Decided to go for a PDA type phone, but which one?

[Scottola]

I've had my P300 tiny Samsung phone for 18 months, I've got my pac code and have been deciding what to get.

The P300s successor, the P310 seems to be few and far between contract wise, so I've decided that I'll swing from a tiny simple phone to a PDA phone.

I don't really want to pay for the phone, so I'll be looking at contract, probably up to £35 a month.

I'm getting a tad confused as to what's out there.

I've seen the MDA Compact III over at T-mobile and that's about £19.99 with the £32.50 web and walk tariff. I assume if I have web and walk, the fact that the phone doesn't have Wifi, makes no real odds?

Are there any other phones I should be looking at, i suppose the smaller the PDA phone the better.

I'm with 02, but they wouldn't really budge with the Orbit thing on cost and line rental, so I'm a bit miffed to stay with them, but if the Orbit is really good, I might have to try again.

Cheers

[fabbers]

I got the SE p1i earlier this week and initially i was rather underwhelmed but now i'm warming to it. It automatically uses the wireless at work and at home before trying 3G/GPRS which will save a fortune on data rates and also using iskoot for skype. TomTom's on there and working with my old tomtom mk1 gps receiver. The battery is only lasting about 2 days at the moment but i can't stop playing with it. Touchscreen is great as well.

I paid for the phone as i'm on a £20 tariff with O2, retentions told me that on a £30+ tariff it would have been free or £19.99 (can't remember)

[mattux]

hey fabbers

how big/heavy is this phone?
will it fit in pocket?
not sure whether to get this one or not

matt

[unitzero]

i have the orbit, just upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6, great little phone. Wifi's great and GPS works a treat too. just about to upgrade but there is not much about that i would consider an "upgrade" until the HTC tytn II comes out on the networks (t-mobile mda vario III, vodafone v1615)

[Scottola]

I don't seem to be that keen on SE phones, there's something about the styling that puts me off. Looking at the P1i, it seems a little less 'funky' than the norm. I'll have to read a few write ups. I never knew it existed before fabbers pointed it out.

I did see the Orbit, but also saw the new MDA Vario III, once I'd started digging. I've read a few reviews, etc over the weekend and really do quite fancy one.

It doesn't seem to be on T-mobile's website yet, but having searched around I found it here http://www.powerupmobile.com/tariff_details-2-302-30--2968.htm for £149.99 on web 'n' walk £32.50 for 18 months. I didn't really want to pay that much for a tariff, as I'm on £20 with 02 (albbeit 50 mins and 50 texts or something), but the lure of unlimited internet access is also tempting.

One of the thing that is putting me off with these kinds of phones is the resolution of the screen, they all seem to be 320x240 and although not a phone on my Zodiac PDA I'm used to 480x320. I assume that websites can't fill the screen, etc without zooming?

What to do, what to do, only a 2 weeks before my PAC code expires, maybe I'll have to port it to pay as I go until I can make up my mind.

[unitzero]

websites don't fill the screen but there are a couple of options ancluding "fit to screen" and "desktop" views.

[The Boogerman]

i have the orbit, just upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6, great little phone. Wifi's great and GPS works a treat too. just about to upgrade but there is not much about that i would consider an "upgrade" until the HTC tytn II comes out on the networks (t-mobile mda vario III, vodafone v1615)

HTC are about to release the upgrade to the P3300 (which the XDA Orbit is based on) which at the moment is being called Polaris in October, 400MHz, VGA (rumoured), 3G, microSDHC, GPS, etc.