vB Easy Archive - $389.99 for P910a a good buy?

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$389.99 for P910a a good buy?
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Posted by: ttrimmer

Buy.com has the P910a for $389.99 unlocked. Is that a good deal with all the new Symbian and WM5 phones coming out soon? Thanks.

Posted by: Gergor

I'd think under $400 for a smart phone is a good price. Until I found out that the sync software doesn't work on my computer (can't figure out why). Now all I have is an expensive "dumb" phone.

My case may be a relatively rare isolated incident since apparently no one else on this forum has the same issue. Though I have found people complained about the same thing in other forum.

Posted by: Civil

That's a great price, other sites have it for as much as $200 - $300 higher. And buy.com isn't some fly-by-night operation, either, so you don't have to worry about getting some refurb or otherwise tainted item.

Posted by: mark mackarus

that's an ok price.

Posted by: seatart

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gergor

I'd think under $400 for a smart phone is a good price. Until I found out that the sync software doesn't work on my computer (can't figure out why). Now all I have is an expensive "dumb" phone.

My case may be a relatively rare isolated incident since apparently no one else on this forum has the same issue. Though I have found people complained about the same thing in other forum.

There have been numerous issues of people having problems getting their 910's to sync with a PC.
Try the following
Search the forums as there have been numerous topics and resolutions.
Call SE and they will try to help you.
If I recall correctly most of the issues were firewall related and whichever firewall you use you must allow those programs which SE installs to have unrestricted access. I believe these are all covered in the SE Read me.
SE support although not ,all knowing ,will try to help you to resolve the issue.
Sorry for the Hijack. Anything under $400 is excellent INHO

Posted by: Gergor

Quote:

Originally Posted by seatart

Thank you for your suggestions. I searched the forum and tried all the things suggested, still not working. I may try to contact SE support, but after 3 days of effort, I've pretty much given up hope.

Posted by: vq35decivic

Back to the original topic...

I'm assuming the Buy.com deal is for a US market retail phone (i.e.: not grey-market), so I'd have the SE USA warranty on the unit, right? And what size Memory Stick DUO does the phone come with? Will I need to buy a 512MB MemStick on my own?

Posted by: bikedogrun

Quote:

Originally Posted by vq35decivic

Back to the original topic...

I ordered mine from Buy.com Thursday night, delivery is tomorrow - can't wait!!! I'll report back on the experience. It is listed as including a 32MB duo (in addition to the 64 MB internal memory). I also ordered a 1 GB duo from SanDisk at the same time, $69.95 + $20 rebate coupon. I "think" I'm going to love this phone and the price is certainly GREAT.

I had a P800 2 years ago, sold it on eBay and then got a 6620. Liked the Nokia's easy 1-finger usage model but missed being able to take notes with the stylus right on screen. Also didn't like Nokia's proprietary pop-port and that I "had" to buy their inferior stereo headset as my own excellent mini-plug headset would no longer work.

So ... I'm ready for SE's new (well, 1 year old ... still kinda new

) smartphone. I'll let y'all know how it goes /

Posted by: Arejay

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikedogrun

I ordered mine from Buy.com Thursday night, delivery is tomorrow - can't wait!!! I'll report back on the experience.

Please update us when you get the phone. Im thinking of buying the same thing from the website and want to know how it goes first.

Posted by: bikedogrun

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arejay

Please update us when you get the phone. Im thinking of buying the same thing from the website and want to know how it goes first.

YES - P910a arrived as scheduled, delivered by FEDEX on Weds just as promised. Kudos to Buy.com ... a great price and on-time delivery (I chose the Budget or "free" shipping option) as they predicted 5-7 days and even with the weekend in between my thurs evening order arrived the following weds afternoon.

The P910a arrived in a sealed Sony Ericsson box, clearly new and factory sealed - everything in the box appropriately.

As to the phone itself, I'm still in "learning mode" with UIQ after a year on Series 60 w/ the Nokia 6620.

Pros:
+ Love the stylus for taking notes (Yes - I'm actually pretty good with the Graffiti language from my Palm days years ago and do plan to take notes this way in meetings etc).
+ Excellent speaker phone, clear, crisp and more than loud enough
+ P910a is only marginally bigger than the 6620, smaller/sleeker than expected
+ Screen is large, bright & sharp ... classy!
+ Flip Open mode; using the stylus - very powerful and quick.

Cons
+ Flip Closed Mode seems pretty limited. One of the excellent useability features of Series 60 was just how much & how easy one could do things "one-handed" via the button-stick.
+ How does one switch between open apps in Flip Closed mode??? Perhaps it is there and I haven't quite figured it out? I would often (on the 6620) switch one-handed between phone/calendar/address book having all 3 running concurrently ... can I do this without the stylus in flip closed mode on UIQ?

More to follow ... including application feedback. I used 2 tiny, not very well known apps on the 6620 - Papyrus (Calendar) and Contact Guide Pro (address book). Will try to find UIQ versions as well as perhaps re-install (from my P800 days) Agendus & Handy Day 2004.

Thanks for listening ... BikeDog.

Posted by: mrjustice

Sounds like you have had the same experience as I. I purchased mine from Buy.com in early October at 409.00. I also could not have been more happy. I am a Palm convert. At first I was a bit worried about switching away from an OS I had used for 5+ years but let me tell you I am sold. One nice thing is that it came with a case (albeit not great), synch station, and other necessary accessories. The last few Palm units came bare bones and cost more. Size was also a worry with me. Basically the P910 is what all future phones will be measured. Nothing bigger than this phone. I was going to purchase a MPX220. I am an AT&T customer and can still buy one for 179.00. Considering how easy they are to unlock, I may still buy one at some point ( I prefer clam shells). I was just concerned with the issues people had with it. I like my phone to work well first and foremost. The P910 fits this bill-it sounds great. Still looking for the best way to carry it. In my pocket mostly with a screen protector. Be great if it came with a holster like my old Kyocerca 7135 (facing inward to protect screen and keys).

For weekends and when I am working from home office)-I still swap the SIM to my Razr-If they would make one with shared memory to synch contacts and calendar (I have a lot)-This would be awesome. I am beginning to think less is more. I really do not need WiFi in my phone. I also do not need email all the time. Right now I can check my email via the internet, but typically only do this maybe twice a month when I cannot get to my laptop on the road. If it is important-they will call anyhow.

Regarding Flip Closed mode-it is somewhat limited. I have purchased Handy Day 2005 Professional and I feel this program fits my needs. With flip closed you are more limited in applications but I find that I can get easily to the most useful ones and it is not a problem to open it for others. You can easily customize with plugins the different screens. As I get better, I find that the jog dial can take you about anywhere with one handed operation.

I have already taken the phone to France and it worked very well. Also-Not one crash yet. I am actually thinking of buying another as a back-up once the price drops more. Anyone want a Treo 600 or Palm tungsten T5 or E?

Only con I have found-cannot use PDA function w/o SIM card inserted.

Enjoy the phone and come back with an update later.

Posted by: SRALPH

RE: Flip Closed Mode being Limited

Try this maybe?

"Flip Extender by CellPhoneSoft allows running all programs on Sony Ericsson smartphones while the flip keypad is closed. With Flip Extender you can fully utilize the handset in a compact and private fashion. You are not restricted any more to those few programs that support flip closed mode but now you can run ANY program of your choice."

-from www.My-Symbian.com, 20.10.05

Posted by: bikedogrun

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikedogrun

I'm still in "learning mode" with UIQ after a year on Series 60 w/ the Nokia 6620.

Pros:
+ Love the stylus for taking notes (Yes - I'm actually pretty good with the Graffiti language from my Palm days years ago and do plan to take notes this way in meetings etc).
+ Excellent speaker phone, clear, crisp and more than loud enough
+ P910a is only marginally bigger than the 6620, smaller/sleeker than expected
+ Screen is large, bright & sharp ... classy!
+ Flip Open mode; using the stylus - very powerful and quick.

Cons
+ Flip Closed Mode seems pretty limited. One of the excellent useability features of Series 60 was just how much & how easy one could do things "one-handed" via the button-stick.
+ How does one switch between open apps in Flip Closed mode??? Perhaps it is there and I haven't quite figured it out? I would often (on the 6620) switch one-handed between phone/calendar/address book having all 3 running concurrently ... can I do this without the stylus in flip closed mode on UIQ?

More to follow ... including application feedback. I used 2 tiny, not very well known apps on the 6620 - Papyrus (Calendar) and Contact Guide Pro (address book). Will try to find UIQ versions as well as perhaps re-install (from my P800 days) Agendus & Handy Day 2004.

Thanks for listening ... BikeDog.

OK - another few days of learnings/usage & now UPDATE #1:

Cons (1st this time, there are fewer

)
- FC (Flip Closed) mode is still weaker than it needs to be, my sense is that this is less a weakness of the SE P910a or even UIQ ... more of a challenge to s/w developers that code only for Flip Open and thus Touchscreen & stylus usage.

I've discovered a few programs that run quite well in FC mode such as
Alon Contacts Guide, Handy Day 2005, Aqua Calender 3.2 & Unreal Player 2.6 (both from Pocket Torch). I'm sure there are others. I also (briefly) tried Flip Extender ... interesting idea. Enables almost all apps to run in FC mode, but with some unusual results & useability changes. Also far too expensive (IMHO) @ $24.95 for being a one-trick pony.

Pros
+ Great RF signal strength, as good as or better than the Nokia 6620 it is replacing. I'm surprised too as Nokia has always been top of the heap here and SE was middle-of-the-pack at best on RF signal strength.
+ Camera (0.3 mp) is not bad ... looks to be just slightly better than the 6620 even though both are 0.3 MP ... perhaps it is the sharper/larger screen of the P910a that just makes it look better?
+ Stereo sound - WOW!!! Using my own excellent mini-plug headphones (Aiwa) with a micro-plug extender from Radio Shack ($5.95) the volume & sound level the P910a puts out is wonderful, even on a noisy airplane. Huge, HUGE improvement compared to the 6620 w/ Nokia's stereo HD3 headset. Even MP3s recored @ only 64bps sound fine ... although my new Sandisk 1 GB duo stick ($69.95 @ buy.com) obviates the need to shrink much below 128bps unless you "really" need close to 100 CDs of music on your phone.
+ SE PC Suite worked perfectly first time I tried it using the desk stand. Connected right away to WinXP without issue. Syncing is, speed-wise equal to the 6620 w/ Nokia PC Suite. SE goes Nokia one better in that it also syncs Outlook notes & Outlook email - which Nokia does not! One weakness though and hence a suggestion for SE (do they monitor this site/discussion group?) is that they provide (Nokia's PC Suite provides this) a summary of Sync changes/updates/deletes etc for both the PC & the phone.

+ Bluetooth is excellent on the P910a ... paired with my Moto 850HS and sound is very clear/crisp
+ Apps - some developers provide excellent customer support and should be recognized and supported:
++++Alonsoftware (I use Contact Guide, they also make an MP3 Player). I emailed them the day after I unpacked the P910a requesting a new key for my new phone. They emailed back in less than 1 hour with a new key @ no charge. Even though I had used their product on Series60 on the 6620, they still provided a no-cost key!!! Hats off to them ...
+++Iambic (Agendus for Symbian) I had used Agendus on my P800 2 years ago. Via their website, totally automated a free upgrade for the new phone.
+++Pocket Torch (Unreal Player & also the makers of Aqua Calendar). My email was answered the next day with a new, no charge key for the P910a. I had used an early version of Unreal Player for my MP3s on the P800.
++ (well 1.5 stars) Epoc/Paragon (Handy Day 2005) This much-maligned developer; based on their upgrade policies, not their software quality ... I emailed them on thurs, didn't hear back until today (mon). I had licensed HD 2004 for my P800 back in January of '04. With their reputation of not giving upgrades, I was "pleasantly surprised" that they at least offered a 60% discount from the $38 list price (I paid $16 w/ discount) to go from HD 2004 (nice program) to HD 2005 Pro. While clearly over-priced @ $38, (again, IMHO) HD 2005 Pro is superb! Works very well, tons of functionality and does things I looked for without finding in other products - the ability to not only work well in FC (Flip-Closed) Mode but also offer (in FC) the ability to hot-key to running tasks, kill tasks etc). Aqua Calendar also has a nice FC capability, but without the task management hotkey support (as of new v3.2).

Thanks again for reading ... /BD

Posted by: vq35decivic

Wow thanks for the informative post! Looks like I'll be partaking in an early Xmas gift to myself a bit early this year.

Are there folks out there who remove the flip altogether? It looks like almost everybody leaves their flip on. I've often wondered how difficult it would be to SMS w/out the flip-pad (e.g.: while driving, etc).

Posted by: WirelessAndy

bikedogrun,

How do you feel about the overall speed of the phone? Menu navigation? I've heard it can get sluggish if you open/switch apps, but how about everyday "phone" use (composing SMS, opening text messages, bringing up a contacts list, pressing send/end for phone calls, etc.)

If it gets a little slow while loading up a 1000 page PDF document or something, that's fine by me. But it ought to be snappy when it comes to phone stuff.

Posted by: bikedogrun

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessAndy

bikedogrun,
How do you feel about the overall speed of the phone? Menu navigation? I've heard it can get sluggish if you open/switch apps, but how about everyday "phone" use (composing SMS, opening text messages, bringing up a contacts list, pressing send/end for phone calls, etc.)

Andy - Speed seems fine, I've not found any sluggishness or slow response in applications (so far). It is way faster than any Windows phone I've tried and even boots up faster than the 6620.

/BD

Posted by: vq35decivic

I've wondered how the menu speed compares to the average Motorola phone. V551, V3... they all seem very slow in menu speed.

Buy.com's price went up to $406!

Posted by: omegajb

I think it's much faster than the V551 and V3 and blows away my 6682, but I think that is a Cingular branding issue.

Posted by: vq35decivic

Excellent. I'll still get it, but I just wish it were more aesthetically pleasing!

Posted by: bikedogrun

Perhaps I'm dense today ... do any of the calendar apps on UIQ (Handy Day, AquaCalendar, Tracker, Agendus etc) provide the ability to:
+ view an appointment
+ recognize a phone number in the appointment text
+ highlight that phone number and then dial it if requested
Great if this could be done one-handed in FC (flip-closed) mode but I'll take it in FO as well.

Again; re-training myself from the 6620 w/ Series60. Papyrus could do this on S60 quite easily one-handed ///

Appreciate the help/pointer ... /BD