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Communications OS X Operating Systems

Practical Cell Phones to Complement Mac OS X? 99

Posted by Cliff from the intel-or-PPC-it-matters-not dept.
Silas asks: "It's about time to trade up my Samsung A500 (a robust flip-phone that has served me well) to a new cell phone, and I'm looking for recommendations. I'd like something pretty no-nonsense that does the basics very well (sound quality, intuitive button placement and UI, compact physical design -- no camera, and no annoying ringtones) but I'm also ready to start connecting my phone to other parts of my life. In particular, I'd like to find something compatible with iSync on Mac OS X Tiger for addressbook and calendar stuff, and I wouldn't mind trying out the bluetooth madness for proximity login/keychain auth, etc. I've also had the ability to connect my Powerbook to the net through the phone with Sprint PCS's Vision program and a USB cable from The Shack, and preserving that capability would be nice, but is less important in a world of hotspots, and I'm fine with switching carriers. Any help is much appreciated, even if it's just brand/category generalizations."
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Practical Cell Phones to Complement Mac OS X? More

Practical Cell Phones to Complement Mac OS X?

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  • Quick and easy (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:05PM (#12760609)
    no annoying ringtones

    You can stop your search now. You have asked the impossible.

    • So just don't use an annoying ringtone. Most phones are loaded with a dozen of so, one of which almost always is just a basic ringing sound. Or if that doesn't suit you, go find a ringtone that suits you just fine and use it.

      It's kind of like looking for a computer that doesn't have all that porn on it. It's not really an issue unless you put the porn there in the first place now is it.
      • Most phones are loaded with a dozen of so, one of which almost always is just a basic ringing sound.

        You might think so, but my Samsung A540 would prove you wrong. Couple that with the fact that my browser is broken (something about RSA key not matching .. I've called them numerous times to fix it, and it never works, I just got tired of trying) and you have a phone that pisses you off everytime it rings.

        Not that finding a basic ring on via download service is easy (or possible?) either..
        • I can understand your pain, I have a friend has "purchased" a regular ringtone for his phone :)

          I can't remember the brand but it didn't have anything "rings", we laughed a lot about it. As ring tone crooks carry such a thing, it must not be a rare issue btw.

        • Re:Quick and easy (Score:3, Informative)

          by EggyToast ( 858951 )
          Yeah, that's a weird thing about Samsungs it seems. My girlfriend's is the same way -- not a single normal ringtone. There's one that starts normally... then this voice says "Helloooo!!" and a techno song starts with the ring and the "helloooo!"

          I was pleased when I discovered that my Motorola phone had normal ringtones. I was even more pleased to discover that all I had to do to get new ringtones was point the web browser at a .mid file or .wav and ta da, new ringtone. Now it's the prelude from FF6,

  • From my experience, Motorola phones are built better, last longer, and make more sense. I have a Sony phone now that syncs up with my powerbook, which is nice, but lots of times the buttons don't work at all. I haven't had this phone for a year yet, and I've been nicer to it than my previous phones, and it's still falling apart. My next phone is going to be a Motorola.
    • I have to agree with Motorola. I just got two new phones, one for me and one for my wife. I had basically the same criteria as you. We got a Motorola V180 and a Motorola C650. The V180 is a simple flip phone, and the C650 is a non-folding camera phone. I chose them because the V180 works with iSync and they both have a standard mini USB connector on them. I guessed that because they were similar enough that the C650 would sync as well, and it did. It looks like the V180 has been replaced by the V188.
      • I just picked up a v188. Seems like a pretty decent phone, had to do a little plist editing to get it to work with iSync, but since I did that it works great. Supposedly you can transfer ringtones and pictures with the USB cable also, but damned if I know what software I would need to do that. Any idea? Can't seem to find anything Mac or Windows that'll do it. But once I get that figured out, it'll be a great little phone.

    • My very basic motorola v180 series phone is very poorly designed. It has two volume buttons on the side that always get pushed in my pocket and there is no key lock (flip phone). I have to keep it on silent just so I don't beep randomly all the time. It synchs just fine with iSynch over a mini usb cable, but is has a really, really poorly designed interface. Avoid it.

      • Yep, I also was very upset at the design of the Motorola phone I had. We were using a Nokia 8260--awesome little phone that is rugged, looong talk time and has a great interface. We got a good deal on a Motorola V60 flip phone($20) to renew our contract, and hated so many things about it that we switched back over to the Nokia and still use it.

        Commence list of horrible things on the Motorola V60:

        * Number one worst thing about that phone was the "battery meter". I put that in quotes because it did anyth
    • My V551 works well with tiger and isync9finally), two annoying problems.

      Batterylife if you use it sucks. About 5 days without using it, about 2 if you make just a few. The battery meter is also not set right. 3 bars to 2 takes days. 2 bars to 0 takes 12-16 hours.

      Second way to many features in a clunky interface.
    • Motorolas are quite incompatible with Macs. If you look at the iSync page, you'll notice it requires a USB cable. Bluetooth syncing isn't supported, for that matter I'm not sure if even modem connections are supported either. Not to mention syncing over USB is really buggy as well.
      • FWIW, Motorola's (somewhat crippled, but still nice) V710 Bluetooth phone now syncs with macs quite nicely, if you make a small tweak to iSync's phone compatibility plist. Instructions for doing so are here [macosxhints.com]. Keep in mind that Verizon has disabled the OBEX bluetooth profile, so you cannot, for example, dial your phone from Address Book like you would be able to do with most Bluetooth phones.
    • I just upgraded from the Sony T39M to the Motorola V550 and I love it. I purchased the USB lead and it works really well. Go to http://www.taniwha.org.uk/ [taniwha.org.uk] to download the modem script for either GPRS or CDMA depending on your provider and you can then use the phone as a modem. As for ringtones? Go to iTunes, convert your favourite song to a 32Kb MP3 then upload to the audio folder on the phone (you'll need Bluetooth for that or a copy of VPC running W2K if you're going to use the software). Now your ring
  • I've had good luck with the bluetooth syncing using the SE T616 (mine) and my wifes T637 with both of our Powerbooks. I'd like to get a RAZR, but price is a little much right now. Our T6xxs came from ATT Wireless (now Cingular).

    Brian

    • I would definatly agree

      Had a T610 and now have a Z1010 (personal) and K700i (work) and they both work great over bluetooth to iSync, and can be used as a clicker, iTunes control device etc. I have not connected to the Internet with these but I have not tried and see no reason why its not possible

    • I love my unbranded t637, works with cingular and T-Mobile just fine, and syncs via bluetooth with my Macs.

      Used it for gprs data successfully, but you better have time on your hands for loading webpages. Does pop just fine though.

      I'd look for a model that supports EDGE if you're planning on using it for data, the speed increase is supposed to be marked.

    • RAZR (Score:2, Informative)

      by msired ( 666203 )
      Amazon has the RAZR on special. $100 after a $150 mail in rebate. Cingular only. I got mine last week and Tiger recognized it right off.

      • I had a Sony-Ericson T616 that worked very nicely with OS X via Bluetooth. I could send SMS messages with Address book from my Powerbook, and when my phone started ringing, it would pop up a window letting me know who was calling. I could even tell the phone to answer the call, so I could connect while I went digging for my phone.

        The problem I had with the T616 was that the buttons were always exposed, so I was constantly making accidental phone calls every time I leaned or brushed against something with

    • Another agreement here. I had a T68 which I `up'graded to a T610 a while back. Both sync'd perfectly with Address Book and iCal, both could be dialled or be used to send SMS from Address Book, both could be used with Romeo as a remote control, both could be used for mobile GPRS Internet over bluetooth.

  • Start with phones listed as supported by Clicker (Score:5, Informative)

    by Leknor ( 224175 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:07PM (#12760626)
    I'd start with the supported feature list of Salling Clicker: http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Cli cker/ [mac.com]

    You don't have to use Salling Clicker, there are alternatives, but I'm not familiar with their web sites.

  • Motorola Phones should all work (Score:3, Informative)

    by GusherJizmac ( 80976 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:10PM (#12760655) Homepage
    I have an A630 and while it (like other Mot phones) requirs the USB sync cable to sync (available cheap on eBay), I believe that you can use it as a modem via bluetooth (certainly with the USB cable).

    • Tiger 10.4.1 supports bluetooth fine. (Score:4, Informative)

      by rdunnell ( 313839 ) * on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:14PM (#12760695)
      If you have a Motorola phone, almost all of them work fine with bluetooth under Tiger 10.4.1. I couldn't get my Razr or V551 to work with 10.4 out of the box but after I upgraded to the latest patch iSync works beautifully with either Bluetooth or USB cable. However, 10.3 and earlier do require USB as you mentioned.

      That being said, to the original poster I'd recommend a Razr or a V551, I have had good luck with both, depends on how much money you want to spend (or not spend - v551 are a lot less expensive).

  • Did you look at Apple's page? (Score:5, Informative)

    by pauljlucas ( 529435 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:11PM (#12760667) Homepage Journal
    Here [apple.com].

  • iSync Supported Phones (Score:5, Informative)

    by mr_rattles ( 303158 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:12PM (#12760668) Homepage
    http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/devices .html [apple.com]

    List of phones "officially" supported by iSync, though there's a bunch more you can get working by hacking the MetaClasses.plist property file in iSync.app.

    • Re:iSync Supported Phones (Score:4, Informative)

      by JHromadka ( 88188 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @04:14PM (#12761340) Homepage
      The Sony Ericsson phones offer great compatibility. I have used the T68i, the T610, and now a K700 with iSync. All were great, and all complement the look of my PowerBook. I prefer to make headshot photos on the Mac and xfer them over Bluetooth to the K700 so I can use better looking photos. The camera is sufficient for a cellphone, but if you want something more, SE just released the K750. Unfortunately, iSync doesn't work natively with the K750 without modifying some files.
      • i have the sony ericsson t630 - i thought it would be my dream phone (good looks, bluetooth... well, thats all i really look for in a phone) but its not

        the user interface is passable but really, in the end, crap. its SLOW. everytime you want to do anything it takes about 5 clicks and if you press the wrong button its either horrendously slow to fix your mistake, or you are brought back to the main screen - you cant even "go to contact/edit contact..." you have to go back to the main menu and go to "edit co
  • Hey, have you had issues with the A500 dialing a different entry than the one you are highlighting in the phonebook? I've talked to Sprint several times about it; they upped the firmware once and now insist it is a hardware problem (which we all know it is not).

    It's damn irritating.

    • Yes - truly annoying. (I wish I could tell some witty story about dialing Blofeld when I meant to dial Bond, but alas I have none.) There have been other firmware bugs like that over time that I've just come to accept.

  • For Bluetooth compatability (Score:4, Informative)

    by Hast ( 24833 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @03:17PM (#12760730)
    The is one resource for information on Bluetooth compatability and that is the list of qualified products [bluetooth.org] on the Bluetooth.org qualification program site. (It's a bitch to find via links though.) One search and then a click on the "details" will tell you exactly which profiles that device is qualified for. If you have multiple devices, just check that they match up wrt profiles and you are good to go.

    Why they don't advertice that list to help consumers is beyond me. (Probably because it's a lot of work to figure out.) BTW you should look for devices which support the Sync profile. Some devices (eg Nokia) implement their own sync system on top of serial port profile instead, that works too but it's not as "clean" and requires special PC software.

    On topics of phones I'd ignore the ringtones part, just don't use annoying ringtones. (Mine is always set to silent.) Personally I like Sony-Ericsson phones, but that's just me. (They tend to work well with Bluetooth as well.)

    Many newer phones support Java MIDP (J2ME) which might be fun if you like programming and want to add a little to your own phone.

  • Wow (Score:1, Insightful)

    by allanc ( 25681 )
    First Apple-related Slashdot post in days to not make reference to the x86 switch in the blurb.
  • It's a nice simple phone. It has a crappy camera in it, too, if you want to take awful photos. However, it syncs up with my wife's Powerbook just fine. No bluetooth, but that's sort of beyond the realm of a solid, simple phone.
  • This Sprint phone will do half of what you want: you can connect to the internet via SprintVision with ease (its not the quickest connection, but will do in a pinch) via Bluetooth. The downside is that the geniuses at LG/Sprint (each blames the other) have disabled OBEX support so as of yet you cannot sync addressbooks, etc.
    • Should have mentioned that there's scuttlebut floating around the various chat boards that Sprint will one day introduce OBEX support with a firmware upgrade, but if/when that shows up is a total guess.
    • Have you tried this? I've heard that it doesn't work for everyone. I'm about to buy a Powerbook and a new phone for college, and I want one that can use Vision over Bluetooth. The LG PM325 is the only non-Palm from Sprint with Bluetooth, and OBEX isn't as important to me, so this seems like a good option if it works.
      • Yeah, I've gotten the DUN to work. Pairing can be a real pain in the ass (esp. with Macs for some reason) but after I took the unit in to a Sprint Store and had the firmware updated things worked a lot better.

        Basically you're going to get speeds marginally quicker than dialup (at least that's been my experience so far) but it comes in handy when traveling with no other internet access.

  • It syncs with iSync.

    the one issues is that once I added my computer to the phone as a blue tooth device, it stopped automatically connectig to my motorola bluetooth headset.

    • how good is the reception? screen? have you been able to use it as a modem via bluetooth?
      • I live in the SF bay area. It works well for me. I just moved over from verizon. I have not tried the modem facilities.
      • I have one as well - the later versions (when purchased w/ cingular service), are EDGE compatible, and the speeds are VERY impressive. doing a speed test, I was able to get DL speeds of around 100kbps, which is fairly decent considering.

        Here are some points about the phone (pros, and cons)

        • p: solid - motorola despite any other problems makes some solid phones!
        • p: good reception - I was able to get reception on this thing in a colo 2 floors underground (granted, this is also a result of Cingulars increa
  • syncs my calendar and contacts via bluetooth with my Powerbook (iSync).

    I also use the GPRS connections via bluetooth for network access when I'm away from a wifi hot spot. Nice phone.
  • I have a RAZR and Tiger. Syncs via bluetooth and USB flawlessly. Not sure you can use it as modem for the internet, although I know this feature is available for windows, so it's possible. It's worth it.
    • I also have a RAZR, but I have only been able to sync over USB, although I have not tried bluetooth since upgrading to Tiger

      1 great point about the RAZR:

      My law school does not support Apple laptops on their wireless network. They use SecureW2 software to secure the network which isn't available for the Mac, and I have been unable to figure out a work around. Thus, the only way for me to get on the network when I am sitting in classes without ethernet ports in the desk is through my RAZR over bluetooth.
    • Just tried to sync over bluetooth. This is the first time i tried since upgrading to Tiger. It worked flawlessly.

      I am still unable to text message or dial the phone from the address book application over bluetooth (but can with BluePhoneElite.)

  • Sony-Ericsson (Score:2, Informative)

    by meatball_mulligan ( 633993 ) *

    I've had great experiences with the two Ericsson phones I've used with my my Mac: a T68i and z600. I really can't go on enough about my z600. It's small, but tough and sturdy (have you seen the 'buttons' on the Razr!?). It works flawlessly with iSync, Salling Clicker, the web, and OS X's Bluetooth File Exchange. It's gonna take a lot for me to give up this one.

    As someone mentioned earlier, no matter which phone you end up getting, make sure it's on the Clicker compatability list. Clicker kicks ass.

    • I'm extremely happy with my Sony Ericsson T616. I'm using it with Cingular.

      It syncs easily, works with Salling Clicker, and still has decent battery life after almost a year of use. I don't use many minutes; maybe 100 a week. Haven't tried data connectivity through Bluetooth since I'm always near a WiFi access point.

      Pretty decent range and battery life.

      The T637 is a relatively recent equivalent...

  • I used a Sony Ericsson t610 for a while, and it synched up great with OSX. The problem with the phone was that reception was miserable and the screen was completely useless outdoors.

    I've since moved on to a Nokia 7610. The reception on this phone is amazingly good, as is the screen quality. Unfortunately, despite Apple's claims, I have not been able to get it to work with iSync (although I did automate importing all of my address book using this method [macosxhints.com]).

  • With LG products I believe you can use BitPim [sourceforge.net] to synchronize with iSync. At the very least it is a nice cross-platform app for managing the data on your LG phone.

  • Sony Ericsson T637 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Matty_ ( 74368 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @05:31PM (#12762129)
    I have the Sony Ericsson T637 and am pretty happy with it. I currently use it with Cingular.

    I use iSync to synchronize calendar and contact information via Bluetooth. I have an old Sawtooth G4 PowerMac so I bought a Bluetooth USB adapter, which works just fine.
    • Me too - I use a T637 with Cingular and it works quite well. I sync between a PowerBook running Tiger and two iMacs (a G4 at home and a G5 at my office) on Panther, and I also sync an iPod, Palm Tungsten T, and an HP iPaq 1930 (using PocketMac), and they all go a very good job of staying in sync and avoiding conflicts. The iMac G4 uses a Bluetooth dongle, the other two have it built-in.

      My wife uses a T610 with her iMac G4 and a Bluetooth dongle, and it works just fine for her as well. Both phones have a
  • When I lost my old, very out of date Nokia, I splurged and actually paid for a new phone for once and got the T637. If you need a camera phone, the camera part of it is practically worthless.

    I got it because it was the cheapest Bluetooth phone I could find that wasn't a Motorola. It works great. Bluetooth syncing is great and using it with Salling Clicker is geekily awesome. It always freaks people out to see me using it as a remote for my PowerBook.

  • I have a Sony Ericsson T637 [sonyericsson.com] and it works like a charm over Bluetooth.

    Plus, with Sailing Clicker [mac.com], I can actually control iTunes from my bed with the Mac on the other side of the room. It also allows me to use the phone as a wireless presentation controller - that always starts conversations at conferences.

    Overall, I am happy with the phone.

  • I'm stuck with Verizon, who doesn't offer a reasonable bluetooth phone. Is there a good, solid, bluetooth/CDMA/OSX-friendly phone I could get on eBay or something?

    I don't need a PDA. Just a phone that can talk to my powerbook and share contacts.
    • Unfortunately, I don't think that Verizon will let you use phones that they don't issue. Someone please tell me I'm wrong, though.

  • Sony-Ericsson (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fatalb7 ( 852308 )
    They all sync perfectly.
    Easy to use them to connect your Mac via BT.
    Lots of models.
    Sturdy.
    Better UI than Nokia IMHO.
  • Life is too short for a cell phone!
  • If I purchased a phone right now, the first thing I would look would be Bluetooth 2 compatibility which would also have Airport (802.1) compatibility.

    You buy a phone in 2005. Go with the simplest thing with latest technology built in.

    I have Nokia 7650 here, which was called "overkill" when it shipped but see, I can do marvelous things with Salling Clicker, iSync installs its own application now for top compatibility etc. Its a 2mb phone with Psiloc space doubler installed.

    Oh, I hate camera (digital anyth

  • Sony Ericsson T630 (Score:4, Informative)

    by PinkX ( 607183 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @06:58PM (#12763040) Homepage
    I have a Sony Ericsson T630 which works flawlessly with MacOS X. Full iSync compatibility for iCal and Address Book.

    It has a nice Apple-style touch which looks pretty good next to my PowerBook G4.

    Plus there is Romeo [irowan.com] (no I'm not its author just a happy user) which is a nice OpenSource app that lets you do all sort of neat things with BlueTooth (remote control for iTunes, DVD, mouse mode, presentation sliding for both Powerpoint and Keynote, volume control, etc.), proximity reaction, caller ID (with a nice bezel and photo support!) and fully AppleScript'able to add support for whatever app you want.

    Did I mention it is now GPL software? Althought it's not directly on the site, its sources can be obtained via CVS from SourceForge [sourceforge.net] and it could surely use some help from experienced and skilled ObjC/Cococa coders.

    I'd like to take the chance to ask, if anybody knows if it would be possible to use the computer as a sort of headset for the phone, talking with the built-in mic on the Powerbook and listening through its speakers, it'd be a very nice app for which I've googled around with no positive results.

    Finally I'd like to comment that I've been trying to make an iPod-like interface for this software to use with the phone integrated menus, which would let you browse the genres/artists/albums database of iTunes. Anyone interested on it could help me giving it a go.

    Regards,

  • sony ericsson p910 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by madgamer ( 766925 )
    i started with a sony ericsson t68 which was nice. i upgraded to t610 which was good for a couple of years, but the reception sucked and it broke all the time. i upgraded to a blackberry t1700 but the ui sucked and there was no isync bluetooth support.

    i returned it and got a sony ericsson p910 and it is without a doubt the best phone i've ever had. isync support with address book (pictures too), calendar, to-do's, file sharing, etc.

    aside from the pda aspects, cameraphone, vidphone, app support, memory

  • nokia 3650 (Score:3, Informative)

    by william_w_bush ( 817571 ) on Wednesday June 08, 2005 @09:21PM (#12764252)
    had a 3650 for a few years, and while it is a mediocre phone, it seems great at everything else.

    used to have an ipaq set up for autoconnect to tmobile gprs, so i could check email or whatever anywhere without having to dig out the phone. worked great as a failsafe web connection too. fired up isync the other day and it works perfectly, so it may be old but it keeps surprising me.

    one thing, it has a really stupid dial pad, so you might want to try the 3660 or so, but s60 phones seem pretty solid from my pov.

    love the bt on it.
    • I agree completely. I still love my 3650, though it's actually moving into the retro (chic?) range of things. Almost 3 years old now, and it still does everything that I want it to do. It's a little large (this is the complaint I always hear), but I wear baggy pants and shorts, so can pocket it just fine. Salling Clicker and GoBoy make this phone great, and everything works well with iSync. I wish it played music, but that's what I finally bought a Shuffle for.

      Looking at future phones, I have my eye on the
  • If you live in Japan (like me) or Europe (like, um, other people) look at the Sony Ericsson 802se (v800 in Europe). Now that tiger has come out and it is fully supported (as opposed to hackably supported) I love it. But, if you live in my native America, where cell phones with DSL speed internet, >1 megapix cameras, j2me, etc can't be had at all, let alone for the >$100 that I paid for it.

  • I got one a few weeks ago and it's fantastic. The Palm OS is so much easier to deal with than the typical cellphone OS'es. Bluetooth is there, you can set the ring to whatever you want, and you can get one without a camera if you want to. It's more phone than you asked for, but as someone who appreciates a good OS, consider it.

    Plus having an ssh and IMAP/SSL client that can get a STARTTLS connection on submission right on the first try is worth the expense.

  • Treo 650 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Hackysack ( 21649 )
    On any GSM provider (Cingular in the US; Rogers, Fido in Canada, any in Europe) the Treo650 is a marvelous companion to yer laptop.

    Bluetooth hotsych (not with isync that I could find), Bluetooth Dialup GRPS connection. And VNC client for your laptop for the phone.

    Just please do be careful if you're roaming and GPRSing, my provider and I are still arguing about the 6,000 bill I recieved after a month of using the phone in Italy.
  • I just got a Motorola V710 from Verizon. I think it's Verizon's only Bluetooth phone at the moment. There's a healthy dose of good and bad here. The good is that it's a very good phone--strong signal and sound quality, it works with iSync (USB only though), I use it as a wireless modem with my PowerBook and don't have to pay any special fees (it just counts against my minutes--not super fast but faster than dialup). The bad mostly comes from Verizon's crippling of the phone with firmware. It can do a l
  • I have an old Siemens S55, and a SonyEricsson K700i.
    Both work with iSync and GPRS connection; with Panther, you have to start pairing from the cell phone for the K700i.
    If I remember well, there could be some problem with all-day events from iCal.
    K700 (and S700) have a free application from Salling Clicker to use them as mouse and controller for many apps (though less powerful than Salling Clicker).
    In addition to that, there exists Romeo, a freeware alternative to Salling Clicker. Neither application runs wi
  • I've tried quite a few phones. The key stumbling block at the moment is that iSync's phone support is very out of date - a large number of currently model phones are not supported.

    The Nokia 6600 in theory works very well, though in practice the OS/firmware on it is horribly buggy and unreliable (mine has now died completely) - hopefully this will be fixed in later models like the 6630, 6680, 6681 and N70 - none of which are yet supported by iSync. In general, I'm not impressed with Symbian at all, nor by N
  • this has been my first move away from a simple phone. i love it. i can almost travel without a laptop. the sync works well. the phone is great with a good earbud. the beam function is great to send small things to others who also have a Treo. the ringtones suck. the camera sucks but the screen resolution is great. i can not imagine going back to a regular phone.
  • get rid of the cell phone entirely.

    if you live in a major cell market, go to verizon wireless business ( http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/ broadband/index.jsp [verizonwireless.com]) i've purchased the audiovox pc 5220 pcmcia card, which is compatible with the powerbook . i'm planning on using voice over ip and saying goodbye to phones that never quite have the exact functionality that i want anyway . EVDO 3g speeds are blazing fast, especially near the interstate here . for $79.99/month, you have wireless b

  • I've been using a Sony Ericsson T610 (US, T-Mobile) with my powerbook since this spring and so far everything has worked very well. (Syncing contacts, dialup over bluetooth/gprs, etc.) Plus the T610 has a nice aluminum minimalist look that goes well with the powerbook if you care about such things. (It has also worked pretty well with my palm T2. I seem to have assembled an array of aluminum bluetooth devices without really noticing it.)

    It does have a camera, but on the other hand it ships with a def

  • I strongly recommend you do not buy a Sony phone. Do not be duped by the marketing, like I was. Having used Nokias happily for years, but frustrated at the lack of support for my 6310i in iSync, I bought a Sony K700i. This was inspite of warnings from a friend who had made the same mistake and already swapped back to Nokia. I thought I knew better. After all it promised better battery life, bluetooth iSync, camera, colour etc etc.

    In practise it is almost useless as a phone.

    1. The joystick does not work. S
  • The SonyEricsson S710a is nice, full Tiger sync and works on the Edge network with Cingular as a reasonably fast bluetooth modem for my Powerbook, no crippled BT features. I wish it did not have a camera but just try to get a phone with those other features w/o a camera. I use it with BluePhone elite for proximity and CID links to the laptop. Quite sweet, I suffered for ages with Verizon's crappy phone selection to take advantage of their superior network but now that Cingular is getting it together network

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