Here's some of the background research which lead to the choice I made in the "What, No Hunt?" Blog Entry.
The total contract price was not the only reason I went with the T-Mobile Dash instead of AT&T's Samsung Blackjack. If the Samsung Blackjack had really appealed to me I may have bit the bullet and gone with it, even with the two year contract. I had come across a review of the Dash and made a mental note of it before the hunt had even begun.
Interestingly enough, CNET reviews give both cellphones the same rating (7.3), but on Phonescoop.com the Dash has a slightly higher user rating.
Elsewhere referred to as not photogenic, the Dash looks far better in real life than it does in photos (see this article "Editor's Corner: T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur)") on FierceDeveloper.com.
The Dash has built-in Wi-Fi, a real nice-to-have feature. The only AT&T smartphone which I looked at which had Wi-Fi was the AT&T 8525, a Windows Mobile Professional phone. This would have previously been known as a Pocket PC phone before Microsoft renamed them in an attempt to resolve the "Windows Mobile Smartphone edition" and "Pocket PC Phone Edition" confusion (see "Windows Mobile Editions Get Less Confusing Names..." on Gizmodo). I really didn't want a more powerful "Windows Mobile Professional Phone" which also happened to weigh more than the Treo 650, and cost more.
Just looking at specifications, the Samsung Blackjack appears to be a winner. It is smaller and lighter than the Dash (and the Motorola Q). However this comes at the cost of screen size (2 inches versus 2.4 inches) and a more cramped keyboard. After mentioning that some of the buttons on the Blackjack are a bit slippery, the CNET review gives the warning "...some design and performance issues trip up this otherwise sexy device."
The worst feature of the Dash is the volume touch strip. Fortunately, being forewarned, it does not bug me although it really does suck. The good thing is that it can be disabled entirely.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
What, No Hunt?
Instead of boring my reader(s) with continual updates of weeks of hunting for (yet another) cellphone I'll cut directly to the trophy.
I have bought a T-Mobile Dash smartphone with a one-year contract.
My hunt was spurred by the desire to get a lighter and less bulky cellphone than the Treo 650. I also wanted to be able to check my email on the cellphone without paying outrageous data plan rates. The ability to store some information was a nice to have. Of course I could get various data plans with the Treo 650 on Verizon, but the prices were ridiculous. Even though their coverage is good, and their customer service very good, any new phone from them would be locked into their ridiculous pricing structure. Also I was looking at a GSM carrier because of an upcoming overseas trip , and the ease of switching to a backup phone if necessary. A smartphone appealed to me, not just because of my "techie" nature but because I already carry a regular cellphone for work and wanted some of the additional features available on a smartphone.
With this in mind my top choice was an AT&T 3125 smartphone - the only clamshell style Windows Mobile smartphone I could find. One of its advantages - apart from small size and weight - was that it came with a $5 per month email data plan. When it came down to placing the order though, the person at corporate sales told me it had been discontinued - just her disinterested manner put me off arguing that it was still available on the AT&T website. Unfortunately, to get the sizable corporate discount I would have to buy from her or not at all.
The only other AT&T smartphone available which was on my short list was the Samsung Blackjack. It was currently free "on special", but the data plan was $39.99 on top of a $39.99 voice plan for a two year contract. Even after the corporate discount this was more than I had anticipated paying. I decided to think about it.
One of the other phones on my shortlist was the T-Mobile Dash. Also a Windows smartphone, the T-Mobile Dash was not free, but when I initially priced it the data plan was $29.99 on top of a $29.99 voice plan for a one year contract. The only corporate discount was a waiver of the activation fee. That made the total cost of the two phones over two years pretty close. Although I had initially wanted to go with AT&T because they have better coverage, the slightly better reviews of the Dash, as well as T-Mobile's good customer service - from previous experience, as well as dealing with their Corporate Sales people and the flexibility of just a one year contract helped me make my decision.
There was a pleasant surprise when I actually placed the order for the cellphone. The data plan had dropped to $19.99 per month when purchased with a voice plan!
I have bought a T-Mobile Dash smartphone with a one-year contract.
My hunt was spurred by the desire to get a lighter and less bulky cellphone than the Treo 650. I also wanted to be able to check my email on the cellphone without paying outrageous data plan rates. The ability to store some information was a nice to have. Of course I could get various data plans with the Treo 650 on Verizon, but the prices were ridiculous. Even though their coverage is good, and their customer service very good, any new phone from them would be locked into their ridiculous pricing structure. Also I was looking at a GSM carrier because of an upcoming overseas trip , and the ease of switching to a backup phone if necessary. A smartphone appealed to me, not just because of my "techie" nature but because I already carry a regular cellphone for work and wanted some of the additional features available on a smartphone.
With this in mind my top choice was an AT&T 3125 smartphone - the only clamshell style Windows Mobile smartphone I could find. One of its advantages - apart from small size and weight - was that it came with a $5 per month email data plan. When it came down to placing the order though, the person at corporate sales told me it had been discontinued - just her disinterested manner put me off arguing that it was still available on the AT&T website. Unfortunately, to get the sizable corporate discount I would have to buy from her or not at all.
The only other AT&T smartphone available which was on my short list was the Samsung Blackjack. It was currently free "on special", but the data plan was $39.99 on top of a $39.99 voice plan for a two year contract. Even after the corporate discount this was more than I had anticipated paying. I decided to think about it.
One of the other phones on my shortlist was the T-Mobile Dash. Also a Windows smartphone, the T-Mobile Dash was not free, but when I initially priced it the data plan was $29.99 on top of a $29.99 voice plan for a one year contract. The only corporate discount was a waiver of the activation fee. That made the total cost of the two phones over two years pretty close. Although I had initially wanted to go with AT&T because they have better coverage, the slightly better reviews of the Dash, as well as T-Mobile's good customer service - from previous experience, as well as dealing with their Corporate Sales people and the flexibility of just a one year contract helped me make my decision.
There was a pleasant surprise when I actually placed the order for the cellphone. The data plan had dropped to $19.99 per month when purchased with a voice plan!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The hunt is over...for now
I haven't mentioned my hunt for a replacement cellphone for a while.
This is because it ended prematurely (before my contract was even up). As I mentioned in "Cellphone Research Resumed" , I had seen a Verizon Treo 650 on sale. Anyway, after comparing the Treo 650 with the Motorola Q, and finding to my surprise that the Treo is actually slightly smaller than the Q in height and width (but obviously not depth) and reading numerous bad user reviews of the Q; namely about the poor battery life and slow data entry, I decided to give the Treo 650 a try. Since I would not be signing up for a new contract and could "simply" switch from my existing phone to the Treo 650, for not much more than I would pay for the Q with a one year contract, I figured it would be worthwhile. It may seem risky to buy online from someone advertising on a user forum, but after reading their posts on the forum, as well as a number of email exchanges I felt I could trust him, and bought the Treo. After paying for it on the Saturday I received it the following Wednesday, in its original box with the original accessories and a Vaja (expensive leather) holster.
The now defunct "Mobile" magazine referred to the Treo 650 as being so much better than the Treo 600 that it was "like comparing a sports car to a melon cart". There are a number of reviews comparing the two phones here and here, but since I still have my old Treo 600, I'll mention a few points.
First, two standard phone buttons (Send and End) have been added to the keypad, which also has been rearranged slightly so some of the buttons are more logically placed.
The 650 was the first Treo with a "user replaceable" battery - the back opens like a normal cellphone and the battery can be swapped out.
As a result of having this "user replaceable" battery it meant the 650 could not have volatile flash memory like the Treo 600 but used Palms new NVFS (Non-Volatile File System), a major hardware change - the battery could run down (or be removed) and the data wouldn't be lost. The touchscreen had been upgraded to 16-bit (65K colors) 320x320 pixels, a major improvement over (less than 4096 colors) 160x160 pixel screen. The processor was upgraded to 312MHz (from 144-MHz), making the performance quite zippy. The only downside was that the new NVFS (Non-Volatile File System) required more space to store the same amount of files, so although the available memory was appeared the same it was actually less than the 650.
The 650 also has bluetooth, so I can finally use the bluetooth headset I got with my RAZR.
This is because it ended prematurely (before my contract was even up). As I mentioned in "Cellphone Research Resumed" , I had seen a Verizon Treo 650 on sale. Anyway, after comparing the Treo 650 with the Motorola Q, and finding to my surprise that the Treo is actually slightly smaller than the Q in height and width (but obviously not depth) and reading numerous bad user reviews of the Q; namely about the poor battery life and slow data entry, I decided to give the Treo 650 a try. Since I would not be signing up for a new contract and could "simply" switch from my existing phone to the Treo 650, for not much more than I would pay for the Q with a one year contract, I figured it would be worthwhile. It may seem risky to buy online from someone advertising on a user forum, but after reading their posts on the forum, as well as a number of email exchanges I felt I could trust him, and bought the Treo. After paying for it on the Saturday I received it the following Wednesday, in its original box with the original accessories and a Vaja (expensive leather) holster.
The now defunct "Mobile" magazine referred to the Treo 650 as being so much better than the Treo 600 that it was "like comparing a sports car to a melon cart". There are a number of reviews comparing the two phones here and here, but since I still have my old Treo 600, I'll mention a few points.
First, two standard phone buttons (Send and End) have been added to the keypad, which also has been rearranged slightly so some of the buttons are more logically placed.
The 650 was the first Treo with a "user replaceable" battery - the back opens like a normal cellphone and the battery can be swapped out.
As a result of having this "user replaceable" battery it meant the 650 could not have volatile flash memory like the Treo 600 but used Palms new NVFS (Non-Volatile File System), a major hardware change - the battery could run down (or be removed) and the data wouldn't be lost. The touchscreen had been upgraded to 16-bit (65K colors) 320x320 pixels, a major improvement over (less than 4096 colors) 160x160 pixel screen. The processor was upgraded to 312MHz (from 144-MHz), making the performance quite zippy. The only downside was that the new NVFS (Non-Volatile File System) required more space to store the same amount of files, so although the available memory was appeared the same it was actually less than the 650.
The 650 also has bluetooth, so I can finally use the bluetooth headset I got with my RAZR.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Cellphone Research Resumed
After I had suspended my hunt for a cellphone in November last year, the Motorola Q was near the top of my list for CDMA cellphones. Since then I've all but given up on GSM, even though most of the phones I really like are GSM phones. Apart from my experience with GSM carriers who either suck ("Least dropped calls" - yeah, right) or don't have wide enough coverage, I've come to the conclusion that - in my coverage area at least - Verizon's CDMA coverage is really clear. As I mentioned previously I ended my relationship with Sprint - the other CDMA carrier - on a sour note.
A few days ago I saw a Verizon Treo 650 on sale, and did some research on it. When I had the (unlocked GSM) Treo 600, the Treo 650 was the next phone I was considering upgrading to, until my previously trusty Treo 600 crashed and was out of commission for a number of days. The interesting thing about Treo 650 reviews and Motorola Q reviews is that on both CNET.com and on PhoneScoop.com, user ratings for the Treo were higher than for the Motorola Q. The main problem mentioned with the Treo was resets (reboots), usually due to incompatible software, and with Motorola Q it was battery life, with the extended battery being highly recommended. Of course the Motorola Q is a lot newer technology-wise than the Treo 650, which has been superseded by the 700p and now the 750, but both the 700p and 750 are well out of my price range.
Now I've been trying to recall the reasons for my falling out with the Treo 600. I'd forgotten about the crash (probably a hard reset), but do remember being frustrated at the screen resolution after playing with a Tapwave Zodiac and a Tungsten T3.
Ah, December 26, 2005 I ranted about "Treo things that bug me"
The hunt..er..research continues...
A few days ago I saw a Verizon Treo 650 on sale, and did some research on it. When I had the (unlocked GSM) Treo 600, the Treo 650 was the next phone I was considering upgrading to, until my previously trusty Treo 600 crashed and was out of commission for a number of days. The interesting thing about Treo 650 reviews and Motorola Q reviews is that on both CNET.com and on PhoneScoop.com, user ratings for the Treo were higher than for the Motorola Q. The main problem mentioned with the Treo was resets (reboots), usually due to incompatible software, and with Motorola Q it was battery life, with the extended battery being highly recommended. Of course the Motorola Q is a lot newer technology-wise than the Treo 650, which has been superseded by the 700p and now the 750, but both the 700p and 750 are well out of my price range.
Now I've been trying to recall the reasons for my falling out with the Treo 600. I'd forgotten about the crash (probably a hard reset), but do remember being frustrated at the screen resolution after playing with a Tapwave Zodiac and a Tungsten T3.
Ah, December 26, 2005 I ranted about "Treo things that bug me"
The hunt..er..research continues...
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