Smart phone/Pocket PC - Suggestions?

Look at the units that have the keyboard under the phone. The keys tend to be a bit larger. I think Verizon may be limit you to just one model like this.

- and also remember I can't specify types of mobiles/pda's, cos I'm in the UK, and ours are a lot different to yours...

But. You need to take a lot of things into consideration before you decide which model you're going to purchase.

From the top - you seem to primarily want a phone so you need to make that your top priority. Anything else you need, prioritise that, too, then add on your list of "would be nice to haves" and "if it could do's"

Some things have to be taken into consideration, regardless. For instance, I find the clarity on a cell much clearer than using an Ipaq (or equivalent) It seems to be something to do with the actual audio capacity (they tell me!) and the amount of available volume (on the Ipaq, I mean - if it gets to too low on the battery, it conserves itself by cutting light and volume levels etc, and rightly so)

If you do aim for a cell, make sure you think about the following points:

1. Do you text? If so, how large/small are your fingers? Do you "thump" or are you gentle? (!) I've found I'm too gentle at times (oh, there's an opening for jd!) and that the soft key phones are no good for me. Conversely, the plastic ones don't have the right amount of "give" for my arthritic fingers, so I find those frustrating too. I stuck to a metal key type keyboard, which, as Goldilocks would say, it just right for me.

2. When looking around for a cell, don't forget to take into account the costs of data cables, extra batteries, chargers etc. Most people need an in car charger which isn't normally included in the initial kit (well, not over here) The data cable, if you're needing one, also needs to be purchased.

3. If you have your head screwed on, at the same time as buying the phone, you'll buy an extra battery and a phone cover. (I mean the hard cover - it's also a good way to have a spare keyset on hand, too)

4. Make sure you also get a SimSafe (sim storage - yes?) and download all the numbers you have now onto it before you even THINK about transferring sim cards, cell numbers etc. Saves heartbreak, believe me.

5. Check out the model on both the manufacturers site, and Google. Where you'll find lots of extras from the manufacturer, you also need to read any bad feedback too, which is why I said Google - the manufacturer will not knock its' own product - unless there is a known manufacturing/program fault, in which case you wouldn't want that model in the first place.....
Also check the manufacturers site for online instructions, and how easy they are to read/follow. If you can't follow them online, you don't stand a cats chance!

6. Check out any local stores who provide cell phone repairs etc. Have a word with the guy behind the counter on the specific phone you've chosen. He'll be able to tell you what the most common fault is, if repairs are frequent, if the phone software is easily reloaded and the approximate cost of a range of repairs for that particular phone. (I'm preparing for when it's out of warranty, here)

Just remember you asked for this.....!!! :D

If you're wondering where all this came from, I've recently gone through an horrendous couple of weeks with my phone:
HOB decided when air blasting some fluff out of my cell that he'd clean it too, and used the wrong product, which ate away the screen. Bear in mind, here, that my parents are both deaf, and in cases of emergency, text me. I had to quickly do a buy-it-now on Ebay, so had another phone 2 days later. One simsafe broke, so had to wait to get the DR one from work after the weekend. After downloading numbers, it decided it wasn't going to let me send text, and as Ma was poorly I ended up purchasing a third as I couldn't get to the shop to have No. 2 repaired....

Finally got sorted, and am totally back up and running. Now have 3 batteries, have donated a charger to daughter, but as these are all the same model I have a totally working back up phone, which I'm swopping out the battery on every month to keep the cells live. And, of course, as they're all the same model, the data cables etc. that I already purchased are still valid....

oh yes. And note that the cause of the hassle didn't end up paying for two phones. I did. He broke it, I paid. Yet a-bloody-gain!!!

Hope this helps, Onbliss. Let me know how you get on, and what phone/pda you eventually end up with after all your research and homework! Feel free to pm me with any questions cos I think I garbled a bit. Again. Actually I'm just putting off going for my flu jab....... :( :0

GG

Very disappointed in experience with TREO with Verizon. 80% dropped calls. General poor performance. Really don't know what's better but I'm still looking.

You're probably going to have to have a phone with email / internet as standard - you might want to use the HTC Hermes as a baseline phone (it seems to have all the features you can get - possible exception of GPS and then work back from there.) but not sure what you can get over that side of the pond but HTC is Worldwide it'll just be badged differently.

Our company (Verizon customer) has used the Treo 650, Treo 700w and the Motorola Q. We have found very poor phone performance in both the Treo's. However, the PDA functionality has been great. The Motorola Q has had great phone coverage, but the PDA functionality is limited. It does not respond well to having additional program loaded, but it is great for contacts, calendar, email, and viewing files (Word, Excel, .pdf). The Treo came from companies who had the pda functionality down flat and added the phone features. Therefore, that is their weakness. The Motorola comes from the opposite side - great phones, but new to pda. Your choice depends on what is more important to you - phone or pda flexibility.

I have had my Verizon (Audiovox) PPC-6700 for several months and overall, I am VERY happy with it. The 6800 is coming out 2007Q1 so the wait might be worthwhile. A few compromises exist: voice quality not as good as Motorola phones I've had, etc. But to have wi-fi, EVDO, great sync and e-mail "push" capabilities as well as the other Windows Mobile 5 goodies is a far better tradeoff than lukewarm voice quality. A recent firmware upgrade and GREAT registry hacks exist to circumvent 98% of peoples complaints about the unit as well as apps to overclock CPU, etc. Also lots of freeware and a few vital "cheap-ware" apps to make like VERY liveable. I am more than happy to share them with you if you are interested; I've done a LOT of research into the apps, registry hacks etc. Check it out. You get a 14 day no-questions-asked return guarantee from Verizon (NO!, I don't work for Verizon). I wouldn't trade this phone for anything on the market from any carrier (except maybe a 6800 when they come out). You will definitely want a 1GB or so miniSD card to store your "stuff" on as the built-in "extra" memory is scant. I know you said you don't need much, but I too am a retired developer and therefore have that "little bit of hacker" in all of us that, once you see what the unit can do, your instincts will take over. Best of Luck!!!

I've used the Audiovox (UTC) PPC5050, PPC6600 and am now using a Treo 700wx(Bell).

Despite previous comments about Phone makers vs. PDA makers I have to say that the Treo is the best "phone" I really appreciate features like:
A manual switch to turn off ringer.
One button press to disable radio (in hospitals or airplanes)
Well designed keyboard lock
Built in GPS, exposed as a COM port
Hand Fit/Balance feels & looks like a phone.

Don't like:
Proprietary power jack, good ol' barrels always work fine but I guess are too easy for aftermarket manufacturers.
Headset - Audiovox was better, I still use the one from the 5050, 6600 one isn't compatable.

However still my favourite PDA/Phone - so far ;-)

I have couple of questions. I was chatting with a VerizonWireless support (sales ??) personnel on the internet and she said that I wouldn't be able load custom programs on to this device! She said I would be able to load dictionaries, encyclopedias etc. but not programs that I write.

Okay, here is what I want to know, if I write a .net mobile application can I load and run it on this device?

Anybody have something positive or negative to say about Palm Treo 700[b]w[/b]x. I heard that it sometimes freezes. {like the windows OS I believe :-) }

I finally had to give in and upgrade my phone for various reasons.

Got a Samsung SGH-E250 which is a doozy! Does loads, is Tri band, and the clarity is amazing.

If you want the full SP and reasons for that particular choice, just pm me!

(Don't forget - with me, you always get what you ask for! :) )

]:)

GG

What kept me? Well my old phone was serving all my needs (almost) :-) hee heee.

First, the right arrow key stopped working. It prevented me from using all features that needed right scrolling. Mostly it was to scroll the list of contacts. But I had [b]found[/b] a workaround: I randomly went to one address location and then used the down arrow keys to go to the desired contact.

Then, '7' stopped working. I lived with it. I found that if I pressed at one particular "hot" spot on the "button" I was able to dial the number seven too :-) .

Then I found '9' had stopped working. Well that kind of put a major dent. My password had that number in it. Hence I could not access my voicemail through my cell phone. But I could access it from my land phone. heeee heee :-) But I could not dial "911", kept praying there would be no emergencies.

Another thing that kept me from exploring was that Verizonwireless was not too keen allowing me to have my old plan. It was cheap and served my family's need. Did not want to pay more for more minutes. But by entering into a 2-yr contract I have managed to keep my old plan.

So my exploration was brief, I was just not motivated to go and buy new cell phones.

Eventually the frequently dying battery in my cell was what motivated me to get new phones. Poor thing it had served me well over four years. With two kids going to school and daycare, I did not want to be left with a dead cell phone. No point in having a cell phone, right?

:-)