Jamin

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peteremcc

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Topic # 7765 8-May-2006 15:00

Hi,

Im after a PDA/Phone to replace my K700 and Zire 71.

So far the best I have seen is the imate Jamin.

I am a little overwhelmed with all the options that seem to be available, i understand than other companies like imate also make version of the HTC Prophet. Is the imate the best version?, can you even get the other versions here in New Zealand?

Also, Is there anything similar to the Jamin coming out soon that I should wait for?

I like the Jamin because it doesn't have the keyboard but I have heard the processor is a little underpowered etc.

Perhaps if i mention what I'm hoping to do with the device you guys can let me know if it will work.

Obviously phone calls + sms + basic diary / pim stuff.

The fact that the Jamin has MS office is a nice bonus, would be useful for my uni stuff.

I also have wifi at home so it would be great if the phone could use my home internet connection while at home to save on gprs charges (a whole other issue! :D). And we also have some wifi around uni now as well so being able to connect to that would be good too. [As an aside, if i set up all the connections, will the device use wifi instead of gprs automatically?]

Skype / MSN Messenger / Both would be nice too. I have heard that some of these phones struggle with Skype. Is this because of the slow GPRS connection (i think the $2000 jas jar is the only one with 3G!, Stupid!) or because of the processor?

For email, i use Gmail. At the moment I check my email on my K700 using the mobile version (http://m.gmail.com) but I assume you can set it up in outlook to automatically receive it - this is one of the main reasons i'm upgrading. Will i have any problems with this [and another aside - can you tell it to NOT download emails from certain address? I don't need newsletters etc while i'm on my mobile].

Most of these questions are mainly because I haven't actually used WM5.0 before, i know what I want it to do but I don't really know if it does do that and how.

Now about the plans. At the moment i'm on prepay. I probably use about $20/month on my phone however if i can use my phone for more than just calls/sms then i would be willing to spend more money. How much data would the email checking use a month (as far as i have learnt from reading around, the new push email stuff simply checks to see if it is still connected every so often rather than checking for new messages)? The 1GB/ month deal is something that has been needed for a long time but 1GB is much more than i would need and $50/month is more than i could afford just for data. Why cant they bring out a 200MB plan for $10-$15 or even a 100MB plan for $10. :D

Finally price... Being a student I'm not exactly rich :) but if its going to replace my phone and my pda I can afford a decent price. Techoni (http://www.techoni.com.au/), where I bought my K700 from a couple of years ago has the phone for AU$859.95 (about NZ$950) which is a lot nicer than the Vodafone price of $1400 (yes it just went up $200). I think they can also take off the australian GST if they are sending it overseas. Has anyone seen the phone elsewhere for cheaper or have a good local company they like that has it for a similar price?

Thanks for any help,

Peter

tonyhughes

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Reply # 35200 8-May-2006 15:55

peteremcc: Hi, I also have wifi at home so it would be great if the phone could use my home internet connection while at home to save on gprs charges (a whole other issue! :D). And we also have some wifi around uni now as well so being able to connect to that would be good too. [As an aside, if i set up all the connections, will the device use wifi instead of gprs automatically?]

The devices that have WiFi do indeed work well, and will use the cheaper (free?) wifi connection before falling back to GPRS (or UMTS). No problem there.

For email, i use Gmail. At the moment I check my email on my K700 using the mobile version (http://m.gmail.com) but I assume you can set it up in outlook to automatically receive it - this is one of the main reasons i'm upgrading. Will i have any problems with this [and another aside - can you tell it to NOT download emails from certain address? I don't need newsletters etc while i'm on my mobile].

Gmail works well with the mobile devices. You have the choice of pop access, where you will download at least all the headers for the previous number of days you have specified on the device, or you can use the web browser to get a very nice simple gmail web interface specifically for mobile devices - then you wont have to download anything you dont want, save for a couple of page views. If you want to pop your mail anyway, but exclude some stuff, you cant tell the device to do this, but there is a workaround. Send yourself a gmail invite and create a new gmail account. Set your existing account to filter and forward only the mail you want to your new account (whitelisting your mail for the mobile device), OR set your old account to forward a copy of EVERYTHING to the new account, and use filters to delete the things you DONT want before they hit the inbox. Then use your old account as per normal with webmail or Outlook on your desktop, and use the new account with the mobile device. You can still send mail -from- the old address using the new account.

You are obviously looking at Vodafone solutions only? So I will be of little help for the rest of your questions. :-P

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freitasm

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Reply # 35203 8-May-2006 18:15

peteremcc: I am a little overwhelmed with all the options that seem to be available, i understand than other companies like imate also make version of the HTC Prophet. Is the imate the best version?, can you even get the other versions here in New Zealand?

You will find out that you can purchase i-mate in New Zealand, or import from other countries, which will be more expensive at the end.

peteremcc: Also, Is there anything similar to the Jamin coming out soon that I should wait for?

There are always new things coming, so you should concentate on your problem now.

peteremcc: I like the Jamin because it doesn't have the keyboard but I have heard the processor is a little underpowered etc.

The CPU is ok for the unit. You just not going to have power to play 3d games or heavy apps, such as Skype.

peteremcc: Skype / MSN Messenger / Both would be nice too. I have heard that some of these phones struggle with Skype. Is this because of the slow GPRS connection (i think the $2000 jas jar is the only one with 3G!, Stupid!) or because of the processor?

Both. GPRS is not suited for Skype because of latency, low speed - and the Vodafone ToS forbid VoIP applications.

peteremcc: Now about the plans. At the moment i'm on prepay. I probably use about $20/month on my phone however if i can use my phone for more than just calls/sms then i would be willing to spend more money. How much data would the email checking use a month (as far as i have learnt from reading around, the new push email stuff simply checks to see if it is still connected every so often rather than checking for new messages)?

Expect at least 20MB/month just to keep the connections and updates going to/from the device. Plus of course the normal e-mail traffic. You can download just headers, or part of the e-mail, since it doesn't make sense downloading a 4MB video attachment that you won't be playing on a small screen.

peteremcc: Techoni (http://www.techoni.com.au/), where I bought my K700 from a couple of years ago has the phone for AU$859.95 (about NZ$950) which is a lot nicer than the Vodafone price of $1400 (yes it just went up $200). I think they can also take off the australian GST if they are sending it overseas.

And of course being an import you might have to pay import tax, plus NZ GST. And pay for any problems since there will be no warranty in New Zealand.

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peteremcc

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Reply # 35213 8-May-2006 20:43

thanks tony... :)

freitasm: There are always new things coming, so you should concentate on your problem now.

I can wait a couple of months till i buy (and probably wouldn't buy for another month yet anyway) and just thought there may be a new version of the same type of thing coming out. Have looked again at the other types and with not needing a keyboard they don't seem worth it.

freitasm: The CPU is ok for the unit. You just not going to have power to play 3d games or heavy apps, such as Skype.

Bummer on the skype but oh well, guess the data would be more than a phone call if you weren't on a decent plan anyway :D

freitasm: Expect at least 20MB/month just to keep the connections and updates going to/from the device. Plus of course the normal e-mail traffic.

Awesome, thanks. Really emphasises the need for a decent 50MB/month package or something...

freitasm: And of course being an import you might have to pay import tax, plus NZ GST. And pay for any problems since there will be no warranty in New Zealand.

Hmm, ok. Will have to check that out.

Thanks everyone,
Peter