Smart Phone Advice

[Crispy5449]

My Dad is retiring early next year, and is planning on picking up some consulting work when the fancy takes him. He has asked me to look into a PDA / Smartphone for him to use.

This would primarily be used as a phone, and secondarily be used for E-Mail / contact management. Any other gadgets / features etc would TBH be superfluous as I doubt my dad would get his head around them

Although I love my gadgets as much as the next man, the whole mobile phone, PDA, Smartphone thing has kind of passed me by so I'm unsure of where to start and what to advise him to look for.

Any pointers would be much appreciated.

Crispy

 

[TobyAnscombe]

It really depends on how much you use outlook. The MS phones are very good provided that you use Outlook but the Nokias of the world also talk well (so I am told).

On the PDA type of thing I would reccomend a http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Hermes

for more of a "normal" looking phone http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Breeze

Both work well at what they are supposed to do. I would look to t-Mobile for their Web and Walk as you get unlimited GPRS/3G which means internet and email....

 

[Crispy5449]

Thanks, I think the first one would be more up his street as I can't see him getting on with typing mails via a normal phone keypad.

What about the Nokia E61?

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h988.htm

 

[Deleted member 39001]

You have four choices, Windows Mobile, Symbian on Nokias, Symbian UIQ3 on Sony Ericsson, Blackberry.

First thing you want to ask is do you want a touch screen device or not, if not then rule out Sony Ericsson.
Does your dad want to use it for email primarily? If so then the Nokia E61 or the Blackberry are very good.
If you want a Windows Mobile then look at the Glofiish here:
http://www.etencorp.com/products/communication/x500.php
or the Palm Treo 750V:
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/index.cfm?go=paymonthly.productdetails&pid=409
Their windows smart phones and pretty good, should be reliable.

Or the Nokia E61:
http://www.nokia.co.uk/link?cid=EDITORIAL_29266
Or blackberry:
http://www.blackberry.com/

I know that Sony Ericsson phones can emulate Blackberry now but am not sure how good they are at it or if Windows Mobile can emulate it.

I love my Sony Ericsson P990I, or you can look at the M600I here:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ver=4000&template=pip1&zone=pp&pid=10336

http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ver=4000&template=pip1&zone=pp&pid=10385

If your father wants a good business tool for emails and no gadgets then I sudgest the Nokia E61 or the Sony Ericsson M600I as their both geared towards business use above all else hence they have no camera's.
Which ever one you choose will take some time getting used to as there not like your ordinary phones as they are designed to be much more functional.
Best advice is to go into a shop and have a look as there are different operating systems a bit like mac and windows, it's what ever your more comfortable using.

This is a good site for video reviews:
http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/sshow/
It has reviews of most of the phones I mentioned.

 

[Tunney]

Thanks, I think the first one would be more up his street as I can't see him getting on with typing mails via a normal phone keypad.

What about the Nokia E61?

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h988.htm

The E61 is a fine smartphone. It's got decent battery life, 3G, a large screen and the keyboard is OK too. It'll sync with MS Outlook, Lotus Notes or Apple iSync and supports most push e-mail solutions.

It hasn't got a camera if that's a concern though.

 

[Crispy5449]

Thanks for the advice guys, have given him some options and pointed him in the direction of the video reviews. That should be enough to decide on a shortlist that he can go and investigate in store.

Crispy