My Handspring Treo died for the 10th or 12th time. It is still under warranty but now that Handspring has been acquired by Palm it takes three weeks to get a replacement phone. Given that a Treo only lasts an average of about 8 weeks before failing this means that one is using one’s backup phone about one third of the time. My current backup phone is an old Motorola Triband that won’t sync with Outlook. Anyone have any advice on a good GSM to buy? Here are my requirements:
- dual or tri-band for use in foreign countries
- sync with Outlook address book including the notes fields and the mailing address fields (need to be able to send postcards!)
- sync with Outlook calendar and provide alerts of appointments
- would be nice to be able to enter new calendar events and new address book entries and sync them back with Outlook
- would be nice to have a built-in camera
- cost less than $250 with no service agreement (I already have the SIM and service)
One phone that looks like it might work is the $230 Sony Ericsson T610. If I can get all of these requirements met I might actually just chuck the Treo.
[Epilogue: Score yet another victory for this Blog. One friend offered me his Treo 600 that he isn’t using. Another his … Sony Ericsson T610 that he replaced with something fancier.]
I have a T616, which is basically the same phone as the T610, and it doesn’t do mailing addresses. All it stores is name, home number, work number, mobile number, and email address.
Other then that, it’s a decent phone. It syncs well with my Mac; I assume that it works right with Outlook, but I’ve never tried.
One thing to watch out with the 610 is that it doesn’t support 850mhz. It is a 900/1800/1900 phone. That means you can’t use any of cingular’s old network in the states. The 900 support is very important in Europe though, but if you want both there are only a handful of quad mode phones. The question is, which is more important to you, getting better service in the states (get the t616 850/1800/1900) or getting better service in europe (get the t610 900/1800/1900).
You need to ask Russell Beattie (http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/); he seems to know (and talk) more about the mobile market than anyone else. He’s lived in Europe recently, and is now back in the States, so he’s up on interop issues. He seems to test and/or buy every phone model that comes out, and he writes software for various platforms. And he doesn’t pull his punches; tells you what he thinks.
I wasn’t especially impressed with the Sony-Ericsson T68i I owned for a month. The UI seemed a lot more clunky than the Nokias I was used to, and it wasn’t especially stable.
I never tried syncing to Outlook, but a good solid (if large) phone that fits the rest of your criteria would be the Nokia 3650. The circular keypad can be annoying, however.
Check out this site. Has good reviews and specs on all brands of cell phones –
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/
Also, Howard Forums is a good news group site for cell phone questions. http://www.howardforums.com/
I have the T610, and while I generally prefer a smaller phone, it is just a great phone. The sound quality on both ends is amazingly good. However, like others mentioned it doesn’t do mailing addresses and it also won’t accept any all-day calendar entries, which is a real pain.
Why not a Nokia 6820. It has a keyboard, camera, bluetooth, java and can sync with outlook or a server via SyncML. Plus it supports IMPS! I agree the camera and screen are not so good but its a phone and the keyboard and bluetooth make up for it.
Why not try a motorola MPx200 (or better, wait for the 220, as it has smartphone 2003 – DONT get a SP2002-based device), or (if you can get them in the US) the i-mate smartphone 2 / Orange E200 (http://www.carrierdevices.com.au/products.php?id=6 – but it goes under a few other names around the world, too) – all powered by MS Smartphone…. does all of the things you ask for – tho I guess it may depend on your usage – if you need the battery to last for more than 3 days, dont bother.
that said, I’ve used a T68i, T610 and Z600 (clamshell style T610), and I found them both to be the worst phones (usability-wise) that I’ve ever come across. YMMV.
Traveling with the Treo, I got into the habit of always carrying a spare phone, since it would just die completely at random times and never recover. Once I changed to the Sony Ericsson P900, I never regretted it. Nice large touch screen, seamless syncing with my hotmail and exchange server over the air. Fairly nice browser, the virtual keypad, has made my SMS usage increase 10 fold. Though I had some problems receiving calls in Shanghai, probably due to their flaky GSM network…. Uses the mini sony stick (why can’t everyone just agree to use SD) Camera is OK, price is more than $250, but you can afford it….
Go with the P900 and you won’t regret it…..
The T610/T616 has actually been replaced by the T630/T636. It has a much improved screen (can actually see it in sunlight). I believe it is about $250 retail. You can check out a review here: http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=572
This reminds me of the old Mad magazine gag from years ago where a motorist is confronted with a sign that reads “Highway open while detour being repaired”.
I’m surprised you don’t want your phone to vacuum your apartment, to say it mildly…
I can highly recommend the i-mate or XDA2 PocketPC phone edition phone, although I have not used it myself. My coworker bought one a little while ago and uses it on T-Mobile’s GSM network, and it is fast, reliable, and extremely good looking 😉 Did I mention it syncs with Outlook?
http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/2315.html
That site has more pocketpc phones in its news pages… I’m not a fan of microsoft or palm, but this phone is a marvel in design execution and usability.
I have seen a lot of phones come and go, both for myself as well as my friends and colleauges. The coolest, most feature rich were always the Ericssons. They were also the ones where every owner – proud to own one the first day or even week – complains about the crappy UI and they were the first to break.
After owning one Ericsson phone, most people vow to never own one again and as soon as their provider will give them a free or cheap new one (every year in the UK) they flock back to Nokia like former Texas governers to middle eastern countries.
Caveat Empor. Or something.
Some advice from a person who’s not a technophobe by any stretch (two CS degrees, decade plus IT experience)
Go with a paper Franklin planner and the cheapest phone you can get. Can’t beat the combination. The standard I use for “smart” phones is that such a phone should not cost more than the cost of the individual components added up.
Thus, a phone with organizer and camera should cost no more than about $150-175 given that an entry-level Palm costs about $75, and a 2 MP camera costs about $100, and a phone is essentially subsidized by the carrier.
However for someone as itinerant as yourself, one cannot just count on the reliability (NOT) of the phone’s organizer saving your data safely. The better idea is paper! 100% compatible with everything out there, can easily back up (throw it all in the Xerox machine’s autofeeder). And, best of all, does not crash or require reboots! Heck most binders easily take a fall of 10-20 feet.
As far as a camera goes, if you’re really looking for a cheap variety, why not go with the new “digital plus” disposables? These are ordinary film disposables with the cost of a CD priced in.
Maybe you should pony up $370 and buy American: Quad-band GSM, bluetooth, camera, and the pleasure of knowing a corrupt U.S. CEO is profiting from your horrible technology experience (rather than some foreigner).
P.S. I’ll take your Treo when you chuck it.
I have been uing the Motorola MPX200, avalible for $249 (or $0 at amazon with a 2 year contract), for 7 months now, just upgraded to Smartphone 2003, and its been great with syncing all the MS information I could imagine! If you hold out to august the Motorla MPX220 comes out, it has built in bluetooth and a 1.2mp camera with 3x zoom and flash as well as a color lcd on the outside, pretty spiffy but comes in at a heavy international price of ~$600.
I wouldn’t go for T610; it’s already been superseded by T630, which again has been followed by K700. T630 is T610 with an improved screen (much needed), slightly improved design, and a newer version of the same software. K700 is more advanced, as far as I know.
I have a T630 myself and am very pleased with it. It does do Outlook integration, but whether it does the specific things you look for I don’t know; I don’t use Windows.
I can second what someone wrote about the T68, but the T630 is far superior to it. I had the same problem switching from a Nokia to the T68 for two weeks, but I’ve had no such issues with the T630.
When I was a kid, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Imperial Earth and was entranced with his description of what we now know as the PDA–small keyboard, IR interface, etc. Now that I’m older, though, and have had a chance to work with them and cellphones, the more I think a cheap, simple phone and a notepad are the best way to go. No need for batteries, they’re light, and if you drop them, there’s no trouble. I like Levenger’s Shirt Pocket Briefcase.
Phil, don’t screw around. Get yourself a Sony Ericsson P900 (they’ll have a new 910 in Q3) and get on with life. Use a Smart Phone. With an open source Symbian OS with complete compatability with iSync and a boat load of free or shareware… you won’t regret it. The other phones are just phones. You don’t need a phone. You need a Smart Phone!!!
What did you end up getting?
One word – BlackBerry!
Works on every network type (GSM, iDEN, CDMA etc..).
The only two bullet points of your it misses is the camera (buy a real camera anyway, most camera phone cameras are horrible), and possibly the cost – though I’ve seen some generous plans from some carriers.