Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to carry every model of Windows Mobile device that Cingular/AT&T offers. One would think that since they run similar software the user experiences would be similar, but such is far from the truth. The phones written about here are what I’ve actually carried for a minimum of two weeks. If your favorite WM5 device isn’t listed, it’s because I didn’t actually carry it. If you think I’ve missed out on a great phone, please let me know. What follows are my opinions on the various devices:
Windows Smartphones
The Smartphones don’t have a touchscreen, but instead rely on direction pads, keypads, and tumbwheels for navigation. These devices are geared towards email and communication-centric customers, but have a powerful PIM as well. The ability to sync Email, Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks wirelessly with your Exchange Server makes them an invaluable system.
The Cingular 2125 is a candy bar style phone no longer offered. It was manufactured by HTC. We have a couple of these in use, and the people using them won’t give them up. As of late last year, a ROM upgrade enabled the Direct Push technology and wireless syncing with Exchange 2003 SP2 is a breeze. The phone is compact, durable, and easy to use, although the usefulness is limited by the lack of a full QWERTY keyboard.
Software-wise, the 3125 is almost identical to the 2125, the biggest difference being the form factor. The 3125 is an uber-cool flip phone, reminiscent of the Motorola RAZR. It also has external buttons for playing media, although you’d probably want to utilize the micro-SD slot for any sort of music storage. The biggest limitation of this phone is the lack of a QWERTY keyboard.
The Blackjack, despite having an unfortunately similar name, is not related to the Blackberry… Thank goodness! It uses a thumbwheel, directional pad, and QWERTY keyboard for navigation on the largest screen available on a Smartphone. It comes with the best IM software I’ve seen, by OZ. Early versions included two of the standard, low-profile batteries. More recent versions have included a standard battery and an extended battery that increases the bulk somewhat. I’ve been making use of the standard battery, and have been able to go all day with no issue. The slim profile, large(ish) screen, and QWERTY keyboard team up to make this a very compelling choice for your travel companion. Also, it seems they can frequently be had for less than $200 with incentives.
Windows Pocket PCs
The Pocket PCs (PPCs)are like Smartphones on steroids. They will do all the same things the Smartphones will do, and more. These devices all feature touchscreens. With Smartphones, there is typically an application included to view office documents. With PPCs, Pocket Office is included which allows you to actually edit the documents. Our company is very spreadsheet-centric and this has come in handy quite a few times for users to do a quick edit on a spreadsheet and email it off to a co-worker while at the airport. There is also a terminal services client included which allows you to open a remote desktop, say, on a server. It’s a little awkward, but beats having to leave a baseball game and drive into the office when you need to reboot a Windows machine.
The Cingular 8125 is the most prolific phone in our company. This is in part due to the early release, and partly due to its low cost. It was a good start, and remains a good value in the marketplace. It has a relatively good battery life due to its slower processor, but still manages to have the power needed to accomplish most tasks. Navigation is a little tricky, as this model doesn’t have hardware buttons for the Start menu or to close a window. Those must be touched on the screen, which is tricky without a stylus. The 8125 also offers 802.11b wireless networking, although it can be a little hard on the battery if used for an extended period of time. The keyboard backlight is a little troublesome, as it can’t be adjusted and shuts off too quickly, in my opinion.
This is my favorite device, the one I keep coming back to. It improved on the 8125 by adding extra hardware buttons and a thumbwheel for one-handed navigation. Its faster processor provides for a snappy response when selecting an application. It offers wireless networking in the form of 802.11b/g, another improvement over the 8125. The keyboard has a light sensor so it turns on the backlighting as needed, solving the problem that the 8125 had with the keyboard backlight turning off too soon. A recently updated ROM from HTC provides a few minor bugfixes, as well as a few added features. While it’s a little on the heavy side, it fits nicely in your hand.
I think Palm is heading for bad times. Putting Windows on a Treo was their admission that their Palm operating system wasn’t going to cut it. Then, the execution of this phone is horrible. The problem is that it’s like they didn’t even test this device. There are a lot of great things about it, but there are some software conflicts that make it a worthless phone. More on that later. First, the good stuff. Palm put some extra thought into making this device especially one-handed friendly. There are some proprietary applications bundled in that improve operation over the standard Windows mobile configuration. These include a picture dialer and a chat-style text message viewer that threads your incoming and outgoing text messages in a more natural conversation format than a typical inbox-style. The fantastic hardware switch that flips you from ring to vibrate can be found dutifully stationed at the top of the phone, as in previous offerings. Other Palm-specific Innovations can be found here. This would have been a really compelling package, except that Palm didn’t quite figure out that the phone should ring reliably. For reasons unknown, every Treo 750 we rolled out stopped ringing or vibrating. It was fixable with a reboot, but the user would realize that they’ve missed several calls, and then have to completely reboot their phone for the ringer to work again. Palm offered a bulletin stating that one of its “improvements” might be conflicting with the Windows software and disabling the voice dialer might fix the problem. We had mixed results with this “fix” and honestly, if a piece of software conflicts with the operating system, isn’t that just a poorly designed piece of software? As of today, the last of the Treo 750s were turned in and replaced with Cingular 8525s. I’m willing to try this phone again after AT&T releases an updated ROM, either fixing the problems or moving the phone to WM6 altogether, but until I can count on the phone ringing when I get a call, forget it!
This PPC sports a built-in GPS. If it didn’t have the worst screen of the bunch, poor battery life, and an awkward pancake-like form factor, I’m sure it would be a great choice. My friend works at HP, and carries one of these. He explained that it was cutting edge at the time of its conception, but the time to market was so long that it was surpassed by nearly every phone out there. We still have one of these phones in the fleet, and I use it as a loaner when someone’s phone dies or if they need GPS navigation.
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