Anyone have a Pocket PC phone?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

My sons birthday was last week and he wanted a new phone. So I took him to sprint and we got him a Samsung a 920. Real neat features. Of coarse my plan went up an additional $25 since. I had only vision and this phone uses something like Vision pro that has TV and other stuff. So here I am and I see the phone with pocket PC. I have had my eye on this phone for months. This is almost like a mini laptop and palm to. I was holding out for the new Treo 700 coming out next month with Sprint as it will have the same features. Verizon has it out already. Anyway my phone was in bad shape but still worked when it wanted to. My son told my wife that it looked like a good birthday present. So yesterday my wife tells me to buy it. So I did. Now I am unclear on certain features.

One feature is the navigation.

From my understanding I have to download it for $35. Will this work like my navigation in the car? Will it see where I am standing and will it tell me if I made a wrong turn?
I looked on Sprint.com but I am a bit confused by the description. Here is the link to it below.
http://sprint.handango.com/PlatformP...opSectionId=-1

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

I don't know about the specifics about the program you linked to from personal experience but it looks like a normal GPS unit... I used to have a GPS and it was great for hiking, fishing, or other outdoor activities as I could set a destination point and know which direction I would need to go and how far to get to that point. Now, I owned my GPS unit almost 10-years ago now and the technology has come a long way.... Back then it would get me within about 30-feet.

I would love to hear how you like this phone...

We have Cingular phones at this point but the area around our home is one big Cingular Dead Zone and we understand that Verizon has better coverage. When we switch I plan to get one of the high speed data phones that will allow me to use the phone and connect it directly to the laptop as a high speed modem. I understand that these run at speeds that are faster then most Cable modems.

Prices seem to be about $60/month for unlimited data (That is in addition to the regular phone costs) but as this and another of my bigger projects keeps growing I need a way to be able to log in regardless of where I am.

Here is some info on what I am looking at:

http://estore.vzwshop.com/overview/w...accessconnect/

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Ken I would stick to Verizon in your area. You will also hae better coverage nationwide.
Here is a Link to the Smart Phones that Verizon has. The 6700 is there as well as the new Treo 700. BTW I see that Verizon has the 6700 cheaper than Sprint. All of these phones will allow you to connect and run your Lap top as a dialer. The problem is you better make sure your plan includes unlimited use for that purpose. You know as well as I do that once online we do not get off line so soon.

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

Yea, and the MB upload and download costs would kill me if I have a limited data plan... I really need to look at the plans carefully as well as the phones as the devil really is in the details if I am going to try to get a phone that will allow me to webmaster via a cell phone!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Ken I am not sure why my link stopped working for the Verizon's smart phones.
Can you figure it out and edit it for me. I wonder if it is a log in issue?

Anyway I was reading the reviews on the GPS software. Can someone tell me what GEOCACHING is?

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

Ken I am not sure why my link stopped working for the Verizon's smart phones.
Can you figure it out and edit it for me. I wonder if it is a log in issue?

Anyway I was reading the reviews on the GPS software. Can someone tell me what GEOCACHING is?

Link works for me?

GEOCACHING is a thing where people go out and hide an object in a specific location and give hints to other people on where they can find it... They may give GPS coordinates, some distance in some direction from some object, or ??? I have not done this myself yet but it does look like a lot of fun...

GPS is really handy for fishing. My Father likes to fish Salmon up in the great Lakes and he has a book full of his favorite places and he can jump on the boat and the GPS tells him what direction, how far, and how long it will take him to get there at his specific speed... Really cool stuff!

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I have a pocket pc for work. I'm on my second one.

I love it as an on-call device because I can dial into work from the grocery store and fix a problem without having to sacrifice my cart of food. Being directionally impaired, I like having internet available to seek out Mapquest if I get lost.

As a phone, I hate it. Speakerphone is not good, and I'm not one to have an earbud at the ready all the time. It also plays mp3s and does ebooks. Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Access...

Because it's based on Windows CE, apps can be written for it.

Mappoint has a utility for it so I can do a map in mappoint and dump to my pocket friend.

[PeterS Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close PeterS]

Frank,

I picked up the Cingular 8125... same unit as the Verizon 6700 or the Sprint model... All great units but service carrier is personal taste. It beats the Window 5.0 Treo handsdown. No need for a laptop anymore, it does all my mail and browsing, that I am interested in doing while traveling.

You have to add some software for true GPS applications but it is capable. The nice part about the Cingular model is that it includes WiFi which Verizon doesn't.

Explorer is good but download a version of Opera from their site and you have a browser that is faster and feature rich and takes up less memory...

One last item about carriers... Verizon still has the largest single network but they can't roam anymore... Verizon is the last of the CDMA phone systems. Cingular, Sprint, etc.. are all GSM and the total of all those networks (which you can roam through) is larger than Verizon... and then All of Europe is GSM.. so a GSM phone can work there but leave the Verizon model home...

Of course, the important thing is that the phone works where you need it to work..

Enjoy,

Pete

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Frank,



One last item about carriers... Verizon still has the largest single network but they can't roam anymore... Verizon is the last of the CDMA phone systems. Cingular, Sprint, etc.. are all GSM and the total of all those networks (which you can roam through) is larger than Verizon... and then All of Europe is GSM.. so a GSM phone can work there but leave the Verizon model home...

Of course, the important thing is that the phone works where you need it to work..

Enjoy,

Pete

Thank you for the advice. As far as i knew Sprint was Cdma but was going into gsm. I was told this phone will not work in europe. Will it work?

[PeterS Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close PeterS]

Thank you for the advice. As far as i knew Sprint was Cdma but was going into gsm. I was told this phone will not work in europe. Will it work?

Correct, Europe is all GSM.. no Verizon phones work in Europe...

Pete

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Correct, Europe is all GSM.. no Verizon phones work in Europe...

Pete

I just got the phone connected. It may take me a while to figure everything out. just making a phone call is tricky. I was told from Sprint that this is a CDMA phone and that is the Sprint network. So this phone will not wok in Europe.

Ken, I was able to pick up the Wi Fi signal in my house and connected to this site. I was able to see a few threads and posts. I think however the screen is to small to maneuver around. After I program all my Numbers and download the Nav I will play with it some more and let you know what I think.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

My very first post with this new toy. not as easy as a pc but I got it posted.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

After using the PC phone for a few days. I was disappointed with the phone part of it. To make a call was a nightmare. Putting a simple ext was a nightmare as well. I decided to call Sprint to see if anything could be done. They made me an offer I could not refuse. They gave me another line and the Samsung A-920 media phone and added another # to my account. I kept the PC phone and swapped the # to a # that I will not be using much. The cost to keep the PC phone with the unlimited plan I have was only $17.50 a month. $10 to add the extra phone line and $7.50 for the Media Vision pack. The phone will share my 2200 minute family plane but as I said I will rarely use the phone part of it. I love the way it picks up the Wi fi and I am able to go online just about anyplace.

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

That is a huge plus with living in or near a big city!

So, do you otherwise still like it?

I still want a system that is a phone 1st and a data tool second but I know just about everybody else I work with has either the blackberry type phones or one of the pocket PCs and they sure do seem to like them.

I need to decide before August so if you grow to dislike anything or really start to love it... I am watching!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

That is a huge plus with living in or near a big city!

So, do you otherwise still like it?

I still want a system that is a phone 1st and a data tool second but I know just about everybody else I work with has either the blackberry type phones or one of the pocket PCs and they sure do seem to like them.

I need to decide before August so if you grow to dislike anything or really start to love it... I am watching!

Ken honestly as a phone it did not just suck it sucked really bad. As a mini PC I love it but I hope you have good eyes as the screen is small. From what I hear the Treo 700 should have the same features. I would look at both phones. If the Treo has the WI fi and the phone part is easy to get to then go for the Treo. With the 6700 every time you have to use the phone you had to take it out of the screen and load the phone screen then if you have to put in an Ext you have to open the phone or click on the typewriter symbol. Try doing this while driving. Not fun