Spec me a PDA/Mobile Email Device

The_KiD

The_KiD

The_KiD

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Mods, sorry if this is not right place, but didnt see anywhere for PDA's etc.

Anyways, my work have asked me to find a device that all our branch staff can use when they are on the move to collect emails, open attachments and possibly use as a mobile phone.

They need something that is hardwaring, but as small as possible as they dont wanna carry laptops with them everywhere.

Requirements:

Must be able to collect email
Must be able to open office attachments (excel & word only)
Must have wireless connectivity
Must have connectivity through GPRS or 3G
Hardwaring, the branch staff can be a little hamfisted.

Also the price needs to be reasonable and not into the 1000's or even too many hundreds as we will be buying about 200 of them.

Any idea's guys?
 
i-mate JASJAR aka the O2 XDA Exec

imate-jasjar_00.jpg


http://www.gsmarena.com/i_mate_jasjar-1262.php < Specs
 
The htc models all have at least gprs and most have wifi as well, and they run windows mobile.

The o2 xda range are a good choice however you can only get htc pdas on a contract unless you buy them unlocked off ebay.

http://www.gsmarena.com/o2-phones-30.php

Around £200-250 for most of them.

The following have wifi and gprs/3g.

XDA IIi GPRS
XDA IIs GPRS
XDA Trion 3G
XDA Atom GPRS
XDA Neo GPRS
XDA Mini-S GPRS
XDA Exec 3G
 
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Sorry I forgot to say that if possible the device needs to be usable in most countries, especially USA & Australia.

How do I tell?
 
Thanks for that (/me slap head)

Also I should have said, our work email is pop3 based as they dont wanna splash out for exchange or something similar, so the device must be able to accept pop3 mail.

Now I have guessed that the i-Mate and XDA's will have no problem with this, however my work keep talking about Blackberry's.

Is this something the blackberry can do? what are the advatages of Blackberry over and XDA or imate? and what are the disadvatages?
 
the m5000 seems good and gets good reviews at the places I just looked at.

However just for comparison's sake, does the i-mate JasJar work on on Orange too?
 
The_KiD said:
one more addition, cant use XDA :( as our phones are with Orange (sorry)
Click to expand...

Other companies like orange sell the same models under a different name.

Blackberries really are just cut down xdas.
 
How about the Nokia E61?

- Push e-mail via Blackberry/Good/Visto/Microsoft Exchange/etc.
- Includes Office/PDF viewing software
- 802.11b/g WiFi
- 3G connectivity
- No touchscreen to damage and good build quality
- Quad-band GSM for roaming to the US (and any other country)
- 14mm thick
 
The_KiD said:
the m5000 seems good and gets good reviews at the places I just looked at.

However just for comparison's sake, does the i-mate JasJar work on on Orange too?
Click to expand...

Of course it does, the i-mate jasjar, the qtek 9000 (i think thats the right model number) the XDAexec,m5000 and MDA pro are ALL the exact same phone, just rebranded and provided with different firmware so-to-speak. They are ALL the HTC Universal phone.

Hope that clears stuff up, i know its confusing, soon HTC are going to start selling their phones directly to the public too, so that will be another name :D.

//Edit: I'll clear this up some more :)
I-mate Jasjar/Qtek 9000 = Unlocked simfree phones qtek and imate just rebrand HTC phones.
m5000 = Oranges locked and branded version of the HTC Universal
XDA exec = O2s locked version
MDA pro = Tmobiles locked version

But flash anyone with the i-mate or qtek firmware and you've got exactly the same phone, maybe in a slightly different colour and with a different logo on the front. I have th MDApro, but it's running without all the garbage tmobile seem to think i want!

//Edit2: In fact, if you want the latest and greatest look here, it's out VERY soon, it will be one of HTC's first self branded phones :).
 
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I have the M5000 and it is a great Gadget.Not the greatest camera ever on a phone/PDA but that's what Digi Cameras are for.
 
LeperousDust said:
Of course it does, the i-mate jasjar, the qtek 9000 (i think thats the right model number) the XDAexec,m5000 and MDA pro are ALL the exact same phone, just rebranded and provided with different firmware so-to-speak. They are ALL the HTC Universal phone.

Hope that clears stuff up, i know its confusing, soon HTC are going to start selling their phones directly to the public too, so that will be another name :D.

//Edit: I'll clear this up some more :)
I-mate Jasjar/Qtek 9000 = Unlocked simfree phones qtek and imate just rebrand HTC phones.
m5000 = Oranges locked and branded version of the HTC Universal
XDA exec = O2s locked version
MDA pro = Tmobiles locked version

But flash anyone with the i-mate or qtek firmware and you've got exactly the same phone, maybe in a slightly different colour and with a different logo on the front. I have th MDApro, but it's running without all the garbage tmobile seem to think i want!

//Edit2: In fact, if you want the latest and greatest look here, it's out VERY soon, it will be one of HTC's first self branded phones :).
Click to expand...

Care to go thgrough the steps of rebranding a mda pro? as id love a faster one with all of T mobiles crap
 
When you hard reset the MDA pro (in my case) soft reset it before the tmobile cab starts installing everything. When it starts up, you have a blank canvas basically. You need to set all the message centre etc. manually thats about it really. I think i found out where to do it on the xda dev site. I'm popping out now, when i get back later, i'll try and write something conclusive up :).
 
You might also want to look at something like the Nokia 9300i due to the better keyboard than most other phone/PDAs...
 
Energize said:
It still has a screen which can be damaged. :confused: Touchscreens damage less easily than normal screens because they have such strong scratch resistance.
Click to expand...

I have always found touchscreens to be more fragile. Whilst a scratch on a regular screen can be annoying, on a touchscreen it can lead to the inability to use part of the screen and cause major problems with hand writing recognition. This is probably why there are so many 3rd party screen protectors available for PDAs.

A touchscreen is a much more complex piece of technology that a regular screen and complexity often means that there's more things to go wrong.

At least this has been my experience with the various PDAs, phones and gadgets that I've owned.
 
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