Mark Long of the NewsFactor Network compared four mobile phone/PDA combo devices with wireless internet capability and picked his favorite for wireless web use. The devices he compared are:
- the palmOne Tungsten W,
- the
Siemens SX56, - the Samsung SPH-i700, and
- the
Hitachi G1000 on Sprint PCS.
Mark’s criteria in this evaluation are made clear in the review: ” In the best of all possible worlds, the smartphone will come with a large display screen, a Qwerty-style keyboard, plenty of memory and a generous battery life.” If this is the case, I wonder why he didn’t compare some other models, like the
palmOne Treo 600? Especially since the Treo 600 can be had on the same Sprint PCS network that Long likes so much. Oh well.
In the end, he chose the Hitatchi G1000, a phone I have talked about previously on Operation Gadget, but I haven’t seen in people’s hands much. His reasons were the speed of the Sprint’s 1xRTT data network, the G1000’s keyboard, relatively large screen, processor speed, and expandability.
It’s too bad that he chose to include the palmOne Tungsten W. As far as I can tell, this device is either on the way out of production or in line for a major upgrade. The Tungsten W is really not competitive with its slow 33 mHz Dragonball CPU. I’m not sure if it will be sacrificed now that palmOne has the Treo 600, but, it wouldn’t surprise me.
I have a little difficulty understanding why the review doesn’t offer any information about devices operating on the Cingular Wireless network. They offer a GSM/GPRS network that is at least feature compatible with T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless’ so-called Next Generation (GSM/GPRS) network. Cingular is also in the process of buying AT&T Wireless.
Given the devices that Mark was reviewing, it’s hard for me to disagree with his analysis. I’d like to see a head-to-head comparison between the Treo 600 and the Hitachi G1000, but I haven’t found one yet.