I'm looking for a new cell phone. I've currently got an old Nokia TDMA one - it was AT&T once upon a time. It's been a very good phone, but Cingular seems to be converting the TDMA cells to GSM - or at least I'm getting more "all circuits busy" than I used to.

My basic requirements are a good phone (probably quad band GSM, though I'm not entirely wedded to it - I don't travel overseas that much), imap email, limited web. I'd like to be able to do a secure connection back to the office, too, to run VNC or some such. I'm open to the idea of a good bluetooth phone for DUN, and a separate, more feature rich PDA (I've lusted for a clamshell zaurus, for instance, but I'm not sure I'd carry it around).

I've found three that seem to fall into this category:

Treo 650 is probably my first choice. But from reading about it, it seems to have a stability issue. Lots of potential apps to add, though, and qwerty.

Mororola V3 Razor which has a cool form factor, 100 meter bluetooth, but no internal expansion. It would require a separate PDA for anything interesting.

Motorola MPx220 which is a Windows Mobile phone, which makes me cringe, but does seem to have some apps available.

The Treo and MPx220 both have SD expansion slots. The Razor would make be a nice carry around phone, if I could get it to work with a PDA, and carried the PDA enough to be useful.

Does anyone have any comments on any of these phones? Constructive or not. Or should I be looking at any other phones?

thanks,

-jk

I've got the Moto RAZR and it's fantastic as a phone -- long battery life, good signal quality, nice hefty feel, and the partly metal shell makes it more wear-resistant. Of course, you're never going to confuse it for a PDA, although with the Bluetooth, you could probably make it get along with a PDA. I've only used Bluetooth so far for hands-free in my car. I'm toying with spending the extra $20/month for Cingular's unlimited data plan and trying to make it play nice with my laptop for dialup networking.

So when is Apple going to come out with iPhone? It's gotta happen sometime.

There is the iTunes phone that has been having some issues getting launched. Probably would have been out by now if only US cell phone companies would get a hint of common sense and support a single standard. *dreams of being able to use one phone on 9 providers like he could in Europe*

Oddly, I was at a store over the weekend, and was told that Motorola recalled them. It was an independent store, and I can't verify it. I think he was just feeding a line since they are still heavily allocated, and if he can't move 'em, they'll send 'em to a store that can. (Ah, fond memories of my days in retail!)

With a V3, I think I'd need to have DUN. How do you find Cingular's GSM coverage?

thanks,

-jk

An iPod phone would be tempting and very cool. And undoubtedly more stable than a windows phone.

I just don't see it happening in this purchase cycle. Maybe next time.

-jk

My current service is with Cingular from AT&T. My collegues who've had T-Mobile service locally in DC haven't cared much for their coverage. Another collegue in NYC moved from Cingular to Verizon for coverage issues. I think we just can't win. Damned competing standards.

thanks!

-jk

And I will confirm that TMobile in the entire DC area is complete crap. [comic book guy] Worst - cell service - ever! [/comic book guy]

That was an emphatic anti-endorsement! I thought Cingular and T-Mobile had roaming agreements. Oh, well.

I guess it's Verizon (and a US-only phone) or Cingular.

-jk

Do you know if the quad band phones roam any better? I was vaguely hopeful they would, but if they are picking and choosing where they'll roam, I guess it might make no difference. In which case I'd expand my phone search a bit.

I do get the impression that certain Cingular/ATT markets have much better coverage than others. And that Cingular customer service leaves a bit to be desired.

thanks,

-jk

The roaming issues aren't a technology problem; rather, they're a business-relationship problem. It's all about one network agreeing to carry traffic for another network. A quad-band phone maximizes the chance that you'll be able to take advantage of such a relationship, if it exists when and where you're trying to use your phone.

That makes sense, of course. I think I have a handle on the carriers. I'll either stick with Cingular (or possibly move to Verizon as I don't get out of the country that often).

Anyone have any experience with the actual phones? Or BT for DUN on a laptop or secondary PDA such as a Zaurus?

-jk

Dragging this up from the dead, but I just ponied-up $500 for a factory-unlocked A780. After doing research for the past few days, I think this is the best phone/PDA option for me. It mostly looks like a phone, but it does a lot more when you flip the clamshell open.

The downside of it not being available from any US carrier is that I can't play with it before I buy it... not even a dummy-phone. But, I doubt this phone will ever be introduced here.

I was in the first batch of people to get a Sprint 650, and I've had no problems at all with it.

--Nathan

My favorite cell-phone info site:
http://howardforums.com/

That's a cool looking phone, and I completely overlooked it in my research. I think you may have found the phone I've been looking for. Where did you find it?

When are you supposed to get it, and what sort of support does it have? Can you post a quick review of it when you do get it?

-jk

Quote:
My favorite cell-phone info site:
http://howardforums.com/

I'll begin plowing through there shortly.

thanks!

-jk

I bought the phone from this vendor because it seemed a few others have gotten it there with no problem and their price is the lowest. Be aware that there are at least two versions of this phone out there. One is from Hong Kong and has EDGE support and comes with a 128MB Transflash card and bluetooth headset. The other is from Taiwan and doesn't include any of the things I just mentioned.

I'm expecting the phone this week. I will give my thoughts on it when it arrives.

Many thanks!

-jk

That is a nice size. I'm sending you a PM.

thanks,

-jk

I'm also looking around for a PDA/phone. I've read in some forums that the battery doesn't last long with this phone esp. with Bluetooth turned on. I' know you've only had the phone for a few days, but could you comment on this as you use the phone? Thanks!

I was playing with the phone all day yesterday with the flip open. I didn't make very many calls though. Maybe 5 minutes worth. By the end of the day the battery meter (aparently not accurate) was showing 50% charge. This was with light bluetooth activity from transferring my phonebook from my old phone and using the phone as a modem with my laptop. Most of the time I shut off bluetooth when not using it because people say it's a power hog. I think the phone did well, but it's nowhere near the battery miser my SE phones have been.

Charging time doesn't seem any different than my T637. The battery used in this phone is the same as the V3 RAZR, so is the charger.

I have Cingular's Media Works package which is unlimited data for $20 per month. EDGE doesn't cost anything more, but I think if you have a Blackberry or Palm phone, you have to pay more for unlimited data since they view these to be primarily data devices. It sucks, but I hear that's how it works. I don't know if they will be able to tell what my phone is now, but I signed up for Media Works with the T637.

That's not bad at all. Sprint is $15 a month, but that's slower. I would go for Cingular but the reception in my area isn't very good. Family and friends have Verizon, so I'm wasting so many minutes a month just because I'm not on the same network.

Re: Cingular and MediaNET / data service... I decided a couple months ago that I wanted a Treo 650. My choices were therefore Cingular whom, by way of AT&T I had been a customer for 2+ years with, or Sprint. So I rolled into my Cingular store and asked what they could do for me. I had heard MediaNET was $20/mo, which seemed reasonable. Turns out, as you alluded to, they charge extra for "devices which are primarily data devices" or somesuch, and if I wanted unlimited data on a Treo, it was $80/mo. Yes, $80. Sprint, on the other hand, for what is now the same speed of service (but will soon be a bit slower due to Cingular upgrades, allegedly) offers unlimitee data for $15/mo, or $10 if you're skillful with the CS reps. Cingular lost me as a customer faster than you can say "raising the bar." Couldn't be happier with the Sprint voice or data service, either.

Ooo. Happy to hear that. I assumed that it was already slower, but I do remember getting pretty good bandwidth when I tried using my phone as a PDA modem.

Mind if I asked how you managed the $10/month? I've always been quite polite to my reps

I haven't managed it yet as I'm on the $0/month plan (free trial for 2 months.) But from what I read on the Treo Central foruns, people have had success getting one of the PCS Vision plans for $10/mol I think it's the one that includes a $5 credit towards games/ringtones/etc. and you just say you don't download that stuff, so you'd rather have it as a $5 credit towards the service itself. Something like that. They may change their tune, but I know many folks have gotten the $10/month plan, and I plan on being one of them when my 2 month trial is up.

Check this thread on TreoCentral for more info on the magic words to use when asking for the $10/mo plan, especially the last post which apparently has the actual plan name the reps will use or something. And let me know how it works out for you, apparently mileage varies.

Well, I'm already on the plan, so I'm not sure how well I can do with it. I'll read it over, though. I'd love to shave $5 off the bill. That would probably cover the taxes