Help please! PDA/Phone combination wanted

margaret_3

I wonder if I could get some advice please.
I travel a lot and a PDA has been recommended to save me taking my laptop.
As I'm going to Hong Kong shortly I decided to buy one there but I don't know which one etc.
I need a new mobile phone and at present I'm on vodafone PAYG.
I should be grateful for any advice.

DVB_3

Personally use SPV M2000 (Orange) and like it very much.

alpha112

I recommend a Sony Ericsson P910 if you have the money, or the cheaper P900 and P800.

They have a touch screen which the SPV doesnt and the P910 has a small flap down keyboard.

Make sure the phone you buy is GSM 900/1800 compatible otherwise it wont work in the UK.

DVB_3

SPV M2000, being a PDA, does not have a touchscreen??? Impressive.

mrvolleyball

alpha112 wrote:

I recommend a Sony Ericsson P910 if you have the money, or the cheaper P900 and P800.

I have a P910 and love it. You can even get a 1 Gb memory stick for it for about £80ish. Then you have a decent sized MP3 player aswell as a phone/PDA.
Any questions on it, just let me know.

fonefather

Margaret got in touch with me and this was the response I gave. She was quite happy with the response so i've opted to post it here. Beware - it's a large read and personally should be in the GSM/Mobile phone section. Hope others benefit from this too. Once again, if anyone else has any questions then drop me a message or a mail.

Regards,
FF.


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Margaret,

Have had a thought about this while I was going through my boring work here.

£150 isn't too bad for a handset, my only qualm would be what type of
phone is it. Be aware that

- £150 can get you an XDA I* (which I'll enclose photos off as you
might recognise it!) or a basic model of the SE PDA Phones (such as
the P800/P900). I have had all these 3 phones and I personally
wouldn't recommend any other brand for browsing on the net.
- I advise not to opt for blackberry at all costs. These handsets
aren't suitable for general browsing and from working at Fujitsu they
suit only the purpose of geeks checking on servers.

You can pick up handsets in the far east for a good price. The only
things you will need to check are:

- Whether the phones are sim free (what do I mean? That they aren't
signed to any contracts or badged by any network).
- Whether they run on at LEAST the GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz networks (ie,
they are dual or tri band). This is essential because the handset
would be able to work here under any of the uk networks which you
decide to opt for.

You mention you are on Vodafone PAYG which is great for calls… but
doesn't really suit the purpose of browsing while on the move as well.
You mention topletter.com which I imagine is the first website you
will check once you get your hands on a PDA phone handset.

There are two aspects which you need to look out for when hunting for
tariffs which would accommodate a PDA handset.

- Allocated WAP minutes.
- GPRS browsing rates.

WAP is Wireless Application Protocol… which in English means that it
is a ''dial up internet service'' from your phone. This means that
when you want to browse on the net you have to dial up and browse.
GPRS (forgot what it means!!) is a 'forever on the net service' which
keeps you connected BUT only charges you for what you download (hence
no waiting for dialling up to surf on the net).

As you spend approximately between £10-£20 a month, there are a
variety of tariffs by which you can make your decisions. You can:

- Opt for tariffs with lots of minutes and use those minutes for WAP
purposes (WAP minutes are treated as 'normal talk' minutes by all
operators).
- Opt for a tariff which includes a data allocation to it so you can
have a GPRS connection all the time (such as 1Mb, 5Mb up to unlimited)
which means that you're browsing minutes are separated from your call
minutes (which I imagine would be the best for you as you would be
browsing websites such as google and checking your mails).

Now that I've explained what approach to take I'll base my advice onto
examples which I think would be suitable and therefore stick to your
budgets:

PLAN ONE: Customised package.

1. You buy a handset from the Far East and then bring it back home.
2. You opt for a tariff with one of the UK networks here (maybe on
contract as it's a lot more manageable then PAYG and it's not as
annoying as when you run out of credit!!) and slot the sim into the
handset.
3. Should you be on a contract and be given a phone, you can then use
that phone as a backup with your old PAYG sim card – that way you
don't lose your number plus you can hand that handset to your partner
or keep it yourself.

Result: You get the phone you want, you have the flexibility of
swapping handsets if need be *and* you can browse on the net.

PLAN TWO: Keeping it 'UK'.

1. Instead of purchasing abroad, you opt for a PDA Phone here with an
allocated tariff on a selected network. That way you start afresh and
you can spend cash in the Far East on other cool gadgets.
2. You can transfer your number over and stick to one handset. No
complexities and everything is ok.

Being the guy who changes handsets from month to month I would opt for
Plan ONE. I would recommend that:

- Should you get a handset on contract you should *always* get it
insured. Your bank should offer insurance as a lot of the networks
will charge quite a bit for PDA phones (as they tend to be higher in
value). My bank (First Direct) offers combined phone and worldwide
travel insurance for only £10 a month which is great as I'm nearly
always on the move.
- You choose a tariff which covers your needs.

*Prices are dependant on where your sources are, whether they be eBay (where it will be a tad cheaper) or a tad more (from the o2 shop).

I'm bored at work so i'm going to hunt for Margaret today on tariffs available. No links will be affiliated and will be directly to the website (will post to ''mods'' as well should they wish to have a look as well) so if anyone else wants to have a look then feel free to mail me and i'll get one mailed across. If things are ok i'll just post it up here?



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margaret_3

Gosh fff, what a lot of work you've put in.
Many, many thanks.
Margaret