i am on the NZ Vodafone network looking to buy a PDA and have been looking at several PDAs including switching to Telecoms harrier service. I understand the Harrier is setup for 3G services but if i buy the O2xda iis for use under vodafone, will that phone be able to be used under 3G when Vodafone gets its A into G? Also is the O2xda iis the same as the harrier and PDA2k? (xda iis or PDA 2 or PDA2k or Harrier) All these phones seem basically identical. Am so bloody confused as to which one to get. Help!
The Vodafone 3G (3GSM, or UMTS or WCDMA) is differnt from the Telecom NZ 3G (CDMA 1x EV-DO).
The PDA2k and the O2 XDAIIs will both work on Vofafone's network, but only on GPRS, not 3G. There's only one model so far that would work on Vodafone's new network, but it is not available until the end of 2005.
The Harrier is the same chassis as the PDA2k, with a different radio to connect to the CDMA 1x network, and no Wi-Fi built-in.
In terms of speed, CDMA 1x EV-DO averages at 500Kpbs, with peaks of 1Mbps (in my experience). Vodafone WCDMA peaks at 384Kbps, so I imagine average would be a little slower than this.
In other words, if you need a Pocket PC now, choose between the models on your preferred network, without waiting for another Pocket PC that may or may not reach New Zealand in time.
Id be saying the Harrier for the better data speeds when out and about (and slightly cheaper data too i think).
On the other hand, vodas offering of the same thing has got wifi built in, which would be convenient if you want to use it often in a wifi environment(s)
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you've only mentioned "smartphones"
have you considered getting a bluetooth PDA, and bluetooth cellphone,
makes for easier upgrades, more options - smaller phone for those times you want to leave the PDA elsewhere, upgrade one component at a time, etc. etc.
i've always found that converged devices, like the pda+cellphone devices to be compromises, not to mention expensive.
Thanks for the good advice. Am thinking i will go with the PDA2k on Vodafone. Am Out of range (borderline) for Telecoms 3G anyway and yeah i do kind of need the PDA now. Cheers
$249 for a Falcon is a pretty good deal (even though its getting on, it still provides great functionality.)
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what are you missing out on with a "getting-on" smartphone?
i've recently acquired a kyocera 7135, which is a 3 year old smartphone.
it's missing bluetooth, wifi, - has a low res screen. it's rather bulky.
and it won't run the latest palm os applications.
BUT... it does do fast data (if i connected it) and plays MP3s (if i had a headset) and displays photos from a SD card (low res screen) email and sms (no ssl) , and a pretty good browser (if i connect it)
If you are just after the information retrieval and organisation side of things, then a not-quite-the-state-of-the-art unit would be more than appropriate.
They are still great machines.
I would actually prefer a falcon to my harrier for the fact that a falcon is smaller (i dont need the slide out keyboard either).
The PDA2k has a keyboard and wi-fi. The PDA2 was recently announced and looks like an updated O2 XDA or i-mate Pocket PC and also comes with wi-fi but no keyboard.
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