Festus
04-27-2006, 02:21 PM
I've been testing several of the new Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 Smartphones lately and they are cool. These are the new phones that combine the functionality of a phone, with a PDA and a Blackberry.
All of the phones tested when combined with Exchange 2003 SP2 and the upcoming (in some cases already here) Microsoft Messaging & Security Feature Pack will allow true push e-mail like the Blackberry.
What does that mean? Well push e-mail means that when the server receives a new e-mail message, it knows to push the message to your handheld device.
Compared to the old method Microsoft used which was PULL e-mail. The device periodically contacted the server to see if it had any new messages out there for it. If there weren't any new messages thenit wasted it's time. Also, you were at the mercy of the schedule it used to check for messages. If you schedule to check every 30 minutes, and a new message comes in 1 minute after the last check, then you have to wait 29 minutes to get the message.
With Push mail, the instant the message hits the server it forwards it to the device. This is how Blackberry has functioned for several years now.
But the difference is that Blackberrys are great for that purpose, they aren't so great at being a phone, or being a PDA. Also, in a corporate environment, having Blackberry's means buying the Blackberry Server program, and installing it on it's own server. That is very expensive. With these phones, all you really need on the corporate side is an Exchange 2003 server, Exchange is the most popular e-mail server out there. So if you already have Exchange it can be a tremendous cost saving to not have to buy Blackberry licenses.
Unfortunately, it requires the Messaging and Security Feature Pack to work. Which is not out yet for all of the phones. It's available for the Sprint model, and for the Treo 700w. The upgrade will be free, but it has to come from the phone vendor for the specific phone.
Some of the things these phones can do are especially cool. I have hooked them up with a Bluetooth GPS and Pocket GPS software to use as a GPS Navigator. Installed MP3 Software on it and loaded up a 2GB memory card with music to make it an MP3 player. All of the phones run Windows Mobile 5 so they are like an Ipaq and can run all of the Pocket PC apps like Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, etc. and also have software like Instant Messaging.
So in one device, I have a phone, a PDA, a Blackberry, a GPS Navigator, an MP3 Player, a digital camers and a high speed wireless modem for my laptop. And I can use a wireless headset to listen to it all on.
The phones I've tested so far are
1) Verizon XV-6700/Sprint PPC-6700 (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Verizon-XV6700.htm): I rank this phone the best. The phone is the exact phone, both Verizon and Sprint carry their own flavor of it. This phone is awesome. It has the best processor of the bunch >400 mhz, good memory, 64 MB RAM, 128 MB Flash, Bluetooth, WiFi, IR, and EVDO internet access. It has a retractable keyboard that comes out of the side that makes typing things easy. Internet access using the EVDO is like using DSL, its about 500kbps speed. It also comes with a Mini-SD card slot and a 1.3 M-Pixel camera.
2) Treo 700W (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Treo-700w.htm): I rank this one second. Palm finally licensed the Windows Mobile Software from Microsoft for this phone instead of using their own software. It is a very nice phone and performs well. However, it has a slower processor, 300 Mhz and only 32 MB RAM. This is a very nice phone, but I saw a difference in the processing compared to the xv/ppc 6700 phone. The less memory became an issue too. Personally, I also don't like the smaller screen and exposed keyboard.
3) T-Mobile MDA/Cingular 8125 (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/T-Mobile-MDA.htm): This phone is sold both by T-Mobile and Cingular, but it's the same phone. I like this phone a lot, it is just like the XV6700/PPC 6700 above with one exception. It only has a 200 Mhz processor. That processor speed just simply sucks. You can't do more than one thing because it bogs down too much to be useful. I ended up sending it back to T-Mobile. It is not worth it. Why would they put a slower processor in the device? Simply, because a faster processor sucks up more battery life. That makes a lot of sense since with the slower processor you end up waiting a lot LONGER than if you had the faster processor.
By the way these phones are NOT cheap. They run about $400 and you generally have to pay for a data plan to get the e-mail/Internet functionality. So the monthly fees are going to be fairly high until the market catches up.
All of the phones tested when combined with Exchange 2003 SP2 and the upcoming (in some cases already here) Microsoft Messaging & Security Feature Pack will allow true push e-mail like the Blackberry.
What does that mean? Well push e-mail means that when the server receives a new e-mail message, it knows to push the message to your handheld device.
Compared to the old method Microsoft used which was PULL e-mail. The device periodically contacted the server to see if it had any new messages out there for it. If there weren't any new messages thenit wasted it's time. Also, you were at the mercy of the schedule it used to check for messages. If you schedule to check every 30 minutes, and a new message comes in 1 minute after the last check, then you have to wait 29 minutes to get the message.
With Push mail, the instant the message hits the server it forwards it to the device. This is how Blackberry has functioned for several years now.
But the difference is that Blackberrys are great for that purpose, they aren't so great at being a phone, or being a PDA. Also, in a corporate environment, having Blackberry's means buying the Blackberry Server program, and installing it on it's own server. That is very expensive. With these phones, all you really need on the corporate side is an Exchange 2003 server, Exchange is the most popular e-mail server out there. So if you already have Exchange it can be a tremendous cost saving to not have to buy Blackberry licenses.
Unfortunately, it requires the Messaging and Security Feature Pack to work. Which is not out yet for all of the phones. It's available for the Sprint model, and for the Treo 700w. The upgrade will be free, but it has to come from the phone vendor for the specific phone.
Some of the things these phones can do are especially cool. I have hooked them up with a Bluetooth GPS and Pocket GPS software to use as a GPS Navigator. Installed MP3 Software on it and loaded up a 2GB memory card with music to make it an MP3 player. All of the phones run Windows Mobile 5 so they are like an Ipaq and can run all of the Pocket PC apps like Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, etc. and also have software like Instant Messaging.
So in one device, I have a phone, a PDA, a Blackberry, a GPS Navigator, an MP3 Player, a digital camers and a high speed wireless modem for my laptop. And I can use a wireless headset to listen to it all on.
The phones I've tested so far are
1) Verizon XV-6700/Sprint PPC-6700 (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Verizon-XV6700.htm): I rank this phone the best. The phone is the exact phone, both Verizon and Sprint carry their own flavor of it. This phone is awesome. It has the best processor of the bunch >400 mhz, good memory, 64 MB RAM, 128 MB Flash, Bluetooth, WiFi, IR, and EVDO internet access. It has a retractable keyboard that comes out of the side that makes typing things easy. Internet access using the EVDO is like using DSL, its about 500kbps speed. It also comes with a Mini-SD card slot and a 1.3 M-Pixel camera.
2) Treo 700W (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Treo-700w.htm): I rank this one second. Palm finally licensed the Windows Mobile Software from Microsoft for this phone instead of using their own software. It is a very nice phone and performs well. However, it has a slower processor, 300 Mhz and only 32 MB RAM. This is a very nice phone, but I saw a difference in the processing compared to the xv/ppc 6700 phone. The less memory became an issue too. Personally, I also don't like the smaller screen and exposed keyboard.
3) T-Mobile MDA/Cingular 8125 (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/T-Mobile-MDA.htm): This phone is sold both by T-Mobile and Cingular, but it's the same phone. I like this phone a lot, it is just like the XV6700/PPC 6700 above with one exception. It only has a 200 Mhz processor. That processor speed just simply sucks. You can't do more than one thing because it bogs down too much to be useful. I ended up sending it back to T-Mobile. It is not worth it. Why would they put a slower processor in the device? Simply, because a faster processor sucks up more battery life. That makes a lot of sense since with the slower processor you end up waiting a lot LONGER than if you had the faster processor.
By the way these phones are NOT cheap. They run about $400 and you generally have to pay for a data plan to get the e-mail/Internet functionality. So the monthly fees are going to be fairly high until the market catches up.