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Monday, October 10, 2005
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I could if I wanted to.....

I’ve had a Kyocera 7135 SmartPhone for more than two years now. But recently, it has been giving me serious problems so I figured it was time to get a replacement.  So in true geek fashion, I asked folks about recommendations. I was originally focused on getting a phone on the GSM network but after a bit of discussion with various folks decided to stick to my current provider Verizon which has extensive coverage in my local area.

My two final choices were the VoQ SmartPhone and the Samsung i730. After playing with both for a while (it is good to have friends who are gadget geeks AND are tied into the mobile community), I decided to go with the Samsung.  Gotta say that so far I am echoing Geoff’s comments, this is one sweet phone.  Windows Mobile 2003SE (with the hardware capable of being upgraded to Windows Mobile 5), Bluetooth, WiFi, EvDO.. Y’know, the works…

One of the good points of the phone was that it came built in with the VoiceSignal software which allows you to voice control the phone. For example, I could simply tap the on-off on the bluetooth headset and say “Call Mickey Mouse” and the phone would dial Mickey’s number. Very useful when you are driving. So I also ended up getting a Bluetooth Motorola HS850 Headset to go with it. Very nice looking headset with the unique feature that the boom can be folded which also makes also works as an on-off switch. Top ranked seller at Amazon.

Big Mistake! Am in the process of returning it for the simple reason that the voice quality is pretty bad.

Tried it out for about a week and I could never get the VoiceSignal software to properly recognize anything that I was saying. At first I thought that it was just me. Then today, just as a lark, I plugged in a wired headset into the phone and used it.. Excellent voice recognition! So the Motorola headset is out.  I’ve been hearing that the Plantronics Voyager 510 is a pretty good headset. Hopefully I can find someone who has actually used it to get first hand info on it.

All in all I am pretty happy with the phone. It amazes me that I now hold more computing power in the palm of my hand than a workstation as little as 15 years ago!  Not to mention that I can now actually program against it using the .NET compact framework?  Will I? Probably.  But that really is not the point, is it? The point is that I could if I wanted to… :-)

Tags:: Musings
10/10/2005 12:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time  |  Comments [4]  |  Disclaimer  |  Permalink   
Monday, October 10, 2005 9:27:33 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I just got the same phone on Friday! I also got a Motorola Bluetooth headset but it hasn't arrived yet - hopefully I'll have better luck with mine than you had.

http://aspadvice.com/blogs/ssmith/archive/2005/10/10/New_Phone_Samsung_i730_PocketPC_Phone.aspx
Steven Smith
Monday, October 10, 2005 10:30:38 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
Steve -- Don't know if you got the same model headset as me. But please do let me know how it goes. BTW, you will notice that Verizon has disable Bluetooth DUN on the phone but there are work-arounds for it.
Anil John
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 10:00:17 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
Anil,

I've had pretty good luck with my Jabra BT250 headset. It's a little on the bulky side, but I like the voice quality. I've had occasional complaints that it's hard to hear what I'm saying if I'm in windy conditions, but I'm not sure whether another headset would do better.

G. Andrew Duthie
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 11:35:51 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
Andrew-- Good point.. My wired head set is by Jabra (which I do like) and I remember that your BT headset was also the in-ear design, which I like. The bulkiness is pretty much the only thing stopping me from jumping on it.
Anil John
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