Best Mac-compatible PIM cell?

March 8, 2006 10:50 AM

CellPhoneFilter: I want to purchase a new PIM-capable phone to take on my trip around the world.

I want to use the phone to replace my current PDA (why bring both?), but I don't feel the need for a full-size smartphone (unless that's the best option).

Requirements: GSM, unlocked (going to use SIMs around the world), tri or quad band, bluetooth. QWERTY would be great, but is not a requirement. And it MUST sync contacts, tasks, memos, and other PIM info with a Mac running OS X Tiger. Finally, I don't really care about it having a camera. A similar question was asked in January, but my specifics are a little different, so I hope nobody minds the question...

So, what's my best option? Price is somewhat of an object - I'm not going to be paying $500 for this phone.

posted by Gaz Errant to technology (9 comments total)

Start with this list, compare with what's currently available, look up their stats at manufacturers' or networks' home pages.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:10 AM on March 8, 2006

mcwetboy, yes, I'm doing that as well. Unfortunately, the manufacturers' web pages aren't exactly an unbiased resource for determining the best phone.
posted by Gaz Errant at 11:13 AM on March 8, 2006

I should also probably clarify that I'm looking for something with uncrippled bluetooth - I don't care about headsets, I want the bluetooth for syncing to the Mac.
posted by Gaz Errant at 11:24 AM on March 8, 2006

I just got a Nokia 6680, and I'm very happy with it. Your best bet is to go an independent cell phone shop. Here in California, the shops that cater to Asian immigrants seem to have the best selections of phones and prices. Phones tend to be gray market (unlocked, but warranty only through the shop). I paid $180 for the phone with a 1-year contract with T-Mobile. It's got just about every function you can think of, including a music player that works with AAC files, which is nice for Mac users. I'm a fan of the Symbian OS that the phone uses. By all means, get a copy of Salling Clicker, which lets you control all sort of things on your Mac, and is actually quite useful.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 11:35 AM on March 8, 2006

I have bought most of my Nokias on ebay, some unlocked some not. Most are unlockable with a keycode so even if you get one that is locked via your cell provider you can unlock it. Google up the howard forums and you'll find a lot of info on the matter there.

As far as crippled bluetooth, to the best of my knowledge the only people doing that is Verizon and since those aren't GSM phones it's irrelevant to you anyway.
posted by phearlez at 11:48 AM on March 8, 2006

Treo 650 (or the new palm one coming later this year.) - palm interface, with almost every major carrier. Does all you want and then some.
posted by filmgeek at 11:51 AM on March 8, 2006

Depending on the carrier, they may or may not unlock the phone if you buy one with a plan after you mention international travel. Some require you to have been with them for a while, others require travel documentation.

I'd also recommend Nokia phones for bluetooth synchronization. Some of the newest ones may require you to hack a settings file, but the synching should be about the same regardless if it's a series 60 phone. I can very easily synchronize contacts including address and photo info with my Powerbook and Nokia 6600. In the US, you'll have problems finding anything other than a Nokia 668x phone through a major carrier, though.
posted by mikeh at 1:30 PM on March 8, 2006

I just picked up a T-Mobile MDA (HTC Wizard), and love it. It's quad band GSM. It runs Windows Mobile 5.0, and it slides open to expose a QWERTY keyboard (you can see more from t-mobile.com). Cingular has the same device (slightly different keyboard layout). There are several free utilities that will allow you to program the device with operating system ROMS from other manufacturers (like iMate) that have less branding and restriction (and run faster!). You can also get free utilities to remove the SIM Subsidy lock. There's a large community of "hackers" (in the good sense) at sites like www.xda-developers.com.

The big down side is that since it is Windows Mobile 5.0, and it is relatively new, no one has synching working to Mac OS X yet. It does, however, support vCard, so you can (painfully) sync your Address Book contacts until the third party vendors get syncing working with WM5.

If you need something today that has full Mac OS X support, you're going to have to go with an older device running Windows Mobile 2003 or like has been suggested above, a Treo device.
posted by jeversol at 1:35 PM on March 8, 2006

Another Nokia fan here - the N70 is hands down the best 'phone I've ever had. You do have to make a minor change to a .plist file on the Mac to get it to play with iSync, but once done it works perfectly. It doesn't have a QWERTY keypad, but the predictive text is good - I've actally used it to file copy a couple of times after stupidly going out without my iBook power cable, and writing a 300 word piece wasn't too painful. (No idea what it would cost you, mine was a free upgrade...)
posted by jack_mo at 5:54 AM on March 9, 2006