vB Easy Archive - I have a Mpx22, SMT5600 and a Treo 650 on my desk right now! Which one??

Pages: 1

I have a Mpx22, SMT5600 and a Treo 650 on my desk right now! Which one??
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: telejas

Long story on how I got all of them, but I get to keep one of them... Which one should I keep?

The Mpx220 I just got from XBM today with the newest firmware

The Audiovox SMT5600 is brand new in the box

and the Treo 650 is brand new from the store.

I really like the MS smartphones, but after messing around with the BEAUTIFUL screen on the treo, the others look like toys - especially the mpx220. But the Treo is BIG, but it still fits in my pocket so it's not that big.

What's your opinion, which one??

Posted by: ffaridi1

Treo 650 .... no comparison to a touchscreen.

Posted by: CERT_USAF

having tried all 3 myself I would go with the TREO for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by telejas

Long story on how I got all of them, but I get to keep one of them... Which one should I keep?

The Mpx220 I just got from XBM today with the newest firmware

The Audiovox SMT5600 is brand new in the box

and the Treo 650 is brand new from the store.

I really like the MS smartphones, but after messing around with the BEAUTIFUL screen on the treo, the others look like toys - especially the mpx220. But the Treo is BIG, but it still fits in my pocket so it's not that big.

What's your opinion, which one??

Posted by: aadadams

I had all three a short while ago and I was faced with the same decision. I have two now, and the one I sent back was the Treo. Why: Everytime I received a call the phone would reboot. The OS does not multitask. Frankly, Palm was simply not the OS for me. My wife carries the SMT5600 now and I carry the MPx220. I have been contemplating trading my MPx220 in on a SMT5600 through XBM but have yet to do so, because I simply love flip phones. FYI: My next phone will be either the Imate Jam or its replacement or the E-Ten m500 or its replacement the m600. If I had to do over again I would likely go for the MPx220 ('cause I am flip oriented), but I think the best phone out of the bunch is the SMT5600.

Posted by: HalM

We are in the middle of an phone evaluation for a client and have all 3 right now too. As it stands today, the Treo is our least favorite. The great screen and keyboard are off set by dropped calls, speaker echo, difficult to operate one handed, it really doesn't do "pushed mail" from Exchange and it's over the air sync doesn't include Contacts.

I haven't used the MPx very much since upgrading it to ROM 1.43. Even so I was one of the lucky ones and never had a problem. When comparing it to the SMT5600 the 5600 has a slightly bigger screen while the MPx is easier to navigate and is a clam shell. I don't see any performnce differences.

The Treo is like taking out your dream girl but then you ask her a half way serious uestion and she has this deer in the head lights look. Poof! There goes the mystique. The STM and MPx are both great. It is just which form factor you like best.

Posted by: cwosigns

I have been self-employed for the last three years, and found the Treo (first 600 and then 650) to be an invaluable asset due to it's superior PDA functionality. But three weeks ago I took an 8-5 job with a hospital where I keep a few appointments a day, but don't need to enter a lot of detail. My needs went from heavy PDA use to more phone-centric use, so I picked up an SMT 5600 today. I think I'm going to like it. Basically now I need a phone, some light PDA functionality, and the ability to check my email a few times a day and send short replies (personal email...we use Novell Groupwise and it won't sync with anything). So I am doing the 15 day trial period to see how I like this phone. So far so good. The RF is about on par with the Treo 650, but not as good as my razr. But I think it'll work out.

Posted by: jatooley

I have replaced my $700 Ericsson P900 with the SMT-5600. I purchased it outright at a Cingular store in San Diego for $311.00. It is the best phone that I have ever owned. It syncs perfectly with Outlook every time that I connect the phone to my computer. I was never able to get the calendar to sync with the Ericsson. This phone is unbelievably small for such a powerful device.

The Motorola will give you problems in about 3 months when you try to charge it. There is a manufactured flaw in the power input and it will drive you crazy.

The Palm is a phone to stay away from. I have heard on numerous occasions of the following:
1. After a sync, the phone will reboot when trying to answer the call.
2. This is from our local Palm rep: if the phone is not used for more than 15 minutes, it will shut the phone down. Apparently, Palm made this phone to be a PDA first and a phone second.

The SMT-5600 is hands down the best smart phone on the market.

Posted by: Omega2008

Quote:

The Motorola will give you problems in about 3 months when you try to charge it. There is a manufactured flaw in the power input and it will drive you crazy.

I have had my MPx 220 from Cingular for almost 6 months and my engineering sample for a year.....never had this charging problem...I think its because people are too rough with the CE Bus or they let to much dirt and debris get in the CE Bus...I am not sure of this but its just a thought.

Posted by: iJITSU

If you primarily make calls and reference data while on the go I'd suggest the 5600. If you primarily make calls and enter data, I'd suggest the 650.

Posted by: ngr2001

I too have owned all three Phones and here is my Input.

First off the clear winner in my book is the Smt5600.

Pros: Def the most stable smartphone / pda.
Very fast doesnt lag and has plenty of system memory.
Camera takes decent photos , much better then the MPX.
build quality is better then the mpx feels more solid.
slightly nicer screen.
T9 is amazing on this phone. I can type faster with t9 then with the
little *** keyboard on the treo.
No software or OS glitchs. I have yet to find a real glitch on the phone. ocassionally ill install an app thats outadated that might cause the phone to freeze up, nothing a quick power on off cant fix.
GPRS works great on tmobile and recently I got to test it on rogers.
media player 10 is a bonus. and over all windows mobile 2003 SE on smt 5600 seems to be a better version then that of the mpx220.
Battery Life excellent. I can watch 2.5 hours of XVId movies, listen to 4 hours of music, browse the internet for 2-3 hours, make dozens of calls and at the end of the day I still have 35% battery life left. With out doing heavy multimedia the battery will go the entire weekend on a full charge.
RF is pretty good. Phone supports 1800/1900 and very importanly 850mhz. Quad band is not needed unless you actually go to parts of europe that have 900mhz.

Cons:

candy bar style. Not a big fan of the candy bar style but the phone is so small light and sleek that it makes up for it.

Dust can get under the screen. I only have one little dust particle under my screen, and I can usually get them out with a little effort. bottom line is dont put this phone in you bare pocket. Keep it in a belt pouch and you will be fine.

Joystick is a littly odd to get used to and gamming on the phone takes some practice. But after some time you will get the hang of it.

MPX220

Issues with this phone for me is that is feels cheap and brittle, sound quality is crap, and bluetooth has some issues, and camera is crap. Not to even mention all of the Rom issues and stability problems. No media player 10 iether.

Pros: flip phones are sexy. Black version looks really hot. feels good in the pocket.

Treo:

Main problems:

Palm Os is horrible at multitasking and there is no easy way to fully custimize the OS and fine tune it. Apps never cleanly close and the device gets booged down. Many missed calls and droped calls. Also this device was really unstable for me. Although I am not a palm fan I had a treo 650 for about a week until I sold it to a freind who was dying for one. I hooked it up with all the hotest apps, mp3 players and what not cause it comes with not much at all. The device constantly needs to hard reset, and many of the palm apps crash the device completely to the point of where the device will not even startup. The treo is overall to slow to unstable and to bulky for me. Ill never own one again.

The SMT5600 is also by far the cheapest of the three I got mine for under 200 bucks. You cant beat a smartphone that actually works. I was just on an airplane to montreal and all these rich folks sitting around me had blackberry's treo's and sidekicks. They were gawking over seats and memorized as I wipped out my SMT and proceded to play Skyforce and check my email. Then when I turned on betaplayer to watch A movie in perfect clarity and detail they were really empressed and were looking differently at there now piece of junk phones.

I mean come on what other phone can quickly and effiecently do all these tasks:

Internet In all its glory
Email (exchange, pop3 and IMAP)
FTP
Telnet
VNC
Ebay
DIVX XVID
MP3, wma etc
AIM, yahoo, msn, icq, jabber
weather
GAMES
camera
video
Task manager, regeistry editing, theme customizing
Word Docs, excel, powerpoint, notepad, graphic editing, pdf
unzip + zip files + add passwords, + encrypt and trasmit through bluetooth or IR.

really if you gather a nice collection of apps you can do just about anything on WM2003SE that you can do a regular computer. I cant say that for palm and a lot of the apps that try suck and are not stable.

The only Thing the SMT5600 needs now is 802.11 wifi. Ill be keeping my 5600 until a better smartphone with wifi comes out. looks like the MpX300 has flopped but is a start.

Posted by: in2boxers

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwosigns

(personal email...we use Novell Groupwise and it won't sync with anything). So I am doing the 15 day trial period to see how I like this phone. So far so good. The RF is about on par with the Treo 650, but not as good as my razr. But I think it'll work out.

I also have to use groupwise. Check out the Novel site and under groupwise, they just introduced groupwise pda sync. I was in on the beta testing of this and it is working great for me under pocket pc. It doesnt support the MPx220 yet but they claim to be working on a smartphone version.

Posted by: telejas

Well, I think I'll be getting rid of the Treo.... I wasn't aware of the data plan that went with the treo. That raised my phone bill about $25-$30 per month and I just cant justify that if I only want to check my email a couple times a day and check ebay once a month for something I'm wanting. It's a shame I just cant get a cheaper data plan

, this is such a nice unit! But like I said I just cant justify the added $25+ each month just for that little stuff, and my wife threw a fit when she heard how much more our bill was going to be a month

.

The worst part is that I already returned my Mpx220 and sold the SMT5600 yesterday and shipped it off last night, so now I have to decide if I want a new SMT5600 or a new phone out there with some of the same features in a flip style. I guess I have 28 more days to figure out which one I want.

Posted by: Artuero

The Treo, while cool, is far to giant for me. The MPx 220 looks and sounds nice, but there are so many many reports of troubles that I went with the Audivox SMT 5600 and have been exceptionally happy with this solid phone. I even have gotten to like the candybar after 10+ years of motorola only phones.

Posted by: agent2099

I used to have a Treo600 and now have a SMT5600.

One thing I love about the SMT5600 is its size and weight. The Treo just feels like a BRICK if you are tyring to carry it in your pocket. That ended up being the deal breaker for me. I also like the Smartphone OS much better than the palm OS but that's just a personal preference.

Oh and another thing is, it's really a pain to dial on the tiny buttons on the Treo. The Smartphones are much better "phones" in this matter IMO.

Posted by: Artuero

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwosigns

Iwe use Novell Groupwise and it won't sync with anything)

Your company can sync groupwise with your phone (and with other devices, including Treo) using NotifyLink. Not saying it is a great solution but it often works.

Posted by: cwosigns

Well...my "nothing syncs with Groupwise" was an incorrect statement. What I mean is that my company doesn't support it. Right now that is okay with me. I like being able to leave work at work.

This is like day three with the 5600 and so far I love it. I may pick up a second battery for it just to feel secure. I'm anal about batteries.

Anyone in the market for a Cingular Treo 650? ;-)

Posted by: rosullivan04

If you are a poweruser, the Treo 650 is automatically out of the question. The Palm OS is weak from a developing standpoint, and the devices are slow from a processor standpoint. Many new applications cannot run on them due to their slowness and their cumbersome syncing system. The SMT-5600 is an exceptional device. The screen is especially note-worthy. Downsides are dust under the screens, including the new builds. Also, it is only a tri-band. If you do not travel internationally, this is a moot point. For me, the deal breaker is the **** things are too slow. The menus are slower than what I would like, and they struggle with some movies. The MPx220 used to be buggy, but with the new builds it's not an issue. The camera is actually very good if you use it outside, even inside if set on the correct mode. Some hardware builds of this phone have problems with the signal dropping in and out; I've seen three examples of these. The screen sucks, there's just no other way of putting it. However, the navigation keypad is by far superior to that of the 5600's. Quad band is also a very nice feature. Lastly, this things processor is a beast. Mine holds the record on JBenchmark under LacroixDP. This means that you can watch movies on this bad boy without any skipping whatsoever. It also means that if you have more than one program open, it will still be quite speedy. So there you have it. Just depends on what you want out of your phone. If you aren't going to be watching movies and the like, I would probably steer you towards the 5600.

Posted by: [[ Cold ]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosullivan04

Lastly, this things processor is a beast. Mine holds the record on JBenchmark under LacroixDP. This means that you can watch movies on this bad boy without any skipping whatsoever. It also means that if you have more than one program open, it will still be quite speedy. So there you have it.

do you have any special tweaks for it to give u so big results??
i got like 721 un jb2... how did you do to reach 850+??

Posted by: telejas

Well, I'm not really a "poweruser", but I want a phone that can do everything I'd like it to do and the Treo is the closest so far, followed by the Nokia 6620........But I like the MS smartphone OS the best, but no support for EDGE.

* I loved my Mpx220, but I go out of town almost every weekend and need access to my emails and I got tired of it sometimes taking 5 minutes just to get to my Hotmail account and thats not counting the next time I go to check it I have to restart my phone just to access the internet. The screen wasn't as nice as I liked it to be, my v600 screen was nicer than this, heck my Mpx200 screen was alot nicer too. Don't know what happened there, I thought things got better with newer models?? I also didn't like the fact that I had to send 3 of them back with charging problems and I'm extremely gentile with my phones when they're charging. Also had this problem with my v600.

* I had the SMT5600 when I was on At&t and I thought it was a better quality phone and it did browse the internet faster, I don't know why since it's the same OS and same technology, but it was pretty fast. I also had bad luck with those too..... The ringtone would sometimes come in as distortion, the dust under the screen issue bugged the hell out of me, and the screen seemed to get scratched up easier than any other candy-bar style phone I'd had in the past. I did like the screen, it was VERY nice and easy to read in the sunlight too. Even though it was faster than my mpx220 at browsing the web, I still didn't like the long loading time of the pages. The other thing I didn't like was the fact you had to remove the battery to take out the SD card.

* The Treo I've had now for 5 days and I love everything it does - But the $40 data plan is the hard part to deal with, along with the size and weight! I can deal with the resets, I just remove the software that causes it (so far 6 programs have been installed and 3 of those had to be removed). It has the nices and biggest screen, which also means shorter battery life, and I can watch movies I encode with Dr. DivX or using the Pocked encoder and I have never had a problem with it freezing up and it is CRYSTAL clear. I can also visit almost any website (except a flash site) and the images are great and the best part about is I can actually visit my gmail and check it just like at a computer and view attachments and even download attachments. This is one phone that I can tell the EDGE does make a difference, nice and fast web browsing............ But the bad side to this phone is the fact my phone bill almost doubled just so I can check my emails on the weekends and I don't know if it's worth the trade off???

*** I'd like to see how the new Nokia 6682 is, and try a different browser with it to see if it improves the look of the web sites and maybe even works with Gmail.

My ultimate goal would be to find a flip phone with: EDGE, a smartphone OS (MS, Symbian, Linux), Memory card slot, ability to watch movies, nice screen, and mp3 ring tones... and this phone would have to work on the Cingular network and be out in the next 25 days

- Is that too much to ask?? Probably so, so I'll probably stick with the Treo for the next 25 days and see what else comes out and then make an impulsive decision on the last day and see what I end up with.

Posted by: rosullivan04

Quote:

Originally Posted by [[ Cold ]]

do you have any special tweaks for it to give u so big results??
i got like 721 un jb2... how did you do to reach 850+??

Sure!

There are a few tricks to get this number. First, I started with a fresh 1.47 AT&T ROM for my last numbers. Then I shut down everything running, including bluetooth. Then when you run it, about half-way thru the test, restart the benchmark so that the whole thing is already in memory. You wouldn't believe how much this helps! It roast on GUI when you do this. Sometimes, a flaw appears where the benchmark starts around 450FPS on this particular test and the numbers aren't accurate.

Posted by: sracer

Here's a detailed review that I wrote up about the SMT-5600. I used it as my only computing device on a weeklong cross-country trip.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=650059

Posted by: bigboiben783

get the mpx 220. it has the sleek clamshell design, exotic look, and its QUAD band. also, its highly customizable and looks good. if there are ROM problems, just put a new rom and ur fine. no fussing or anything. ok bye.

Posted by: ngr2001

I dont like what you say about the 5600 and movie playback because you are completely wrong sir.

on my 5600 with the xvid codec installed and betaplayer .50 I never drop any frames and my movies look like mini dvds. It all on how well you compress your movies for your smartphone. I benchmark over 60fps on my 5600 with betaplayer.

I can even get any divx or dvd to play flawlessly on a mpx200 which is only 120mhz.

So If you like watching movies on your phone the 5600 is def the way to go.
For watching them smartphone xvid codec with betaplayer .50 is the best.

Smartmovie Sucks!!

Posted by: kserg

Had same thing...

So ok... reason i didn’t go with treo: its too big... i didnt feel conferrable with it... feels like i am talking into a laptop... good idea though... could have been less nerdy... smaller… more conferrable… with screen protection…

SMT5600 was my favorite but i needed the quad-mode (i am not huge fan of flip phones either) smt5600 screen is better imo too it feels better... its smaller... its just nice

MPX220 like i said SMT5600 was my choice but mpx220 had quad-mode... if i didn’t need quad mode i would go with smt5600 but i do need it so i went with mpx220 even though its flip phone and well...

One thing smt5600 and mpx220 missing is qwerty perfect phone for me would be SMT5600 with better camera, quad-mode and qwerty

Oh yeah... Motorola support is bad... real bad... but if needed to replace i found that going to local repair shop and telling guy "can you please send this in" works better... it cost me about 10$ (slightly more then it would cost me paying shipping) but it took far less time for phone to be fixed instead of having them deal with phone next working day it was on desk of a technician and then it was sent back…

Hope this helps

Posted by: chuckknight

Quote:

SMT5600 was my favorite but i needed the quad-mode (i am not huge fan of flip phones either) smt5600 screen is better imo too it feels better... its smaller... its just nice

MPX220 like i said SMT5600 was my choice but mpx220 had quad-mode... if i didn’t need quad mode i would go with smt5600 but i do need it so i went with mpx220 even though its flip phone and well...

You're the first person I've seen admit that the "settled" for an MPX220, instead of the SMT5600. Usually it goes the other direction...and I've not understood this, because in my opinion the SMT5600 is a nicer phone.

Quote:

One thing smt5600 and mpx220 missing is qwerty perfect phone for me would be SMT5600 with better camera, quad-mode and qwerty

I have a dream of an SMT5600 which licenses the Nokia 6800 keyboard design. With Windows in landscape mode, that would be an unbelievable device.

Now, I just wish I could find a "thumbboard" for my 5600...all I can find is that large, expensive bluetooth keyboard, which is way more than I need. I just need to be able to snap on a small device, and type in driving instructions to my clients' houses. T9 is great, but not with street names and house numbers.

-- Chuck Knight