[k2man]

Anyone have it? I'm really thinking about it. Was first going to focus on the Treo, but the Samsung has 1) greater batt life, 2) color, 3) voice dialing, 4) immediate availability! Plus I can get it for $340 at Goodguys. Downside: need to buy a serial-usb adapter to synch the phone.

Thoughts? Any hands on experience out there?

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by k2man:
<STRONG>Anyone have it? I'm really thinking about it. Was first going to focus on the Treo, but the Samsung has 1) greater batt life, 2) color, 3) voice dialing, 4) immediate availability! Plus I can get it for $340 at Goodguys. Downside: need to buy a serial-usb adapter to synch the phone.

Thoughts? Any hands on experience out there?</STRONG>

You need to check out the forums over at PDABuzz.com. There's a ton or early adopters, reviews, and comparisons to other PDA/Smartphones. Think: the MacNN of the PDA world.

Speed

[Paco500]

An additional advantage of the Samsung is that it uses the more conventional (in the US anyway) CMDA digital standard. It also allows for analog roaming. The Treo, while it looks awesome (color is nice, but not a big deal for me), uses the GSM standard, which is still relatively rare in the US.

The kyrocera (sp?) has the additional advantage of using real keys for dialing as opposed to using the palm screen. Much easier to dial by feel- you really need to look when using the screen. No color though.

DISCLAIMER:

Acronyms used above may be incorrect. I'm stating them off the top of my head.

Paco[/LIST]

[k2man]

Just FYI:

I ended up buying the i300 2 weeks ago and love it. I am finally using my palm as I always meant to. Why? Because since it's also my cel phone, I always have it with me!

I thought hard about the Treo, but 1) it's only GSM (not great service in LA and San Fran), 2) no voice dialing (huge feature--I never have to touch my phone when driving any more, 3) no color (color really grows on you). And I didn't go for the Kyocera because it's black and white, and is a fair amount bigger (though battery life is better--this Samsung just makes it through a day if you're on the phone a lot).

[mikithecrackhead]

glad you like It, I saw it at best buy and I like the size, and the fact that it is color. I would get it but the price is a little high. Does it sync with your mac OK?
Have fun with your new toy!

[mikithecrackhead]

You need to check out the forums over at PDABuzz.com. There's a ton or early adopters, reviews, and comparisons to other PDA/Smartphones. Think: the MacNN of the PDA world.

PDABuzz's site is s l o w even at work with the T1 line. I have also found them unkind to macintosh users so I don't visit as much as I used to.
If you have the time check out palminfocenter.com they are both OK but palminfocenter is not as vicious as PDABuzz.com to mac/palm users. I guess that is just my own personal observation.

I had the Kyocera 6035 but got rid of it and got the I-300. It rocks.. I think it is much better than the 6035 was. The Treo keyboard would be nice but the touch screen area on the I-300 is really neat and easy to use. The battery life is ok but the color screen eats power as does analog use. I travel the entire US with mine and have had great luck with the service everywhere. The integration of the Palm color functions, dial driect from address book or email from there.. Blazer color browser (albeit at 14.4k) is cool too. And finally with the OS X version of Palm Desktop 4.0 I can synch to my PB G4 running 10.1.2 via IR Sync and my Cube via Palm USB adapter and the Samsung cradle. All in all I would reccomend it to anyone. FYI I had serious issues with the firmware of the Kyocera model locking up frequently had to trade in two phones. The only issue with the I-300 is a small orange phone at the top of the screen.. if you click it while on wireless web you can disconnect (pretty intuitive) however it will lock the phone up and cause a hard reset frequently.. instead simply choose another app and it will ask if you want to disconnect.. this appears to work well.

[SpeedRacer]

PDABuzz provided some of the best PDA/cell advice i could get - certainly better than any other PDA-centric site i could find. For users of the '35 there is also a great tutorial on getting sync to work with Macs and the '35 - seemingly exclusive to the PDABuzz forums.

Regarding the i300, here's my take:
It's the best cell/PDA combo available and that will be available for some time to come. It is more PDA than cell, just as the '35 is more cell than PDA, but it's styling, features, and integration works both areas better than anything available right now.

However... the catch here is that the i300 is still quite a bit more expensive than the $180 6035 i picked up at Office Depot (on recommendation of PDABuzz) and is still restricted to Sprint PCS networks - whereas my cheaper 6035 allows me utilize both Sprint PCS *or* take advantage of the incredible coverage offered by Verizon out here in the NE US. To me, the flexibility of different providers was more important than the slimmer, cooler, more colorful i300.

Obviously YMMV.

FYI: Using the standard Palm USB-serial adaptor leads the 35 to exhibit consistent, repeatable failures in Palm Desktop sync' under OS9/Palm v2.6.3, but works 100% under OSX/Palm v4beta.

Speed

[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: SpeedRacer ]

[Hi I'm Ben]

Hey make sure you go to your SprintPCS login page and download the Blazer software for your i300 so you can browse the web with full HTML and pictures.

It's not on your CDs. Free download, definitally worth it, if you have wireless web it will just feed off your minutes when you use it.

Originally posted by k2man:
<STRONG>Just FYI:

I ended up buying the i300 2 weeks ago and love it. I am finally using my palm as I always meant to. Why? Because since it's also my cel phone, I always have it with me!

I thought hard about the Treo, but 1) it's only GSM (not great service in LA and San Fran), 2) no voice dialing (huge feature--I never have to touch my phone when driving any more, 3) no color (color really grows on you). And I didn't go for the Kyocera because it's black and white, and is a fair amount bigger (though battery life is better--this Samsung just makes it through a day if you're on the phone a lot).</STRONG>

[Paco500]

Owners of the i300- how do you find dialing on screen instead of w/ actual buttons. I know Sprint allows voice dialing, but sometimes you just have to dial a number. Can you dial the phone one handed w/o looking?

I need to get a new cell phone and I would like a phone/pda combo, but I'm really hung-up on this no-look dialing for some reason- and the demo units i've seen are non-working, fake screen variety.

Thanks for input.

Paco

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally posted by Paco500:
<STRONG>Owners of the i300- how do you find dialing on screen instead of w/ actual buttons. I know Sprint allows voice dialing, but sometimes you just have to dial a number. Can you dial the phone one handed w/o looking?

I need to get a new cell phone and I would like a phone/pda combo, but I'm really hung-up on this no-look dialing for some reason- and the demo units i've seen are non-working, fake screen variety.

Thanks for input.

Paco</STRONG>

not possible, however with sprint pcs you can do network voice command, so you can hit * Talk and say Call 630 112 2220
and it will call that number.