Which PDA-style phone should I get for Cingular?

A

Anitha

New member
Hi everyone. It's been quite a while since I posted last. My girlfriend and I are thinking of starting a business. I would like for us to get a dependable PDA device where we could access email, possibly use some kind of mapping/GPS program (we'd be going to customers' homes so this would help with directions/getting there), and something that gets good reception/call quality because the device would also serve as our business phone line. A camera could quite possibly be a feature I'd acutally utilize, but it's not mandatory to have. The main phones I'm inquiring about would be the newest Black Berry device that's out, the Treo, HP with the camera, and the Cingular 8125. But insight on any other devices that we should consider would be greatly apprecated too.

When I mention having a device that's dependable, I'm not just referring to the quality of the device as how long it will last. I also want to make sure it's something that doesn't have a tendency to freeze up, restart itself, have really bad lag when opening an application or doing anything on the phone, etc.

As far as email access, I'm thinking the Blackberry is the best option simply because of the push technology. That way I'd be able to instantly get the emails as they come in as opposed to having to log into my email every so often to see if I have any that are unread. Unless, are there any devices out now that can alert me similar to a B.B. when I get the emails?

Thanks in advance for any insight any of you can offer. I used to sell cell phones for 4 years for AT&T but I've been out of it for a couple years now and I haven't played around with any smartphone/PDA devices since the MPX-200 came out. And that thing was terrible.

On a side note:

As far as sevice for the device, we currently have a 3 line family plan. Is it possible to add a B.B. onto the plan for the $9.99 fee and then add the unlimited B.B. data plan? If we didn't get a B.B., I'm sure there's no issue with adding the line for $9.99 and then just getting a regular unlimited data plan, right?
 
I'm not an expert like a lot of people here.
I have the 8125, and here are the plus/minuses, for what you're saying:

E-mail is a PLUS. With new ROM's, it can support "push" technology, but I use POP e-mail set to check every 2 minutes, which is instant enough for me.

Computer sync is a BIG PLUS. This phone syncs with everything in MS Outlook: Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and Tasks, even e-mail. (I sync all but e-mail).

Phone is so-so. I don't think any of these products are as good as dedicated cell phones. All cell phones drop calls and have occasionally bad quality. The downsides to this specific phone are the lack of tactile buttons, and the ease of brushing an on-screen button with your cheek, which can put the phone on hold, etc. A lot of the phone problems can be solved by using Bluetooth, but I've tried three bluetooth headsets without much consistency. Maybe other uses have had better results with Bluetooth.

I haven't tried GPS Mapping. I tried to use Google Maps and Mapquest, without much luck. Other people have done better.

The camera STINKS. The LCD screen is great for viewing photos, but the camera takes horrible pictures.

When I bought the phone, the guy wanted to add the $40/month data plan. I told him no. So he offered me a $20 discount on my $140/month phone service if I bought the $40/month data plan. YMMV.
 
Interesting. Thanks for all of that info. All good things to know and you offered some insight I haven't read anywhere else. Thanks for all of this.

And just out of curiosity, how did they manage to give you a $20/mo credit on your phone service for adding a data package?
 
Ouch. You're asking me to explain a cell phone bill? Can't you just ask me to solve a physics problem, or explain organic chemistry?

My plan is $140/month for 3,000 minutes.
They discount the $140 plan by 20%, which is a $28 discount.

With the discount, the total bill for two phones that don't exceed the 3,000 minutes, plus one $40 data plan, is just over $200/month.
 
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