Samsung i730 EVDO phone… impressive!
Samsung i730, one of the better EVDO phones, in the market has been gracing my desk for about ten days now. It is impressive, cool, and fast. If you are looking for a Treo alternative, I think this one is a good option. The keys are a little squished, but still easier to use than Treo 650. The device doesn’t work with OS-X Tiger. Even though, I still have not tasted real EVDO in San Francisco. No hope of that up until September 2005.
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I don’t concur on your thoughts of usability. Matter of fact I tried the I730 for 2 weeks before switching back to the Treo 650. Yes, it has its plusses like EVDO and Wifi, but as you probably know, the fact that they cannot co-exist is ridiculous. Another thing that is key in a Phone-PDA type device is single hand operation which Treo 650 does a fantastic job of. Most of the i730 functions need a combination of the keyboard, 5-way nav and stylus.
In addition to this, the call notification is totally unimpressive. Again, for the average PDA phone user this phone does not come close to the Treo 650. Obviously, most things work for the power users
nitin … i am not a big fan of pocket pc phones, but it is a pretty good phone for the size and the features. mine has bluetooth in it, so i easily skyped sitting at a starbucks cafe all the time. the good email worked nicely on it. i do agree, i have to use the pen more often that i would like to. still, its a pretty good package. treo 650 just doesn’t do anything for me. i guess i like all in one features of nokia 9300 for now, though its lack of wifi is something i don’t care much for.
I actually thought the keyboard of the Treo 650 was better. The keys felt a bit more solid to the touch, and I didn’t have to slide the unit open to use them. I’ve also heard some horror stories regarding the battery life of the i730.
And EVDO isn’t an option yet in Raleigh-Durham, either, so it looks like the Treo still wins for me.
You traitor. You’d support a Windows product? Unsubscribed motherfcuker!
sure there is people who still use windows. so for them it is good. by the way, when apple introduces the phone which does it all, i will buy it. anyway jenna refrain from using foul language
I have a Treo 600. I’m not impressed with the quality of the camera resolution or the display quality. Both issues are somewhat improved in the 650. However, it still is not compatible with much of Palm’s library… which is still smaller than CE’s… The app’s are pretty primative too. CE (pocket PC) has programs that will let me view .STL files and video w/o converting the data to some obscure application-specific format. Even with those sorts of players, video is terrible. A device of this sort, in my opinion, should have been able to run video seemlessly. My Cassiopeia, bought 6 years ago, still runs video perfectly.
The keys are better on the 650, compared to the 600. But that’s like comparing Strep to Polio… Both are dreadful, just in different orders of magnitude.
The Palm was just never made to have the power of a genuine computing device. Although I’ve enjoyed the convergence of organizer and phone, I will not be buying another Palm device.
Until (if ever) Apple re-introduces Newton as a phone… the only way to have a computer integrated into a phone seems to be CE/Pocket PC. My understanding is that the Newton line has been quashed by Jobs because he hated Scully… who started the Newton project. Whether or not that’s true, you have to accept that many consumers, like me, are not satisfied with the scant abilities of the Palm platform.
I’m at the 10 day mark now with this phone and have an ongoing review at my own website blog.
5 days left before I can return it. Besided the awful Voice Signal software, I think I like it and agree with Om’s assessment entirely. In Portland and Vegas, the EVDO rocks and it’s great to come home already knowing if I need to check my email…
When I clicked through from your feed, it said this was your “Windows Mobile RSS reader” post, but it came here instead. Anyway, I use Egress as my Windows Mobile reader and am very happy with it.
here’s the review that I wrote: http://www.digitaltechlife.com/2005/05/05/egress-review/
The Treo 650 sucks. I had three users at work get them and they all returned them and got blackberries. I like the Samsung i730. It DOES work with Tiger as I have been synching my data for the past two weeks successfully. You need to down load a program called “Missing Sync for Windows Mobile” This app lets you sync contacts, email, folders, install apps etc. Very nice product. Works well with bluetooth.