backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 3 comment(s) - last by Johnmcl7.. on May 24 at 7:39 PM
Somehow, someday, someone will make a phone for me

Thomas Ricker over at Engadget got a nice preview of the next generation HTC "Hermes" a few weeks ago.   In my everlasting quest to find the next super-phone, I've gone through an I-mate Jasjar, a Qtek 9100 and untold numbers of BlackBerries and iPaqs -- even the infamous Verizon XV6700BB.   Aside from the fact that switching around mobile providers is killing me, I still have yet to find the super-phone. 

Here is the problem: I live in Chicago so I am one of the lucky few to have access to Cingular's UMTS network.  I travel to Japan/Taiwan/China once very few months, so I also need some global GSM capability.  Windows Mobile 5 is so much better than the previous iteration I don't know how I survived without it, so BlackBerries are out of the question now.  Then of course, WiFi is a must as well.  But here is the problem with every device on the market right now:
  • The I-mate JasJar (HTC XDA) does not support Cingular's UMTS or EDGE network -- only UMTS and EDGE in Europe.
  • The Qtek 9100 (HTC MDA, etc) has an ungodly slow processor and likes to crash every few hours.  Oh that and it doesn't support UMTS, EDGE, VGA resolutions, but it does come in a nice form factor.
  • The Verizon XV6700BB, aside from the fact it's stuck on the Verizon network, has a god awful feature where you must disable WiFi in order to use the phone/EVDO capabilities and visa versa. 
  • The iPaq 8125 fixes some of the problems with the Qtek 9100, but low and behold, uses the same terrible 200MHz processor and my devices crashes every few hours.
Well now it seems the MDA "Hermes" is almost upon us, the specifications were uploaded to TMobile Germany a few days ago (PDF).  2.1MPX camera, 802.11b/g and UMTS/EDGE -- but alas only the GRPS network works in the US. 

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
your devices shouldn't crash...
By Johnmcl7 on 5/13/2006 7:29:25 PM , Rating: 2
Rather than blame the devices, you need to look into why your devices are crashing, given the same fault seems to occurring across different devices then it must be something you are doing with them.

I have the O2 version of the HTC Wizard, which is the same as the Qtek 9100 I believe and it rarely ever crashes even with frequent use of Tomtom - it's by far the most stable phone/PDA I've used, my other older PDAs generally require a restart once or twice a day.

John




RE: your devices shouldn't crash...
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 5/14/2006 1:31:10 PM , Rating: 2
The O2 HTC Wizard is the same as the Qtek 9000 or the Imate JasJar. I'll admit, that is a rock solid device.

The HTC MDA, Qtek 9100, is quite buggy and is well documented for having a habbit of locking up. Typically this happens during or shortly after ActiveSync, during or shortly after switching to camera mode, or during/shortly after losing a GPRS connection (which it shouldn't be doing anyway).


By Johnmcl7 on 5/24/2006 7:39:27 PM , Rating: 2
I think you're getting a little confused here...

The HTC Wizard is the O2 XDA Mini S. The Imate Jasjar is the HTC Universal which is their 300g heavyweight superphone which in tbe O2 range is the XDA Exec - the Exec and Mini S are the total opposite to each other.

MDA is the T-mobile name for HTC devices, not the HTC name - as I said the Qtek 9100 is the HTC Wizard, O2 XDA Mini S, Imate K-kam etc.

HTC are the company that produce the device itself, other companies such as Qtek, O2, T-mobile, Orange, Imate, Vodafone etc. then get their own branded versions with their own roms and cosmetic changes which they then give their own independent name.

I recommend http://www.xda-developers.com as the problems aren't as chronic or unsolvable as you think - my Mini S can activesync, use its camera and can easily switch between active GPRS connections all day long, sounds like you need a rom update or change to a different provider's rom entirely.

John


We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs

DailyTech Poll
Which web browser do you use on your primary personal machine? 






44 Comments









botimage
Copyright 2009 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki