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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > Goodbye P900 - time to move on. Bookmark topic

I've been "in love" with my P800 and then my P900 for over two years now but sadly it's time to move on and move away from SE. I though't I'd let you know why to hear your opinion.

Firstly, I never moved to the P910 as I didn't think the QWERTY keyboard much use and wasn't fussed about the other minor changes, but I have been looking for ages for a new phone to replace my 18mth old P900. After months of looking (and waiting for things like the Motorola MPX 300 which thankfully now seems a dog of a phone) I've gone and bought an i-mate SP3i.

The first thing that amazed me about the i-mate SP3i was the size and weight. So much smaller and lighter than the P900. The next thing that amazed me, and I really hadn't appreciate HOW BAD the P900 was in this area, was the signal quality.

We're on Orange in the UK here and I've been looking to move to Vodafone for ages because the signal is so poor. I hadn't appreciated that it was the P900 that was crap and not the network (although still Vodafone is better I accept). The first time I used my SP3i I started receiving calls and texts in places that before with my P900 never got a signal!

I like the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition software just a little more than Symbian. And I love the Active Sync over GPRS back to our Exchange 2003 server - finally can do almost what a Blackberry can (and the P900/P910 can't) and it works beautifully.

All in all I think it's time to say goodbye to my P900 and accept that the form factor (size and weight) is too much now. The SP3i seems to do everything that my P900 did (software wise a few things are not as good and several things are better) but for 2/3 the size and weight and with longer battery life.

All I'm now crying out for is in-built WiFi and not in a big Pocket PC form factor......
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Posted: 2005-04-08 14:10:19
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I've seen what happens in the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.
It's pure crap. It's a miniature Windows, extremely complex, with most applications so packed with stuff in the interface that's impossible to use without a stylus (I use my fingers about 40% of the time).
I would say Symbian UIQ is closer to a phone, Windows Mobile is closer to a desktop computer.

I love the easy to use of my P910, and I would no recommend a Windows Mobile phone to most of the people.

BTW, most people say the P910 have better signal than the P900. I guess they fixed your problem.

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Posted: 2005-04-08 14:26:47
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That's interesting. As a Symbian user for a couple of years (and also I loved the thumbwheel on the P800/P900) and before that Windows Pocket PC user I can compare them with some degree of knowledge.

Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition is extremely easy to use (as easy as Symbian). The joypad in the middle of the phone is about the same as the thumbwheel on the P900 although it's marginally more comfortable having it on the side like the P900 than in the middle of the phone.

Don't get me wrong, Sybian is great but I was surprised how good WM2003SE was. Very little to choose between them as OS.
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Posted: 2005-04-08 14:34:36
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Having been a user of PocketPC and UIQ for a few years now, my HP4155 still crashes regularly (I only use it for GPS anymore), and I've hard reset it three times this year already after it became unresponsive.

My lowly P800, on the other hand, always works. I use a Mac, and even though the sync solutions have gotten alot better, it's not the same. Windows Mobile is made for Outlook, and for them it's a rock-solid sync solution because of the one-to-one field mapping between the two.

Although I'm a little jealous of the SW selection of WM (hopefully 66 or TomTom will have GPS for the US), the Pxx is a really stable phone that also does PDA stuff. As has been mentioned, WM is a PDA that does phone stuff (although WM SmartPhone is phone first).

In general, it seems that most Pxx users who want a phone first are sticking with them.

Enjoy,
Paul


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Posted: 2005-04-08 15:16:45
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Well, I just upgraded to my p900, and im sticking to it .

Nick
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Posted: 2005-04-08 15:20:31
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So far, bits have never fallen off my p800.......

www.mphone.co.uk/pda/sp3i.html




[ This Message was edited by: strewth on 2005-04-08 14:34 ]
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Posted: 2005-04-08 15:34:19
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ive been using my S700 for a while now, but its still great having my P900 about, i dont think i'll ever sell it now.

P900 for ever!!!
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Posted: 2005-04-08 15:39:03
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I agree with FuzzyClam with respect to the software selection. There are so many out there for WMSE that I dearly want on my P910i, but can't. But, I love my SE phone as much I love my iPod.
The one and only one feature that I miss on my P910 is wifi. Other than that, no complaints what so ever
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Posted: 2005-04-08 16:06:49
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IMO, Windows Mobile is not as reliable as Symbian.It crashes/dumps info all the time. What I also dont like is that the majority of Pocket PC's have over powered CPU's. An example, The XDA2s CPU is 400mhz!Why? The only thing a processor that fast does is drain the battery. There is as far as I'm concerned, absolutely no need for such a fast prosessor in a phone. THe P9 series is (I think) 154mhz? and thats all you need. When I used the XDA2 I was lucky to get a full day out of it whereas the P900 goes on and on. I think I'll be sticking with S/E for now!
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Posted: 2005-04-08 16:08:27
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Good input so far but I think you need to understand the difference between Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 2003.

iPAQs and Pocket PCs need resetting on a daily basis. Agreed.

These newer devices running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition is a phone first with some PDA functionality and not really the other way round. I've had this device for a month now and not reset it once.

I loved the P900 but the point I'm making is that I finally got bored of the size and weight of the device (and the poor signal quality which I really didn't appreciate was so weak). I'm not proposing people buy the SP3i specifically but I am saying that there are now devices (there weren't 6 months ago in my opinion) that do pretty much everything the P900 does for less size and weight and better battery.

For me, the ability to sync remotely my office Email, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks was very important and this was almost impossible to do with the P900 (has anyone every got that Msync to work or whatever it's called?!). Active Sync over GPRS to our Exchange 2003 is a dream.

There are some down sides with this device though. It doesn't have a cradle (just a usb lead which also charges it - so that is better) and it doesn't have a back up option (without a third party product that costs $20) unlike the SE desktop software. However it does sync continuously when plugged in unlike SE.

One feature I miss terribly on my P900 is the ability to check my 7 email accounts in one go. On this device I have to go into each inbox and send/receive from there. However, there are certain things it does better than the P900 to outweigh that.
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Posted: 2005-04-08 17:51:01
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