Archive for the 'PDA’s' Category
Ratings
Pros
- Motoblur very functional
- Consolidated or separated messaging
- Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- Multi-Touch screen
- Decent battery life for light users
- Never froze or bogged down
Cons
- Awkward in your hand
- Price is too close to much more capable phones
- Screen still slightly in the way of top QWERTY row
- Unacceptable battery life for moderate to heavy users
- Screen could be larger
The Bottom Line
While this phone did all I asked it to, I did not ask that much of it. And I am certain that I would spend a few extra bucks to get a much more capable phone, like the HTC Incredible.
Recommended
No
Full Review
Motorola is marketing the Devour as a less-expensive alternative to it’s big brother, the Droid. It has lower camera resolution, no flash, a smaller display, and less memory. The operating system is also not as speedy, but that did not bother me with what I was doing. The Devour does have the pull-out keyboard, which is a plus for those who don’t using a touch screen for typing.
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Pros
Slim, light, solid feeling, great sound quality, and excellent signal strength.
Cons
Instable Bluetooth connection and poor battery life.
The Bottom Line
The Motorola Q does what no other smartphone does and that is bring a big package of features into a small form factor.
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
It’s been nearly a year since I first laid my hands on the Motorola Q smartphone at CES. When I did, I was quick to dismiss it and moved on in the DJ music driven Motorola booth bathed in blue lights. But here I am now writing a review on a phone running Microsoft’s Window Mobile that brings to mind; never judge a book by it’s cover. In other words, don’t be so quick to judge something at a trade show.
Motorola put a fine looking unit together in the name of the Q. Running with the same formula that brought it such success for the ultra popular clam-shell phone, the RAZR, engineers at America’s number one cellular phone company made the thinnest and lightest smartphone for 2006. But, was Motorola able to bring the same great phone guts that made the RAZR so good into the Q? With over three months of this little guy strapped onto my belt, I was able to ask that question time and time again. The answer surprised me and it may surprise you. Read the rest of this entry »
Pros
Windows Mobile 5 makes improvements that make this a smarter smartphone and the slide out keyboard is the most usable built-in set of keys on any PDA yet. The camera is amazing for such a device as well.
Cons
Same old Verizon story, DUN profile removed from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi deactivates phone voice use (though there’s an easy registry hack to stop that,) battery life, and a plain and simple crappy speaker.
The Bottom Line
Now that Verizon has been removing the DUN Bluetooth profile for a year, most are use to it. So that’s not a huge disadvantage but the poor battery and speaker may be. If you’re looking mainly for a strong Windows Mobile unit with a phone you’ll use less than a stock broker on Wall Street, you’ll enjoy this smartphone, then.
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Recommended
Yes
Full Review
My first long lasting venture into the smartphone arena was the Samsung i730. I got it weeks before most of the general public did and I must admit, I was pretty full of myself. 
But the good Lord has His ways to deal with that and by the time summer had turned into a cold fall, my smug attitude chilled with the breeze that swept through my town. The honeymoon was over — and fast! So crushed was I with my first smartphone.
A few months later I learned about two new Windows Mobile 5.0 devices that seemed would correct all the problems of my Samsung phone. One was Palm’s first deviation from the operating system barring its name and the other was from the former Audiovox now UTStarcom. The later had the XV6600 in its portfolio and having used that for a whole four hours before sending it back, it was Palm’s offering I looked forward to. When I got to play with it at CES, I wasn’t impressed. It was the XV6700 that impressed me. Impressive enough that I didn’t even think twice about getting it over the Palm Treo 700w. Read the rest of this entry »
Pros
Combines the great power of the PocketPC and features of a phone into one great small unit.
Cons
DUN profile removed from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi deactivates phone voice use, camera-less, and no DUN profile. Oh ya, no DUN profile…
The Bottom Line
If you can overlook the lack of DUN profile and don’t care about losing your phone use while surfing via Wi-Fi, and the removal of the camera, then this is an excellent phone packed with many great features that will make you forget palmOne has a model called the Treo 650.
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Recommended
Yes
Full Review
When I first read about the Samsung i730 PocketPC phone last November, my jaw dropped. This was the phone to have! It had everything: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EV-DO, 1.3 mega-pixel camera, and a sweet slide-out keyboard. To top it all off, it was small and looked freakin’ killer. What else could one expect? Immediate release, maybe. Having just shelled out a pretty penny for my HP iPAQ hx4705, I wasn’t prepared to buy another PDA, but hey, if I could combine my Motorola V710 and iPAQ into one unit and forego any more teasing for having a geek belt, I was for it! But it would be months, actually over half a year before Verizon decided it was finally time to release South Korea’s most cutting edge phone to tech-savvy Americans who were all asking, “Was the wait worth it?” Read on, because it’s not a simple yes or no answer. Read the rest of this entry »
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Pros
It’s an iPAQ (and sleeker then all the other PocketPC’s)
Cons
No built in CFII slot
The Bottom Line
Want more then the limiting Palm OS? Want the best design and a solid built PocketPC? Get the iPAQ. If you want Bluetooth, get the 3870.
Full Review
My very first Pocket PC was the iPAQ 3650. I loved it. Coming from my Palm V, I couldn’t even to begin to think why I loved my Palm V as much as I did (back then)! So, when I read that Compaq was coming out with a new unit with twice as much memory (ROM and RAM), an extra built-in internal cache of non-volatile memory, PocketPC2002 and built in Bluetooth, I just about freaked. And top of all that, it looked better then the already cool looking first generation! Read the rest of this entry »