GSM or CDMA for pda phone?

F

fr_nnnnnn

New member
Howdy,

Not so much a "what phone should I get" as a "what provider should I go with"...

I'm going to be moving to a PDA style phone. Ability to browse the web/email is something I want. Currently I'm with Verizon, and have been looking at the XV6700 and (hopefully soon) upcoming XV6800.

However, when researching those phones, I ran across other interesting looking PDA phones that were GSM instead of CDMA. Apparently Cingular is the big GSM provider in my area (Youngstown, OH and Pittsburgh, PA)?

So... Are there any benefits/drawbacks to CDMA (Verizon) or GSM (Cingular)? Or should I make the decision solely on phone availability and not worry too much about the underlying provider technology?

Along with that, if you'd like to make a phone recommendation, that'd be cool... :-) The XV6700 is the the best thing I've played with so far with the relatively large & usable keyboard and relatively large display, but I wouldn't mind both being bigger yet. Windows Mobile 6 vs. WM5 also seems like it might be nice? I've seen some GSM pda phones on pdadb.net that look interesting like the I-Mate Ultimate 7150 (http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=721), but I'm also not particularly sure if that phone will work here in the US with Cingular or whatever...

Sorry for the newbie questions! I appreciate the help, even if its just a link to something that explains all this to a newbie like me... :-)

Mark

(edit: Perhaps the I-mate above isn't actually a phone though?)
 
You should make the decision based first on the provider and then on what you need the PDA to do.

Look at where you will use the phone - where you live, travel, work, etc. If you travel internationally, then GSM is your choice in most cases. In addition, you can unlock a GSM phone to use on another carrier, not so with CDMA, you are stuck with that carrier.

As to whether one technology is better than the other, I can't say. I don't think it really makes a lot of differnece. Currently CDMA is faster and GSM has more phones available. Speed depends on many things, such as reception, processor, and memory, so I really don't consider that as much. Connectivity is the big issue in my book.

Are you looking for a Smartphone or a Pocket PC. Big differences so you need to make a choice there after you pick the carrier.
 
Howdy,

Thanks for the reply!

Where I live & work, both Verizon and Cingular show good coverage on their coverage maps. I've not had Cingular, but Verizon certainly has decent coverage in actual fact as well, though around the Youngstown, OH area its only 1x vs. EV.

I don't care about international travel, and am not particularly concerned with the ability to unlock the phone.

I also don't particularly understand the difference between a smart phone and a pocket pc... I'm looking for a device that will allow me to make telephone calls and also function as a PDA. The HTC Apache (verizon XV6700) I played with seemed to have the best screen & particularly keyboard of the ones I played with in the store, but something with a little larger screen & perhaps a bit bigger keyboard would be welcome. I'm sure at some point it would get too big for me to want to carry it around, but the XV6700 wasn't at that point by any means.

Mark
 
If you need to edit Word and Excel files, then you need to go with a PPC as all you can do is read on a Smartphone. Also some of the PPCs out there (Cingular 8525 for instance) has WiFi. None of the Smartphones that I know of do not. There is also a difference into how outlook and IE is implemented. And the PPC usually has a faster processor and of course, costs more.

The Motorola Q and Cingular Blackjack are smartphones. The 8525 and the XV6700 are PPCs.
 
Howdy,

Ok, then I definitely want a PPC...

So, my question then becomes... If I go with Cingular/GSM, can I get Cingular service for a phone they don't currently offer through their website?

It seems like there are some "more PDA than phone" PPC's that trade off a little more size for better PDA functionality but still retail phone abilities. If I get one of these and it does GSM/Edge/whatever, will Cingular sell me service?

Or is there something more to it than that?

Mark
 
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