Database Develop

Is there a better PDA phone than this?

I've had an O2 XDAIIi version of this PDA phone since it was released, and very nice it is too. However, it's starting to get a bit tatty, but I believe this model is no longer available. My question is; what's the best replacement for it?
Basically, I'd want something that does exactly the same, but with WM5, VGA and a better camera. I don't want the bulk of a keyword, so I'm not interested in the O2 Exec.
Is there anything out there that meets this criteria? The stumbling block seems to be VGA, as not many devices seem to use this.
Anyone know of such a beast?
Lee

you may struggle there mate, least I haven't seen one yet. if you want a practically sized phone then you may have to opt for a lower-resolution screen (particularly since the exec is the only vga wm5 handset I know of) this it was exactly the choice I made when I sold my exec to get a vario II. As it happens I don't really notice the difference any more: as with any phone you have to weigh up its pros and cons.
Ask yourself what you actually use your phone for, and how important having a vga screen really is for your needs. You may end up just sticking with what you've got!
You could also look on ebay - you MAY find and xda ii in mint condition there.
The stumbling block isn't just the VGA screen either Lee - unfortunately cameras on xdas ALL suck! the 2mp camera on my vario 2 is equally as rubbish as the 1.3 mp cam on my exec, my vario 1 and my mda compact. they're just no good. I wish I could take the camera out of a sonyericsson and whack it in the case of my vario!
The day a perfect phone comes out I'm sure we'll all rush out and buy it, other than that the only alternative would be to get one of the new sonyericssons - they have better screens and the latest ones have stunning cameras....but they use (ahem) symbian.
Hope this is of some use.

you may struggle there mate, least I haven't seen one yet. if you want a practically sized phone then you may have to opt for a lower-resolution screen (particularly since the exec is the only vga wm5 handset I know of) this it was exactly the choice I made when I sold my exec to get a vario II. As it happens I don't really notice the difference any more: as with any phone you have to weigh up its pros and cons.
Ask yourself what you actually use your phone for, and how important having a vga screen really is for your needs. You may end up just sticking with what you've got!
You could also look on ebay - you MAY find and xda ii in mint condition there.
The stumbling block isn't just the VGA screen either Lee - unfortunately cameras on xdas ALL suck! the 2mp camera on my vario 2 is equally as rubbish as the 1.3 mp cam on my exec, my vario 1 and my mda compact. they're just no good. I wish I could take the camera out of a sonyericsson and whack it in the case of my vario!
The day a perfect phone comes out I'm sure we'll all rush out and buy it, other than that the only alternative would be to get one of the new sonyericssons - they have better screens and the latest ones have stunning cameras....but they use (ahem) symbian.
Hope this is of some use.

Thanks...
Thanks the the feedback, that was kinda what I expected. It seems that HTC keep bringing out new models with various permutations of features, but never all the features that you want in one machine!
VGA would be nice for web-browsing, which is very frustrating at 320x240. Oh well, jusy have to wait until someone releases that dream machine!
Lee.

just further to the previous point I made, I thought I ought to point out that I have found web browsing on the vario II to be absolutely superb - I do all of my posts on xda developers using it, its nippy, connects phenominally quick, and the scroll-wheel is an absolute joy to use. it might seem a simple thing, but it makes browsing so much more comfy - I hardly need to get the stylus out!
I'm sat on a train right now from birmingham to derby and I haven't lost my signal once - on my exec I was constantly losing signal; and despite the exec having a better screen it is far easier to flick through web pages with the varios scroller, and pages even load up quicker.
Despite its smaller screen I would HIGHLY recommend it.
(sadly the camera is still poo, so it's not all good news!)

I'm happy with my Vario 2 (Hermes) as it does 3G (which is brill ) and has a hardware keyboard (yesssssss), but compared to my Alpine the screen is a lot smaller. That's a disappointment, but I knew it was going to be smaller. The fact that it runs WM5 kinda makes up for it though, and the fact that my Alpine can't actually connect to my Alcatel Speedtouch DSL router is ridiculous! (It's not the first time that problem's happened, seems to be a real problem with either the radio hardware or the firmware... I dunno. The Hermes connects fine to everything).
As it stands, I'm gonna keep my Alpine and use it for GPS navigation (when I get a new car, thanks to the woman who drove into me and wrote my car off I don't have one at the moment), and I might just end up using it as my day-to-day PDA, especially as my Hermes at the moment refuses to ActiveSync with my PC. Windows reinstall coming this weekend, we'll see how that goes.
The camera on my Hermes is WAYYYYY better than on my Alpine though (it's not as good as on the K750i/K800i/Cybershot models by SonyEricsson, those cameras blow everything else out of the water!) but I've taken a few pics and put them on my moblog (http://moblog.christopherwoods.co.uk if you want to compare image quality, I think they're just fine considering the camera size), and combined with the 3G (and unlimited 3G / GPRS access on my T-Mobile tariff) it's great for moblogging and websurfing to kill time / procrastinate, but my Alpine is slimmer and has a larger screen... The Alpine was allllllllmost perfect, I was almost ready to keep it as my phone for another year, but there were just enough things not quite up to par with it to make me go out and get a new device.
I do love the extra hardware buttons on the Hermes, and the scroll wheel is pretty cool. Don't use it as much as I should do, the same with the soft keys - I always end up tapping the screen when I can just push the button! Force of habit, can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I think the screen size is definitely important, but from experience i would NEVER buy another phone with a VGA screen - at least not until they start making much better batteries.
The biggest killer of batteries is those big pretty screens, and if a handset is gonna cut it as a phone and a practical browsing device/organiser it needs to hold out in the power department, since we're not always next to a power point, and we haven't always got our mains adaptor with us!
I don't really notice the screen difference on my Vario II now, and the battery lasts ages.
Be nice if i could get a spare battery with a cradle on ebay though, always good to have backup, however i haven't seen one yet.

Roll on charge-via-GPRS (use the power in the radio waves and convert it into electrical energy.... mmm... batteryless devices... drool)

I'am due an upgrade soon whats worth waiting for?

Greetings you fine folk
Currently I have a HTC Wizard 200
I was wondering what xda devices, people are looking foward to this year, Iam due an upgrade soon, so thought i'd pose the question to give me some ideas any coments greatly appreciated cheers.

You should check out www.pdadb.net they have a very comprehensives list of upcoming devices and not just by HTC.
Me, I have my eye on the HTC Nike because it has everything + FM radio.

I am also actually long overdue for an upgrade (contract ended in January but I didn't bother to ask for a new handset as I hoped for a better device like the XDA Zinc as I'm on O2). But after much thought and delay, the Zinc got canned, the Trion is still a ghost and I scoured ebay for a replacement fascia for my Mini S (paid the seller but am not sure if it's on the way yet).
Now though, after a little more searching and the fact that I might go abroad for a while (don't really fancy paying for the contract unless the phone is well worth it), I am getting pretty damn tempted to get an Orange M3100 off eBay - one for the better camera (apparently with auto focus) and for a grand total of around 100 pounds and not to mention 3G and a supposedly more responsive unit.
However, I would love a few things like GPS (present in the Kaiser but this is not a deal breaker for me) and an FM Radio(pretty handy for me) and more importantly an SDHC (Mini/micro/etc) which I am unsure any up and coming devices will have. Also with the Marvel XScale (Intel sold it to them) chips hitting scary speeds of 600MHz (there is an 800MHz version and also supposedly a 1GHz version), I'm just not sure if I should put the money towards a better phone or something else. Also from what I can see, the only PDA/Phone devices catching my eyes right now are the following:
HTC S730 but I do use the touch screen a fair bit so I'll have to test it first
HTC P4550 but I don't really see the difference between this an the Hermes as the increased ROM capacity, the keyboard mech, the additional GPS and the slightly improved camera and not to mention official WM6 doesn't truly warrant the high markup this thing will get.
Truthfully I am not too keen on just upgrading blindly but the improved camera and 3G and not to mention the number of times I almost hit the bid button eBay today is driving me nuts.

Is it worth trading Hermes up for Kaiser?

I'm currently using Hermes (8525) and thinking about getting Kaiser. If you have had Hermes before I'd like to hear your word of wisdom from whomever have had both devices for practical usage. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to keep both.
What I love about the Hermes that's not found in Kaiser are flash light, IrDa, and comm manager button. On the other hand Hermes is missing GPS, bigger memory, the "possibility" of having hardware accelerated graphics, supposedly better camera, tilting hinges, and in my particular case front camera (I'm using 8525 and there's no _practical_ solution to put the front camera in and if I were to get Kaiser it better be NOT AT&T tilt that has no front camera as well).
I'm afraid I'll be missing Hermes exclusive features if I switch to Kaiser, even though I don't use those features too often. It is however very tempting especially the built in GPS feature (yes I have followed the hidden GPS thread and struck down by the bad news that we can't practically revive the chip in Hermes).
A word of advice or two from you guys would be very appreciated.
PS: I posted this in Hermes forum a while ago and I'm also interested to hear Kaiser owners' opinion about this too.

cyberblue said:
I'm currently using Hermes (8525) and thinking about getting Kaiser. If you have had Hermes before I'd like to hear your word of wisdom from whomever have had both devices for practical usage. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to keep both.
What I love about the Hermes that's not found in Kaiser are flash light, IrDa, and comm manager button. On the other hand Hermes is missing GPS, bigger memory, the "possibility" of having hardware accelerated graphics, supposedly better camera, tilting hinges, and in my particular case front camera (I'm using 8525 and there's no _practical_ solution to put the front camera in and if I were to get Kaiser it better be NOT AT&T tilt that has no front camera as well).
I'm afraid I'll be missing Hermes exclusive features if I switch to Kaiser, even though I don't use those features too often. It is however very tempting especially the built in GPS feature (yes I have followed the hidden GPS thread and struck down by the bad news that we can't practically revive the chip in Hermes).
A word of advice or two from you guys would be very appreciated.
PS: I posted this in Hermes forum a while ago and I'm also interested to hear Kaiser owners' opinion about this too.
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This is kind of like going onto the Corvette Club of America forum and saying " I'm thinking of trading my Chevy Malibu for a Corvette, what do you think?" My Tilt is Great. I personally have never experience any of the quirks others have complained about. If you like the new features and upgrade possibilites better. Then do it.

Out of everything that I read, I decided that it was NOT worth the upgrade. Then my Hermes started acting up BADLY with white screens and buttons that stopped working. So I reluctantly upgraded sooner than I intended.
I have loved my Kaiser. The 400mhz vs 400mhz CPU doesnt explain much why my Kaiser is so much faster than my Hermes. And I love the GPS .... and the battery life is better.
Also I never could find a radio where I could leave on 3G inside my condo and not drop calls. I tried and tried and tried. I leave 3G on my Kaiser with NO dropped calls even inside exactly where my Hermes would drop calls - and the 3G is not sucking the battery like on the Hermes.

I was the same way. I think it depends on the price that you will have to pay. I was able to get the Kaiser (Tilt) when it first came it on AT&T and I just couldn't pass it up. Now having had it for over a year, and knowing the differences, I would have paid more if I had to. I know that I may have been reluctant to pay more at the time, but it's one of those things where, "Now looking back, I would do it all over again" (but with more money ) if that makes any sense...

I've said this before elsewhere, but here goes again...
I broke my Hermes. If I had not broken it, I would not have upgraded to the Kaiser.
Now, I have a Kaiser and I don't consider it to be vastly better than the Hermes. Perhaps it was the way I use my phone that makes this the case, or perhaps it is that the O2 ROM was the limiting factor. Either way, I don't think it would tempt me to upgrade or renew my contract, so will be onto a rolling 1-month contract until a more exciting handset (am thinking Raphael) turns up.

denco7 said:
This is kind of like going onto the Corvette Club of America forum and saying " I'm thinking of trading my Chevy Malibu for a Corvette, what do you think?" My Tilt is Great. I personally have never experience any of the quirks others have complained about. If you like the new features and upgrade possibilites better. Then do it.
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malibu vs vette is too much of a stretch and you didn't give perspective on both sides as to comparing one to the other.
to answer cyberblue's question:
I have used hermes before though never owned one. to me built in gps is a must and i chose tilt solely because of that. if i were willing to tote a bluetooth gps device, i wouldn't have bothered getting a tilt.
if you can wait a little longer, see if the new upcoming htc devices has all that you like. mind you that infra red is probably not going to be present in newer devices.

KaiserVideoDriver said:
malibu vs vette is too much of a stretch and you didn't give perspective on both sides as to comparing one to the other.
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Seriously ?

I agree with KVD, no offence, but it really isnt much like what you said.

bubbleking2 said:
I agree with KVD, no offence, but it really isnt much like what you said.
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You both totally missed my point, I was not comparing cars. What my point was, was that much like the Corvette Club of America, everyone there has one, everyone is an enthusiast or they would be part of the club and you probably will not get an unbiased opinion if that is what he was looking for?
If he was interested in unbiased reviews he should check the review sites
Again seriously?

MDA Compact IV Identical to Diamond?

I know this sounds like a stupid question, and I know the MDA Compact IV is a repackaged diamond, but unfortunately the t-mobile published specifications are next to useless.
Is the Compact IV identical to the diamond? Same memory, same chipsets, nothing disabled (I already know the rom wont have windows live and messenger installed)?
Why is it so much lighter? How come it's a slightly different shape? Has anyone categorically determined that there are no technical differences?
I'm about to buy ten for work, probably tomorrow, and I don't want to look like a chump and have to send them back. The alternative is renew on orange, but t-mobile are offering us a serious inducement (ie a hugely competitive contract) to get us to switch that Orange just can't match.
Still, if the handset is crippled, and ultimately wont take a new ROM, I'll stick with our existing provider to get a more vanilla diamond.
Currently I'm on a tytn (SPV M3100 variant), with CRC's excellent WM 6.1 ROM. A rock solid performer. Can I expect the MDA C iv to be quicker, or am I going to be disappointed until t-mobile issue a more up to date official ROM?
Thanks in advance for your help.

go for it theres not much difference in the two i have the compact - flashed a diamond rom just fine

There are no specification differences other than the weight, the weight reduction may be down to the rounded corners and theres no metal strip around the edge.
You can put any rom on it just like the Diamond. It's faster than my Tytn which i had as obviously it has a faster cpu and more ram.
Also, the call and home/back buttons are switched round but that doesnt cause any problems with roms.

l was under the impression that it had less RAM than the diamond (120 something rather than the 192)

It doesnt. 64mb is taken up by the graphics just like the diamond.

Thank you all very much, for the feedback and re-assurance. I'll take the plunge tomorrow.

....just as a follow up, I took delivery of ten MDA Compact IV's yesterday. Very happy with it, even on the stock rom with T-Mobile branding (which we will stay with while in our warranty period). It strikes me that the diamond (variant) is the first powerful WM device I've had, that is also like a phone, rather than like a pda (my last device was a tytn). It's a powerful package.
Thank you for the advice.

T-Mobile turned the hardware-buttons (call/hang-up - home/back) in comparison to the diamond. Although this doesn't seem to be the case on the Victor....
But I guess this doesn't matter with ROM-Upgrading (hard-wired not assigned functions?)

trentend said:
....just as a follow up, I took delivery of ten MDA Compact IV's yesterday. Very happy with it, even on the stock rom with T-Mobile branding (which we will stay with while in our warranty period). It strikes me that the diamond (variant) is the first powerful WM device I've had, that is also like a phone, rather than like a pda (my last device was a tytn). It's a powerful package.
Thank you for the advice.
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You can change the T-Mobile branding without loosing warranty. Have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=409901
I've done it on mine and am very happy with the changes. A hard reset wil restore everything.

Specwise the MDA Compact IV is completely identical to the Touch Diamond.
But, beware:
The Compact VI sadly is NOT compatible with extended batterycovers for the Touch Diamond While the new battery itself will fit snugly, the new batterycover cannot "lock on". The latches on the inside of the backcover are placed differently in both devices.
So I returned the battery and now i'm hoping that the Victor wil sport the same type of batterycover as the Compact IV.

dickr43 said:
You can change the T-Mobile branding without loosing warranty. Have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=409901
I've done it on mine and am very happy with the changes. A hard reset wil restore everything.
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I was aware of that, and will have a look at it, one of the ten units I purchased will be a spare, as that sim card is allocated for pbx to gsm gateway. On the spare I will play with configuration. Nevertheless, the point remains that I consider the diamond/mda compact iv much more viable as a powerful pda phone than one might imagine from reading many of the posts on here.
I currently have nine relatively happy users, who will become very happy users over the next few days as they become familiar with their phones. It is only by the exalted standards of high level xda added features and customisation that many people (in my view) come here to register their dissatisfaction. This phone, even in an off the shelf branded form, is a spectacularly powerful and functional business phone.
We are very happy with it, and I think that bears stating to reassure people considering a purchase. I also played with my compact iv side by side with an iPhone in carphone whorehouse this morning. The iPhone seemed very bulky, ostentatious, and slow in comparison. Personally I have no regrets over the decision (not that the iPhone is in any way a viable business phone, again in my own opinion).
dwergsnot said:
Specwise the MDA Compact IV is completely identical to the Touch Diamond.
But, beware:
The Compact VI sadly is NOT compatible with extended batterycovers for the Touch Diamond While the new battery itself will fit snugly, the new batterycover cannot "lock on". The latches on the inside of the backcover are placed differently in both devices.
So I returned the battery and now i'm hoping that the Victor wil sport the same type of batterycover as the Compact IV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I was aware of that before my purchase thanks to the information available on this site. Clearly the external form is different, with different dimensions and curved corners. This means we will need mda compact iv specific cases (for a truly good fit) and covers, and it may affect external accessories like cradles. If you know in advance it allows you to decide whether that is likely to be a problem. I've actually ordered some diamond screen protectors, and expect to have to manually adapt them to fit the compact iv. In time specific accessories that require adaption to the form factor should become available.
Teeter is spectacular demonstration of the phones feel. People I've shown it cannot believe how well you can apparently "feel" the ball bearing.
It's a very fine phone.

Upgrade from Kaiser to what?

Hi,
My contract is up so I now have the chance to upgrade my phone (I am also probably goig to move to Vodafone), but am not sure what to get.
The main things I like about the Kaiser are:
Email - although would love to be able to active sync with more than one account, but I guess that is a windows thing.
GPS - I use Google Maps and Memory Map a lot
Keyboard - it's nice to have a half decent keyboard to use. I prefer the Kaiser layout to one of the balckberry ones.
WiFi - although if I can get a decent 3G deal it would be less of an issue
I would like to have something with a better camera.
I don't actually mind going a little bigger if it provides a bigger screen - I used to have a universal so am used to a slightly bigger phone. I use it a lot in the car for satnav so a bigger screen helps here.
It would also be handy if I had a phone that would run a decent VoIP package over 3G when I am away from work so that I can pickup office calls.
So what would you suggest as an upgrade over the Kaiser?

I recently asked a similiar question.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=512979
I cannot find a phone from at&t that I like as much or more than the tilt. So I am just going to wait and see what comes out. I too would like a better camera and gps is a must. I thought of the iphone but now that at&t has killed access to the slingbox and the iphone doesnt allow tethering, I am staying away from it.
Let me know if you find anything.
Jim

Looking at the HTC website I quite like the HTC Touch Pro 2, but it doesn't seem to be out yet.

As a TP user I am very disappointed in its descendant. It is way too big and has lost the straight lines that made the TP/Diamond/Diamond2 beautiful. It looks a bit like a soap

Having had a Universal beforehand I don't think that the size should matter to me too much. Moving from the Kaiser the bigger screen will and a better keyboard would be a bonus.

Hi there...
"Offically" the Fuze is supposed to be the replacement for the Tilt.. But I personally am not a fan of it... The next one I want to get is the Touch Pro2 .. I saw someone else posted about it, and it is out now.. The only problem is the price is high.. but it should come down... It has everything the tilt has, but newer & better.. Stylewise, it looks more like the tilt.. It has the rounded cordners and very simmilar shape.. It also has the tilting screen... I did not realize how much I used that feature until I had to do without it for a while... The keyboard is nice... 5 row... and from what I seen is just about perfect... higher res screen...
If I could afford it, I would have this one already
Video Link below
http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=7&ct=title#

Teej53214 said:
Hi there...
"Offically" the Fuze is supposed to be the replacement for the Tilt.. But I personally am not a fan of it... The next one I want to get is the Touch Pro2 .. I saw someone else posted about it, and it is out now.. The only problem is the price is high.. but it should come down... It has everything the tilt has, but newer & better.. Stylewise, it looks more like the tilt.. It has the rounded cordners and very simmilar shape.. It also has the tilting screen... I did not realize how much I used that feature until I had to do without it for a while... The keyboard is nice... 5 row... and from what I seen is just about perfect... higher res screen...
If I could afford it, I would have this one already
Video Link below
http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=7&ct=title#
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Click to collapse
I agree. I had the Fuze and returned it. I am waiting for the Touch Pro2.

Try the Samsong Epix
I got a free replacement of my Tilt after only having it for 8 months. In that time I have had to swap it out !5! times and kept getting replacements that would work for only a month or so. I was offered any phone I wanted and I chose the Samsong Epix.
I seriously looked at the Fuse but I read too many complaints about it on this and many other forums.
These are the reasons I chose the Epix-
1. The Epix has ALL of the features that the Tilt has except the tilting keyboard. The screen is a bit smaller 320x320 -3/4 inch top to bottom but I am not missing that.
2. The Epix is the same overall size, half as thick and weighs 2oz less.
3. The Epix is WM 6.1 phone on the format of the Blackberies with a very usable keyboard at the bottom.
4. The Epix has a 1.8 amphour battery that will last three days using bluetooth, gps, and internet, and heavy phone calls.
5. The Epix has a Thumb Mouse that is just wonderful. I never have to use a stylus any more.
6. On the Epix I can easily adjust the volume of BT, speaker, ring and handset very loud as I don't hear well.
I am not here to bash the Tilt, I just got fed up with it crapping out every five to six weeks. My one year warranty will be up in a couple of months and AT&T told me that if the Tilt fails after that, I will have to pay full price for replacements.[no way in hell!!]