I’ve carried these four PDA’s around for the last three weeks.

If it was my money, there are only two I’d consider.
Leaving one I could live with, and one which would make me reach for my trusty scatter gun.

So, I give you the Sony Xpedia X1, Palm Treo Pro, HTC Touch HD & Samsung BlackJack II.

The Good: Sony Xpedia X1
I’d part with money for one of these.  It’s got Bluetooth, GPS & WiFi.

It’s also got the fastest processor of the four.  The slide-out qwerty keyboard looks small, but is much easier to use than my HTC Tytn II:

The only niggle is that the Xpedia has a small screen.  But I’d still buy one.

The (almost) Good: Palm Treo Pro
A good dependable phone.

So many Windows Mobile PDA makers have “customised” the Windows Mobile interface.  Palm, bless them, don’t do that.
That makes the Palm Treo Pro, a very responsive handset.  You should not have to wait for the phone to do something.  It should be instanteous.  Like the iPhone.

One interesting feature.  When you connect the phone to your Windows PC, you’d be greeted with this screen:

Good for novice users, annoying for people testing phones.

The square screen (320×320) may cause problems with some applications.  Here is an example of that:

There is only one thing which would stop me from buying this phone, this proprietary connector:

It’s a combined syncing and charging socket.  Which means you need two cables if you’re going to do any serious travelling with it.
That, sadly, is something that Palm is going to continue with their next model phone, the Palm Pre.

The Bad: HTC Touch HD
This PDA is like dating a model.  Great to hold, and great to be seen with.
After a while, the flaws appear. Making you wonder if the good looks are worth all the other crap you have to endure.

To the average punter, the HTC Touch HD looks like an Apple iPhone.  That’s where the similarities stop.

I wasn’t impressed with the HTC Touch HD, as it was slow.  I would select a menu option, and wait.  And sometimes, still wait.
The stylus could be larger as well.  The phone is too expensive, considering all it’s flaws.

Git Off My Lawn: Samsung BlackJack II
If this was my company-issued phone, it would be accidently dropped down a stair well.

Repeatedly.

There is nothing I like about this Smartphone.  Here are the flaws:

• Proprietary device syncing and device charging socket.
  
  It’s even a different socket compared to the original BlackJack.
• Small screen.  It’s like looking at the world though a peep-hole.
  This makes it difficult to navigate though the options.  To use this phone is hard work.
• Windows Mobile Smartphone OS.

If this phone was make in a Communist country, the company executives would be executed for wasting State Resources.

Summary of features

Related posts:

“About those PDA’s, what about the cameras?” Now I remember why I dislike the Palm Treo Palm Pre Tethering

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