| Author |
Big P800 Review .... |
dal_l
Joined: Mar 23, 2002
Posts: 97
PM |
For all prospective buyers ... it's definitely worth a read ... pretty indepth and cool ....
www.ocworkbench.com |
|
|
psikey
Joined: Jan 31, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: UK - South Yorkshire
PM |
Thanks for the link - good read.
When it comes to P800 info I am like a sponge taking in all I can get so that I am 150% sure I want to buy it when its available in the UK. |
ofiaich
Joined: Nov 12, 2001
Posts: > 500
From: East Yorkshire, England
PM |
Dal_l thanks too! I enjoyed reading!
Psikey I am in East Yorkshire. Where do you think you will get your P800 from? And on what network?
I used CWP a lot in the past and don't get a good reception near to where I live with Orange.
Ofiaich |
Lemmy
Joined: Dec 19, 2001
Posts: 72
PM |
Very nice! Enjoyed the article all the way. A very "Hands on" kind of view.
/Lemmy |
Cunning Man
Joined: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 40
PM |
Yes, good review. I wish I had read it before I bought the darn thing. The reviewer had the same Outlook syncing problem that I've been having since I got it 3 days ago. This is a real problem for me as I was counting on using it as my main PDA. Sigh.
I'm now looking to sell the P800. Heh anyone interested can email me at the_cunning_man@hotmail.com. Looking for US$800 o.b.o for my UK version...
C |
ShibbyLicious
Joined: Jul 25, 2002
Posts: 290
From: UK
PM |
hmmmm, i must disagree and comment that i was very dissapointed with the reviewer and the points he made,
i liked his hands on walk through style (you felt as though he had the phone in front of him) but he didnt seem to grasp what the p800 is - a smartphone and not a wannabe 7650 which he shapes it up to be 
although he may have it rated well in the end i just couldnt help but feel a lot of unneccessary negatism from the guy
for one thing he pointed out about screen resolution and then categorised it with the smasung t100 in a manner that suggested that only these 2 and not the 7650 used a tft screen which just gives out the wrong impression
as for his list of cons well erm :
'not a real PDA'
i mean u must be joking - how is that a con, its a smartphone it doesnt set out to be a real PDA or else it would be made by palm and called the tungsten T
'only 12mb memory'
yet at the beginnning of the review he states how 4mb of mem in a pda would well suit nearly all types of user, so this has 3x that plus the mem stick adding another 16........whats the gripe den ?!
'MemoryStick DUO ... a limited & doubtful option'
riiiiiiiight..........he moans about mem stick only bein 16mb and not bigger sizes available and gives an opninion that the format is going nowhere.........well a little reading shows how 64mb magicgate duos are soon on their way and how 1gb mem stick are to be available end 03, also that the format is growing hugely, albeit not as big as sd/flash/mmc etc but still growing it is with many other manufacturers finally putting the technology into their products too...so i juts dont see again what his gripe is there AGAIN !
and thew rest of the cons are frankly niggling instances of things that for the reviewer mean it doesnt quite match the cuddly features of the nokia 7650
i like his reviewing style and he does go through the phone well but the guys mindset and thoughts are all just on a wrong level and i just dont see how his gripes are founded in any way
*apart from the outlook sync prob which i pray  will fix asap *
nuff said
|
jplacson
Joined: Apr 21, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Philippines
PM, WWW
|
hehehehe... I totally agree with you... the review was good... but the reviewer was obviously looking for a PDA 'upgrade' which the P800 is NOT. It never pretended to be an upgrade to a full blown PPC or Clie... but despite that... it kicks the ass out of ALL Palm (the brand, not the platform) models, save for the new TT. It almost knocks out all other PDAs in the Palm platform except for, of course, the Sony Clies. The fact that the P800 has a 200MHz CPU means that only the PPC, and new NX series Clies can outperform it in raw CPU power.
With regards to the Memstick standard...well, I honestly prefer it to the open standard MMC and SD standards for one reason... I'm SURE that when a device has the Memstick or Memstick Duo logo, the corresponding stick will work with that device. Not ALL SD devices work with SD card slots (Palms BT SD is proof of that)..so I'm fine with the Duo... all these 'standards' change so fast anyway, and none of the companies really stick to them...so to hell with 'standards'.
My only real complaints about the P800 are:
1.) It should've had a 16-bit ...or even Sony's new 18-bit screen by now.. after all the delays... they should've used a better screen already to make sure no one could easily catch up.
2.) Color... PLEASE...ENOUGH WITH THE BLUE AND WHITE!!!!
3.) I agree with the reviewer in that the loudspeaker should've been in front with Ericsson's proximity sensor (the 7650 copied this feature from Ericsson's older R520 which had a speakerphone and proximity sensor)
4.) Stylus should've been a standard Clie/Palm stylus. Would've made for lower production costs since they could've just bought the stylus off the Sony Clie line. And the baby blue (ugh) stylus doesn't look good to justify a new design, and it's not THAT small either.
5.) Keypad design sucks... thank God you can remove the ugly thing.
6.) Camera button should've been programmable, default as the camera button...but what if you hardly use the cam, and use the voice memo more often? Not important...but it would be a nice feature to be able to map it.
7.) Sliding lens cover, or something that would protect the camera lens... I know it's recessed, but it might not be enough.
8.) Last one... not a complaint, just a suggestion... a camera-less version that's thinner: 15-17mm thick or so. The 1" thickness of the P800 is a bit too fat for me. If removing the camera would trim the profile by half... that would be perfect!  This is not a complaint against the P800... just a suggestion for ANOTHER model, maybe a P700 or something. |
kengsim
Joined: Nov 18, 2002
Posts: 21
PM |
Nice review, but I've to agree with some of the other posters' points. Anyway, the screen quality looks a bit too bluish, and blurry when compared to the 7650. Has anyone taken a first-hand look at the P800? Is the screen really that bad? I'd splurge on the first phone that uses the 3900 series iPAQ screen... |
dal_l
Joined: Mar 23, 2002
Posts: 97
PM |
Nah .. I kinda like his style ... all the goods and bads on the table. Come guys ... if you have read this forum enough .. many are planning to dump their PPCs or Palms to get the P800 .. that's how complete a PDA many think it would be ... |
jplacson
Joined: Apr 21, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Philippines
PM, WWW
|
iPaq screen? EWWW!!!  just kidding... but don't wish for it... it eats up way too much power (which is why I think SE didn't use it, the iPaq screen BTW, is made by Sony, fyi)
The newer NX screen is much better... and so is Viewsonic's PPC PDA. But check out the screen used by the newbie Neonode, it's Sony's new 18-bit (yes, that's 200K++ colors vs. 65K on a 16-bit screen) and it's more vibrant, and draws less power than a 16-bit. This is why I was wondering why SE didn't use this screen instead. Maybe 12-bit screens really save a lot of power.
Power drain is a HUGE issue with mobiles... much more than PDAs since PDA's don't provide communication and aren't left on. A mobile MUST be more power conscious than a PDA for that reason.
I like the all-in-one concept since this further reduces power needs, since a PDA+Bluetooth+mobile would drain power from all your devices pretty fast...mainly due to the BT RX/TX connection.
I will admit that the P800 is NOT a PDA upgrade or replacement... but for those of us who don't really use all PDA functions ALL the time, the P800 is a good solution. I feel it is the BEST solution for now for a truly mobile office.
PDAs are becoming mroe versatile, capable of a lot more than just basic PIM/Doc/Spreadsheet functions...these older PDA expectations have been met and exceeded by the P800... I believe, instead of expecting the P800 to be more like a PDA, we should now expect MORE from our PDAs... cuz right now, the gap between a full blown PDA and P800 isn't that far... I believe PDAs should be the ones doing more the widen the gap, instead of the P800 trying to close it.
What I think we should expect from our PDAs:
1.) Better battery life...not just larger mAh batteries, but PDA's that actually use less power than they already do.
2.) Better touchscreen technology. Current touchscreen technology is very fragile and always requires re-alignment... touchscreen manufacturers should look into developing screens that are hard and don't require re-alignment...EVER. Pressure sensitivity would be great as well, giving graphic designers a way to work away from the desk (even if the workspace is the size of a 3M Post-It note)
3.) Thinner profiles... PDA manufacturers (Compaq specifically) seems to think that making a PDA fat is ok...it's NOT. Considering they don't have GSM radios built-in, they should be a lot thinner than the P800. Viewsonic gets major points for placing their PDA line on a major diet.
4.) Built-in WiFi standards...802.11a or b, and Bluetooth... and please, make them work out of the box.
5.) Sync software that doesn't give us headaches.
6.) Full learning (can learn from any existing remote) IR remote software as standard. Thank you Sony for giving us standard remotes to use with your TVs But I prefer learning remotes as opposed to universal (preprogrammed) remotes
7.) More built-in memory (64 should now be the norm & 128MB as optional), and option to choose what kind of external memory you want (a removable expansion card slot that can be changed to accept SD, MMC, or Memstick [Duo] media... something like the Ultrabays on IBM laptops) so I can buy a Sony Clie, with an MMS or SD slot option... or a Compaq iPaq with a Memstick slot option. That way, whatever digital cam format I have, I don't have to buy new media.
8.) Better designs... Compaq and Palm get points for great looking PDAs... Sony gets no points for using the same square template for all Clie's and SE phones! Can they please hire Philippe Starck to breathe some life into their blocks? |
ppcrockar
Joined: Mar 04, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden
PM |
@ kengsim
I've tried both the P800 and the 7650 and the P800 screen is much better. Much nicer and "richer" colors. The P800 screen is very good, with good contrast and sharp nice colors. |
XBone
Joined: Dec 11, 2001
Posts: 176
From: BE / Switzerland
PM, WWW
|
To give the "PDA or not PDA"-Question a new turn:
I plan to buy the P800, and use it mainly as a phone (if you can still call it that...). I have a Tungsten T and another Bluetooth enabled phone, and I'm gonna take with me either the Tungsten and the phone, or the P800. And after all, the P800 is just a must-have-mobile, isn't it? I don't think you should even consider it an opponent to a Tungsten, it's simply a darn well equipped phone.
If I could only get my hands on one... 
So, happy new year to everyone, and slip over well! |
jplacson
Joined: Apr 21, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Philippines
PM, WWW
|
To all P800 owners... is it possible to copy an SMS that's saved on your SIM, BACK to the phone's Inbox folder?
I need to upgrade my SIM to a higher capacity one but I don't want to lose my saved SMS messages. I was hoping the P800 can back them up. The Nokia 7110 can do this. |
slikk
Joined: Oct 17, 2002
Posts: 7
PM |
i agree with you who disagree..he seems to attatched to his 7650.. which is a really gay phone! t68i kicks its ass! the p800 will live up to its expectations ..also most of the cons were somewhat trying hard to put the p800 down.. mp3 as ringtones..OH COME ON! who the hell needs that? its a phone, not a total media player!! does ur '7650' hav that?! lack of USB support for keyboards.etc... would u really lug around a keyboard when u hav a virtual one built in? lack of software..editing function for docs...all can be done since the damn thing is upgradeable.The "limited an doubtful option" of the memory stick can probably serve as external memory for the "limited" 12mb memory. "Not a real pda"?? I thought PDA stood for personal digital assistant? Thats exactly what it is! keep memos..phonebook..datebook...built in phone camera! geez what more could u ask for?! p800 all the way! |
psikey
Joined: Jan 31, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: UK - South Yorkshire
PM |
@ofiaich
Got one pre-ordered at CPW & Expansys (see which one comes up first).
Currently with Vodafone (contract now done) but will go for best deal at time.
[ This Message was edited by: psikey on 2003-01-01 08:52 ] |
|
|
Posted: 2002-12-30 14:02
