Anyone recommend a business smartphone?

[ship]

Hi Any Advice?

I have been using a SE P910i but need a new better Smartphone for
business use.

I need:
1. Something easier to bang text in at speed (i.e. QUERTY keyboard I
guess), for emails.

2. Good Diary function
(to synch with Outlook2003/ WinXP)
e.g. transfer colours of entries
e.g. show everything I need to do this week in text on 1 screen
e.g. Must synch properly so that I can delete/edit emails on either
my phone OR my PC

3. Web Browser
e.g. Must be able to zoom so able to see whole web pages even though
looking through low res (e.g.320x240) screen.
e.g. able to see dynamic web pages (.aspx etc, not just .html)

4. Also must have the basics:
Must have Blue tooth (for headset/car use),
fit in fairly small pockets, reasonable battery life.

5. I like: scrollwheels, and touchsensitive screens, and some sort of
scratch protection for the screen (although they seem to have gone
slightly out of fashion). 3G sounds fun but not critical. GPS unlikely
to work well enough to be useful. Camera likewise not much use unless
v good...

- any thoughts?

I am very reluctant to ever use Sony Ericsson again because despite
the P910i being the dog's nuts when it came out their synching
software was diabolically unreliable.

I am tempted to go for a Blackberry (8800? 8300? 8830? confused).

No strong views on operating system just so long as the synching works
well.

Any thoughts?

(Money probably not relevant, btw)


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

 

[Guest]

Hi Ship:

I can recommend you the Ipaq hw 6945. I have mine since 10 months ago, and
it changes the way I work. It has wifi, Blue tooth, camera, windows mobile
5.0. You can sincronize your outlook, hotmail. The size it not the smaller,
but it has the qwerty keyboard. It is a good help for being on the road, and
keep in touch with the office.

Hope ths help,

JJ.

 

[Guest]

I have a Samsung i730 on the Verizon network. Works great. It's not a
smartphone but rather a pda based phone with the Window Pocket PC operating
system. It doesn't have a camera but has everything else you mentioned.

I have a 1 gig card in it and have all my radio and TV commercials I've
produced, the rest of my portfolio, my photo library, over 1,000 contacts,
over 2 dozen complete books (dictionary, bible, novels, marketing and
leadership topics) etc. It comes with Outlook [tasklist, email, etc], Word,
Excel, Powerpoint and because it's Windows based, it synchs seamlessly with
corporate networks (not that I'm a fan of Microsoft - I'm not). I also get
my gmail account on it.

Internet is very fast and it displays both mobile and full web pages.
Extended battery works pretty long even though I'm a power user but I plug it
in the cradle, car charger, A/C adpater often just out of habit. It will go
for a good 10 hours of regular use.

Crackberry's don't do as much and are not as seamless with a corporate
network.

The key is to get a rock solid network in your area so your device will have
the infrastructure to support it. There are only 2 in most areas of the
country: Verizon and ATT.

 

[Todd Allcock]

I need:
1. Something easier to bang text in at speed (i.e. QUERTY keyboard I
guess), for emails.

2. Good Diary function
(to synch with Outlook2003/ WinXP)
e.g. transfer colours of entries
e.g. show everything I need to do this week in text on 1 screen
e.g. Must synch properly so that I can delete/edit emails on either
my phone OR my PC

3. Web Browser
e.g. Must be able to zoom so able to see whole web pages even though
looking through low res (e.g.320x240) screen.
e.g. able to see dynamic web pages (.aspx etc, not just .html)

4. Also must have the basics:
Must have Blue tooth (for headset/car use),
fit in fairly small pockets, reasonable battery life.

5. I like: scrollwheels, and touchsensitive screens, and some sort of
scratch protection for the screen (although they seem to have gone
slightly out of fashion). 3G sounds fun but not critical. GPS unlikely
to work well enough to be useful. Camera likewise not much use unless
v good...

- any thoughts?

No, but when you find it, tell the rest of us- we'll want one too!
;-)

Seriously, you'll probably have to prioritize your wish list and get
most if not all of it on one device.

The high-end HTCs come close, but will need third party browser to
see the whole web page in low-res (Opera Mini 4, or the upcoming
Opera Mobile 9.)
You might also look at the Apple iPhone, coming to Europe this winter.


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

 

[lorraineperkinson]

At 06 Sep 2007 08:51:43 -0700 ship wrote:











No, but when you find it, tell the rest of us- we'll want one too!
;-)

Seriously, you'll probably have to prioritize your wish list and get
most if not all of it on one device.

The high-end HTCs come close, but will need third party browser to
see the whole web page in low-res (Opera Mini 4, or the upcoming
Opera Mobile 9.)
You might also look at the AppleiPhone, coming to Europe this winter.

--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or takepictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Well, for what it's worth, I just got back from Europe after two
months and my iPhone worked like a charm. I was able to make phone
calls to all Countries (except Japan) without even needing to know the
Country Code since the iPhone does that for you. The Safari Browser
worked like a mini laptop. I was able to receive and send emails
together with attachments, go to web sites, text and use my calendar.
The world clock allowed me to know the time changes throughout the
world when contacting people, I was able to keep track of my stock
portfolio and know the world markets. The weather feature was
fantastic AND accurate. The Google Map site is totally awesome. It
not only provided directions but also helped me select restaurants in
every City I was in. I didn't have an iPod previously so this was a
nice feature for me. The camera was something I thought I would not
use but actually helped business wise in sending pictures of co-
workers back to the office so they could associate a face with whom
they were working with and it was Apple made it so simple to add the
pictures as a email attachment.

I can't say enough about the iPhone. It's not a gaget, but a business
tool that really works! Hope you can wait to get one in Europe.

 

[Todd Allcock]

Well, for what it's worth, I just got back from Europe after two
months and my iPhone worked like a charm.

Being that the iPhone has only been available for 70 days now, and
you used it in Europe for 60, you've probably logged more roaming on
one than anyone else on the planet!

Given the iPhone's inability (at that time) to use a local prepaid
SIM and Cingular's international roaming rates I feel for you deeply!

I was able to make phone
calls to all Countries (except Japan) without even needing to know
the Country Code since the iPhone does that for you.

How does the iPhone know you're calling, say, Germany, if you don't
know the country code for Germany? A drop down menu? (If you meant
you didn't need to know the international DIALING code for the
country you were IN, like the "011" we use in the US, that's actually
a GSM feature, not an iPhone one.)

The Safari Browser
worked like a mini laptop. I was able to receive and send emails
together with attachments, go to web sites, text and use my calendar.

The world clock allowed me to know the time changes throughout the
world when contacting people, I was able to keep track of my stock
portfolio and know the world markets. The weather feature was
fantastic AND accurate. The Google Map site is totally awesome. It
not only provided directions but also helped me select restaurants in
every City I was in. I didn't have an iPod previously so this was a
nice feature for me. The camera was something I thought I would not
use but actually helped business wise in sending pictures of co-
workers back to the office so they could associate a face with whom
they were working with and it was Apple made it so simple to add the
pictures as a email attachment.

To be fair, any number of smartphones do all of those things as well...

Many of the people "amazed" at what the iPhone can do simply never
used a high-end PDA or smartphone before, be it Windows Mobile, RIM,
or Symbian.

I can't say enough about the iPhone.

Apparently you can't. Your poat is reading a wee bit too much like a
sales brochure! ;-)

It's not a gaget, but a business
tool that really works!

No, it isn't. It's a pretty nifty multimedia phone with some PDA
features and an excellent web browser "that really works!"

A "business tool" would include a way to edit documents rather than
just view them, incorporate an enterprise-level "push" e-mail solution,

and allow you to save e-mail attachments.


IIRC, Cingular charges $30/MB for data roaming in Europe. I hope you
didn't use Google Maps too often. ;-)


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

 

[Chester]

Wow... now >that< is a constructive contribution to a newsgroup topic, even
provided a couple chuckles here 'n there -- well said!