Re: (OT) Looking for Cell Phone/PDA Recommendations
On Wed, May 23, 2007 at 04:37:20PM -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> I need to buy a cell phone/pda, and I am looking at the T-Mobile Dash (
> http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/dash/index.htm). However, I use Debian,
> KDE/Gnome and Kontact, so the Windows Mobile OS is not very appealing.
[...]
I'm really happy with the Sidekick 3, myself. Since it keeps its data on a
server and just caches it on the phone, I don't worry about
synchronization. There is a web interface to that data which is pretty
nice, and if you really want to synchronize it shouldn't take too much
effort to screen scrape the web interface. The phone and remote data
continuously synchronize, so any change you make on either interface will
be reflected on the other shortly thereafter. (This also means that
losing/breaking a phone doesn't lose any data at all.)
> In addition, I would like to have:
> * 1.3-2 megapixel camera
The Sidekick 3 has a 1.3 megapixel camera, the new (and much cheaper)
Sidekick ID does not have any camera. The SK3 camera gives rather grainy
results if there isn't lots of light, but it's enough to for quick snaps.
> * wireless ear piece
Bluetooth support for whatever wireless earpiece you like.
> * ability to locally download Java Midlets that I create
If you sign up as a developer at http://developer.danger.com/ and get a
developer key <http://developer.danger.com/site/faq#q60>, you can develop
and load your own applications on it. I'm not familiar with the term
"midlet" but the Sidekick is a Java device so you should be able to do
whatever you need to.
> * compatible with US T-Mobile network
Only available from T-Mobile, in fact.
> * QWERTY keyboard or touchscreen keyboard
Best keyboard on any mobile device I've ever tried. (Well, the original
Sidekick color was slightly better, but only slightly.)
> Having a native Linux OS would be cool - I can imagine an ssh session
> from an xterm to a remote server.....(Sorry, got carried away!)
There is a solid ssh client for it. I use it regularly. I prefer mutt for
email, and I can ssh to my machine at home and use it.
> Am I asking too much? ;-)
Nope!
One caveat, though: the cost of the constant synchronization and big,
bright screen is that the battery life is a bit disappointing. I need to
charge my phone every night.
> Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
>
> Mark
--Greg
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