The 81-day experiment

“Which smartphone would be best for me” asked Stephanie

Stephanie: “Based on your experiment, can you provide an overall analysis of the rating for each device? I’m considering purchasing a smartphone within the next couple of months and would like your thoughts on the best model out there. Note: I do have Cingular phone service, so I’d need a smartphone that is compatible with Cingular service. Also, I very much want to use the Windows mobile operating system, so that I can sync my calendar, contacts, and appointments with my computer at work. I don’t need any fluff (MP3, camera, other special applications) – I just need the nuts and bolts. Thank you!”

Recommendations to Stepanie:

  a) If you are planning on sticking to Cingular, and your main interest is the calendar, contacts, and appointments, I would say the Cingular 3125 or BlackJack would do the job well. They use Windows Mobile and they are small phones that you can easily carry with you everywhere.

b) The Cingular 3125 doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard (it is a flip-phone). The BlackJack does have a full QWERTY keyboard. But from your description, it doesn't seem that you are going to be doing lots of typing, so this may not be an issue for you.

c) Both of these smartphones offer full multi-media capabilities that you don’t need. But these are not in the way, and you can just ignore them (one day though, when you unexpectedly need to capture the moment, and the camera may come in handy, and then one thing leads to another and you find yourself watching TV on the little screen, who knows!).

  d) If you are not in a hurry to make a selection (you said a couple of months), there is another device that you might want to consider when it becomes available. That is the BlackBerry Pearl from Cingular (no official date has been announced but rumor has it that it is coming soon). Currently it is only available from T-Mobile. It is not a Windows Mobile device, but it is fully compatible with Windows, and can sync extremely well with Outlook.

e) Finally, in terms of ranking the devices, this is what I will be doing over the next few weeks, so stay tuned and please visit the 81-day-experiment blog often to see more details (http://81dayexperiment.typepad.com/)

f) By the way, we also offer a PDF that provides a methodology for comparing devices if you are interested in more details. You can order it online at https://www.people-onthego.com/Online_Trn_OD_Handheld_TestDrive.html This will also be updated in the next few weeks to cover all the devices I used in the 81-day-experiment.

Good luck!

“Does the Cingular 3125 have voice command software?” asked Mike

Questions: “I like the blog on the 3125. Do you know if they have announced voice command software for the 3125? I can’t find anything" asked Mike from Dallas, TX.

Answer: The Cingular 3125 does have voice command capability and it is similar to many of the other Windows Mobile smartphones that I reviewed. The way it works is that you attach a voice “tag”, as they call it, to any contact or application at first. This means you record in your voice the command that you would like to use to call this contact or launch this application. Then to use these voice commands, you press the side button (the left side of the screen, the lower button) which will start the voice recognition application and allow you to “voice” your voice command.

“How about the HTC Excalibur?“ asked Fred

Question: “I live in Canada, and will attempt to buy an unlocked Dash. If I end up getting an HTC Excalibur version (ie. not the T-MOBILE version), do you expect that the nice touches that you mentioned (like numbered menus) will be in non-T-Mobile version as well?”

Answer: For those who may not be familiar with the HTC S620 Excalibur, it is an identical smartphone to the T-Mobile Dash. HTC is the original manufacturer of the T-Mobile Dash, and HTC is releasing the Excalibur allowing users to get their voice and data plans from a variety of carriers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and other regions.

I expect the HTC S620 Excalibur to have an identical Windows Mobile implementation to that of the T-Mobile Dash, and the Cingular 3125, including the numbered menus. What will be different from provider to provider is likely to be the “extra” services offered such as the T-Zones from T-Mobile and the MEdia Net from Cingular. For those readers who end up getting the HTC S620 Excalibur, your comments will be greatly appreciated.