The Smartphone conundrum

So all users in the H/PC community are acutely aware that ownership of a Piddle PC is just plain wrong. There are no excuses, you will be hunted down and delt with post haste

But what about the Smartphone? Most of us (myself most certainly not included) own a Cell phone as well as a H/PC. But these are Windows Mobile based devices, and some of you I know think this is heresy!

So my question is.

Is ownership of a Windows Mobile Smartphone acceptable as a H/PC user?

Hmmm, i wouldnt buy one but if it were free why not......would a palm os phone count i wouldnt buy one of those either but it wouldnt be a windows ce deivice to feel like im running away from the hpc ....besides i would play with it for 2 minutes get frustrated with out a keyboard, and say screw this...lol

When you say Windows Mobile smartphones, do you mean more like the SMT 5600 (which is more like a phone with some windows mobile added) or more like the Audiovox PPC 6600 (which is more like a PPC with some phone added in)?

Personally, if I were to buy either it would be the second of the two. Without a touch screen Windows Mobile seems to be kind of a waste.

However, I prefer Symbian smartphones over MS ones myself.

Edit: But there's nothing wrong with it one way or another. It's a phone. Yes, that's it. Perfectly fine.

Edited by corporate 2005-08-25 5:00 PM

I'm thinking of true WM smartphones, not PPC's with antenna (that means you Chiark)

Unlike C:Amie, most of us need the cell phone as our communicator, and that is one thing an HPC can't do Now that we need one, we need to choose. There are only two kinds of cell phones: smartphones and dumbphones.

Some people are better off with a dumbphone, like my mom Others should always get a smartphone, especially smart people like us

And then there are different kinds of smartphones. First, a phone without a keypad is plain wrong, no matter how smart the phone might be. Second, a cell phone larger than a PDA is also wrong. Third, Palm sucks. So what are we left with? Windows Mobile Smartphones. It is the ONLY choice!

i chose the second option but it isn't really my opinion (i don't think everyone needs a phone).
so why not. though i'm perfectly fine with my t39 ("dumbphone"? noo).

I just bought a t39m off of eBay, it's time for a step into the past

Although new to the HPC community...I've had a palm phone for 3 years(now the proud owner of a Kyocera 7135...lovely thing). Once you have it....you'll never go back. On the other hand, to type, email, and play Quake...there is just nothing better than my 720....

Macros

very good decision!!! and it's not the past, believe me!

Ok maybe this will help convince some ppl...





Attachments
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smartphone.JPG (37KB - 14 downloads)

..and what, other than the dumbed down shell, lack of keyboard and wrong screen size, is wrong with a pocketPC with antenna?

Sir, you're suffering from OS-envy - just because the PiddlePC can run Minimo quite happily, and has a fast processor and huggins of memory...

The HTC universal will change your mind.

it doesn't convince me
i wouldnt want to browse on it

HTC universal.. if only the screen were like the sig3's screen. that might be acceptable then! depending on the keyboard. i've tried the nokia 9500 keyboard and it's not so bad .. neither good.. for me. i think the HTC universal is similar to that..

btw my 900C can run minimo!!!
(and ram and cpu is enough for me)

Hey it's fine to "burst browse" on a Smartphone. So it doesn't work well with some graphics heavy sites, but it's more than adaquate for reading news and forums posts, especially those sites that work with the single column mode, such as HPC Factor as I have shown in the picture

It's also ok to type short emails, IM, or forum posts with the keypad using the T9 method... well if you're desperate and can't wait till you get to the next hotspot

About the Pocket PC problem... I have to agree PPC ain't good for any serious use, compared to HPCs at least. And I also agree it makes a lousy phone platform, because the use of the touch screen is often required for some phone operations such as accessing contacts, or call history etc. The size doesn't help either. The "Jam" is very close to acceptable size, and that's why it's so popular (my bro. in China has one), but it's still big compared to usual phones. And finally there's a problem with battery life. The PPC drains battery whether you turn it on or not, in order to refresh the RAM; the Smartphone saves everything in flash so when you turn it off it is really powered down. That helps to conserve battery, and in practical use when the Smartphone runs out of juice, it's just like a real cellphone; but when the PPC runs out, you lose data!

The HTC Universal is indeed very interesting. IMO it is a better Nexio, because of the compatibility with PPC apps. However better is also a whole lot more expensive, so I'll reserve judgement until I see both the Nexio XP40 and the HTC Universal are released. BTW, I think the Uni has a 4 inch VGA screen, so it'll probably have similar or equal pixel size as the Nexio or Sig3's 5 inch 800x480 screens. I hope to see a comparison in the future. As a phone, I am quite sure it will have all the problems I mentioned above, and possibly more - meaning it will suck.

Edited by takwu 2005-08-28 8:41 PM

well i'm too comfortable to bother with that (viewing pages on 100x100 pixels or even on qvga)... let alone the numeric keyboard of a phone! i have writing sms on it (so i use my hpc for that ).




yes it's a better nexio, will run every ppc apps without hacking and will have a much better keyboard..
sorry, the display isn't 4", it'll be only 3,5" or 3,7" (forgot which).
also, i saw a hx4700 in real life (it actually has 4" and it's not exactly like my sig3. pixels are smaller. there's a difference between 4" and 5".

as a phone it wouldn't suck so much for me. i need only sms and mobile internet. so if i can have everything in one package, relatively large screen, good keyboard, phone, good os, apps, everything.... ahh perfect would be an understatement.
if the sig3 had the ability of using a SIM card and had a gprs modem it'd be the perfect machine the htc universal.. .well i already said what my problems will be with it