Which Pocket PC / Smartphone should I buy?

By Jeremy Fain, May 9, 2007

My cellphone is down: I can hear perfectly people who talk to me, but they often (>50%) can’t, and as you can imagine, it can get pretty annoying…

To make a long story short: I badly need your help. I am to make a significant purchase this very week.

I’ve decided to make a big leap and buy a Pocket PC or Smartphone. I don’t know anything about Pocket PCs & smartphones, except that I don’t want an iPhone, a Blackberry, a Nokia, or anything that doesn’t run Windows Mobile (ideally 6). It’s not that I don’t think these are great products, but I already have a Mac (although I now use Vista @ work and I think it’s much better than Mac OS X for a business purpose, but more on that soon), use Firefox (although I started using IE7 and it’s a good browser), hack code in Java (few time to start going through .Net tutorials, but I should start pretty soon), etc.

So I just feel I ought to eat my own dog food for once (+ I hear Windows Mobile’s really a user-friendly and handy environment). Unless you bring to light a unique selling point that triggers a purchasing decision (like Sony Ericsson P990i’s business card archiver) of course – I’m a pragmatic person.

I’m in desperate need for your advice. Which Smartphone / Pocket PC / PDA should I buy (new or second hand)? Many thanks for your help.

Here are the specs of the device I’m looking for: keyboard, wireless, Windows Mobile 6, GPS, Office, Acrobat Lite, direct push emails, 3G, HSDPA, ideally Messenger as well, I don’t care about having a crappy camera, HTML support in email client, Bluetooth 2.0, @ least 400 Mhz. CPU, EDGE, GPRS, mini SD memory, Quad-band, Zip manager.

I’ve already listed relevant devices and I am yet to go through their reviews: HTC P3300 (also named Artemis), E-Ten Glofiish X500, HP iPAQ hw6915, E-Ten Glofiish M700, HTC TyTn, Samsung SGH-i320/SGH-i600, Palm Treo 750. Any suggestion or feedback?

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9 Responses to “Which Pocket PC / Smartphone should I buy?”

  1. Jeff Kee says:
    May 9, 2007 at 08:00

    hmmm reliability is a big thing that stops me from going towards those extremely complicated compact gadgets.

    I just bought a blackberry – and it has hte functions I needed. Scheduling, organizing, contact information, synchro with Outlook 2007 etc.

    But if you want to go for something further I guess the Palms are a solid brand with some history in engineering those suckers.

  2. Jean carl says:
    May 9, 2007 at 09:39

    When you know which one is the one you are looking for tell i will buy one as well,

    just for your information the new Nokia E61i runs WM 6 but no GPS

  3. nabil says:
    May 9, 2007 at 11:25

    I have a Qtek S200, it is largely sufficient for my use. Before buying it, I hesitated with the qtek 9100. I would prefer this last one because of its sliding keyboard. Here is a good article about this smartphone http://www.presse-citron.net/?2005/10/19/270-qtek-9100-premieres-et-deuxiemes-impressions#12 (sorry in french). Moreover you can find some good forums on the web exclusively about the qtek 9100 where you will find interesting things you can do with it. But looking yours specs, i think this one will answer to your need : http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_s710.htm.

  4. Vincent van Wylick says:
    May 9, 2007 at 12:28

    I have no suggestions, except that if your considering the Treo, to maybe go with the newly released 755p (review)

  5. Laurent Deséchalliers says:
    May 9, 2007 at 13:55

    hi jeremy

    I know very well PDA (i was work in)

    I have 3 palm and 4 PocketPC :=)

    Call me (0624791595) to discuss about your chose

  6. xavier says:
    May 9, 2007 at 22:21

    salut Jeremy:

    j’ai un samsung i320, et je passe sur le i600. J’en suis ravi, à l’exception de l’autonomie un peu faible. J’espère qu’elle sera meilleure sur le i600.

    Tu feras sûrement le bon choix cependant.

    A+,

    Xavier

  7. Jeremy Fain says:
    May 9, 2007 at 23:17

    Many thanks to all of you guys, very useful advice.

    Laurent, feel free to let us know which of your 7 devices (!!!) you like best, and which one you wouldn’t recommend.

  8. Laurent Deséchalliers says:
    May 10, 2007 at 10:15

    Jeremy

    it isn’t a single choice

    It’s depend on your use

    Do you want to :

    - read and modify Word and Excel doc ?

    - read eMail

    - write eMail (internal keyboard needed)

    - Surf on web

    - Skype with wifi

    - Use with a GPS and software like Navigon, tomtom…

    - Synchronize with Windows, macos

    - look video

    - look photo

  9. AKA says:
    June 9, 2007 at 12:03

    How good is P990i, is is worth to buy it in INR15000.00

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