vB Easy Archive - I just got an HTC P3300 (after months of research) and I love it!

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I just got an HTC P3300 (after months of research) and I love it!
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Posted by: shawndh

When deciding, I had narrowed down my list to the following phones:

1) HCT P3600, Trinity
2) Pharos 600 (same as Eten 500 w/diff ROM)
3) AT&T 8525 (TyTN?)

I was coming from an old T-Mobile iPAQ 6315, so coming from such a brick of a phone would really make anything better.

Anyway, I really wanted the Pharos 600 at first because it was the best "bang for the buck" and still is. It came with maps for the whole US & Canada, car mount, 1 GB micro SD card with maps already loaded, a boat load of extra software, the usual stuff, and 400Mhz proc! The maps alone were a huge value! But, the issues reported with the build quality and other glitches with the Eten phones scared me away. Plus there was no "OK" or "Start Menu" buttons which I think are necessities on PPC's now. The mapping software was reported to be..."not as intuitive" to use as other software. Also, there was no scroll wheel like the other two, and I really wanted something with a scrolling function to limit my need to use the stylus. So, I skipped on the Pharos.

Then I wanted the Trinity. It seemed like the perfect device once I realized that the a ROM update would enable GPS. It had 400Mhz, a scroll wheel on the side and a regular D-pad. It has no radio, but I viewed that as a novelty anyway. What started to turn me off about this phone was the peeling issue with the metal. A bunch of user's had the same problem with the black phone. The silver coating would peel and make the phone look 100 years old. This wasn't reported on the white phone though (or as much) so I figured I'd buy a white one. But then I learned about the issues with the screen going bad and having to ship the phone back to HTC to have the motherboard replaced. Then there were the issues with the phone slowing down when you tapped the screen during game play. And there were other issues to add to having to find the best GPS software for it. So, I figured I'd keep looking.

Then there was the option to get an unlocked 8525. That seemed like the best economical value, but I couldn't deal with the thought of having to charge a GPS receiver and the phone. So I decided to skip on that.

So I came to the Artemis. The most desirable part for me was the scroll wheel and roller ball. I hate having to pull out the stylus and this looked promising. Then I started with the research on known issues. It only had one common issue - a storage card corruption issue. This as fixed earlier this year with a patch from HTC and the problem was solved. Other than that, no issues. This has to be one of the most reliable phones they've made. Every phone has issues here and there but not this one. Just issues with ROM updates. The main drawback was that it was only 200Mhz. That's a drawback to some but to me it was just an "on paper" drawback. I learned about the battery status program and installed it, and I'm now over clocked ant 260Mhz for 3 days now with no issues at all. And the phone is just as fast as my old Toshiba E-750 which was 400Mhz! This phone gets the job done and no, I don't have to use the stylus any more. I've gone all day today and I haven't pulled it out once.

Also, this is very nice as a phone. The speaker phone is very loud and clear. Also, the rings are really loud. I have mine set two notches from the bottom of 5 I think. The form factor is just about perfect. Not too much going on, buttons well placed, and the roller feature is just awesome. It will allow you to scroll, not only to items on a tab, but also scroll to the next tab, and use drop-down menus, thus eliminating the need to use the stylus. Also I'm able to use the small keyboard with my thumb and it recognizes which characters I'm pushing for extremely well. I thought the screen would be too small for this but it works really well.

Tom Tom is just so fluid with this phone. It handles calls well when in the car and connected to my bluetooth Parrot without any issues. Again, the voice prompts are very loud and clear due to the great speaker in the phone. I can plan a route, even while driving. Very intuitive.

I'm extremely impressed. The only upgrades I've made to it so far is just the battery status software to over clock it (though it's not always needed) and mini Opera, which is so much better then PIE. And some misc software: Spanish Oxford Dictionary, iSilo document reader, Spanish Congigator, Tetris, ect. I have not upgraded to the Black and Blue ROM with the Touch Flo that you may have heard many people talking about over at XDA-Developers. I wanted this ROM because the touch flo would further eliminate having to use the stylus, but basically, it just looks cool. But after using the phone set-up the way I want it with WM5, I don't see a need to upgrade to the touch Flo ROM. Also, that ROM seems great but, it still has it's issues and I'd rather go with something more stable. All in all, I've very satisfied with my decision to go with the Artemis. If you're on the fence because it only has a 201Mhz OMAP processor, don't be. It's not an issue. Think of it as a reliable 4 banger (4cylinder) and then just add a turbo (over clock), and now you can run down a V8 (but it's not really necessary). It's a really versatile device. You won't be disappointed.

Posted by: jontymisra

Thats awesome man!
I had the P3300 till 2 weeks ago when I got into an accident and completely broke it.
I had installed the B&B 4.0 Touch-Flo ROM on it and man it made me feel my device was the greatest ever.
I recommend trying it out if your comfortable with flashing the phone (just do thorough research before)

But I can honestly say, it was worth every penny I put into it.
Good luck!

Posted by: shawndh

Quote:

Originally Posted by jontymisra

Thats awesome man!
I had the P3300 till 2 weeks ago when I got into an accident and completely broke it.
I had installed the B&B 4.0 Touch-Flo ROM on it and man it made me feel my device was the greatest ever.
I recommend trying it out if your comfortable with flashing the phone (just do thorough research before)

But I can honestly say, it was worth every penny I put into it.
Good luck!

I mustered up the courage to try a new ROM. I'm using Meschle's O2 WM6 Premium Plus ROM and it's Awesome! It has the BioTouch function but not the cube (the cube & new contact manger was sucking RAM) I didn't use the cube much anyway. But there's plenty of storage memory and good prog memory on this ROM. It's quick, plenty of utilities included and it's very stable. Seems like it's the OEM ROM. Plus I've added Tom's black & blue phone dialer from his ROM and a black HTC theme. My phone is pimped out!That forum is so addictive! I've got a bunch of stuff loaded up on my phone.