Comments on: A Phone that is not merely smart, but gifted?

Question: A Phone that is not merely smart, but gifted?

LarryC — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:05:35 -0800

Does my ideal smart phone exist? Windows Mobile, stylus, candy bar form factor, wifi, standard head jack, superior camera?

I am gearing up to replace my Cingular 8125. I use my current phone mostly to 1) take notes with a stylus (I do this every day and it is a must-have feature), 2) check my email and favorite blogs, mostly over wifi, 3) sync with my Google Calendar (via Goosync), and 4) make phone calls. I also carry a digital camera and an MP3 player, because the camera on the 8125 sucks ass and because I never can find my headphone adapter for the mini-jack on the phone.

My dream phone has all the features of the 8125 but more processing power, a standard head phone jack and a decent camera, and ideally a larger screen, which would necessitate a form factor like the iPhone. I hardly use the keyboard of the 8125 and would not mind giving it up for a larger screen and a thinner phone. In fact I see the new phone as a laptop replacement on my frequent business trips, paired perhaps with a bluetooth keyboard for writing long messages and documents.

I have prowled around CNET and the Howard Forums and so on and my dream phone does not seem to exist.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:12:17 -0800

The Cell Phone Finder does not appear to screen for your requested properties, but nonetheless, perhaps it might be of use to you at some point in your research.

By: StrikeTheViol

StrikeTheViol — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:21:33 -0800

The HTC Touch doesn't fit the bill? The other phone I was thinking of was the Sony Ericsson P1 (top camera)

By: bartleby

bartleby — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:40:21 -0800

The ideal never exists. I can point you in two directions, though...
1) do you not always need those features, and would like to lighten your load? Get a small phone with a superior camera and use a Palm TX for the rest. Stylus, wifi, probably has a sync solution for Goo, takes standard headphones, and will play pretty much any media you can put on an SD card. No phone or camera, but more amenable to add-on keyboards and use as a letter-writing tool on planes, etc. When you just want to make calls, maybe snap a candid, only take the phone. I liked the camera in my Z3, and could send/receive SMS through it to the Palm and write with the stylus instead of my thumbs.
{compromise on several points but have one small device? a Centro}

2) start shopping at HTC's website. Depending on how far you want to go to keep as many items from your wish list, you're looking at something like the Advantage (why not have a GPS navigator in there too?) or the Sprint (a Vista laptop so small you could drop it in the toilet -by accident). If you want the whiz-bangiest for the big bucks. Not sure how far you're going to get with satisfying all your list, especially with the stylus/WM6 combo.

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:43:57 -0800

The Touch has a non-standard headphone jack. That said, I used an HTC Touch Cruise coupled with a Jabra BT3030 to give me a standard headphone jack on a handsfree, mic-enabled bluetooth box. Alternatively, there are plentifu and cheap breakout cables for the Touch, if bluetooth isn't your thing.

By: bartleby

bartleby — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:46:25 -0800

darn, benzo8 - theBT3030 would have been a tiebreaker on my last 2 or 3 phone/ipod devices. is it full of dogtag stereo goodness?

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:21:37 -0800

I think it's EXACTLY what you want, but not avaliable for a few months:

Sony Xperia X1

By: healthytext

healthytext — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:11:08 -0800

i-mate Ultimate 6150
i-mate Ultimate 8150

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:49:06 -0800

> is it full of dogtag stereo goodness?

Yup - it's fully A2DP compliant, so I get full stereo out, and its built-in mic means I get handsfree calls to boot. I use it with a pair of Shure E2Cs, which are so good at cutting out external sounds that I only wish the dogtag could pass it's mic straight through to the headphones at the touch of a button, so I can hear people talking to me if I need to!

By: donovan

donovan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:53:26 -0800

The Tilt is the refresh for the 8525.

By: donovan

donovan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:54:59 -0800

Whoops, sorry you said 8125.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:16:45 -0800

Thank you friends, a lot to explore here!