Thursday, March 06, 2008

Time for a new gadget?

I'm wondering if its time to upgrade my gadget PDA-phone...

I've had my i-Mate JAMin for about two years now and its beginning to show signs of age. But if I replace it, what should I replace it with?

Good features of the JAMin I'd like to keep:
  1. Windows Mobile. OK, its not perfect, but I'm used to it now and would rather not have to change to Symbian or something else.
  2. Touch screen control (i.e. Windows Mobile pro)
  3. Wi-fi
  4. Bluetooth
  5. General overall size. It fits in my pocket, anything bigger wouldn't.
  6. Memory card slot
  7. Ability to play videos. Handy on short plane flights (i.e. those without in-flight movies)
  8. Camera. Actually a low light, higher res camera would be great. Like the LG Viewty.
But I'd also like:
  1. Some form of keypad. It is close to impossible to send texts using stylus entry on a bus or in a car (as a passenger!). Either a full QWERTY keyboard or just a simple numeric keypad with predictive text is highly desirable on the new gadget.
  2. A bigger screen. Although this may not be possible in the same size of unit, I'd like a bigger screen, maybe just longer for widescreen movies. Like the Samsung F700? (but it doesn't have wi-fi or Windows, so its out - nice screen though), or possibly
  3. Higher screen resolution. If the screen was the same size but had higher resolution, that would be good. Full VGA would be excellent, especially for PowerPoint previews.
  4. VGA out. This is the ultimate. The ability to run a PowerPoint presentation from the gadget on an external projector or monitor. More and more gadgets have this. Cool.
  5. GPS. This started appearing on phones not long after I got the Jamin. Would be nice as a bonus.
  6. SDHC. That is, the ability to have memory cards with a capacity of more than 2Gb.
  7. HSDPA. That is, 'mobile broadband' on the 3G networks.
Anyone any ideas as to what I should choose?

Eten Glofiish M700 and the HTC Tytn II seem to fit most of these requirements and the forthcoming i-Mate 9502 and Toshiba G920 look good too. Any advice?


I've compared the sizes of the new gadgets compared to the old one. All slightly larger, but hardly significantly so. Indeed the only one much bigger is the Toshiba. But because of the clamshell design of the Toshiba, it is the only one of the four considered here that wouldn't need some form of protective case, so the sizes probably ballance out totally.

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4 Comments:

At 12:23 pm, Blogger Marcus Green said...

But does it make phonecalls?

And none of these has a toaster oven.

I must really get up to date...

 
At 12:26 pm, Blogger Ricky Carvel said...

Phonecalls? Phonecalls!? How very 20th Century of you...!

;o)

 
At 12:05 am, Blogger Ricky Carvel said...

Actually, the ability to make and receive phonecalls is not too high on my list of priorites.

For every phonecall I receive on my mobile I get about 5 texts and 30-50 e-mails.

My i-Mate is more often used as a text machine, an e-mail client and as a web browser than it is as a phone.

 
At 11:05 pm, Blogger Marcus Green said...

You're right.

I'm in a really retro mood right now.

I actually sent someone a birthday card last week. A real card. In an envelope. With a stamp and everything. Can you believe it? It was like being in an episode of Doctor Who, I felt so 1987.

M

 

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