vB Easy Archive - w810i, Sync a707, or BB pearl

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w810i, Sync a707, or BB pearl
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Posted by: Wdubosecsvt

Im in a bind and I cannot make the decision for myself. I have been with T-mobile for about 8 months and the reception on my t809 was horrible to say the least. I have since decided to switch to cingular. I need some help deciding what phone would work best for me.

Things I want:
Texting
occasional picture taking(not too important)
Great voice clearity
music/video capability that will not become a pain
Calendar and task list that I can sync with my computer
Removable memory(although all have this feature)
Speakerphone(does not have to be amazing quality)
Best voice clarity

Im really wanting a phone with the best call quality since tmobile(or samsung) could not provide me with that.

Ive heard bad raves about voice quality on the a707 and the w810i but it might be the area. Also ive heard that the music features on these phones are also troublesome. Anyone in the DFW area?

Thanks
William

Posted by: VTECaddict

music on w810i troublsome? the walkman app is hands down the best music player app on a cell phone. ever.

Posted by: kilowatt

w810i works awesome for me...reception has been great and the mp3 player works nicely. you can get a 3gp converter and easily watch movies. some have complained about low speaker volume, but i've had no issues at all with mine. the camera blows either of those other two out of the water also. i use it to snap pics of homes that i'm building for clients...autofocus makes such a huge difference on a camera phone.

Posted by: cjhutch

I would go for the w810. Does anyone know if Cingular carries the white one?

Posted by: Wdubosecsvt

Dont believe they do. I think its the UK version. There are face plates on ebay for like 10 bucks shipped.

Is the w810i prone to dropped calls?

Posted by: egale1

Having had the w810i and the a707, here is my take.

The music player on the w810i is better.
The camera on the w810i is more camera like rather than cell phone like but the a707 camera takes better pictures.
Outgoing voice clarity is good on both.
Incoming voice volume is really bad on the w810i and ok (not great) on the a707.
The a707 screen is really great and the phone has 3g so if you have that available in your area, it will be much faster.

I switched to the a707 because of earpiece volume. If you can't hear the other person, whats the point of the phone? The a707 is not the loudest phone out there but it is acceptable.

Posted by: C. Money 88 05

I'm in this same situation, and right now I'm leaning toward the A707. Just little things I didn't like about the W810i like no send/end button, plus I'd rather have a flip phone now.

I would like the BB Pearl and would give up a flip phone for it, but I heard the camera quality isn't that great, the mp3 player isn't good, and the call quality isn't the greatest either, not to meantion you have to pay more for the BB plan.

I'll probably end up with the A707. I hope that helps you out.

Posted by: ivwshane

Its not that the call quality on the pearl is bad, its just not as good as previous blackberrys, which had awesome call quality and loudness. With regards to the mp3 player on the pearl, its not bad but its nothing special, you've got standard features like shuffle, repeat, play all. And the pearl spanks nearly every phone on cingular when it comes to web browsing (in terms of speed and readability), even the 8525.

That being said, if you want a multimedia phone go with the sync, get yourself an unlimited data plan, and setup orb on your computer and enjoy some streaming fun! (assuming you have 3g in your area)

Posted by: ThorBlaze Dragon

Wirelessly posted (HP RX 3715 & SE Z710i: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows XP; PPC; 640x480; PPC; 240x320))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wdubosecsvt

Im in a bind and I cannot make the decision for myself. I have been with T-mobile for about 8 months and the reception on my t809 was horrible to say the least. I have since decided to switch to cingular. I need some help deciding what phone would work best for me.

Things I want:
Texting
occasional picture taking(not too important)
Great voice clearity
music/video capability that will not become a pain
Calendar and task list that I can sync with my computer
Removable memory(although all have this feature)
Speakerphone(does not have to be amazing quality)
Best voice clarity

Im really wanting a phone with the best call quality since tmobile(or samsung) could not provide me with that.

Ive heard bad raves about voice quality on the a707 and the w810i but it might be the area. Also ive heard that the music features on these phones are also troublesome. Anyone in the DFW area?

Thanks
William

T809 does not have good reception, try T629 before moving on
except you need internet, get w810 and unlock/unbrand it (except you want mobitv)

Posted by: C. Money 88 05

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Its not that the call quality on the pearl is bad, its just not as good as previous blackberrys, which had awesome call quality and loudness. With regards to the mp3 player on the pearl, its not bad but its nothing special, you've got standard features like shuffle, repeat, play all. And the pearl spanks nearly every phone on cingular when it comes to web browsing (in terms of speed and readability), even the 8525.

That being said, if you want a multimedia phone go with the sync, get yourself an unlimited data plan, and setup orb on your computer and enjoy some streaming fun! (assuming you have 3g in your area)

assuming I'm not in a 3G area then, and the phone plan price isn't a factor, would you get the BB Pearl or the A707? Because I'm not in a 3G area, but it's not a bad phone to get for $-50.

I would like to have a web browser on my phone, but it's not needed. I really want a good camera(somewhat decent anyway), and the BB Pearl has flash(but is 1.3 MP), while the sync is 2 MP(but no flash).

MP3 player doesn't mean much, but I do want MP3/custom ringtones.

Posted by: pcmike

If it matters, I believe the SYNC is limited to 600kb for custom MP3 ringtones. It really doesn't bother me, because I edit them down in size anyhow.

Posted by: Wdubosecsvt

Anyone know if you can use the media net packages on the BB. I was looking under the specs on the cingular website and it says that it is an option but when I go into the store they say the only thing that will work on the phone is a data plan. Any experience on this?

Im ruling out the flip phone so now it comes down to the pearl and the w810i.

Posted by: Arainla

Love the W810. No problem with low volume at all!!!
Love the sync with Outlook.
Love the camera quality.
Love the Music & Video capabilities.

Love M3 to rip a whole movie to my phone to watch later in bed with wife sleeping next to me!!!

Posted by: bodeh6

Unbranded W810i.

Posted by: ivwshane

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wdubosecsvt

Anyone know if you can use the media net packages on the BB. I was looking under the specs on the cingular website and it says that it is an option but when I go into the store they say the only thing that will work on the phone is a data plan. Any experience on this?

Im ruling out the flip phone so now it comes down to the pearl and the w810i.

No you cannot use the medianet plans on the blackberry. One advantage of the w810 over the pearl is the ability to have an auto key lock on the w810, the pearl doesn't have an auto lock feature but does have locking capabilities, if you get the official pearl case autolocking wont really be an issue though.

@C. Money 88 05

For a camera get the sync, the flash on camera phones are generally pretty useless.

For web browsing the pearl wins hands down and browsing the "normal" web on the sync would be pretty non existant.

Posted by: wahoo2dore

"browsing the "normal" web on the sync would be pretty non existant."

huh? i have no problem with browsing on my sync using opera.

Posted by: mendel

I went through 3 LG CU500's via XBM, and had issues with people unable to hear me, so I got it escalated to a supervisor, and they offered me those 2 phones...

The question is which one is better...

and since its XBM, I don't think I will get the accessories that normally come with the W810i, such as a memory card, which is not compatible with my Micro SD card, (which means I would have to get a new card) and the headset which normally comes with the W810i probably would not come with it either...

advice please?!?
(or is there another phone which I can push them for??)

Posted by: ivwshane

Quote:

Originally Posted by wahoo2dore

"browsing the "normal" web on the sync would be pretty non existant."

huh? i have no problem with browsing on my sync using opera.

I forgot about opera mainly because I think the interface of opera mini sucks.

Posted by: mlm 0320

You could push for a KRZR or since you have a 3g phone a v3xx. Just a thought

I like the KRZR's, if I ever get to the point where I get another phone thru xbm it would be a krzr.

Quote:

advice please?!?
(or is there another phone which I can push them for??)

Posted by: Shemmy

I actually just left T-Mobile, where I used a BB Pearl for Cingular, where I'll be using an SGH A707. My decision was based primarily on the availability of 3G. I will say this about the BB Pearl: SureType is more intuitive than T9, since the layout is along the lines of QWERTY instead of ABCDEF. The camera on the Pearl takes good pictures, but as someone who uses the camera a lot for work (making images of cheques from clients in the field), and who is fond of catching those special moments (such as an unexpected rainbow), I like the idea of a 2MP camera. Regarding the web, ANY device which can run Opera Mini will have an AMAZING browsing experience. Even without Opera Mini, the SGH A707 has NetFront, which is a great browser (I've used it in the past on Palm 5.0 devices). In fact, I'd rather use NetFront than the standard Blackberry browser. I've never used the media player on the Blackberry, so I can't really comment about that. The speakerphone could have used work though

Posted by: kelseyb

You can pickup new OEM SonyEricsson stereo handsfree sets on eBay for a few dollars (under $5) -- and you will need one, since it also serves as the antenna for the W810i's FM radio. Nice feature -- you can disconnect the ear buds from the handsfree cable and replace them with any standard stereo headset you prefer, and use that both to listen to music and for the handsfree function (the mic and answer button are in the connector).

You can also add an SE outboard true flash unit (the MXE-60) to the W810i -- again, available new on eBay for about $15 (I think that included shipping when I got one). The built-in light is very helpful (and even has settings to serve as a flashlight or blink out SOS in Morse code!), but is not a true flash.

The W810i also normally comes with a USB data cable -- but this can also be easily obtained for a few dollars on eBay (I think I paid about $3 or $4 for a second one to leave at work). This cable is essential to unbrand the phone.

I use the W810i in a bad cell phone reception area (well inside an old solid masonary building, where many people have to head to the windows to get decent cell phone reception), and have had no problems making or receiving calls, or with voice volume or quality.

BTW, there are adapters allowing micro-SD/Transflash cards to be used in place of Pro Duo memory sticks -- check eBay or the other usual sources. Since the W810i will accept cards up to 4gb (Sony has confirmed this, although still listing max flash card size as 2gb on their website), the 128mb card that comes with the phone is really just a place holder while looking for a good deal on a more substantial Pro Duo card.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mendel

I went through 3 LG CU500's via XBM, and had issues with people unable to hear me, so I got it escalated to a supervisor, and they offered me those 2 phones...

The question is which one is better...

and since its XBM, I don't think I will get the accessories that normally come with the W810i, such as a memory card, which is not compatible with my Micro SD card, (which means I would have to get a new card) and the headset which normally comes with the W810i probably would not come with it either...

advice please?!?
(or is there another phone which I can push them for??)

Posted by: cowboy1964

It came down to between the 707 or an 810i for me. The 707 won out barely. I was concerned about all the hissing issue with the 810 and the fact it is such a small candy bar (I'm a flip kind of guy). The 707 has some advantages like a larger screen and stereo Bluetooth. HOWEVER, be aware of some annoyances with the 707 that are quite irritating:

- The external keys lock after 15 seconds (volume and music keys). This makes them for practical purposes worthless with the flip closed. This also means you can't quickly press an external key and have the external display turn on if you just want to check the time. There is no option to disable this locking. What an oversight on Samsung's part! This should be the first mod that anyone accomplishes IMO.

- There are only 5 volume levels for the music player! FIVE! I'm hoping that isn't a problem but time will tell.

- The memory card is really difficult to remove. I have to use a small screwdriver to get in there.

- I don't think you can transfer files to the memory card over Bluetooth, just the phone's memory. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.