looking for new PDA, help!

podowd

I'm looking to buy a PDA/Smartphone, my needs (i think) are fairly straightforward - I spend half my week in Isle of Man so need following

Windows Mobile - for accessing office email
3G - on fixed cost data tariff
wifi - will use wifi when roaming rather than expenses 3g roaming costs
decent size keyboard

it doesn't need to be small as i'm not necessarily going to replace my phone.

XDA Exec or HTC Hermes (Vodafone V1605) seems to fit the bill but i'm finding it v difficult to get a straight answer from O2 & Vodafone on pricing -O2 sent a sales guy out but he had no info on XDA and all he was interested in was trying to get me to switch our business phones over to them, no reply from vodafone as yet.

anyway, my questions are as follows;

Anyone any recommendations on which device is best?
Which network is best for 3G/Data?
Am I better of buying sim free from expansys, this would allow me to get a sim card in Isle of Man and switch cards when i travel

lots of question i know but i'm finding it v hard to get decent advice from anyone!

thanks

Paraic

skearon

podowd wrote:

I'm looking to buy a PDA/Smartphone, my needs (i think) are fairly straightforward - I spend half my week in Isle of Man so need following

Windows Mobile - for accessing office email
3G - on fixed cost data tariff
wifi - will use wifi when roaming rather than expenses 3g roaming costs
decent size keyboard

it doesn't need to be small as i'm not necessarily going to replace my phone.

XDA Exec or HTC Hermes (Vodafone V1605) seems to fit the bill but i'm finding it v difficult to get a straight answer from O2 & Vodafone on pricing -O2 sent a sales guy out but he had no info on XDA and all he was interested in was trying to get me to switch our business phones over to them, no reply from vodafone as yet.

anyway, my questions are as follows;

Anyone any recommendations on which device is best?
Which network is best for 3G/Data?
Am I better of buying sim free from expansys, this would allow me to get a sim card in Isle of Man and switch cards when i travel

lots of question i know but i'm finding it v hard to get decent advice from anyone!

thanks

Paraic

I had a Imate JasJar (XDA Exec) and currently have a V1605, both are good devices, the Jasjar has the best keyboard and has a 640x480 screen, however as a phone I found it just that little bit too large. I did use it as a purely data device with a SIM from a Vodafone connect card (currently 33 plus VAT per month for 5gb of data)

The V1605 is much more usable size for a phone and the slide out keyboard does work well.

If you are currently with Vodafone email your account manager as they should be able to give you a price immediately, except to pay between 240 and 400 plus VAT depending on your spend with them.

If you are using it as a phone as well as data Vodafone offer 25mb per month for €12 and 50mb for €20, I believe O2 give you unlimited for €20.

Both the XDA Exec and V1605 are very easy to unlock, I immediately unlocked by V1605 and then flashed it with non Vodafone firmware when I got it, the same can be done with the O2 branded EXEC. SIM free will be a lot more expensive.

podowd

thanks for your reply, very helpful.

I don't intend using it as a phone as i'll just hang on to my existing mobile for calls, so purely as a device for data which did you prefer?

why did you go from the imate to the vodafone model?