I have a b&w SK, and use both T-Mo and Nextel (cell dealer). The P800 looks nice, but I think it's over priced, really. I can't justify $1K+ on the P800 when the phones change like supermodels change clothes at a fashion show. :-)

After hearing that Treo rant, thanks. I was considering that, but not if the hardware is as bad as the SK's (I'm on #2, and very careful with my toys). I was considering the Blackberry, but the browser is WAP--no graphics, and the software is far too expensive compared to Palm OS apps.

So, what I'm thinking now is the Clie UX (BlueTooth and 802.11) and a BT phone of some sort to use GPRS (there is a GPRS memory stick modem out there, if you can find someone who has it in stock). Yes, it means I have to carry two devices, but this way I am not locked into the cell technology that the current phones have. And the Palm will have a longer lifespan than any phone will.

Plus, the UX, with all the Palm OS apps out there can damn near take the place of a laptop.

Total price will still be less than the P800.

OK, that's my .02.

Good hunting for geek toys, everyone.
=Velociraptor=

just to say the p800 is a really great bit of kit,don't know how much it's costing you in the us but In the uk it's worth every penny! the ability to have a camera where ever you are for example is great no more wishing I'd brought my digital cam(ok the quality isn't as good but good enough for spur of the moment trips)as for all the rest now I no longer have to carry round phone mp3 player, pda etc have it all with me at once. the only thing I'm now getting worried about is what to do when camera fones get banned in public places. and the downside is the the small sony duo memory which is next to impossible to get hold of!

SolanaPhil: I haven't tried it, but when I choose t-mobile the word on
the usenet groups were that they'll give you the unlock code after some
number of months if you call and say you want to use the phone in
Europe (or wherever).

The providers usually don't have roaming agreements everywhere, so even if you don't mind paying a fortune per minute it doesn't always make the phone work.


 - ask

--
http://www.askbjoernhansen.com/

The P800 Rocks! Mp3 player, camera, phone, message centre, email, color screen, infrared, bluetooth, gsm, long battery life and the only decent web browser on the planet: Opera.

Ok, a tiny, hobbled, not-so-configurable version of Opera, but still...

Downsides? Bulky. And I have to carry my psion mx around if I want to use a keyboard: I don't glyph.

Unfortunately, Cory, in Europe I can use mine from the cow pastures of the Netherlands to the peak of Mt. Zermatt (and have!) and everywhere in between. But until you guys get decent GSM cover, you yanks are limited to major metropolitan areas and interstate highways... pfah... not my idea of constant communications.

Check out http://www.esato.com for full skinny.

fwiw, i really havent been very pleased with my SE t68i.
many of my friends have had theirs replaced several times because the units would eventualy stop powering on. i personaly have had reception problems intermitantly. most of all i very much lament the lack of a "pager style" notification of incoming sms messages like my last nokia phone had.

love the bluetooth, but i wont buy sony-ericssion again.

Cingular has disabled my tri-band Sony Ericcson phone to be used with a locally purchased sim card in Europe. They say they now require you to use their roaming service at $2.99 a minute instead of the local charges at 20 cents to call back to the states. You think you own the phone, but you really don't!

What Lisa said. I'm on my 4th Treo now. I guess this is one way to extend your 1 year warranty... but I'd just as soon not have to call in, get threatened with a $20 charge, and then have to pay shipping to mail my latest casualty back to them for replacement (and be down a phone for a week). The first 3 they advance shipped me a replacement. The last one they shipped me an empty box to ship my broken unit in. Check treocentral's fora for the crappy history on these units.

I was early adopter of Handspring tech. First kid on the block to have a Visor, and then VisorPhone. Those worked fine. But this Treo thing is crap. I won't give details because Lisa captured the nut of it. Beware.

Didn't know Palm bought them. Have to check that out. Maybe that'll be a good thing. Their customer service (outsourced to India crap) couldn't be worse.

Will, Leonard: I'm in Los Angeles too and is using T-Mobile. Maybe the phone or the places I usually go makes a difference, because I have excellent coverage everywhere. I never get dropped calls - unlike with Sprint and Nextel which I used earlier.

I use a Sony Ericsson T68i (not very fancy, but it sync with isync works great - can't imagine having a phone without that now).


 - ask

Please, people, don't give Handspring your money!
<br>
(yeah, I know they just got bought by Palm). The track record for their Treo handsets is terrible, and they want to charge you $20 just to evaluate your problem if you call them up, because it might be "a software problem." I was actually told this *after* I told them that the reason I was calling was to get a warranty replacement on a Treo on which the flip-top had broken off due to the flimsy hinge. I'd love to see the software than can blow the lid off a clamshell phone. The reason they want to triage you for "software problems" is so they can turf you, which they'll do at any opportunity "That is, not our problem, sucker." Treo promises a lot of things out of the box, but if you look deeper, they support little or none of it. The units are flimsy, overpriced, and their attitude towards customers is openly cynical.

/m26

The thing is that the Hiptop has a really crappy antenna. I get great reception with T-Mobile on my freebie Nokia 3390 (even when sitting by my computer and in other places where cellular reception tends to suck), but the Hiptop was atrocious; I'd often have bad reception outdoors, even.

I was once an owner of the b&w Sidekick, and I loved the hardware, but the lack of apps really was a drag. As a wireless developer I really wanted a device I could hack. When the p800 came out I made the switch, and thus far I have no regrets. IMHO the p800 is the most advanced phone on the market right now. Not only does it have C++ apis for every aspect of the phone (SMS, Bluetooth, etc.) but it has the best Java support I have seen (J2ME, Personal Java and JavaPhone); with the possible exception of the Symbian Nokia phones (which support J2ME 2.0). The built in camera is nice, and I just used the VoiceMemo app to record a speach of my departing CEO (he just got laid off) from about 5 ft away, and the sound of the WAV file is remarkably good. I was able to send the file to my PC using bluetooth.

I gave up on my (B&W) Hiptop about a month ago, and managed to sell it on eBay for $150. I have switched to a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 as my PDA and am, aside from a few dumb bugs which are being actively worked on (ah, the joys of opensource) quite happy with it (I'll be happier when there's a working iSync conduit, but in the meantime I've got everything stored in flash anyway so it's not like the data will be lost if I lose power), and have gone back to my Nokia 3390 for cellphone.

My plan is to eventually get an Ericsson T68i or similar and a Bluetooth card for the Zaurus, and get the best of every world, and in the meantime I'm going to play around with the Zaurus' VoIP stuff too.

A single integrated device would be nice (if only because it meant I would only have to charge and hold one thing instead of two), but from being one of the early Hiptop adopters (bought mine on launch day) and spending something like 8 months and way too much money on crappy low-quality service and a shitty PDA with a shitty webbrowser (the only good thing on the Hiptop was the IM, and I don't use IM that much, and of course its IM was at the mercy of the Hiptop's piece of shit antenna), I've learned to prioritize my geek angst. :)

Timmy: Sprint PCS has been offering unlimited data on their Vision (3G 1xRTT) plans for $10/mo since the end of last October (right after I picked up the hiptop): http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?id=358

T-Mobile just began offering unlimited data for $20/mo: http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?id=593

Skallas: the general tone on the hiptop forums seem to lay the blame on T-Mobile for holding up OTA updates, not allowing program loading, etc. However, from my experience Danger has been completely unresponsive to internal issues (ie, web proxy stuff). Cory's in the beta program, so he may know some other stuff I don't. In the end, I don't think it matters who's to blame. The result are the same: most of the techno-savvy early adopters have been alienated and are pretty disenchanted, platform/developer mindshare is about nil, and the competition is now just about caught up. 2 years ago it looked like the Danger platform was something different (and possibly awesome), and at this point it looks like an also ran, and more and more like a dead end.

This June 2002 interview makes for fun reading (compare and contrast): http://news.com.com/2008-1082-934949.html


Will: in LA (city), I've had the best reception with Sprint, rock solid reception just about everywhere. I'm currently on T-Mobile w/ (well, b/c of) the Sidekick, and I get lots of dropped calls/fade out. In LA they're using the Cingular network (well apparently using Cingular bandwidth, but doing some of their own switching, but it's still bad). If you're doing a lot of out-of-city travelling, you might want to give AT&T a look, they still have the widest overall coverage, but in general I don't really recommend them. Nextel has the funkiest coverage, in some parts it can be quite good, but it's very spotty. Also, Verizon's reception wasn't bad, but their customer service went (even more) to shit after the Airtouch merger, and I would recommend that everyone stay away from them at all costs.

Edited by author 06-27-2003 03:12 PM
I don't see this necessarily as such a bad sign as everyone else. It's a waste of money if they were continually paying a license for those shitty games. If that's the case, should we insist that they continue to do so? For what? Trradition? I mean, those games SUCKED. Good riddance.

What they should do (at least) is give us a few replacements. There are already some decent games on developer.danger.com (no you can't install them yet, just simulator) -- I'm sure if they offered a contest or just some decent compensation they could get a ton of homebrew games to a professional level (it wouldn't take much to beat the games they ditched, that's for sure.

I agree that there are a lot of issues with the hiptop, but losing those crappy games is but a minor one. I don't think insisting they return those pathetic games is a good idea -- insist that they let you install your own apps instead or whatever.