Well, that didn’t take long! And it’s not that my BlackBerry doesn’t work great, don’t get me wrong — this is a solid platform trusted by hundreds of thousands Hollywood stars and Government officials alike. The only problem I have with it is that it works too well. Yeah, you heard me right. There’s nothing to tinker, hack, or mod. It’s so stable it’s scary. Try loading 10,000 contacts on your Treo and call me when it stops crashing. This little device packs a punch, but my wireless carrier has really dumbed it down. No multimedia messaging (MMS), locked GPS that forces you to buy the cheap no-thrills $9.99/mo. TeleNav, and since it’s a CDMA BlackBerry, there’s no 802.11b/g wireless support.
So, I’m going back to Redmond. Back to Bill Gates. Back to another Windows Mobile phone with all the toys. The PPC-6800, also known as the HTC Titan, “Mogul” and a few other carrier-specific nicknames. Paired with Windows Mobile 6.1, threaded text messages, multimedia message support, 802.11b/g wireless, high-speed EvDO on the Alltel/Sprint EvDO network, unlocked (hacked) GPS ready to roll with Google Maps or Windows Live, and Skype for international calling anywhere in the world from anywhere in the world? Now that’s a phone. Or should I saiy, that’s a small laptop with a built-in phone.
I’m looking to order the new HTC PocketPC (PPC) in the next week or two. Mmm, features.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Kev,
WebMessenger wasn’t to my liking. I’m a die-hard IM+ guy. I should invest money in ShapeServices I’ve spent so much with them in the past. Navigating with Google Maps is great except for the fact that you’re forgetting this is a CDMA BlackBerry, Alltel to be specific. The Pearl (Alltel) doesn’t have an unlocked GPS so you’re stuck using the $9.99 TeleNav application (Axcess Apps). Looks like you’re limited to your own imagination!
May 8th, 2008 at 2:33 PM
You can get webmessenger(free) for the bb for multi-client web messenging (MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Google etc). For the navigation grab a copy of google maps (free) it works in almost real-time, you can track your movements within a fairly decent level of accuaracy.
The BB is better than you think it is, looks like you limited your own options!
May 4th, 2008 at 12:13 PM
yracy,
I realize that now, however my provider is CDMA and since I just renewed my contract for 2 years, I’m stuck with them. A few providers don’t lock the GPS (CDMA) on these smartphones. Alltel amazed me when the BlackBerry Curve, their newest entity to the BB family, supported GPS unlocked out of the box. Oh well, my PocketPC 6800 is in the mail as we speak and with a custom cooked ROM, I’ll be supporting all MMS and unlocked GPS.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 PM
the 8120 non cdma pearl is what you should have looked into im a sprint customer so i understand but none still compare to my bb and there are plenty of gps programs other than tela nav wich is decent