Phones
July 13, 2007
Title says it all, really.
My contract expires next month and so I am now eligable for an upgrade. Usually, this would be one of the highlights of my year (sad, I know), but this year, the exciting event has come at the wrong time. There is absolutely nothing on the market that takes my fancy and being a phone freak, that’s really saying something.
I currently own a Vodafone VPA Compact III and although I loved it when I got it, I’ve grown to hate it. Not because I’ve gotten bored of it – no way – but because it doesn’t work. Here’s why I haven’t snapped up a new model yet. It was between these two:
T-Mobile’s Ameo/HTC’s Athena
The new Windows Mobile UMPC-meets-Smartphone grabbed my attention immediately, but after further consideration, I changed my mind. The 5 inch PDA-style screen is definitely something to boast about, but that kind of size has its problems too – like trying to fit it into a pocket. Complete with a magnetic attachable keyboard, it creates the effect of a very smart ultra mobile PC; but for day-to-day use, this just isn’t convenient. With my current phone, I can text or e-mail on the move – literally – by sliding out the full QWERTY keyboard and type as I’m walking. Try and type on this keyboard, and the magnets detatch, causing the highly expensive device to fall to the floor. Try and write onscreen whilst walking, and you create a load of gibberish that Windows Mobile doesn’t recognise.
Set up your Ameo/Athena at a desk and it creates quite a handy little computer that you can finish Word documents off on, send SMS’ or emails from or even play Solitaire on. But the keys on the keyboard are silent when pressed and you don’t even feel like you’re pressing them – which makes touchtyping very awkward.
On a good note, the 3mpixel camera is very impressive, and again, with a 5 inch screen, it has a brilliant viewfinder. It also has a VGA Out cable, meaning you could hook it up to a projector and give a presentation on it, which is pretty darn cool.
I highly rate T-Mobile as a service provider – they did a good deal for me, but in the end, I turned it down. Mainly because of the detatchable keyboard; a clever idea, but not practical enough for me. I’m always on the move, and although the Ameo/Athena is hard to resist at first, it wasn’t right for me.
Overall: 3/5 – a good bit-of-everything, but not ideal for day-to-day use.
T-Mobile MDA Vario II/HTC Hermes
I was so close to buying this, until I realised that not only did it look exactly like mine, but it actually was mine – just in a slightly different package.
It does everything the Ameo/Athena does, but just in a smaller case of a 2.8 inch screen and slide out QWERTY keyboard. Running Windows Mobile 5, the Vario II/Hermes is on the end of last season’s releases, therefore a new version is most likely due out soon.
It’s a very good phone, but mine just doesn’t work. The battery was faulty, it crashed umpteen times and the storage memory always thought it was full when it wasn’t. Granted, mine was on Vodafone, but the hardware had faults as well as the software.
Overall: 3/5 – it’s almost perfect.. but there’s no point in it if it doesn’t switch on on request.
…And as neither were ideal for me, I had to stick with what I have. I’m currently waiting for the HTC Touch to come out in England – that one looks promising. People have been asking me if I’d rather wait for an iPhone, but that’s a completely different story. I’ll talk about that one next week
Watch this space.
