The Zaurus vs. the Sidekick. (The 2nd "Please help me pick a phone thread" today)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have been asked to locate a “smartphone” for a friend. They want to be able to check their internet based email account, take pictures, call people, and organize information. Also, it should be easy to input information. Well, I found the perfect model. The Treo 650. After mail in rebates, it would be about two hundred dollars. However, once I actually took him to the store, he found it was to hard to use the keyboard. The Blackberry was much easier, but it doesn’t have, and never will have a camera. Damn.

Well, I investigated further. The Zaurus will browse the internet much faster then any smart phone, assuming I add a wifi card, and can actually display pages on a good browser. (Opera). It also has a good keyboard, and an excellent stylus input system, is far less prone to crashing, and is more robust and flexible overall. It’s Linux based. He can simply add a camera phone for next to nothing, and email the pictures to himself.

Expenses:
Zaurus $129.00 (Yes, that is right, there is no mail in rebate. That is it, period. However, if it should go out off stock, I can still find it for between $150-200 at other places.

Wifi-b adaptor card $53.19

Nokia 3220 camera phone. [del]$119[/del]"Free after signing up for one years service, at $45 (!) per month.

Total cost (Ok, so I didn’t read the small print about fees, and I ignored the fact that not all wifi spots are free. I will be assuming the same thing about the next item, so it will be fair: 722.19.

Oh the other hand, what about an all-one unit? “Eternal Father, Eternal One! Exceptions eternally? Absolute none!”. :smiley:

Well, I already know that the Treo is not the right choice. There are plenty of PDA out there that use wifi, but they are all expensive, and they almost all use Windows. ::Shudder::

So, it looks like I am stuck looking for a unit that gets it’s internet use over the cell phone networks. Judging from my experience, I have to bully it to actually download a whole email, rather then the first paragraph, and it is fucking slow as anything. However, the hypothetical model would be able to access the internet, and could take pictures.

Well, it looks like the Sidekick II fits the bill. It can take pictures, send out emails, has a keyboard, though no stylus input, and is a phone, of course. However, it is also more expensive, and it doesn’t do any of these tasks as quickly, or as well as the other devices. Besides, it is freaking made for teenagers! Lets see:

Expenses:

The Sidekick II, aka the Danger Hiptop. $300, minus a $50 mail-in rebate.

one years service, at $45 (!) per month.

Unlimited data per month $30 ($50, in other plans, if I went with some other smartphone.)

Total cost Well, Ok, so I am ignoring the fees again.: $1200, till the $50 mail in rebate comes in the mail. (Like that will make much of a dent in it. :rolleyes: )

Well, what say you, dopers? I would like to hear not just a consideration of the price, but also reactions from those who have used both devices. Any takers?

Oh, and one more though on Sidekick. It is important to remember the “No capes!” rule. :smiley:

2

It’s a shame that the Treo650 won’t work for him. I’m absolutely in love with mine.

3

Yeah, I found out about Graffiti Anywhere, but it doesn’t help when you simply feel like using the keyboard. ::Shrug::

4

Since you’re looking for opinions more than facts, I’ll move this thread to the IMHO forum.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

5

What? Huh? Oh . . . .

I guess that makes sense.
But now the other cell phone recomendation thread in GQ is going to get all lonely! Besides, stuff moves faster on this forum, and this will be on the second page before you know it! :frowning:

6

I just got my Treo 650 a few days ago. Here is my hard-nosed technical evaluation - to be read using the voice of Smeagol:

It’s SHINY!
MINE!
It is SHINY, it is MINE, me LOVES it!

My Shiny! My Shiny! Me loves my Shiny…ooooohhhhh…

7

:smack:

Two replies. Both about Treos. What does this show me? That it doesn’t pay to insult the relationship between a man and his Treo. :slight_smile:

But really, I have had time to think about it. Currently, my thoughts are to tell him to use the Zaurus for email, and the phone for calls and pictures. Since we have so many friends on Verizon, he is going to go with them. (Call other members of Verizon for free, remember?)

Well, I figured he could get a camera phone for free, right? Wrong. In fact, currently, they seem to be doing a “Buy one, get one free” kinda deal. Just not what he is looking for.

Well, my new question is two parted. First, am I doing the right thing? Is there anyone here with experience with either the Sidekick or the Zaurus? While I am at it, how about experience with non-memory CF cards? Cameras, Ethernet, wifi, etc.
The second question is, of the free with plan phones available through Verizon, which do people recommend? Sure, I have read the reviews on Amzon.com, but for a variety of reason, I don’t trust the reviews where one or two people have a problem, and five others don’t see anything of the kind. Thus, I turn to you. Of the free-after-rebate camera phones available through verizon, which have you had positive experiences with?

Some examples of models can be found here and here.

8

Treo 650 all-in-one. Treo 650 good. Treo 650 shiny.

Bluetooth phone. Agendus. High-res screen. Camera. MP3. Cool stylus can be used instead of fingers if you find the keyboard is too small.

Shiny. Mine. My shiny!

Shiny!

Mine!

Or a woman (that’s me) and her Treo. Shiny! Mine!

It’s mine!

9

I seem to see a patern here. I post a bump, asking for info about something non-treo, and people talk about Treos. What soes this tell me?
[list=a]
[li]Noone here knows anything about the Sidekick, or the Zaurus[/li][li]The topic has not been on the first page long enough for people to see it. After all, with only one reply, it will desend down to the second page.[/li][/list] Does logic tell me to pick “A”, or “B”?

Heh. :smiley:

Well, I pick “A”, anyway. But how can I keep this on the first page?
I know! This way:

Treo Users R Teh Lozers!1111!!!1111

Your produck suXXXXXXXors big times. Luzers use Treo, You can’t even approach the flava. :stuck_out_tongue:

10

Well, I was convinced that the Zaurus was the best model for me. However, I have read some more reviews, and I find that it is perfect for my needs, save for the fact that when using a Wifi card, it spooges power like a motherfuck. :slight_smile: Well, perhaps that was simply due to the model of card the reviewer was using, but still, I want something that will last longer than(!) half an hour, while browsing.

Thus, I know have a new question. What device should I recommend for internet browsing? A Zaurus, but this time with an efficient wifi CF card? Is there such a thing? A Dell Axim X5-Advanced? Some kinda laptop? (no, probably not a laptop. That would be much too sane. I am looking for something around $200 dollars, no local store would sell a used one that low, the medical students are not selling them in the local paper, and I don’t think I can trust something I can’t return easily, like a laptop from ebay.)

11

Treo! Treo! Treo!
Hoo-rah, boo-rah, TREO!

12

Dear Scott Plaid,

Since we last spoke, I have installed Snappermail on my Treo 650. Snappermail allows me to read both my corporate Outlook e-mail and my personal Yahoo! e-mail. Snappermail allows you to access HTML web-links embedded in an e-mail, which I have to do for my work.
Try that with your little-baby-Paris Hilton-Sidekick.

The Treo 650 is also a phone with excellent cell reception. The built in antenna gives me three bars in my house, where I used to have none with my Nokia. It uses EDGE technology, and it is fast.

So, she says with all the conviction of the newly converted, why is a Treo out of the question for you?

13

For me? It is in no way out of the question for me, save for price. Thing is, it is out of the question for him.

The reason it is out of the question for him is that the buttons are lozenge-shaped, rather than flat. He finds it difficult to press them. The flat keys on the Blackberry are much easier, but as I said, it will never come with a camera.

14

:smack: I bet the next reply will be about a Treo. Dah dah dah.

Well, No recomendations yet. However, I just don’t get the sense of beating my head against a wall. Rather, I simply don’t let it bother me. Now, I am still looking for any input into PDAs, in case anyone is wondering.

15

Well, for what it is worth, he has bought a laptop. Geeez, those things are expensive. However, we managed to find a model that was the bleeding edge model in 1998(!) for $250. While the battery seems to work fine, it will cost $100+ to replace in a little while. I was going to go with buying one from ebay, rather than through the news papers, but this guy has upgraded the memory, and thrown in a wifi-g card. Not only that, but it has a Superdrive :rolleyes: , with the extra disk that came with it still inside the packaging. :smiley:

The cpu is about a hundred megahertz faster than this one.

Sure, so it is underpowered, but it does everything he needs it to do, and has far more expandability than a PDA.