N95 Vs Glofiish m700

ZootHornRollo

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Hi,

i am renewing my mobile phone contract soon and was going to get a Eten Glofiish M700 but have been offered an Nokia N95 by my netwrok.

Both PDA/Phones seem to have there plus points and faults.

my main uses would be as a phone (obviously!), email, internet and sat nav.

i have never liked nokia's very much and the N95 is one ugly duckling of a phone but it seems to have the right features although i have heard that you pay by use for the sat nav - subscription and data charges - and the GPS reciever can be very ropey. through looking at technical forums, nokias reputation for reliability may be getting tarnished by the N95.

the glofiish comes with no sat nav software - i think i could install the nokia sat nav software for free on this device if i wanted to - but i would probably buy Tom Tom for it. There seem to be a few issues with the device in general but most seem to be attributed to Windows Mobile 5 and Etens provided software - which i would not install - rather than the pda itself. and an upgrade to windows mobile 6 is about to be made available to M700 owners.

the nokia's camera wins - no contest - but a camera is not really a priority, more of a novelty, on a phone.

any idea which is the better device? both seem to have their faults.
 
Smartphones/PDAs are all about trying to offer the best comprise for a target market. You can get smaller phones with better battery life, stand-alone GPS units with better screens and performance, datacards and laptop for better internet access or emails.

I have a TyTN (similar to M700) with bluetooth GPS which therefore offers voice, emails, sat nav, surfing and has the built in keyboard to make typing easier. Yet I also have a small phone for that I take everywhere as the TyTN is just a bit too big, I have a datacard for serious internet access and I have a dedicated GPS system for the car.

You are right in that both have their PROs and CONs - just depending on the priorities in their compromise. If you want the best at everything look to get 2 or more different devices.

If you really want a single device and don't need a QWERTY keyboard I suggest the N95. If keyboard is important then obivously it's the M700.

I hope this helps. :)
 
Symbian phones and WM devices are very different beasts.

The N95 has the advantage of a great camera and simply stunning video recording, but this the N95 what you see is what you get. There is so little quality software worth getting. With WM5/6 you are almost spoilt for choice. Out of the box, the N95 wins (for most users) but a WM device can be transformed into an amazing box of tricks, often for free. For example, MP3 - there are no decent MP3 player for the N95 and the built in one is rather limp. But conduits Pocket Player (and others) give even ipod a run for their money, if fact storage issues aside it far better in term for functionality and features.

As for webbrowing, apart from having many better browsers available the having a touch screen is a must have.

Give me one thing you want to be able to do, and i will give you several solutions for WM that kick Symbian firmly in the nuts.

I have both - the N95 is nicer for texting and a bit smaller. But if i had to one have one, the MDA would win hands down. And then some.


Symbian Vs. Windows Mobile is like Motorbike Vs Car. One is smaller, slicker and often looks cool. The other bigger but has 1000000 more uses.
 
I can't comment on the M700, but...

The N95's GPS is pathetic. Truely and utterly pathetic. I walked down a street with a mate who has an XDA Orbit - his GPS locked onto the satellites within 30 seconds. My N95 still hadn't managed to get a lock after 5 minutes.

Its browser is pathetic - it couldn't even open my personalised Google homepage without coming up with an out of memory error.

Its RSS reader is pathetic.

And, to be honest, after that I took out my Sim and boxed the thing back up. Because if it can't do those things well, it's no use to me.

Hopefully CPW will come to their senses, stop dicking me about, and take it back for a refund without my having to take them to the small claims court (there is simply no way that anyone in their right mind can claim that the N95 is "fit for purpose").
 
Many thanks for your thoughts guys.

i'm feeling pushed towards the M700. Think it'll suit my needs a bit better.

Cheers,
 
Many thanks for your thoughts guys.

i'm feeling pushed towards the M700. Think it'll suit my needs a bit better.

Cheers,

If the keyboard isn't essential for you, it may well be worth checking out the HTC3600 (it's just had a new ROM made available for it that enables the GPS).
 
I can't comment on the M700, but...

The N95's GPS is pathetic. Truely and utterly pathetic. I walked down a street with a mate who has an XDA Orbit - his GPS locked onto the satellites within 30 seconds. My N95 still hadn't managed to get a lock after 5 minutes.

Its browser is pathetic - it couldn't even open my personalised Google homepage without coming up with an out of memory error.

Its RSS reader is pathetic.

And, to be honest, after that I took out my Sim and boxed the thing back up. Because if it can't do those things well, it's no use to me.

Hopefully CPW will come to their senses, stop dicking me about, and take it back for a refund without my having to take them to the small claims court (there is simply no way that anyone in their right mind can claim that the N95 is "fit for purpose").

Have you tried Opera Mobile and a third party RSS reader?

I agree, the GPS does take a while get a lock for a cold start, usually about 2 mins for me. But its ok once it's fixed. Still not as good as my Holux BT unit though. TomTom works fine, i hope they update it for the internal one soon.

If you are that unhappy, get it on eBay ASAP. They go for £400 at the moment.
 
The Orbit can download satalite position data over GPRS, and this can give it a really quick fix from a cold start. So its not a fair comparison with the nokia

For other PPCs, try the Q-GPS software from www.avaricum.net (scroll to near bottom of page). There is some debate as to whether it works, as it was designed for HP PPCs, but opinion is split evenly.

The Orange m700 (HTC 3600) has built in GPS, and does not need a ROM update. It is just that there are no icons or visible signs of it, but software can access the data by setting the software to look at the 'com 9' port
 
The Orbit can download satalite position data over GPRS, and this can give it a really quick fix from a cold start. So its not a fair comparison with the nokia

I'd say it's a perfectly fair comparison as what counts is how well GPS works.

I found this comment elsewhere: "You must remember to have the slide open [on the N95] when using the GPS, otherwise the sensitivity drops a lot"
 
I'd say it's a perfectly fair comparison as what counts is how well GPS works.

I found this comment elsewhere: "You must remember to have the slide open [on the N95] when using the GPS, otherwise the sensitivity drops a lot"

Its in the manual.

I'm delighted with my N95 because I don't expect the browser to be as good as IE7 running on a Pentium P4 PC, don't expect the GPS to have the fastest cold start, don't expect the camera to be as good as separate camera, don't expect the games to rival an Xbox360, don't expect the music player to have the sound quality of my Denon etc.

Its certainly fit for purpose as what its sold for - a mobile phone.
 
Yes, to get a faster fix you need the slider open or it will take ages. You can close it once it has a fix.

I think that Nokia Maps is rubbish, better software will really help.

And for god sake, don't use Maps to navigae to anywhere, the routes it came up with for me all day are insane.
 
If the keyboard isn't essential for you, it may well be worth checking out the HTC3600 (it's just had a new ROM made available for it that enables the GPS).

i don't know if the keyboard is essential or not, i haven't had a phone with slide out keyboard before so am not entirely sure if i would use it a lot. i'd like it to try it out.

i don't suppose the Tytn has a hidden gps function?
 
i don't know if the keyboard is essential or not, i haven't had a phone with slide out keyboard before so am not entirely sure if i would use it a lot. i'd like it to try it out.

i don't suppose the Tytn has a hidden gps function?

Nope, but it's replacement that is due around summer ("Kaiser") will do.
 
Its in the manual.

I'm delighted with my N95 because I don't expect the browser to be as good as IE7 running on a Pentium P4 PC, don't expect the GPS to have the fastest cold start, don't expect the camera to be as good as separate camera, don't expect the games to rival an Xbox360, don't expect the music player to have the sound quality of my Denon etc.

Its certainly fit for purpose as what its sold for - a mobile phone.

It's sold as a mobile phone? Can I respectfully refer you to Nokia's website?

If you're happy with the GPS taking 5 minutes to lock on and the web browser crashing when opening a single page, then I guess there never has been a more appropriate signature than yours.

I wouldn't expect any of the above. I just expect the thing to work.
 
Nope, but it's replacement that is due around summer ("Kaiser") will do.

i'm afraid i can't wait till the summer, my current contract is absolutely awful, not enough texts/data built in to it. so need to get a new contract when this one expires in may.

i suppose the GPS function is not absolutely neccessary as i have a stand alone, its just a few years out of date. thought i could kill two birds with one stone.
 
i'm afraid i can't wait till the summer, my current contract is absolutely awful, not enough texts/data built in to it. so need to get a new contract when this one expires in may.

i suppose the GPS function is not absolutely neccessary as i have a stand alone, its just a few years out of date. thought i could kill two birds with one stone.

I'd recommend checking out in detail the following (all HTC devices, available in various guises from different operators) -

TYTN (keyboard, no GPS, 3G/HSDPA)
P3300 (GPS, no keyboard, no 3G)
P3600 (GPS, no keyboard, 3G/HSDPA)

http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_compare_pda.htm
 
It's really worth waiting for Windows Mobile 6, devices are starting to show up now. Most Windows Mobile 5 units can't be upgraded to 6.

Honestly, i can't stress it enough - don't but a WM5 unit right now if you can wait a little longer.
 
It's really worth waiting for Windows Mobile 6, devices are starting to show up now. Most Windows Mobile 5 units can't be upgraded to 6.

Honestly, i can't stress it enough - don't but a WM5 unit right now if you can wait a little longer.

I'd echo this. If you can hold off, then do so.

Not sure of any release dates for WM6 devices though, so if anyone's got a burning need to upgrade now, it's a tough decision.
 
Eten anounced they will make WM6 available to M700 owners, no mention if there'll be a charge or not tho!!! some time during may i think.

Eten announcement

do you really think there will be a big step forward with regards to hardware and software with WM6?

any devices out yet? any links to info on WM6?

G.
 
It's sold as a mobile phone? Can I respectfully refer you to Nokia's website?

If you're happy with the GPS taking 5 minutes to lock on and the web browser crashing when opening a single page, then I guess there never has been a more appropriate signature than yours.

I wouldn't expect any of the above. I just expect the thing to work.

...which it does. It may take 5 mins to lock on from a cold start, but then it works. It may not be able to display every webpage without crashing, but no browser can. It may not work as well as you expect but would you take yout BMW back because its Sat Nav isn't as good as TomTom?
 
Just to reiterate, the N95's GPS problems are largely down to the appalling software that comes with it. Nokia Maps (re badged Smart2go) is truly useless and it's more of a tech demo than a truly useful daily navigation solution. What ever you do, don't waste any money upgrading it to the full navigation version.

The N95 uses the Sirf Star II chip. In it's day it was considered to be a very good GPS chipset. But these days most stuff uses the Sirf Star III chipset (including proper TomTom units) which is a bit more accurate and has faster acquisition times.
 
Just to reiterate, the N95's GPS problems are largely down to the appalling software that comes with it. Nokia Maps (re badged Smart2go) is truly useless and it's more of a tech demo than a truly useful daily navigation solution. What ever you do, don't waste any money upgrading it to the full navigation version.

The N95 uses the Sirf Star II chip. In it's day it was considered to be a very good GPS chipset. But these days most stuff uses the Sirf Star III chipset (including proper TomTom units) which is a bit more accurate and has faster acquisition times.

Thanks, Nokia announced the N95 it seemed like minutes after I'd shelled out for the latest TomTom for mobile phones and I was worried I'd wasted my money, but having tried quite a few Satnav programs on my Ipaq a couple of years previously, didn't expect Nokia to come up with a TomTom beater.

The Maps appliucation seems to only keep the display lit up if you've purchased the navigation option - or am I missing something?

Sooner TomTom come up with a patch, the better.
 

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