Travel Technology - Cingular Smartphone 8125, Palm Treo, or Blackberry 8700?

Which phone would you buy if you wanted good, fast internet and email (hotmail, gmail, outlook)? I understand there are other considerations, but wanted to know your thoughts using mostly these criteria? TIA

Tough question. All these devices have EDGE so web browsing will be equally fast on all 3 machines, the 8125 has the best display. All three have a pretty poor browser (with the 8125 probably being the best/most flexible as it can run Opera).

Are these criteria the only ones? I really can't suggest one or the other just based on this... My PERSONAL pick at the moment would be the 8125, as it is the device I got to replace my Blackberry 8700. I'm loving it and am very content with its performance.

The 8125 is a lot like the PPC6700 from Sprint, which is what I am thinking of going to from Cingular. The other one to check out is the 61xx from Cingular. It has some of those nice extras you refer to like built in GPS.

Does anyone know if any of these Cingular PDA phones will work with FT Chat?

RC

Does anyone know if any of these Cingular PDA phones will work with FT Chat?

RC

I'll test it later, but it is highly unlikely, the Digichat app isn't made for these small screen devices, it barely runs on a desktop, let alone a PDA...

ScottC, why do you say that the 8125 has a better display than the Treo, it's 320x240 as opposed to 320x320 in the Treo's case...true, having portrait/landscape modes is nice, but the Treo's screen looks much crisper to me.

The 8125 is also I feel severely hindered by the 200MHz OMAP CPU, whereas the 312MHz XScale on the Treo can provide much more power. Of course, if WiFi is a requirement, the Treo is a definite no-go :(

GMail and Outlook-based accounts work fine on the Treo as well, but the 8125 has better Hotmail support (unless the OP springs for the premium service which allows POP3).

Of course, Opera is indeed quite nice on Windows Mobile devices, but most sites will work just fine with Blazer...so I'd go for the Treo, also because I like the snappy feel of PalmOS compared to the ever-present hourglass on many Windows Mobile devices (even more so with the 200MHz CPU).

ScottC, why do you say that the 8125 has a better display than the Treo, it's 320x240 as opposed to 320x320 in the Treo's case...true, having portrait/landscape modes is nice, but the Treo's screen looks much crisper to me.

The 8125 is also I feel severely hindered by the 200MHz OMAP CPU, whereas the 312MHz XScale on the Treo can provide much more power. Of course, if WiFi is a requirement, the Treo is a definite no-go :(

GMail and Outlook-based accounts work fine on the Treo as well, but the 8125 has better Hotmail support (unless the OP springs for the premium service which allows POP3).

Of course, Opera is indeed quite nice on Windows Mobile devices, but most sites will work just fine with Blazer...so I'd go for the Treo, also because I like the snappy feel of PalmOS compared to the ever-present hourglass on many Windows Mobile devices (even more so with the 200MHz CPU).

I'm just no fan of square displays, which is why I also dislike the HP 6xxx devices. True, the Treo has a higher resolution, but with its poor fonts and lack of cleartype I prefer the PPC. The OMAP in the PPC is indeed pretty slow, but with the OMAP you can't really compare MHz's as TI's chip handles things in a different manner than a normal xscale. With the new AKU2 update the PPC wins handsdown thanks to the push email solution (though that'll cost around $50 a year extra). To me the lack of WiFi is a major problem in the Treo.

I'm also just no fan of the PalmOS, and apparently neither was Palm as they sold off the OS division and the new Japanese owners seem to be taking the whole thing in a different direction... When it comes to applications Palm always claims they have 1000's more apps than on a PPC, but in relaity it is the PPC that has the best quality applications.

In the end it all comes down to personal preferences, I don't like Treos, but 1000's of others do, and Palm has certainly created a massive market for them as they really do pop up everywhere.

I believe Singtel has just released an update for the Treo that offers a similar pushmail solution, and I'm sure others will also follow soon enough...fonts are OK on Palm IMO, and there's always the option of FontsforOS5 or some other such font smoothing program. Plus, programs like Mobipocket already have their own smoothing solution.

Lack of WiFi is indeed a major problem, but the OP didn't mention a specific need for it...it's actually what has stopped me from purchasing a Treo, I still carry a Tungsten + phone to get the best of both worlds.

PalmOS is indeed rather antiquated, but I still prefer their task-based UI as opposed to the Windows-style interface which I feel is not the optimum way to go for a mobile device...but again, that just depends on people's tastes :) And I do agree that PPC has the most evolved apps.

Then again, if e-mail and Internet are really the sole requirements, send in the Blackberry :D

The Treo 700w only has a 240x240 screen, and it's unimpressive, IMO (and I have a number of devices -- including various Treo's -- on my desk at any given time)

Sadly, for Cingular/GSM the 650 is going to be your only choice for at least a few more months -- quite possibly until early 2007, although Palm has said it would be earlier than that.

Right now, for browsing, I'm still thinking the MDA Pro (not sold in the US, aka the HTC Universal platform) with the 640x480 screen running Opera as a web browser. But it's a very large and expensive phone right now, and, from a US standpoint, the lack of 850Mhz is significant.

Steve

Right now, for browsing, I'm still thinking the MDA Pro (not sold in the US, aka the HTC Universal platform) with the 640x480 screen running Opera as a web browser. But it's a very large and expensive phone right now, and, from a US standpoint, the lack of 850Mhz is significant.

Steve

The Universal has one massive drawback: no EDGE :(

I have a treo 650, there are 3rd party apps that provide push-like email options using IMAP, I'm using chattermail and I like it. Email shows up simultaneously on my desktop and my treo.

I wish it wasn't as chunky, but there are trade-offs.

What about the nokia 9300, now shipping with Cingular?

http://www.cingular.com/Nokia9300_consumer

Supports all email listed, and has full browser

My PERSONAL pick at the moment would be the 8125, as it is the device I got to replace my Blackberry 8700. I'm loving it and am very content with its performance.I'm interested to hear that you replaced your BB 8700. Did you not like it? I am very disappointed with mine. The keyboard is very poor, compared to earlier versions.

ScottC:

Can you comment a bit on the Cingular 8125's call clarity, maybe compared to just a regular old "brick-style" GSM phone from Cingular? Right now I'm sporting the Nokia 6820 and am considering upgrading to the Cingular 8125 because of the WiFi (which is becoming even more ever-present). But I am a bit concerned about its call clarity and signal strength.

Then again, my 6820 can't get much of a signal in the basement of my house, either. :(

ScottC:

Can you comment a bit on the Cingular 8125's call clarity, maybe compared to just a regular old "brick-style" GSM phone from Cingular? Right now I'm sporting the Nokia 6820 and am considering upgrading to the Cingular 8125 because of the WiFi (which is becoming even more ever-present). But I am a bit concerned about its call clarity and signal strength.

Then again, my 6820 can't get much of a signal in the basement of my house, either. :(

I'm using the T-mobile version. Sound quality is ok. And not much more than that, volume is at least pretty decent. It is however good at finding a signal, but there are still some bugs/issues where it'll loose the signal and have a hard time finding it again.

I haven't been able to run FT chat on any PDA yet, is there one that works?

RC

Can you comment a bit on the Cingular 8125's call clarity, maybe compared to just a regular old "brick-style" GSM phone from Cingular? Right now I'm sporting the Nokia 6820 and am considering upgrading to the Cingular 8125 because of the WiFi (which is becoming even more ever-present). But I am a bit concerned about its call clarity and signal strength.

I just got a Cingular 8125 this week. The call clarity is decent, but not great. It's better than the previous two Motorolas I had.

How do you dial with it? Is it annoying with no keypad on the front?
I have a Treo 650 now (wouldn't recommend it to anyone).