vB Easy Archive - New Device: Symbol MC35

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New Device: Symbol MC35
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Posted by: Camp

I saw this over at Engadget and haven't seen it posted here yet.. The Symbol MC35 is departing from previous devices put out by this company and opting for a more stylish form factor. No official specs were released except for the following:

"Dubbed the MC35, the handheld is said to be a "durable, lightweight... all-in-one enterprise communication device", according to company blurb sent our way this week. Alas, the information - from a source in a position to be familiar with the company's plans - didn't include a full specification sheet, but the MC35 is thought to contain full mobile phone functionality and a built-in GPS receiver. It will run Windows Mobile software, almost certainly version 5.0. We'd expect Bluetooth to be part of the spec too."

"Symbol's launch schedule should see the MC35 ship in February, a month after the company unveils the product. March and April will see the non-English language variants ship, along with what's down as a 'WLAN version', suggesting Wi-Fi support will be offered as an optional extra."

"The MC35 will apparently offer 'multi-mode voice and data communication', including push-to-talk functionality. 'Multi-mode' may refer to voice calls over VoIP as well cellular, though the information we have isn't conclusive. VoIP is a part of Symbol's currently available MC50 PDA, so it's a good bet the technology will be included in the MC35 too."

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/...for-the-masses/
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/1...preps_mc35_pda/

Posted by: Protagonist

Very interesting, I will be keeping an eye out for the final specs of this thing. A fixed keyboard QVGA unit is a rare beast, not to mention the GPS support and rugged design!

Posted by: 1alonso

I have ordered this new unit and have replaced two times now. Everytime shows different problems. Looks like Motorola is lowering Symbol's reputation. I bought it with the assumption that comming from a well known brand this would be sure shot.

The first one came and did not worked at all. It loaded up but then it just freezes. Nothing would work. The second one showed many problems I had also to return. It showed many problems as :

The GPS ( I am using tom tom) is not as sensitive as other units ( Mtorola decided to go with a different chip than the SiRf III). Besides, when outside, the signal is lost for several seconds and return, this being out in full sky view and no movement. Definitivelly a bad GPS unit
When you hit the sleep button, everything stops working ( GPS, alarms, etc) except for the phone. So there is no option for you to turn off screen and still have the GPS software working with voice commands. You have to leave the screen on all the time and that draws low the battery life in minutes.
Once it goes to sleep mode or because you hit the sleep button, when you want to use something from it and hit the on button again, you have to be very patient... it takes a while for it to be ready for your inputs or selections... and this only when it works because 50% of the time it locks up and you have to perform a soft reset.
Every program you run and quit... will not quit it keeps running on the background... so once in a while you have to go to settings and stop all running programs or it will just look like powered by a 10 Khz speed processor.
The third one, recently received, is experiencing the same problems as the second one but it also has some other problems : you loose about 80% of your phone calls and also you have to retry up to 5 times to make a phoine call. If someone calls you and the phone is in sleep mode, it just freezes and you have to do a soft reset to have the unit working again. Other times, when you receive a call, it just rings one time and then drops the call and if you want to make a call when this is happening, then the other end rings one time and your phone ends the call. This happens very commonly and when this happens, then there is no way out. I have tried several soft resets and the problem remains until when the phone decides to start worki fine again.

So far, our company which bought this unit to test for developing a fleet management application, definitivelly is not the one to go. Also if you are looking for a PDA, phone and GPS replacement, for neither one works yet. We have tried Motorola support but this is just something they dont worry about. You never get support from them or even any answer. We will be returning thi also.

Posted by: neo001

I could'nt find the thread but Juiceppc made one about this phone , I think it was at the beggining of the year , but hey it is great that is out already