Any PDA Users?

[TripleDigitRide]

I just got into the "Unlimited Everything" plan through Sprint, and I'd like to get a PDA that will allow me to utilize all the new options I'll be gaining with this plan.

The problem is, I know nothing about these PDA's. As far as I know, Sprint offers a couple Moto Q models, several Blackberry models, Centro, Treo 700wx, Samsung ACE, Mogul, and the Touch.

Does anyone use any of these? How in the world am I supposed to know which one to get?

Thanks in advance.

I'll be using the phone for mostly talking and a bit of internet.

[poak]

I dont know about sprint, but the verison blackberries are pretty good. The software is nice, and the browser even streams video.

[TGO David]

The most important questions that you need to ask yourself about this decision are:

1. Which is more important to you: Phone capabilities or PDA capabilities?

Many of the PDA devices lack sorely in the phone department. Some suffer from horrible reception. Others have really bad speakers in the earpiece. Yet others are clumsy for dialing numbers not in your contacts list. If the device must function first and foremost as a usable phone and second as a PDA, that will narrow your scope a lot.

2. Do you want a Windows, Palm or Blackberry operating system?

This may seem like a "Duh" question but it is very important. Almost equally as important as whether it is more important to have a good phone than to have a good PDA.

At my company, we have standardized on Windows PDAs because of the tight integration with our Microsoft Exchange e-mail servers. If that isn't a consideration for you, then I would give a closer look at the Palm OS devices like the Treos.

Blackberries are great PDAs and have decent phone capabilities, but they shine the most when they are integrated with a corporate e-mail system through a Blackberry Enterprise Server installation. Otherwise you have to run a desktop redirector application that passes your email through to your PDA over the air.

My personal carry is a Motorola Q. It uses the Windows Mobile OS and is a great phone and a passable PDA. I've been pleased with it so far.

[Guest GT_Rat]

I have the AT&T 8525 that I got for <$200 on closeout. The new version was like $400. It works well on all fronts as far as I'm concerned. Reception is good, sound quality is good in both directions phone wise. It integrates well with Outlook at work and at home. It's also Wireless G so it surfs the internet nearly as fast as my home connection. Only gripe I have is there isn't a flash player that will integrate with Explorer on it yet, so no imbedded video. Newer versions may not have this problem. It also sometimes has problems with letting me fill text boxes (like when I try to post on a forum).

[Guest db99wj]

I have ATT, I have the Treo 860. Good reception, good PDA stuff, can't afford the internet, texting is about as high speed as I get. It is great because I sync with my wife's calander from her Palm that she has (stand alone unit) and then I know where I have to be at any given time.

I have heard that the Palm platforms days are limited, at least in the phone/pda versions. Don't know how true that is but I was told that they will all go to the Windows Mobile platform, the Palm 750 has it.

[saintsfanbrian]

Blackberry (in my opinion) should really only be used with a corporate email exchange and a BES (blackberry enterprise server.) For personal use with the redirection of outlook they are passable but I would pass. If I was primarily using it as a phone I would go with none of the above. If I intended to use it as a palm/personal information manager, I would go with one of the palms I think or maybe the iPhone so I could have all of my music with me.

[Guest eyebedam]

I had a Blackberry curve & I now have a Iphone. For Phone call quality & diff applications the Blackberry was the better of the 2 hands down. As far as the internet & just plain cool quality I have to go with the iphone. Im on att by the way.

[ZenDog]

I am in business for myself and I use a Treo with a Palm platform to keep track of my business-- it does what I need it to do. They say the Palm platform is more stable/less buggy, and they also say that it won't be around a lot longer.

I used to carry a PDA and a phone- before that I carried a daytimer and a phone. Now I just carry one thing, synchronize it with a computer at home and at work, and all my info is the same in 3 different places- on my phone, at my house, and at my office. I like that a lot.

I use it for appointment scheduling, note taking, shopping lists, memos, texting, light e-mailing, light web browsing, a little MP3 now and then, maps, taking pictures, and, oh yeah, it is a very decent phone in my experience-- sounds good, has a lot of nice phone features I like, and the phone data integrates well with the palm contacts lists.

I only have one phone and this is it. No landlines anywhere. I do use skype some, too. My wife has a landline, so I can use that if the zombies eat the internet and the cell towers.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

I have an HTC Touch through Sprint. Call quality is good though it, not noticeably worse than any other cell I've had. WM6 seems to have some stability issues- I find myself restarting the thing about every week or so. I've found the lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard to be annoying, even though I don't do a lot of texting or other stuff that requires typing. The software keyboard's buttons are too tiny for my fat fingers, so I use the old Palm Graffiti text entry style... but that's annoying in its own way. Battery life is also so-so if you set it to check email at a reasonable interval.

Still, the Touch has some neat features, like quick access to the phone app and contacts list. WM6 is a nice OS IMO, and I hear it's way better than WM5, which some of the older Moto Qs still come with.

Overall, I'm OK with the Touch. It has its annoyances but I'm not about to throw it in the trash or anything. Still, the next device I buy will have a QWERTY keyboard.

[Guest db99wj]

I am in business for myself and I use a Treo with a Palm platform to keep track of my business-- it does what I need it to do. They say the Palm platform is more stable/less buggy, and they also say that it won't be around a lot longer.

I used to carry a PDA and a phone- before that I carried a daytimer and a phone. Now I just carry one thing, synchronize it with a computer at home and at work, and all my info is the same in 3 different places- on my phone, at my house, and at my office. I like that a lot.

I use it for appointment scheduling, note taking, shopping lists, memos, texting, light e-mailing, light web browsing, a little MP3 now and then, maps, taking pictures, and, oh yeah, it is a very decent phone in my experience-- sounds good, has a lot of nice phone features I like, and the phone data integrates well with the palm contacts lists.

I only have one phone and this is it. No landlines anywhere. I do use skype some, too. My wife has a landline, so I can use that if the zombies eat the internet and the cell towers.

I love mine. I as well have all my info on my computer at home, work and on the PDA, contacts and stuff like that. I have tried to use it for appointments at work, but we use Microsoft Outlook, so I forget a lot. I do put big appointments in it.

we don't have to worry about the zombies and the cell phone towers, our very own towerclimber will take them out!

[Guest clutepc]

There are a lot of options for PDA's I would just stay away from anything Motorola has, I don't know what it is about their battery life but I would say it's probably the worst of any cell phone.

I have the ATT Tilt, nice phone, just a little sluggish with Mobile 6 on it, I hear 6.1 is better..

I had a Treo first, I miss the keypad up front as compared to this one.

[Guest Boomhower]

I will agree with the Motorola battery life. The past 3 Motorola's my wife or myself have owned, we only got about 1 yr out of each battery. I have the Moto Q right now and like it, but Motorola has it's own special functionality with the windows operating system vs. other windows OS phones. I actually like the other systems better, but I am more than functional with my Q. The regular battery lasted me a little over 1 yr. and I had to switch over to the extended life battery, and at times it acts like it's about to crap out. The Q is tough though. I have put it through hell and back. It's slide across black top almost weekly, falls out of the car or truck as I get out, I've dropped it from hip height and shoulder height more times than i can count, plus I sit on it all day everyday. It stays in my back pocket. I'm not easy on it by any means. If it can stand up to me, surely it will stand up to others as well......but in regards to the internet, it is not flash compatible. So if you want to play videos, I'd suggest you look into the blackberry since someone else said that it will.

[dunndw]

I have the Mogul (PPC-6800) with Sprint. I live and die in Outlook. It does everything I need. It DOES need to be updated from the HTC website BEFORE you load any data into the thing (the flashing of the ROM wipes all user data out)

If you need touch dialing then I'd suggest going with the Treo in either flavor. I have one of the 700wx models as a backup unit in case I kill the Mogul. I don't like it as much as I like the 6800...but it does have dedicated numbers for more touch dialing.

[Guest mikedwood]

I have a Blackberry and love it most of the time. The Internet is painfully slow at certain times and very raipd at other times which makes me mad cause it's the network and I'm paying $199 a month for 2 phones, so they need to upgrade cause it ain't cheap.

The phone picks up very well though, very well. Bluetooth is super awesome and the Email is nice.

[TGO David]

Regarding Motorola battery life... my experience with the Q has been quite the opposite of what others have said here. I can get several days worth of "stand by" time out of a full charge and really only have to top it off at night if I've been especially busy with the phone during the day.

Batteries for the Q are relatively cheap on eBay so I wouldn't let that be much of a concern. For that matter, batteries for almost any of the PDAs listed are cheap on eBay.

I understand that AT&T's network coverage has improved a bit over the past few years but there was a time when you couldn't have paid me to use the Cingular GSM network. It wasn't a matter of where you had dead zones... it was a matter of where you could find signal.

Verizon doesn't have the flashiest phones, but they do have the best network coverage in my opinion.

[Guest GT_Rat]

I understand that AT&T's network coverage has improved a bit over the past few years but there was a time when you couldn't have paid me to use the Cingular GSM network. It wasn't a matter of where you had dead zones... it was a matter of where you could find signal.

I was a bit iffy about getting AT&T myself but their coverage has improved a lot. Way back when I couldn't get service in my house in Murfreesboro, which was well within their coverage map at the time. I haven't lost signal yet since I got my phone 6 months ago.

[TGO David]

I was a bit iffy about getting AT&T myself but their coverage has improved a lot. Way back when I couldn't get service in my house in Murfreesboro, which was well within their coverage map at the time. I haven't lost signal yet since I got my phone 6 months ago.

That's much better to hear. I could tell you where all of the dead spots in my yard and home were when I had Cingular a few years ago.

[Guest db99wj]

I have been impressed with the coverage difference between Cingular and ATT. It has improved a lot in my opinion.

Also, my phone, Treo 680, doesn't have the external antennae and has been criticized about not getting good reception. I have found that not to be true.

Edited April 16, 2008 by db99wj
Hard to explain things when I don't type all the words....

[Guest clownsdd]

I have a Treo 650 with AT&T the newer ones are a little more user friendly.

Never had any problems with it.

[HanSolo]

Moto Q if you want something simple. If you want to utilize all that windows mobile 6 has to offer go with the HTC Mongul. The Blackberry Network is crap, I would stick with one of these two, but I have heard that the Touch is not bad, it is made by HTC just like the Mongul.

[Guest BG38357]

I use a Motorola Q on Sprint. The signal level on the Q is low compared to my other Samsung phone, but usually works fine for calls. My computer has Active Sync (free from Microsoft) and Outlook. Then everything on the computer, like contact info, email, and appointments are also on the Q.

[TripleDigitRide]

After doing a bit of research, I think I'm going with the Treo 700wx. So far, I think it will suite my needs better than the other smartphones offered through Sprint.

Now, I just have to find a good deal on one. It's hard to swallow the price tag on these things.

[Guest BG38357]

Try this link:

http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/SPRINT_SERO#A:_If_you_are_a_New_Customer_or_an_existing_Sprint_customer_who_is_out_of_contract:

[Guest Medic908]

I got a Treo 700wx on Verizon with the Windows platform about six months ago. Very easy to use, automatic updates from my desktop to the Treo if adding/editing contacts.

The Windows programs are nice (frequently need to refer to MS Word and Excel documents) and allow for creation/editing of documents.

PDF viewer is available as well - some documents are hard to read.

The best features for me:

1) email

2) automatic synching of Outlook calendar from desktop to the Treo and vice versa if I add a new appointment away from the office

Internet is good (obviously not like at home) - many websites now offer a "mobile" site which is not graphic heavy and loads faster on a mobile device (many on-line newspapers, tv stations, weather.com, ESPN and a bunch of others).

Camera is OK, better than my Razr I had previously. Video is fair.

Something I really like is being able to use a SD card for storage (pictures and MS Office files)

Very pleased with the device. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer off the thread.

[Guest Boomhower]

Regarding Motorola battery life... my experience with the Q has been quite the opposite of what others have said here. I can get several days worth of "stand by" time out of a full charge and really only have to top it off at night if I've been especially busy with the phone during the day.

I have always gotten good stand by time with my Q as well. Just haven't gotten good overall life with moto batteries. But as you say, they can be had for cheap. I've been running my Q for about 2 yrs. now, and plan on running it until it dies, and not just the battery.