and being newer, it is more likly to have WM 6.5 in the future.... I know there are so many hacks here, but I would prefer to go via the manufacturer.
At the end of the day, a X1 will cost me £460 in 18 months time, where as having a 5800 or renoir will cost £360, or if I choose just to take sim only, probably around £40... I think I will not take a phone and in a years time, I will probably be able to get a HTC touch pro 2 or x1 on ebay for a fraction of the price.
Thanks to the guides here, I opened up my Wizard and was able to fix the vibrator so it really is perfect for me... I would LOVE to have 3g and check my email on the moove, but I have survived years without it... oh well!
I am still in two minds, but anyway...
If I remember correctly, the Wizard has Edge, right? If your operator (or another one) provides it, I think this is a good option in the mid term. It's almost as fast as the first version CDMA, only the latency is much higher.
Regarding the Touch Pro 2, it will be larger than the X1, quite a brick actually. It's actually a Touch HD with the thickness of the X1 - you can get an idea of it when you compare the two devices in a store. The Touch HD has quite a large screen area, but is not as thick as the X1. The X1 has a smaller area though. Combine the two, and you will get the Touch Pro 2. If you think you can put that into your pocket (together with its weight), then it may be the most powerful device that is upcoming. My impression is, that the Touch Pro 2's keyboard will be great and lot's better than the X1s.
The X1 keyboard is bad by the way, but you can learn how to write with it at acceptable speed. My Hermes keyboard was way better though.
Is it just me or everyone had a problem with X1's keyboard? When I push a button I either can't get any character or I get triple... where can I change the repeat rate and/or sensitivity?
Jasand said:
MY PERSONAL OPINION
Hated the X1 at first, was all hyped up and everyone was raving about how good it will be and it just wasnt so
It WAS slow, USED to crash all the time, and the ui was appauling. I mean i nearly got rid of it several times and even through it across the house once cause it crashed during a very important call.
Now its awesome!
The update has made a huge difference, the software, tweaks and addons supplied by the users of this site along with other sites have made the X1 into a really powerful piece of kit.
YOU CANNOT get it out of the box and fall in love it takes some tweaking to customise it to your exact spec and needs.
Trust me its not easy at first but it will get better as you use it more. Plus more updates and tweaks from all users that i am VERY GRATEFULL for will make it even better.
just my opinion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You threw it across the house and it's still working!? Well, so someone has tested that the X1 can survive a big drop.
Fully agree with the first reply: Used to have Symbian business-phones like P1i, all Communicators which came perfect out of the box, I thought after unpacking the X1 and started it first time that X1 is a peace of crap. But never give up too early:
Found this wonderful site and started learning, tweaking and flashing my X1, and after several mistrials I ended up with cHarOns fast&lite rom, adding MS-voice command, Sprite backup, XTract and several nice apps, and it is now running like a charme. No reboots, no dropped calls, and everybody who gets a hand on my phone is really impressed.
I believe WinMob is NOT and will never be best for phones or handhelds, but if you like to fumble and make experiments, you jumped on the right train.
Huhh, experiments with a business phone? Yap, that is what gives you xperiance!
let me see... lousy camera
special keyboard producing triples or spaces or no spaces
slowness
high price
poor support (at least for my area )
N O
leobox1 said:
let me see... lousy camera
special keyboard producing triples or spaces or no spaces
slowness
high price
poor support (at least for my area )
N O
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I loved it to begin with but hated windows mobile. Flashed the touch it rom and the phone is so much better, wouldn't trade my x1 for anything
You don't even need to tweak your phone to get touch flo 3d, you can install it as a cab and it becomes just another today item.
I love the phone so much. I definitely would have got the touch pro 2 if I could because I used to be used to the universal so a chunky phone was not a problem for me! However, having experienced the X!... its just a beautiful piece of hardware! Aethetics rarely interests geeks but once you get used to how it feels, the way it slides open, etc. I just love it. The keyboard is not great but definitely looks amazing and you can put it in your pocket and forget about it.
Definitely getting the x1 again if I am starting all over again...
There is no other phone on the market now that could think of to replace it with...
With the new roms I love it even more.
Have been using it since Oct, no regrets.
I think owning this phone just proved to me that 1. convergence is a very bad idea -- definitely carry separate devices for everything; and that 2. I'd be much happier with an iPhone.
So no, I'll probably just sell my three-month old X1 for 1/3 of the price I paid, because people are already refusing to pay anymore for a used one.
Did I mention the headphone jack left unsightly scratches on the plugs of every pair of headphones I own?
First I liked it... did loads of research and then went to a shop picked it up and played with it... loved the display...
Now I love it... never leaves my side and its simply indispensible... The keyboard does take some getting used to and I did have to upgrade my sim to a 3g one as they didnt send me one but its awesome...
I use the R2AA 10 ROM (very very good btw)and will upgrade to the R3AA when its here... as yet I have had no urge to flash different ROMs from the guys here... ok I have had the urge but as exams are coming up and I have a couple of dissertations to right I just dont have the time... sigh..
Finally where are you getting this deal? if you pay less up front (ie free phone or £50) is the deal more expensive?
I'd buy one again, though i'd be very tempted to wait for the Touch Pro 2 instead. A few months ago i was wishing i went for the Touch HD instead, but now i've got in to the Office side of things the keyboard is proving invaluable. I planned to buy a netbook, but it's really not needed because i can surf the web and run Word/Excel on the X1
One thing i do regret though is not putting a case on it straight away, it's scratched to bits. I'm actually tempted to "accidentally" drop it down the loo before my insurance runs out...
Thank you everyone here,
I have decided not to get it...
I really do love the look of it, however I went to the shop again, and I just can not stand the keyboard... I have so many small devices, but I just find the feedback so... soft (is that the word?) I like to know I pressed the key, and it just didnt seem to feel right to me.
At the end of the day, I would be on a 18 month contract, and in 18 months time, I will be £460 down on a phone that (By reading from here) may have cracks... not supported by SE, lousy camera, and general annoyances.
So many people talk about flashing their phones... imho, it should be perfect to begin with.
I know winmo has its flaws, but I really love it... the moment I am in wireless range of my network, I get all my emails and sync with exchange... or just link via USB or bluetooth to my laptop.
I love having one calander, contact list, notes and more... I know other phones can do this, but I just dont think it is as flawless or as simple.
Right now, I was offered a retentions deal which after credit, works out at around £45 at the end of 18 months... by then, hopefully I can pick up a older touch pro, or x1 from ebay for a fraction of the price, or a new x3 or whatever is out by then!
I would love any new smartphone, but frankly, I am happy with what I got... why spend a extra £415 (over 18 months).
Thanks everyone,
Wil
wilhil said:
Thank you everyone here,
I have decided not to get it...
I really do love the look of it, however I went to the shop again, and I just can not stand the keyboard... I have so many small devices, but I just find the feedback so... soft (is that the word?) I like to know I pressed the key, and it just didnt seem to feel right to me.
Wil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt the same as you did about the keyboard when I first bought the phone (I order it over the net and never have the chance to test the device before buying it). And it took about 2 weeks to get used to. Now this keyboard is completely fine for me to type with
I used to use a iMate JASJAM and like the x1, the keyboard just feels alot easier to type than the x1 when I first bought it.
However after getting used to the X1 keyboard, I can't type on my JASJAM anymore haha............
Absolutely Yes, I would get one. I haven't had a single moment of regret. It's simply the best phone I've ever had.
Although I must say I waited enough to be sure that the software issues (lagging etc) were fixed.