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Smartphone advice - what after P990? |
redondo
Joined: Jul 23, 2006
Posts: 11
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Hi everybody!
I know this question has been discussed in some other topics, but it always seems to me to be biased by some specific point of view or another, so I decided to take the risk and launch this topic, asking for the help of all you knowledgeable guys out there.
I'll try to cut the story as short as possible:
a few years ago I had a t68i (brilliant phone!) and carried a filofax for all my organising (I'm a free lance worker, so for me it's crucial to be able to have all my contacts and agenda close at hand at all times, take notes, etc).
Then the P series came along. At first I was skeptic, and passed on the P800.
But the P900 conquered my heart... and changed my life!
Looking back over the years, and beeing quite geeky not only in terms of phones but also computers and tek in general, nothing has transformed my everyday life so completely and profoundly as this: SonyEricsson's P900 Handwritng Recognition.
I know... it seems kinda lame, and not very flashy, but it's the truth. I ditched my filofax and started carrying all of my "life" in just this one, complete, device.
I might have been lucky: for some reason, the kind of handwriting that the phone recognises better, matches my natural handwritting perfectly. I don't connect characters when I write on paper, for instance... That means I can write with incredible speed and accuracy, and in a very natural way.
Believe me... I type quite fast on a computer qwerty keyboard, but I handwrite on the P900 screen FASTER!
Keeping my Calendar, writting down notes, and even writting long texts became easy to do everywhere, just by carrying this one little device. As I said: lifechanging.
Continuing to skip every other generation, I didn't get the P910, but then I bought the P990, my current phone.
Then I skipped the P1i, expecting to treat myself to the subsequent iteration of the P series.
The rest is history... P5/Paris rumours came and went, Symbian news and changes abounded, and we're all left with little information about the future of the P series. Some think that it's even ended...
So... for me, right now, the question is: what phone should I get next, or at least wait to get next?
From my history you might have gathered that office/organizer perspective is my thing, and that handwriting recognition it's not only the most important aspect, it's THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS. I understand all the rage about qwerty slide-out keyboards and whatnot. People are different. I just want to handwrite on the screen!
Multimedia stuff is fun, but not really important.
I hear you screaming: Why not go with a PDA/phone, then? A WinMO device, like HTC's offerings?
Well... I just don't care for Windows that much...
And one of the things that pleased me about the P series was that it was, still, mainly a phone, and not a PDA that also/maybe/kinda made phone calls...
I need the telephony of the device to be excelent, and I need good autonomy, both aspects that have never been well looked upon on WinMO devices.
But right now... I don't know anymore!
Maybe Windows Mobile is all updated and better now. Maybe I should think about it...
Or maybe I should wait for SE to announce something...
I'm really lost, now...
I ask for your help.
What do you think I should do, given what I'm looking for in a mobile phone?
Is there anyone in the same position as I am, and what are your feelings about this?
Thanks in advance! | |
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mode
Joined: Jan 12, 2007
Posts: > 500
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Similarly, most of my life is in my trusty P990. It does everything it should except multitask which I can and have lived with in agony for almost 2 years now, simply because it suits me perfectly. I could still live with it for another few years if the memory could actually be upgraded to 128mb but reality bites, and so I have my eyes set on one Xperia X1. It's an upgrade in every single way, even with the disappointing 3.2mp camera. I'm a bit reluctant about switching to X1's WM platform, but I guess the news of 256mb RAM on it is enough to feed my long suppressed multitasking hunger. First phone with 256mb of RAM (I don't care if people say it's a necessity for it to run smoothly, it probably needed an extra 32/64mb, think of the rest of the space left!), and first phone ever with HSUPA. Those specs totally sealed the deal for me.
Ericsson EH97, GA628, GF768, A2618s, T29s Sony Ericsson T68i, S700i, P990i, Z558i, W902, W995, X10, Arc S
*Xperia V*White*Black MW600*Sandisk Mobile Ultra 64GB microSDXC* |
strizlow800
Joined: Aug 23, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Macedonia, Skopje
PM |
A year and half ago I had the P990 for a short time... It wasn't bad and it wasn't that great at the same time... These days I got myself a P1 which I can say is similar to the P990 (in interface) but is much more stable and reliable phone... The P1 has 128MB RAM memory which is allowing the phone to do GREAT multitasking and it is staying stable at full processor load too.
So if you don't mind upgrading now you can get the P1, but keep in mind that it is not the real successor of the P990, it is just a slight upgrade of it... If you want a real upgrade of the P990, my advice for you is to wait until  release a smartphone which will continue the P series story 
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apolloa
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Dorset, UK
PM |
Well my story is, I got the P800, loved it's flash but got totally infuriated by it's flip keyboard but I preferred it to the handwriting recognition. I then stopped on smart phones until the P990. I got this and loved it, and loved it's qwerty but hated it's bulk. I don't use it to run my life too much, but I got a bluetooth GPS and installed Tom Tom and loved it, for me it worked really well. I then got the P1i, but I just cannot get on with the keyboard but still use it for GPS.
So I thought I would be stuck, I love the touch screen for Tom Tom and love the symbian OS. I seriously considered the HTC Touch Diamond, very nice, even the X1. But when I see the windows interface underneath the flash I hate it. It looks the same as my Ipaq did from 6 years ago!
So I have gone for the G900, the same OS but with finger friendly GUI. A nice TFT touch screen for me Tom Tom which I know will work already. Yes it's a smaller screen but the phone is also smaller. I get a normal keypad which to me is great and good enough and a D pad!!! Ad at last a great camera interface.
So I have gone for an upgraded phone but in the new lower range. My advice for you would be to wait, my priority has been ease of use GUI and size. For you it'll be screen size, there are posts on here stating the P5 will return under a different name and with new hardware. If your happy with your P990 I would wait a couple of months to see what turns up. Also I would wait till Win Mo 7 is out as I think it'll bring a lot of change. Weather it'll be any good who knows. But symbian will offer everything you want. So I would hold out for the new P or a new Xperia with symbian as you'll get the big screen for the handwriting. And if the handwriting recognition is the most important thing, then will the Windows Mobile version work for you as well? I don't believe UIQ 3.3 or 3.4 is dead and fully expect them to appear at some point before the Symbian Alliance OS. And lets be honest, you don't really believe SE woke up that morning and learnt about the Symbian Alliance the same day as we did? It would of known months ago probably at least a year ago, and if that was the case why did they bother with the G700 and G900? So I have faith we will see UIQ again in a top end device. I hope this helps and sorry for the long reply. |
rontysee
Joined: Oct 02, 2007
Posts: 77
From: India
PM |
I have used p990 for about 18 months now. I upgraded my s700 to p990. It is very powerful but it just couldn't match the speed and simplicity of s700 but still, it was a very good experience. I basically use my phone for internet, music, games and emails. Out of all these, i was very disappointed with music as it wasn't up to the mark but after using coreplayer, there has been a tremendous boost in the sound of my phone. Even opera mini has made internet faster and easier. The only problem i face now is multitasking. But, i dont want to upgrade for just multitasking. I want my next phone to do things i could never do before. So, i have decided to buy the xperia x1.
It is 1 major upgrade. With 2.5 times processing power, 4 times the RAM, 5 times screen resolution, bigg
er battery, HSDPA/HSUPA, edge, vga video and windows mobile, it will be able to do things i could have never imagined with p990. The only thing i dont know is how speedy is the handwriting recognition of wm compared to uiq3. |
strizlow800
Joined: Aug 23, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Macedonia, Skopje
PM |
S700 to P990. Well that's a goooood upgrade  . Anyway my P1 seems to be fast enough for me. And very stable too (just make sure you have the latest firmware) 
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makbil
Joined: Oct 26, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Istanbul
PM |
I've been using a P990 for close to 2 years now and recently got a P1. In my opinion P990 is the better phone but P1 steals the show just because of the additional memory.
I would have been perfectly happy with the P990 except for occasional problems when using navigation sw and browsing picture intensive sites. The truth is that if the P990 had only 10 MB extra RAM it would have been hard to beat. The user interface on the P990 is more finger friendly and has the little things like a find option in contacts that the P1 is missing for some bizarre reason. The camera of the P1 has higher specs on paper but I find that of the P990 to produce better shots. Adding to these the fact that the P1 has the D-pad, the multimedia and screen lock buttons missing with a smaller screen than the P990, the P1 may still be preferred because of the extra memory.
Personally, if I'm not going to use navigation I prefer to use the P990 as I really prefer the flip and the keyboard over the P1 RAM.
P990i: A mistake, a curse and a disgrace  So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD |
strizlow800
Joined: Aug 23, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Macedonia, Skopje
PM |
Well that's ok for your then . I have been using the P990 and the P1 both... The P990 keyboard seems to be too small for me .
The P1 is just great with 2 letter on 1 button... It has great quasi-qwerty keyboard which I got addicted to and I can consider it a good one for me
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apolloa
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Dorset, UK
PM |
I think the best advice for you Redondo is to wait for the release of the Xperia X1. The reason for this is because it's not out until September, you'll have the next 2 months to see if anything else crops up. If you really decide to go for a Win Mo device in the end though, make sure it's the X1 eh? Massive screen, as thin as the P1i and a full keyboard plus a massive battery.
EDIT:
Yay only 2 more day's till i get me G900, providing it's not postponed, again!
[ This Message was edited by: apolloa on 2008-07-06 22:00 ] |
redondo
Joined: Jul 23, 2006
Posts: 11
PM |
Thanks everybody, for all the great input!
@ mode / strizlow800
I agree that the P990 would be near perfect with more RAM! Really, the main thing that annoys me in the P990 is the instability when multitasking...
I thought about getting a P1i, as a temporary fix, specially if I can get one really cheap. Let's see...
The Xperia, frankly, didn't rock my world... a bit too big, certainly expensive, I don't really need the qwerty - as I said, I'm a handwriting man! - and it'll be SE first shot at WinMo... hmmm, not looking good!
@ apolloa
Thanks for the great reply!
You raise a lot of very interesting points... Indeed, I don't know if I would like the handwritting recognition in WinMo. I might hate it!
And I hope you're right about SE and UIQ. That's exactly what would solve my problem: the announcment of the P5, or even a Xperia phone with UIQ.
In short... I think I'll wait at least for a couple more months.
Come on SE, announce something substantial already!
(or at least announce that you're not going to produce the P series anymore, so that people can move on...) |
Osmano
Joined: Jul 22, 2006
Posts: 252
From: Trondheim, Norway
PM |
Hi!
I too have had a P990 since august 06. I use to change phone every other year. I have started the search and the phones who are standing out for me at the moment is SE X1 and HTC Touch pro. I'm reading everything I can find about these two phones but since they're not out yet it's mostly guesswork. I have read a lot about the touch diamond since the pro should be more or less the same phone save the ram and qwerty....
The search is exiting....
[ This Message was edited by: Osmano on 2008-07-07 08:41 ] |
makbil
Joined: Oct 26, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Istanbul
PM |
Yes, HTC Touch Pro seems to stand out if I start considering the WM platform. With regards to the X1, I would not be in the first bunch to get it. Considering SE's lack of experience with WM, I'd like to see what shape it comes out in and whether there may be any compatibility issues with WM software.
P990i: A mistake, a curse and a disgrace So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD |
Dups!
Joined: Sep 24, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: GMT +2
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@makbil
I've actually resolved to getting the X1 after having my P910i for three years now, it's time to pack it and put this excellent device away for the grandchildren . After the Symbian Foundation developments I really don't want to buy any UIQ/S60 phone now without knowing exactly what's going on. This backward compatibility thing with S60 means nothing to me at this stage as things can easily change as they more often than not do.
You're right SE doesn't have the necessary expertise in this area but for me the X1 looks the part- I always want the QWERTY keyboard since the P910i- the metal frame and the features complete the package. I never really warmed up to the HTC diamond and I also find the 'Raphael' not to my liking either.
One mistake I will never make though is jumping in with my eyes closed. I mean I'm not going to be among the first ones to buy it, I'll wait and research about it. Reading about the consumer feedback and reviews will determine if I will purchase it or not.
One thing is for sure, this is my next device until the Symbian foundation sorts itself out.
It's not what you do or even how you do it but in what state of mind you do it: Dups! 2009 |
makbil
Joined: Oct 26, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Istanbul
PM |
@EMS06, it probably makes more sense for you as you are upgrading from the P910. Now that I have a P1, I'll probably hang on to it for about a year. Things should have sorted themselves out by then.
P990i: A mistake, a curse and a disgrace So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD |
psikey
Joined: Jan 31, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: UK - South Yorkshire
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I went from a P990 to a W960i rather than a P1 as I wanted a proper phone keypad & the Walkman player with 8GB. Prefer it to the P990 & super stable for me with great multi-tasking.
I'm closely wathching the Samsung Omnia for I'm likely to stick with the W960i. | |
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Posted: 2008-07-04 16:55
Sony Ericsson software/hardware support! 
So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD 
