When I decided that I needed to replace my terribly out of date
mobile phone - an old Nextel i1000plus - my thoughts eventually
wandered toward a pda phone. For those that know me this
probably seemed like a no brainer. I have a long history of pda
dependence going back years to a Palm 3X. However, I already had
a pda that I was quite happy with. For the last year and a half
I had used my HP iPAQ 2215 for everything from a PDA (Personal
Digital Assistant), an e-book reader, an MP3 player, a photo
wallet, an alarm clock, a mobile web browser(utilizing a compact
flash wifi card), among many other things. Trying to cram a
phone in to all of this seemed overwhelming, but curiosity - and
my need for a new gadget - got the better of me. My search was
twofold - look for a new mobile phone and a new provider. With
my current cellular provider I didn't get any reception in my
home so I needed to find a carrier that did.
Through various unscientific means such as my own opinion polls
of friends and work associates in conjunction with some internet
research I whittled my way down to either Cingular or Verizon.
Both tended to get high marks from the users I polled and the
from internet research. With this part of the equation worked
out I went online to see what kind of phones each had to offer.
I was willing to go with a 2 year commitment in the hopes of
getting a better deal on phone and plan pricing. In addition I
wanted to get a group plan where my wife and I could share
minutes.
So, now I'm looking on each company's respective websites for
their state of the art Pocket PC phones. I'm not talking about
the Smart phones - these are the phones with Pocket PC software
jammed into a tiny little screen that isn't even a touch screen
- that just wouldn't satisfy my needs. I'm talking about the
full blown, "why are you talking into your calculator?" Pocket
PC phones - the uber-geek, pocket protector included kind of
micro computer powerhouse. After all, I'm married now and I'm
really not worried about public opinion or impressing anyone
with my sleek, stylish, sexy new cell phone. I'm hoping to spend
around $300.00. I figure I can sell my iPAQ 2215 on eBAY for
$200.00 and $100.00 for a new phone seems like a pretty good
deal.
So, what I find is one heck of a price tag. Verizon has the much
talked about Treo 700. This is the first Treo with the Pocket PC
operating system - Windows Mobile 5.0. This comes in at $500.00.
Way too pricey for me and it doesn't even have Wifi. Cingular's
best price on a PocketPC phone wasn't much better. I could get
an HP iPAQ hw6510 for $400.00. Again, no wifi. This is a real
sticking point for me. I don't see any reason why a device
designed for communication would leave out this major
specification. Being able to connect to an 802.11b/g wireless
network when it is available is a necessity.
Okay, back to the drawing board, maybe I can try this from a
different angle - Ebay. Looking up "Pocket PC phone" on Ebay
gets you quite a lot of hits with a good assortment of newer and
older Pocket PC phones. At this point I'm thinking that I could
get something maybe slightly used that would meet all of my
requirements. This would also give me a good cross section of
exactly what is out there and what features are available in
this type of gadget.
After going through quite a lot of auction descriptions and
cross referencing manufacturer web sites I had set my sites on a
particular phone, the Siemens SX66. This particular phone/pda
combo had been offered by Cingular until recently and it no
longer showed on their website. It seemed to fit my wish list: a
fast 400mhz xscale processor, wifi, Bluetooth, SDIO slot and it
had a slide out keyboard for text input. So, I watched a few
auctions and kept an eye on the prices.
But, sometimes you just have to get off of the internet and hit
the brick and mortar. I went to my local Verizon and Cingular
stores and talked to the sales reps about what plans I was
looking for. I wasn't impressed with my long wait at the Verizon
Wireless store or the pushy salesman that I got. He seemed to
think he knew just what I needed and kept showing me phones and
plans that I just wasn't interested in.
I had a different experience at the Cingular store. The sales
rep showed me a map of the cell coverage around my home, he
talked to me about the plans that I had seen on the website and
when I mentioned to him that I had been looking at a Siemens
SX66 Pocket PC phone on Ebay he went into the back of the store
and came out with the last SX66 that they had. I signed on to a
2 year deal with Cingular that night with a heck of a good deal
on a Pocket PC phone that had all the specifications that I had
been looking for.
And you know what? I can even talk on my Siemens SX66 sitting in
my living room.
About the author:
Michael Keenan is a Project Manager at DD&C
(
http://www.dugancom.com) and contributes to product research
for their ecommerce web store at
http://www.dugancom.com/catalog/ and personally helps to
maintain their computer support forum at
http://forum.dugancom.com
